Potential Matchups vs. Illinois:
125: #25 Aguilar vs. #21 Cardani
133: #10 Alvarez vs. #7 Piotrowski
141: Aragona vs. #12 Duncan
149: Angelo vs. Jodeh
157: MVB vs. Barone
165: Donner/Turley vs. #14 D. Braunagel
174: Scott/ vs. #23 Gunther
184: #12 Janzer vs. #15 Z. Braunagel
197: #19 Pagano vs. Wroblewski
285: Correnti/Esposito vs. Luffman
While Illinois doesn't have any truly elite wrestlers, they are very solid at most weights. Piotrowski (133) is probably their best wrestler as he is a 3x NQ followed by Duncan (141) who is a 2x NQ.
On paper they are definitely heavily favored in 3 match-ups (141, 165, and 174) while RU is only heavily favored in 1 (197). RU should also be favored at 149 since Jodeh is 2-12 on the year and hasn't won a match since November 2nd, 2019. The remaining 5 matches are toss ups, which includes 3 ranked match-ups. Would be huge to see Aguilar get back on track in this one as his opponent isn't a physically dominating 125 but he his aggressive.
It would be huge for RU if Pagano/Angelo can get a fall or at least some bonus points, or else RU will need to win at least 3 of the tossups at (125, 133, 157, 184, and 285). Pagano's opponent has been pinned twice in his last 4 matches so it's a possibility. Either way it certainly won't be an easy task and guys like Aragona, Donner/Turley, and Scott need to wrestle tough & smart to keep those match-ups to decisions for us to even have a chance. None of their opponents aren't high bonus % (30%, 22%, and 11% respectively) guys so any big slip ups could be costly.
125: #25 Aguilar vs. #21 Cardani
133: #10 Alvarez vs. #7 Piotrowski
141: Aragona vs. #12 Duncan
149: Angelo vs. Jodeh
157: MVB vs. Barone
165: Donner/Turley vs. #14 D. Braunagel
174: Scott/ vs. #23 Gunther
184: #12 Janzer vs. #15 Z. Braunagel
197: #19 Pagano vs. Wroblewski
285: Correnti/Esposito vs. Luffman
While Illinois doesn't have any truly elite wrestlers, they are very solid at most weights. Piotrowski (133) is probably their best wrestler as he is a 3x NQ followed by Duncan (141) who is a 2x NQ.
On paper they are definitely heavily favored in 3 match-ups (141, 165, and 174) while RU is only heavily favored in 1 (197). RU should also be favored at 149 since Jodeh is 2-12 on the year and hasn't won a match since November 2nd, 2019. The remaining 5 matches are toss ups, which includes 3 ranked match-ups. Would be huge to see Aguilar get back on track in this one as his opponent isn't a physically dominating 125 but he his aggressive.
It would be huge for RU if Pagano/Angelo can get a fall or at least some bonus points, or else RU will need to win at least 3 of the tossups at (125, 133, 157, 184, and 285). Pagano's opponent has been pinned twice in his last 4 matches so it's a possibility. Either way it certainly won't be an easy task and guys like Aragona, Donner/Turley, and Scott need to wrestle tough & smart to keep those match-ups to decisions for us to even have a chance. None of their opponents aren't high bonus % (30%, 22%, and 11% respectively) guys so any big slip ups could be costly.