Iowa Wrestling's Win Over Minnesota Gives Hope for 2019

Iowa beat Minnesota 24-10 on the road this past Sunday, and it was by far their most impressive performance of the season (unless you got real excited about them beating Kent State and Cal State Bakersfield which, admittedly, I did). But Iowa finally looked like a complete team (minus Heavyweight, Sam Stoll), and even in their losses, they wrestled hard from beginning to end. Here's a quick takeaway from beginning to end, where the meet started at 157.

157 - Kaleb Young
Young has probably been the most pleasant surprise this season for the Hawkeyes. All the guy does is win, excluding a tough loss in the finals of the Midlands to Ryan Deakin. He took on a top-10 ranked guy in Steve Bleise, and outside of a deep shot that he couldn't quite finish in the first period, absolutely nothing happened for the first six and a half minutes. Then Bleise surprised Young on a shot and got double underhooks, and this happened.

Kaleb Young! What a throw for a 6-point move. What a way to start the day! #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/y5Ro6Zb20j

— Cody Hills (@ByCodyHills) January 13, 2019

Definitely the move of the meet, but I would still like to see Young get after his offense more to ensure an All-American finish this season.

165 - Alex Marinelli
Marinelli has been Iowa's best wrestler this year, and it's been amazing to see the leaps he made from last year to this year. I know he was an All-American last year, but outside of a surprise upset over Vincenzo Joseph, he seemed to falter in big matches. This year, he's not only winning but dominating the opposition. He got a pin in the third period in this match, and this year if he beats Vincenzo, it won't be that big of a surprise.

174 - Mitch Bowman
Mitch Bowman was the first Iowa wrestler to lose in the meet, and he has had a less than stellar transition down to 174 pounds. He got down big early by giving up a four-point move and ended up giving another point away with locked hands at the beginning of the second period. When he was down 7-1, I was convinced that this switch in weight classes just wasn't going to work out for Bowman. But Bowman just kept coming. He grinded away for takedown after takedown on Minnesota's Devin Skatzka who is a legitimate contender to be an All-American (currently ranked 11th). Skatzka clearly had nothing left in the tank as Bowman stalked him relentlessly, but time ran out on Bowman. Had he just not gotten called for locked hands, he likely would have seen overtime where the situation definitely would have favored him. Bowman was always an up-and-down wrestler that was truly maddening. He just needs to get over the hump and turn some close losses into wins. It's still too early to say for certain how much of a threat he can be at this weight class.

184 - Cash Wilcke
Wilcke finally came out and showed some offense early on in a match. He still came one point shy of a major decision, but that's basically his M.O at this point. He has come one win away from being an All-American two years in a row, and it would not surprise me if he made it three straight years, although I still have hopes for him to break through to AA status this season.

197 - Jacob Warner
Warner is a true talent on offense, but his defense and gas tank are still works in progress. I think the gas tank should be something that is in good shape when it matters this March, but his defense can be suspect, and that will probably stop him from being elite this season. Still, outside of Bo Nickal, this weight class is fairly wide open, so I think he is a threat to anyone else in the division.

HWT - Connor Corbin
Corbin is the Hawkeyes third string Heavyweight and really is more of a backup at 197, but he held Gable Steveson to a major decision, so he may have been the most pleasant surprise of the meet. Steveson clearly got gassed early, but I'll take it as Corbin stayed in there against the most dangerous heavyweight in the division.

125 - Spencer Lee
I am still very confident that Spencer Lee is going to put it together and win the National Title again this year. But man, this is not the Spencer Lee we have learned to love. Even though he completely shut out Sean Russell who is a likely All-American at 125, it was about as unimpressive as he could be. His only takedown happened after defending a shot from Russell, and he never came close to initiating a takedown off of his own offense. I am still assuming that he is in recovery from health issues earlier this year. Let's not forget, he's SPENCER FREAKING LEE. He did things I never thought possible last year in the NCAA Tournament, and I think he's going to start steamrolling fools and annihilating the competition when it matters in March.

133 - Austin DeSanto
DeSanto is an absolute psycho, and I love it. He came into the match against Ethan Lizak as a slight underdog according to the rankings, and he came out and sent a message. He got a takedown in the first period and immediately wanted to let him up so he could keep taking him down, but the coaches made him put on a ride for a while, but he did get a second takedown after Lizak escaped. To start the second period, Lizak picked top, because he is one of the best riders in the entire NCAA. DeSanto kept active throughout the whole period but couldn't escape. So it made sense that DeSanto would just pick neutral for the third as that is where he seemed to hold a significant advantage, but NOPE. Dude picked down to give himself another chance to get out from Lizak, not because it made sense, but because Lizak dared him to during the offseason. DeSanto didn't just escape but got a reversal, then rode out Lizak the rest of the period and ended up with a riding time point. Then he taunted Lizak and the entire Minnesota crowd and Iowa got docked a team point. TOTALLY WORTH IT. DeSanto was known to be a little wild when he transferred to Iowa, but instead of being out of control and bad for the sport, now he's our wild man, and I support him 99% (still 1% uncomfortable about the time he went for a kimura when he was losing to Micic at the NCAAs).

141 - Max Murin
Max Murin is a fascinating guy at the best weight class in the nation. Nobody has blown the doors off of him in a match, but he also hasn't been able to pull off a signature win. Mitch McKee is very tough and seems to be wrestling to his potential this season, and Murin could not find a way to get to his offense and get a takedown on him. This was another case where the Iowa guy seemed to have more in the tank than the Minnesota guy at the end of the match, but it didn't lead to points and Murin was unable to pull off the upset. I think Murin is good enough to get a low seed at the NCAAs, and he can keep it close with anybody, but it's tough to predict big wins until we actually see big wins. I'm still very excited for his future both in the long-term and just how he can progress the rest of this season.

149 - Pat Lugo
If you can predict what Pat Lugo is going to do at the NCAAs, you are a better man than I. He has been competitive in his matches but hasn't gotten a big win against the top guys. At the same time, he's had some disappointing losses, but then he came out against Minnesota and dominated from start to finish for a 15-1 victory. 149 doesn't have anybody that actually dominates, so anybody is susceptible to an upset. I think Lugo is definitely good enough to pull off one of those upsets, but at the same time, I haven't seen anything this season to say that he can actually string together enough good matches to finish as an All-American. But seriously, this guy confuses me more than anybody on the roster.

Overall, Iowa is good enough to finish in the top-four, and has the talent to battle for second place, but it's still Penn State's year for a team title. The rest of this season will tell us a lot about their potential for 2020 though, because nearly everyone is back, and Iowa will have a legitimate shot to end their National Title drought. Also, wrestling is the best, so you should just watch as much as possible.