125: I’m expecting a 1 score match here. Strickenberger has been wrestling extremely well lately. I’ve seen him mentioned as the “largest” 125 so maybe the day 2 cut takes a toll and he’s not fully recovered for the first match of the day. 133: facing a RSFr who has some good wins but had lost to most of the top contenders before taking down Bailey. I’m hoping Connor’s experience and ability on top will allow him to control the match, but we’re seeing young wrestlers quickly acclimate over the course of a season and peak at NCAAs regularly these days. Won’t be surprised by a low scoring, 1 score match (though hoping Connor can rack up riding time and be in control). 149: Williams is extremely athletic and talented and will feel like he’s playing with house money. He’s been putting up points over good opponents in the last month too. This is a very dangerous match for Caleb. At the risk of beating a dead horse, I think it’s a 1 score match. 157: Siebrect is very experienced and could wrestle a similar match to Chumbley. Hipolito will need to be better in neutral and get to his offense. Lower scoring is worse for Hipolito so I’d like to see him create angles and chain shots together rather than shooting from distance. 165: Scoles has been very solid when not facing Mesenbrink or Caliendo so it’s a tough match up. Mac has shown he can grind out close matches though and will likely have to rely on that formula to move on here. Feels like another 1 score match where the first takedown decides it. 174: O’Toole is obviously an elite wrestler and as we saw tonight, he won’t give up if he gets down. Hard to imagine Lennox grinding out a close win with 1 takedown so it will probably take a big move for him to have a shot. I’d predict O’Toole to go with low leg attacks and avoid any upper body ties. 197: McDanel is a Fr and didn’t have much success against the top guys this year but is accomplished in freestyle so there’s certainly potential. As we know, Andy is a grinder and will need to execute his shots and do the little things right to win. Feels like another 1 score match where the first takedown decides the outcome. 285: Feldman is a tough opponent and will be a good measuring stick for Jimmy’s progress this season. Jimmy did not seem quite right today though so I’m not sure what to expect tomorrow. He needs to avoid taking shots from distance and ending up under Feldman but we’ll see if he can try to generate offense with a different approach. Overall, 4 wins out of these matches seems like a reasonable expectation to me. ** Edited by MExpos27 at 3/21/2025, 1:52:35 AM