He's been an Iowa fan his whole life and Spencer Lee is his idol . And Iowa has been one the the top programs forever. Yet everyone says it's about money . It's not like he's going to Hofstra
Recruiting
- Thread starter Racpack
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Even if it was about money, who cares? There’s really no money in the sport after college unless you transition into UFC, WWE, etc. I don’t care if it’s Iowa or NJIT. Show me anybody who would turn down 5 mil to wrestle.
I know it's so dumb. It's just jealousy with people. I have always said jealousy is the worst disease out there it doesn't kill you it just makes you live a miserable life
Of all the athletes that receive NIL a kid like Bo has probably earned every penny. He’s been grinding since birth in the toughest sport in the world. With that said, I’m not convinced his “machine-gun” style translates to NC or even AA. He’s basically a double-holdback and one of the oldest kids in the class of 2026 and has primarily wrestled lighter weights during his career. But will be fun to watch his development.
Why do you think his “machine-gun” style won’t translate?? He’s going to break guys down just on his pace alone…can you imagine going from TF Ash as a soph in hs.. to now in college can’t landing a takedown and just losing.. yeah I can’t….
Yea I totally disagree with RUaldo. First he is not a lightweight, he wrestled 113 as a frosh, 139 as a soph and this year 145. He has been beating college kids for a few years and even post grads. I think he will be a dominate college wrestler.
Was that also your opinion when you thought Rutgers might get him? Or have you always thought that way?
Everyone forgets after his 1st 2 years in college all the guys he will be wrestling will be the same guys he's beat growing up
Of course he's going to say that, but why would he have all of the psu memorabilia in his house if Iowa was always his favorite team? Interesting don't ya think
Correct, who cares....but don't make up this bs that Iowa has always been my favorite school and Ive always loved the Iowa style. The old Iowa style, yes....but this current Iowa style of push push push is so not Bassets style. All these people that think money wasn't the deciding factor are so damn naïve.
Can't blame him fort taking $ 5M, he didn't make the NIL rules he's just cashing in on them. Lucky market timing!
This, and by then it will be a measure of who kept improving vs who stayed stagnant.. it will be If those guys he beat growing up can close the gap since hs.. and Bo doesn’t look like the guy who stops improving.. I really do think if Iowa gets a few more pieces they will take down PSU in a few years.. they got a good core rn w Basset,Angelo, Arnold, Kueter, Deluca, Ludington
I don’t blame him for taking the money. But the whole dog and pony show just to announce he’s going to Iowa on a massive NIL deal was ridiculous. And so is saying that God chose the path for him.
The only thing I've wondered about with regards to his training regimen is how sustainable it is over time, taking injuries and aging into consideration. Father time is undefeated and nobody has been able to truly defy it.
And yes, I'd still be wondering this if he came to RU. Can't wait to watch him though. I'd rather see Jax join him and have the talent spread out more.
And yes, I'd still be wondering this if he came to RU. Can't wait to watch him though. I'd rather see Jax join him and have the talent spread out more.
I hear you. I didn't follow the dog and pony show and god chose his path rhetoric. He should have just said Ben Franklin chose his path.
Think Jax is Ok State bound. Word was that David Taylor was at the match last night and Jax is announcing tomorrow.
Take a look at some older rankings and you will be shocked at how many can’t miss studs went nowhere. You want the biggest bust of all time - Gavin Teasdale - he was the Bo Bassett of 2018 (4X PA champ; 162-2 plus victories over Pat Glory). Now, I don’t put Bo in the category because I think he is on another level, but then again Iowa’s 125 Joey Cruz was ranked #13 PFP by Flo = he’s not even ranked top 20 right now. Bo is wrestling 144 but is almost a 19 year old junior in HS (if I’m not mistaken). IMO, that’s a lighter weight especially given his age.
I’m not knocking Bo as I think he projects as a stud and it would have immediately elevated RU to new levels even if the kid never makes the podium. But FWIW Jax is a much more technical wrestler and IMO is the best P4P wrestler in the class.
Bo turns 19 at the end of August. PA rules state you cannot turn 19 prior to Aug 1st of your Senior year. NJ is Sept 1 of your senior year. There are tons of HS athletes turning 19 in their senior year of HS.
We will see, but I expect him to continue to be a force at the next Level.
Totally hear you but that’s why it’s hard to predict how wrestlers will transition from HS to college. There are 15 year old HS wrestlers at 190/215/HWT that can’t even crack the top 10 NJ rankings because they are wrestling against 18+ year old men. On the other hand there are 17+ year old 113s and 120s that may be state champs this year and get all the hype. In the end, who’s the most likely to succeed at the collegiate level - who knows…? Jayden James is 16 years old (did not hold back) wrestling 150. So he’s at least 2 years younger than Bo wrestling a weight class higher. For all we know JJ might be a more accomplished wrestler than Bo in the end. Anyway, wish RU got Bo but we were lucky just to make the final 7.
Oh give me a break. If he signed with Penn State you’d be singing a different tune. No athlete talks about money being the primary focus and everyone knows the deal. It’s a white lie that is spoken for PR purposes.
No one goes on a job interview and answers “why do you want this job” with “the money is the biggest reason.” It’s the same thing. Bad optics.
I did it once. Got the job. Made a lot of money.
I am all for getting the wrestlers paid.
I have no problem with these young men making $$$ especially wrestlers since there really no market after college.
I tend to agree, but the problem with wrestling is without a NIL cap all a team needs to do is buy 10 top wrestlers across the weight-classes and absent injury or underperformance that team will be a NC contender. The individual nature of the sport differentiates it from trying to build a football or basketball team based on NIL $$$. Iowa has broken the bank on DeLuca, Ludington, Bassett, etc. because finishing 2nd to PSU every year won’t fly in Wrestletown.
Another reason why team scoring at individual tournaments is stupid. You can’t really complain about all individual champs being from 2 or 3 schools. If you want to win a national title you have to beat them regardless of where they are. But the team aspect in an individual tournament has never made sense to me.
Pretty simple - if PSU, Iowa, and OKST continue to grab all the top guys and finish 1-2-3 every year college wrestling is going to get real boring real quick. It’s not good for the sport. That PSU-Iowa dual last week could not have been more boring. All the B10 Friday Night hype was BS because everyone knew it wasn’t going to be close.
Yea I would like more parity, but wrestling has always been like this since about 1975.
Probably a factor. I just think wrestling will always be a niche sport. In last 5 years, there has never been more wrestling either on TV or streaming. Pretty much every dual can be watched. Yes, you have to pay for streaming, but if you want to support wrestling and watch, fans need to pay(and I realize some cannot afford to pay). Ever since ESPN lost NCAA bball tourn, they have given NCAA wrestling great coverage on Espn2 and Espn.
I really don't think that'll happen. Ohio State is going to win a few trophies over the next few years. Cornell is always tough, so is Michigan (not this year), Nebraska, Iowa St, UNI, MN, VTech.
I think there will be a shift towards those schools for a few years for recruiting, but eventually lineups will be jammed. Also, if that's the case, wouldn't it open up the portal?
Most people don't know that (74%) 70 /94 of the team titles have been won by 3 teams Oklahoma st, Iowa and Penn st. And (62%) 58/94 by 2 teams Oklahoma st and Iowa
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Not a ton of D1 programs though which contributes. I’d estimate you have a substantial percentage of NCAA hoops titles won by UCLA and whoever the next two are. But there’s 300 basketball teams so the ratio is probably similar.
Bobby Duffy of CBA who is typically a 132 pinned 2x state champ Adrian DeJesus at 138 tonight. Second time this season he’s pinned a returning state champ. Pinned Ryan DeGeorge of Delbarton earlier this season. 👀
Dejesus is really injured. His neck is really messed up from a slam at the beast…he shouldn’t be out there.
Plenty of folks are scratching their heads as to why DeJesus is on the mat. He clearly isn’t close to 100%.
Jordan Chapman just bumped up to 190 and nearly upset #1 Harvey Ludington. Got taken down with 13 seconds left and lost 9-8
That’s a hell of a performance for Chapman.
