Wrestling Garden State Grapple shines light on continued problem in College Wrestling

[Lex Knapp]

Rutgers wrestling competed last night in the heavily promoted "Garden State Grapple", where they were scheduled to have a highly anticipated showdown with nationally ranked University of North Carolina.

What was a dual meet expected to be loaded with matchups between ranked wrestlers, resulted in back up wrestlers, a forfeit, and a disappointment. North Carolina sat four of their starters, giving an easy path to victory for Rutgers wrestling in an underwhelming dual.

North Carolina's lineup decisions brought more attention to what has been a growing issue in college wrestling. Whether you call it ducking, protecting, or resting, the lack of star power in college dual meets has become an increasing issue in the sport.

Here is TKR's take on the Garden State Grapple, and the current college wrestling landscape when it comes to lineup decisions.

Garden State Grapple shines light on continued problem in College Wrestling

College Wrestling has a serious issue and the recent Garden State Grapple shined more light on the problem.

rutgers.rivals.com

 

[barrelroll]

Great points in this article. Wrestling may die if athletic directors don't see fannies in the seats. Coach Goodale deserves all the credit for supporting dual meets and wrestling our best guys. He built one of the greatest fan bases in wrestling. Seldom does he take a forfeit. What UNC did yesterday is inexcusable. Our coach is being politically correct and in public will not call out Coleman Scott. I understand that. I hope the media lets the wrestling world know what happened and that Coach Goodale brings up the negative impact of teams sitting guys to protect NCAA seeds at future coaches meetings. Yes, it is all about March. But, if there are no fannies in the seats, fewer teams may be competing in March.

 

[FoxRU]

Excellent article Lex. Thanks for putting it out there.

 

[RUCrackers]

125 lbs. Shawver: Wrestled really great against good competition. If he can keep that upward trajectory he'll do some damage this year.

133lbs. Alvarez: Very Sammy like workmanship. Nothing special but got the job done. Hopefully he can maintain his weight and get on top of that Podium this year.

141lbs Seabass: Looked super physical at this weight this year. That year off made a huge difference. Looks more physically defined, and was manhandling his opponents. Definitely will make a run for a title this year.

149lbs: MVB:I know I'm going to eat crow and drink Passaic river water, but Vanbrill looked vicious last night. Like somebody said something about his mother. If he can keep it up, he's got a very good shot of getting on that podium.

157 lbs. Kanniard: Very, very impressed with Kanniard against O'Connor. Even though he looked like he got dragged by a horse on SEBS equestrian open Stables when the match was done, he went after O'Connor He took him down twice. He's going to do big things.

165 lbs, Clarke: Has some fight in him but has absolutely no offensive attacks. I don't know if it's a strength issue or he's just a little burnt. It could be freshman inexperience too. Don't know why the coaches aren't putting Angelo in there. I think he would be dominant at 165.

174 lbs, Oneil: Not bad wrestling. But really no sense of urgency. He is doing much better than he did last year that's for sure. If Turley doesn't come back I'm sensing he'll have a 500 season at best.

184 lbs, Poz: He's amazing. He's getting better every week. I would only say against the other top five competition that he has to wrestle very tactical. Other than that he's got a good shot at making the finals.

197 lbs, Bulsak: pretty good wrestling, very good on top. Not sold on him yet though. Was very concerned with his half shots and letting people counter and get it on his legs. Against the lower half of the top 25 he can do that but when he meets that next level he's going to have a real hard time.

285 lbs., Boone: against 20-30 competition , he'll probably win most of those. Against 1 to 15 if he doesn't start opening up, and wrestle more offensively, he's going to have a hard time getting any wins and making the National Tournament.

 

[ecojew]

From the photos on scarletknights.com, it looked as though a large crowd was there. Anyone know what the attendance was?

And, as someone who knows little about wrestling, I'm curious about how many of the fans in attendance last night follows the sport sufficiently closely to have realized what UNC was doing in not putting its best wrestlers forward for the match?

Thanks.

 

[ScarletGrapfan]

165 lbs, Clarke: Has some fight in him but has absolutely no offensive attacks. I don't know if it's a strength issue or he's just a little burnt. It could be freshman inexperience too. Don't know why the coaches aren't putting Angelo in there. I think he would be dominant at 165.

Agree with most of your weight class reviews......but what has Angelo shown in 3 years at 149, that he would be dominant at 165? He is a 500 wrestler at 149.

 

[wngarbarini]

Clark at 141 for UNC was hurt and dehydrated so that explains why he did not show up. Maybe Coleman Scott figured that with him out snd giving up 6 points he had no chance to win the meet so he put backups in that he had brought with him. Then he could say we wrestled our backups so what do you expect. Maybe that cut down from 149 to 141 is too much for him.

 

[SCNJ]

Clark at 141 for UNC was hurt and dehydrated so that explains why he did not show up. Maybe Coleman Scott figured that with him out snd giving up 6 points he had no chance to win the meet so he put backups in that he had brought with him. Then he could say we wrestled our backups so what do you expect. Maybe that cut down from 149 to 141 is too much for him.

You shouldn’t completely punt on 3 other weight classes because one guy can’t do. Scott had an opportunity to let his best wrestlers get better by wrestling our best guys. He didn’t. He did a diservice to those guys and even though I have nothing against those kids, I hope they all fall short of their postseason expectations because of him.

 

[ScarletGrapfan]

You shouldn’t completely punt on 3 other weight classes because one guy can’t do. Scott had an opportunity to let his best wrestlers get better by wrestling our best guys. He didn’t. He did a diservice to those guys and even though I have nothing against those kids, I hope they all fall short of their postseason expectations because of him.

Agree, and I am not buying Clark was dehydrated.....he wrestled against Wisc and won, he had about 3 hours after weighing in prior to the RU match. I think he held Sherman out because he is 0-4 this season(against good kids) and did not want him losing to MVB.

 

[SCNJ]

Best way to not lose to MVB is to beat MVB

 

[ScarletGrapfan]

Best way to not lose to MVB is to beat MVB

Oh I agree, holding him out was bush league.....I really think MVB would have beat him and Scott was trying to protect him.

 

[KidDagger]

Great points in this article. Wrestling may die if athletic directors don't see fannies in the seats. Coach Goodale deserves all the credit for supporting dual meets and wrestling our best guys. He built one of the greatest fan bases in wrestling. Seldom does he take a forfeit. What UNC did yesterday is inexcusable. Our coach is being politically correct and in public will not call out Coleman Scott. I understand that. I hope the media lets the wrestling world know what happened and that Coach Goodale brings up the negative impact of teams sitting guys to protect NCAA seeds at future coaches meetings. Yes, it is all about March. But, if there are no fannies in the seats, fewer teams may be competing in March.

Usually Goodale speaks what’s on his mind… didn’t hear his interview here yet but wish he wouldn’t be “politically correct” and call out the UNC coach and the negative impacts of sitting guys to protect seeds.

 

[RUCrackers]

125 lbs. Shawver: Wrestled really great against good competition. If he can keep that upward trajectory he'll do some damage this year.

133lbs. Alvarez: Very Sammy like workmanship. Nothing special but got the job done. Hopefully he can maintain his weight and get on top of that Podium this year.

141lbs Seabass: Looked super physical at this weight this year. That year off made a huge difference. Looks more physically defined, and was manhandling his opponents. Definitely will make a run for a title this year.

149lbs: MVB:I know I'm going to eat crow and drink Passaic river water, but Vanbrill looked vicious last night. Like somebody said something about his mother. If he can keep it up, he's got a very good shot of getting on that podium.

157 lbs. Kanniard: Very, very impressed with Kanniard against O'Connor. Even though he looked like he got dragged by a horse on SEBS equestrian open Stables when the match was done, he went after O'Connor He took him down twice. He's going to do big things.

165 lbs, Clarke: Has some fight in him but has absolutely no offensive attacks. I don't know if it's a strength issue or he's just a little burnt. It could be freshman inexperience too. Don't know why the coaches aren't putting Angelo in there. I think he would be dominant at 165.

174 lbs, Oneil: Not bad wrestling. But really no sense of urgency. He is doing much better than he did last year that's for sure. If Charlie doesn't come back I'm sensing he'll have a 500 season at best.

184 lbs, Poz: He's amazing. He's getting better every week. I would only say against the other top five competition that he has to wrestle very tactical. Other than that he's got a good shot at making the finals.

197 lbs, Bulsak: pretty good wrestling, very good on top. Not sold on him yet though. Was very concerned with his half shots and letting people counter and get it on his legs. Against the lower half of the top 25 he can do that but when he meets that next level he's going to have a real hard time.

285 lbs., Boone: against 20-30 competition , he'll probably win most of those. Against 1 to 15 if he doesn't start opening up, and wrestle more offensively, he's going to have a hard time getting any wins and making the National Tournament.

165 lbs, Clarke: Has some fight in him but has absolutely no offensive attacks. I don't know if it's a strength issue or he's just a little burnt. It could be freshman inexperience too. Don't know why the coaches aren't putting Angelo in there. I think he would be dominant at 165.

Agree with most of your weight class reviews......but what has Angelo shown in 3 years at 149, that he would be dominant at 165? He is a 500 wrestler at 149.

He was also drained and sucking weight at 149.Probably more comfortable at a heavier weight.

 

[Harleyr1]

Usually Goodale speaks what’s on his mind… didn’t hear his interview here yet but wish he wouldn’t be “politically correct” and call out the UNC coach and the negative impacts of sitting guys to protect seeds.

Goody wasn’t happy about it ..it showed ...but he won’t knock another coach out loud ..he has too much class to do that

 

[mikemessner]

Agree, and I am not buying Clark was dehydrated.....he wrestled against Wisc and won, he had about 3 hours after weighing in prior to the RU match. I think he held Sherman out because he is 0-4 this season(against good kids) and did not want him losing to MVB.

Clarke looked dehydrated. He could barely shake hands after our match.

 

[Leonard23]

🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆

 

[rags]

🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆

There needs to be a grass roots movement going forward that flood schools wrestling and and athletic social media accounts with duck icons whenever this happens

 

[Harleyr1]

Usually Goodale speaks what’s on his mind… didn’t hear his interview here yet but wish he wouldn’t be “politically correct” and call out the UNC coach and the negative impacts of sitting guys to protect seeds.

125 lbs. Shawver: Wrestled really great against good competition. If he can keep that upward trajectory he'll do some damage this year.

133lbs. Alvarez: Very Sammy like workmanship. Nothing special but got the job done. Hopefully he can maintain his weight and get on top of that Podium this year.

141lbs Seabass: Looked super physical at this weight this year. That year off made a huge difference. Looks more physically defined, and was manhandling his opponents. Definitely will make a run for a title this year.

149lbs: MVB:I know I'm going to eat crow and drink Passaic river water, but Vanbrill looked vicious last night. Like somebody said something about his mother. If he can keep it up, he's got a very good shot of getting on that podium.

157 lbs. Kanniard: Very, very impressed with Kanniard against O'Connor. Even though he looked like he got dragged by a horse on SEBS equestrian open Stables when the match was done, he went after O'Connor He took him down twice. He's going to do big things.

165 lbs, Clarke: Has some fight in him but has absolutely no offensive attacks. I don't know if it's a strength issue or he's just a little burnt. It could be freshman inexperience too. Don't know why the coaches aren't putting Angelo in there. I think he would be dominant at 165.

174 lbs, Oneil: Not bad wrestling. But really no sense of urgency. He is doing much better than he did last year that's for sure. If Turley doesn't come back I'm sensing he'll have a 500 season at best.

184 lbs, Poz: He's amazing. He's getting better every week. I would only say against the other top five competition that he has to wrestle very tactical. Other than that he's got a good shot at making the finals.

197 lbs, Bulsak: pretty good wrestling, very good on top. Not sold on him yet though. Was very concerned with his half shots and letting people counter and get it on his legs. Against the lower half of the top 25 he can do that but when he meets that next level he's going to have a real hard time.

285 lbs., Boone: against 20-30 competition , he'll probably win most of those. Against 1 to 15 if he doesn't start opening up, and wrestle more offensively, he's going to have a hard time getting any wins and making the National Tournament.

What planet do you live on ...I concur with putting him there since he can strike lightning in a bottle sometimes but dominant he is not ...not even close at that weight .

 

[Skull83]

I know this will never happen, but it seems to me the sure fire way to save duals is to make them important. Separate the team championship from the individual tournament. Have a separate dual meet tournament for the team championship with maybe 12 or 16 teams that is based on dual meet records. I know there was a season ending duals tournament in the past, but since the national team championship was still awarded based on the individual tournament, the duals title was relatively meaningless. Most of the posters on here have forgotten more about wrestling than I will ever know, does anyone else have any clever ideas?

 

[SCNJ]

I know this will never happen, but it seems to me the sure fire way to save duals is to make them important. Separate the team championship from the individual tournament. Have a separate dual meet tournament for the team championship with maybe 12 or 16 teams that is based on dual meet records. I know there was a season ending duals tournament in the past, but since the national team championship was still awarded based on the individual tournament, the duals title was relatively meaningless. Most of the posters on here have forgotten more about wrestling than I will ever know, does anyone else have any clever ideas?

Agree with this 100%. Stop awarding team titles at the individual tournament and you might see some changes. I think a dual postseason was being discussed pre covid.