My post tournament thoughts, observations, and ramblings ...
1. Cornell only had 5 qualifiers and 1 All American, that is a big surprise
2. Priztlaff at Columbia is going to do great things there if he can get the school to invest a little more
3. David Taylor really knows how to coach. His team looked better than they did when VT wrestled them.
4. Kevin Dresser really looked like he's aged a lot in the last two years. His mobility has decreased quite a bit.
5. Found myself rooting for Gabe Arnold. Would love to see him find a place where he could be more appreciated.
6. Refs still are hesitant to call stalling on top.
7. Need to eliminate these overtime matches as much as possible. 7 minutes of dancing around is awful to watch. Call double stalls if necessary.
8. Can't tell you how happy I am that VT doesn't have ANY of the Ferrari nonsense in their locker room.
Team related:
1. Really proud of Seidel and Gaj.
2. Was happy to see the season progression of Desiante and Bullock. They really trended up especially at the end of the season. They may not have accomplished their goal to AA, but man they were both tough outs at the NCAAs which didn't seem likely in the early season.
3. Ventresca's approach has to change. Would rather see him go down swinging than making his matches 50/50. His bracket was a gift, start to finish on the championship side. To be able to make the finals without having to face Spratley, Robinson, Volk, or Provo (or ANYONE ranked in the top 10)? If that isn't a bucket of ice water to the face, I don't know what is
4. Make Haught Mullen's weight room buddy over the next year. Not saying Jimmy is soft or anything, but he doesn't seem as strong as a number of HWTs in my opinion.
5. Thought Mac did pretty well all things considered. His offense may not be where he wants it to be yet, but he definitely attempted more shots and worked better angles on his feet than he did last year ... I thought so anyway.
6. Got a lot of firepower coming in the program next season ... going to be a long offseason for me ;)
Rule changes I'd propose:
1. Call stalling on top and stop the riding time clock until start of a new period OR top wrestler scores an offensive point ... even in the ride outs. If wrestlers are allowed to accrue riding time even after a stalling call, they will continue to do so. Force them to be offensive and stop them from hanging on.
2. In neutral, if a wrestler has secured one leg and his opponent hasn't secured anything (e.g. body lock, whizzer, a leg, etc) as they go out of bounds, he is awarded 1 point. That will stop all of these wrestlers from doing the splits out of bounds and awards the guys who are trying to score. Then restart them neutral.
3. Go back to technical falls only being 4 points if no back points are scored. It's too easy to get a TF now with the 3-point takedown. Help emphasize mat wrestling and award the guys willing to work to turn their opponents.
10 Replies
4mo
something like the freestyle passivity shot clock rule.
Ok State reminded me of Nebraska last year with so many guys over-performing. Jax is incredible, and this might be an exaggeration, but he reminds me of a young David Taylor only better. Overall, they had four finalists, only one was favored and three won.
I'm mixed on top stalling. One one hand, I like seeing guys who can ride tough and get that riding time point. Seidel's second period in his match with Marcus Blaze was masterful and seemed to break Blaze. On the other hand, I don't want to see a guy put in a leg and ride for two minutes. I'd like that to get a stalemate call pretty quickly if the top man isn't working towards backs.
I don't like saying this without knowing anything, but Mullen looks like he hasn't dedicated himself to the sport. His body looks like it did when he was a freshman, and we're certainly not seeing improvement in his results. He had a solid freshman year as a redshirt when he played football too, finished 20-7 as a r-Fr with 17 bonus point wins and he was an ACC finalist. He was seeded 11th at NCAAs last year, several guys ahead of him graduated and no stud freshmen came in. This season, he was 24-11, seeded 16th at NCAAs and went 1-2. In his last match, he was majored by a guy Hunter Catka beat later in consolations. I don't think you can blame all of that on coaching.
(In response to this post by HokieToph)
4mo
(In response to this post by Wilmington Hokie)
4mo
gain overnight. He needs to hit the weights hard in the off season, but he was a bit behind the 8 ball coming in.
(In response to this post by Palmetto Hokie)
4mo
He came in the class of 2000. Huge guy, 6-7 335. Didn't lift in high school, got by on his size only. Came to VT benching something like 220 lb.
In 2002 we played TAMU in College Station. We managed to win the game, but Dunn was tortured by TAMU DE Ty Warren. Humiliated. Owned.
Dunn later admitted that Warren's domination was his wake up call for S&T. He started applying himself and eventually became a solid LT.
Anyway...how many Ty Warren-equvalent wrestlers has Mullen gone up against the past three seasons? If the light was going to come on for him, it probably would have happened by now.
(In response to this post by VPIGUY)
4mo
Even if he never touched a weight until he arrived in Blacksburg I think that's plenty of time for a D1 athlete to make big gains in S&C, especially considering the access they have to nutrition advice and services. When I was a student I had access to an unlimited amount of scrod and meat "fit for human consumption."
(In response to this post by VPIGUY)
4mo
my head and other body parts when he was recruiting him. All our guys have great character and make us proud to support them. We don’t need guys like them in a Hokie singlet.
(In response to this post by HokieToph)
C
CTDad
4mo
1. Call stalling on top and stop the riding time clock until start of a new period OR top wrestler scores an offensive point ... even in the ride outs.
Ehh… I don’t have a real problem with the top wrestling, but if you want to go that far, just eliminate riding time altogether as it used to be. I feel like it’s a mixed message to give a wrestler a point for riding his opponent and then tell him he can’t ride.
2. In neutral, if a wrestler has secured one leg and his opponent hasn't secured anything (e.g. body lock, whizzer, a leg, etc) as they go out of bounds, he is awarded 1 point.
Not a fan of this one. Gives the guy with the leg too much incentive to drive/drag his opponent out of bounds to get the point. What they DO need to do though is to create enough mat space beyond the outer circle to allow wrestlers to finish takedowns as the rules are written. There is no excuse, especially in NCAA’s, to have the defensive wrestler force a restart by having a portion of his body off the mat surface when the offensive wrestler is still in bounds.
3. Go back to technical falls only being 4 points if no back points are scored. It's too easy to get a TF now with the 3-point takedown. Help emphasize mat wrestling and award the guys willing to work to turn their opponents.
Not a fan of this either. It’s hard to turn a guy whose only job is to stay off his back. A 15+ win should be worth more than 8+ win. In order to emphasize mat wrestling, making a reversal the same as a takedown is a good start. There is no reason some getting taken down but then reverses his opponent should be losing.
(In response to this post by HokieToph)
4mo
Easiest change to make here is the award of reversal points. Which is generally more difficult, to score from Neutral or to score from a position where your opponent is in control? When they increased takedowns to 3 points, it really seems like an oversight that Reversals were held at 2.
** Edited by Hokie2000x at 3/23/2026, 1:50:46 PM
(In response to this post by CTDad)
4mo
could see the difference in their core strength by their stance and the shape of their back while they were hand fighting.
(In response to this post by HokieToph)