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No. 12 Rutgers Wrestling Set to Compete at the MatMen Open

Nijenhuis was a stud coming out of hs.. he beat Turley too I believe.. impressed with connors improvements overall this tourney.
Definite stud in HS....really has not translated yet in College 18-13 in college so far. Beat Clark 5-0 last season, did not wrestle Turley yet.
I also thought O'Neil had some good matches in this tournament. Still a little worried about his progression, but everything I hear he works hard and that is half the battle.
 
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Nijenhuis was a stud coming out of hs.. he beat Turley too I believe.. impressed with connors improvements overall this tourney.
And the guy before him got to O'Neil's legs way too easily. His stance and reaction to shots needs a lot of work. That's all I stated, for him he had a nice tournament taking 8th.
 
Now they don’t call locked hands on Nino. Review fixes it now 2-2
 
Boone loses in OT 6-4. Boone's gas tank was running on empty after his late flurry to get out to send it into OT
 
Boone loses in OT 6-4. Boone's gas tank was running on empty after his late flurry to get out to send it into OT
Talent is there but something is missing with him. You see flashes when he wants to but it’s here and there. Kind of see what Goodale was saying last year about him and lighting a fire
 
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Edited to include Olivieri...

Shawver had an excellent showing today with two very close OT loses.
Olivieri - I almost forgot - Had a great day.
Seabass, of course!
I think White deserves a tremendous amount of praise for the season he is having.
Clark is trying.
I think O'Neill did as well as could be expected. I'm very sad about the Turley situation.
Sure did miss Poz.
Bulsak proved himself well.
I expected better from Boone.
 
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Thoughts on the tournament

It was a mixed bag. Seabass and Bulsak were the clear stars. Potential national champ and high All American. Shawver needs works. He was the highest ranked guy in his weight class and # 1 seed. Alvarez gets an incomplete. Hope the injury is not serious. Olivieri was great. He could be special. Desantis worked hard and showed great effort. White really competed. His losses were to two ranked wrestlers. His future is bright. Not sure what to say about Kanniard. This is his third year. Still has a chance to step it up and be a national qualifier. Clark fought hard. Just overmatched. Turley gets an incomplete. Need to see more. O'Neil was up and down. Beat the kid that beat Turley and lost to a really good high school kid twice. Boone made a number of mental mistakes. Not sure if he will be a national qualifier. Too bad that Van Brill and Poz were out. As most teams didn't enter a full line-up and many wrestled backups wrestled, hard to tell how we stack up vs. the competition. If we continue to improve, Shawver, Alavarez, Rivera, Van Brill, Poz, and Bulsak are national qualifiers with all but Shawver having AA potential. Need to see more from Kanniard, Turley, and Boone. Believe that two of then will qualify.
 
Talent is there but something is missing with him. You see flashes when he wants to but it’s here and there. Kind of see what Goodale was saying last year about him and lighting a fire

Exactly. He's got the moves and crafty tricks, but he needs to get stronger and have better conditioning. He kind of looks undersized in most of his matches. That said he just needs to correct those mental lapses (as stated above). If he do that and get better at getting out from the bottom then he'll be in good shape.
 
Well, we know that won't happen but I hope he continues to do well and gets a good seed come the big show.
Bulsak just jumped levels.. took out last year’s ncaa finalist and a really good Amos, who’s rank will continue to move up. As for rankings this week, Bulsak was #12 and took out #2 so I think they will rank him around 5 if I had to guess.
 
Bulsak just jumped levels.. took out last year’s ncaa finalist and a really good Amos, who’s rank will continue to move up. As for rankings this week, Bulsak was #12 and took out #2 so I think they will rank him around 5 if I had to guess.
could be as high as 3. Only guys at the weight undefeated so far is Ferrari and Dean.
 
Talent is there but something is missing with him. You see flashes when he wants to but it’s here and there. Kind of see what Goodale was saying last year about him and lighting a fire
The thing that's missing is that he's very tentative, and doesn't engage other wrestlers in tie-ups. He does that crouching down right forearm Ieaning on the hip thing while pawing at his opponents. If he thinks that works for him, he's going to continue to be beaten by the top 25 competition.it's not a traditional stance and it certainly isn't helping him. All the top heavyweights, are constantly moving forward engaging in tie ups, and have sort of a Russian stance. Don't ever see him getting on the podium. With Kyonte on the roster now, he may be a backup who will see occasional matches. Had high hopes for him. Unfortunately, he falls in the mix of successful Juco wrestlers that Rutgets recruits and don't pan out. Loved what I saw from Greg Bulsak, but I'm still not sold on the All-American and podium crowning. He's still letting ok to decent wrestlers get to his legs and when we face Michigan he's going to see someone like Brucki, who'll be constantly attacking his legs. If he could be victorious over the next level competition, then we have a bonafide stud. Just seems to be reminiscent of a Gravina career. Kicks butt during the season, then flounders when it matters. I'm hope I'm wrong because he's a heck of a kid. I also don't think he'll be ranked in the top five. I would say somewhere around 7 or 6. I don't see him beating a Max Dean or Eric Schultz. Jacob Warner, Rocky Elam and Kordell Norfleet yes I see him pulling out a win on one or two of those guys. Schultz is just too aggressive and so is Dean and they have incredible Arsenal's. Greg is just not there yet. He also doesn't have a proven record amongst the top five competition and even the top 10 to be frank.
 
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He just beat the #2 wrestler in the country
I think that's great, and I'm very proud of what he has done so far. I just think that everybody's anointing him as the next national champion. He has to consistently beat top five guys in order to be considered for that. Don't get me wrong he's one of my favorite wrestlers on a team. He's quiet unassuming and does all his talking on the mat. But to consider him a national title contention is premature.
 
Crackers, I don't think anyone thinks he's the next national champion. What we do think and see is Bulsak has become a top 8 wrestler. His short time here has improved his wrestling and he has helped the team. The win yesterday helps his seeding criteria for the NCAA. One win doesn't make a season but it does help.
You don't win or lose a national title in December, it prepares you for March.
 
I think that's great, and I'm very proud of what he has done so far. I just think that everybody's anointing him as the next national champion. He has to consistently beat top five guys in order to be considered for that. Don't get me wrong he's one of my favorite wrestlers on a team. He's quiet unassuming and does all his talking on the mat. But to consider him a national title contention is premature.
I have yet to see anyone call him a national champion. Most of us think he can AA.

Im not entirely sure how youve expected him to consistently beat top 5 guys when he has only wrestle 1 to this point this year and won. According to wrestlestat rankings, he’s wrestled 4 guys in the top 10 since his sophomore year and he’s 3-1 in those matches. Expecting anything more out of him to this point is completely unfair.

Will he be an AA? I have no idea but through the first two months of this season, there is 0 reason to think he can’t.
 
Crackers, I don't think anyone thinks he's the next national champion. What we do think and see is Bulsak has become a top 8 wrestler. His short time here has improved his wrestling and he has helped the team. The win yesterday helps his seeding criteria for the NCAA. One win doesn't make a season but it does help.
You don't win or lose a national title in December, it prepares you for March.
Just two posts up bigmatt is saying he's a dark horse for a national champion, and you ranked them as high as number two. That sounds like National Champion anointing to me. Regardless I don't want to take away from the kids thunder. He had an amazing tournament. I just hate that we do this every year with anointing all Americans and national champions prematurely, and then these kids feel unnecessary pressure from the fans and administration to live up to these lofty goals. Being an All-American takes a real lot. Trust me on that one. That's all I'm going to say.
 
Just two posts up bigmatt is saying he's a dark horse for a national champion, and you ranked them as high as number two. That sounds like National Champion anointing to me. Regardless I don't want to take away from the kids thunder. He had an amazing tournament. I just hate that we do this every year with anointing all Americans and national champions prematurely, and then these kids feel unnecessary pressure from the fans and administration to live up to these lofty goals. Being an All-American takes a real lot. Trust me on that one. That's all I'm going to say.
Dark horse means he’s an underdog but could do it. If you think that’s inaccurate then that’s your opinion. But if you think that expression is anointing him a champion then you’re way off base.
 
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