One Iowa Fan's Journey Through March Mad/Matness

I had been looking forward to this past weekend for a long time. Obviously, I knew Iowa's wrestling team was going to be in contention for a National Title since forever, because they are always in contention for a national title. But this was finally the year when Iowa basketball would make its triumphant return to the NCAA Tournament and wreak havoc on all those that got in their way. In hindsight, things did not quite turned out how I planned. Let's start from the beginning.

Basketball
Last Sunday, Iowa officially got their spot in the tournament, kind of. They had a play-in game for an 11-seed against Tennessee (for these purposes, the weekend started Wednesday night). As KenPom taught me, Tennessee was even more underrated than Iowa, so it was not only a tough matchup, but it was a tough matchup to get into the regular matchup. Ugh was about the only thought I could come up with.

But, I am wildly optimistic about Iowa sports. Since just about anything could happen in sports, I always assume the most positive outcome will happen. I saw the Tennesse matchup as tough, but the SEC barely knows what basketball is, so Iowa should win that one. Then UMass was a ridiculously weak 6-seed, and I haven't been very impressed with Duke all year. That puts Iowa in the Sweet-16 against Michigan, who are dangerous when hot, but Iowa destroyed them the last time they played, so, yes, I did have Iowa making it to the Elite-8 before losing to Louisville (Side note: None of these things are outlandish, especially Tennessee beating Michigan as they have very tough perimeter defense that could give the Wolverines fits). Going into Wednesday night, I had convinced myself that good things were about to happen for the Hawkeyes.

Then Wednesday night started, and Iowa looked great to start off the game. They moved the ball well and Tennessee's shaky shooting was as shaky as advertised. I was ready to start talking trash to both UMass and Duke. But Tennessee crawled back and somehow were only down by three points going into halftime. Still, Iowa was up three points despite getting nothing from Roy Devyn Marble. Once he gets going, Iowa should be able to extend their lead. Also, Tennessee can't shoot, so that's another point in Iowa's favor.

Unfortunately, Marble showed flashes but never really got going, and Tennessee started hitting threes like they were Doug McDermott. And still, Iowa stayed right in the game. Adam Woodbury was amazing; Peter Jok was ridiculous, and even Zach McCabe played really well. They hung close enough for Marble to hit a clutch shot and send the game into overtime. There was still hope.

But that hope quickly disappeared. Iowa just couldn't get things together, and Tennessee had everything going for them. Iowa got outscored 14-1 in overtime to give them their largest margin of defeat through the entire season. After this entire season where Iowa showed they could hang with anyone, but could never pull it out, they hung with Tennessee and just couldn't pull it out. I felt empty, but then I remembered something. The real NCAA Tournament starts tomorrow, and Iowa's wrestling team had a legitimate shot at a national title.

Wrestling:
There was good news and bad news to that, though. I already had plans to go to an Astros Spring Training game in Kissimmee on Thursday, as she had an early flight on Friday morning in Tampa. That meant no wrestling for me on Thursday. I avoided all social media and wouldn't even watch ESPN, as the scroll at hte bottom may spoil a result for me. The good news was that by me avoiding everything on Thursday, I would have 13 straight hours of wrestling to watch on Friday. This had me very excited.

So I end up getting back to my place at around 9:30 after five straight hours of driving and very little sleep. Still, this was the NCAA Wrestling Tournament; there was way too much excitement for me to feel tired. Session I started off well. Cory Clark came out like a man on a mission. Ramos had a close match, but I'll allow that from Ramos, because he's proven himself pretty well these past four years. Iowa suffered their first loss when Dziewa lost, but he was the one guy expected to lose in the first round, so it was not that big of a deal. He wrestled better against Dutton than he did in their previous match, so it was a step forward. After that, both Grothus and St. John looked good in taking care of their opponents.

And then things fell apart. In two of Iowa's next three matches, Iowa suffered huge losses. Nick Moore and Ethen Lofthouse, both 5-seeds in the tournament, suffered first round upsets. The other three remaining Hawkeyes did take care of business, but that was rough. Nick Moore had been wrestling great, and I honestly thought he might be the second best guy at 165 (it was a distant second, but still), and Lofthouse looked healthy with a bracket that lined up perfectly for him to make the finals since both Ed Ruth and Gabe Dean were on the other side. Looking at how the tournament played out, I think he would have had a hell of a time beating Sheptock, but a semifinals appearance would have been a whole lot better than how things turned out.

Even my optimism began to wane.

I'm just now watching Session I of the tournament, and through eight weight classes, I have already given up on Iowa's championship hopes.
— Hott Joe (@HottJoe) March 21, 2014

I then ate a quick lunch and got into Session II. Clark took care of business, and Ramos nearly gave me a heart attack, as he had his second close matchup, this one even closer than the last, as he managed to beat Zane Richards in Sudden Victory. Still, a win is a win. Grothus got beat by Maple, but I expected that. But, everybody else took care of business. St. John, Evans, Burak, and Telford all wrestled well and advanced to the quarterfinals. Iowa had six guys in the winner's bracket.

And that was all it took for me to get my optimism back. When other teams go to the consolations, I assume they will quickly lose again, but when Iowa guys lose, I just assume that they are going to wrestle tough and grind their way back to an All-American finish. By now, you should already know that my optimism was not well placed.

Dziewa got one win before losing to the #2 seed at his weight in sudden victory who just happened to be from Minnesota which put a knife in my chest. Grothus lost his first consolation match against a guy he had already beaten twice this season, which dug that knife a little deeper. Nick Moore won two consolation matches before being on the receiving end of another 5-point move to get eliminated from the tournament and twist that knife a bit. Finally, Lofthouse topped it off by only winning one match in the consolations before getting shut out in his next match. I don't know what else knives can do, so I guess it just did another 360 twist again.

But I still had six wrestlers to look forward to in the championship bracket of Session III. Iowa had two favorites, one underdog, and three tossups. This tweet sums up my emotions well.

I'm about to watch Session III, and I'm excited at what Iowa could do, yet still terrified. Sports are illogical, and I'm a mess. #Hawkeyes
— Hott Joe (@HottJoe) March 21, 2014

Here's how Session III went:

Bad: It started off how I expected as Cory Clark just didn't have enough to beat eventual National Champion, Jesse Delgado.
Good: After that, Ramos kept Iowa fans terrified but got a late takedown in the third to advance to the semifinals.
Bad: Derek St. John wrestled his lackadaisical style but was unable to create scrambles and instead just got repeatedly taken down to lose his match 11-4.
Good: Mike Evans won in a tiebreaker over Matt Brown in an excellent match to advance to the semifinals. This was probably the match that had me most excited as it was not only a tough win, but it was a tough win over Penn State which makes it twice as nice.
Bad: Nathan Burak lost to Chris Penny, who he had beaten earlier this season.
Good: Bobby Telford finally got over the hump and beat Adam Coon in a tiebreaker.

Overall, 3-3, and it was a total rollercoaster of emotions. At this point, I had watched 10 straight hours of wrestling. I was mentally drained but physically anxious. I also had three dogs being pests, so we went for a quick two-mile run to get the bad vibes out. In the biggest shocker of the day, I actually took a shower between my 13 hours of wrestling.

At that point, I had finally caught up to the live viewing on ESPN for Session IV, the semifinals. The good news, although I was not watching, was that the three guys who lost in the quarterfinals all won their first consolation match to guarantee their spots as All-Americans. Six All-Americans, things could be worse.

For the semis, we'll start at Heavyweight, Tony Nelson is just a better version of Bobby Telford. Telford managed a win at the dual, but Nelson was wrestling great in this tournament, and Telford just didn't have enough to beat him. This was a bummer, but it was the easiest match for me to take.

Tony Ramos again tried to give all Iowa fans a heart attack in his rematch against AJ Schopp. Ramos just did not get to his offense at all in the first period. Then Schopp rode out Ramos in the second period and then got a quick escape to ensure that he would get a riding time point. Things were not looking good when Tony Ramos did Tony Ramos things and not only got a takedown but took him to his back for a five-point move to secure the victory and move onto the championship. At least Iowa would have one guy in the finals.

And god damn, it should have been two. I can't imagine how Mike Evans feels about his match against Chris Perry, because even days later, it's tough for me, who has no connection to Mike Evans outside of the fact that we attended the same university years apart, to write about it. No scoring happened in the first and Perry was able to get an escape in the second period, but as time was ticking down, Evans pulled off a takedown to lead 2-1 going into the third period. Evans had the decision and chose down. At the time, it seemed questionable, and it turned out to be an awful decision. Perry rode him out and Evans never came close to getting the escape. They were going into overtime. They got in a scramble, and this happened.

Yep. That's what looks to be a pin. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that this is definitely a pin. There have been lesser pins in the WWE, but the ref, despite looking right at it, refused to call the defensive pin. Chris Villalonga, from Cornell, suffered his first loss of the tournament on way less than this, but the ref didn't want to make the call. In the end, they went to ride-outs, and Evans got ridden out, and Perry escaped and avoided Evans enough to avoid the last-ditch attempt at a takedown. John Smith, coach of Oklahoma State, then got interviewed and didn't understand why Iowa fans were booing. I yelled a lot of expletives at my television. Evans should have made the finals, and it really sucks that he didn't. There's nothing more I can say.

After 13 hours of wrestling and standing for every Iowa match that they showed (because I'm a very pathetic individual), I was pretty tired, so I watched a few dribbles of basketball and went to bed.

Saturday morning was the medal round, and it was not a good showing for the Hawkeyes. I'll rank it from my favorite to most disappointing performance.
1. Cory Clark - He lost his first match to Megaludis, but he wrestled really hard. Megaludis was just a little more solid, and the new takedown rules (which I completely agree with) benefited Nico. Still, Clark was going for it, and that's what really matters. On top of that, he dominated his 5th place match with an 8-1 win over Dylan Peters.
2. Bobby Telford - He was the only person to make it into a third place match, and he ended up taking fourth. A win over Mike McClure is always impressive, but it was 1-0, so that is a classic Telford there. He didn't get to his offense in the third place match and lost Mike McMullan 3-1. Nothing too exciting, but he's a heavyweight, so that's never really expected.
3. Nathan Burak - He took eight place, yet still finishes this high as he wrestled hard but lost to Morgan McIntosh.
4. Mike Evans - He just didn't have it after getting screwed in the semis. I don't blame him. He lost two matches that weren't particularly close to take 6th place.
5. Derek St. John - He finished in 5th place, but he got beaten badly by Ian Miller of Kent State, and then he never got a chance to redeem himself as Brian Realbuto injury defaulted out of their 5th place match. For a guy that grinded out every second of every match during his four years at Iowa, it's disappointing to see him take a beating and never get one last shot at another match. Still, it was a great career for DSJ.

Finally, I made it to Saturday night. ESPN was going to make me wait for the Ramos match as they were starting at 174. This was extra depressing as I had to start the night off by watching Chris Perry win a National Title despite getting pinned in the semifinals. That meant Tony's match was going to be seventh. I make it through the matches, realize that once Tony Nelson lost, Penn State had basically secured their fourth straight National Title. But this night was not about the team race for me anymore. Iowa was stuck in fourth, so it was time to see the culmination of Tony Ramos's four hard years at Iowa where he would take on Tyler Graff, a guy who always wrestled him extremely close. This match would be no different.

If you were trying to sell people on watching wrestling, I would not rely on this match. It was a deliberate match. Neither guy wanted to make a mistake, and neither guy did. No scoring in the first. Graff got an escape in the second. Ramos got an escape in the third. Sudden victory, and not a score was to be had. Tony went down and could not escape from Graff. My heart sank. Tony needed to get a ride out to force it to another sudden victory period. The period started and Graff was close to squirming his way out. He did everything that he could to get away from Tony. He twisted and turned, and that would be his downfall. He turned over to his back, and Ramos planted him there for the two back points before riding him out for the rest of the period to win the National Title at 133 pounds. Ramos took his time to flex, get his hand raised, and sprint over and jump into the stands with his family and friends. After 5 years in the program, and four as a starter, Tony Ramos finally got the asterisk that he so richly deserved next to his name in the Iowa wrestling room.

Overall, this was a terrible weekend to be an Iowa fan. The basketball team got a bad seed and couldn't even make it to the round of 64, and everything is lining up for the team that beat them. On top of that, the most hated man in Iowa guided his team into the Sweet 16.

On top of that, the wrestling team had disappointing loss after disappointing loss and never came close to sniffing the overall title. Despite all that, the lasting image from this weekend will still be Tony Ramos jumping into those stands to celebrate five years of hard work. Sports are stupid. They are cruel, and they will make you feel miserable. I felt terrible way more than I felt good this weekend, but that one moment of a Hawkeye's dream coming true made it all worthwhile.

What The NCAA Wrestling Brackets Mean For Iowa

It's time for all of you amateur bracketologists to take a break, as the real brackets are here for March Matness. Yes, I realize that most people care about the hoopyball more than the grind at Takedown Town, but college wrestling is seriously awesome and you are dumb if you think otherwise. Here are my thoughts on each weight and how things stack up for the Hawkeyes.

125 - Cory Clark gets the 8 seed, which is not ideal. I definitely did not want him on the same side of the bracket as Jesse Delgado, as that guy has been a monster and really raises his game in important matches. Cory Clark still has the talent to beat anybody, but the consistency is his issue. Consistency is key in the NCAA Tournament, and my hope is that he bounces back from a loss against Delgado to become an All-American. And hey, if he beats Delgado, he's got a great shot at making the finals.

On the other side, it is likely to come down to Garrett and Megaludis, and if you're a Hawkeye fan, cheer for Garrett.

133 - Tony Ramos gets the 3 seed, and it really couldn't have worked out much better for him. AJ Schopp did beat him earlier in the year, but this is a loss that I see Tony redeeming himself from. Ramos was heavily favored to win the title before this season began, and I still have confidence in him doing so. Beckman is no pushover, but I don't see him beating Ramos. Quiroga wrestled very well against Ramos at the conference tournament, so he may be able to give Schopp a run for his money.

The other side of the bracket has a lot of tough wrestlers. Joe Colon is the 1 seed, and he absolutely hossed Ramos earlier this season. But he has a tough road. There is a good chance that he faces Thorn who is likely to slow down the match and could take advantage of a mistake. After that, he has the winner of Morrison or Graff, both of which are tough guys to score on and will not be pushovers. I think it is far more likely that Colon trips up than Ramos does before the finals.

141 - Josh Dziewa is unranked and takes on the 13 seed, Stephen Dutton. Dutton really took it to him at the Big Ten Tournament, but only lost 3-2 at the dual meet. Still, his only losses have come to Retherford, Steiber, and a tiebreaker loss to Dardanes, so it's going to be a tough matchup. Unfortunately, I see him doing most of his work in the consolation bracket. The good news is that the consolation bracket sets up nicely for him as long as Devin Carter and Zain Retherford take care of business.

149 - Brody Grothus got the 13 seed? What does that mean? Haha, nice try. It means nothing. Brody Grothus could do anything at this tournament, and I wouldn't be surprised. He has beaten ranked guys like Tsirtsis, Kindig, and Habat and also managed to lose to Caleb Ervin who had only one other win against Big Ten competition this year. In fact, 149 has been insane all year, but I feel like things have calmed a little at the end of the season. Still, Grothus could do anything; seed doesn't matter.

157 - Derek St. John got the 2 seed, and things seriously could not have worked out better for him. The 3 seed is Alex Dieringer who always pushes St. John but can never seem to get the better of him. DSJ is going to have close matches, but the people that have given him trouble this year are all on the other side of the bracket.

And man, I would not be happy if I were a Nebraska fan. James Green has his work cut out for him as the 1 seed. The big dogs from the Big Ten are all on that side, and he could have to deal with the funk of Dylan Ness who is capable of beating anybody (and is also possibly the most exciting wrestler in the tournament, because anything could happen in his matches), and then have to deal with the one guy who beat him, Isaac Jordan of Wisconsin. This side could have a lot of upsets.

165 - Nick Moore got the 5 seed, which is not great. First it means that he is on the same side of the bracket as David Taylor, so he has no chance of making the finals. He also has Steven Monk as the 4 seed, who did beat Moore earlier in the year. I think Moore has actually progressed a lot through this season, so I do like him to make the semis against Taylor, but it'll be tough.

174 - Mike Evans got the 4 seed, and it's a nice spot for him. His big threat in the quarters is Matt Brown who beat him earlier in the year but lost at the Big Ten Tournament. That match, like all matches among the top six seeds could. If he gets past him, he likely faces Chris Perry, the 1 seed who Evans lost 5-4 to earlier in the year. Again, close matches, anything could happen.

On the other side of the bracket, is Howe at 2, Kokesh at 3, and Storley at 6. Howe is definitely the favorite as he beat Kokesh 3-2 earlier this year, but Kokesh has really been wrestling well at the end of this season. Don't count out Storley either who isn't always consistent but is capable of competing with anybody.

184 - Ethen Lofthouse got the 5 seed, and this is probably the second most favorable draw for a Hawkeye after DSJ's. The 4 seed is Thomusseit from Pittsburgh, who I will admit to not knowing much about, but he did lose twice to Sheptock and didn't really face any other top level guys. Sheptock is the 1 seed, and he beat Lofthouse in sudden victory in their only meeting this season. That is a match that could go either way, and it is not hard to see a situation where Lofthouse makes it to the finals.

Ed Ruth is on the other side of the bracket, which is a little surprising. I know Sheptock went undefeated, but Ruth is clearly the best wrestler at this weight. He did lose to Gabe Dean who is at the 3 spot, so maybe Dean can pull off a little more Cornell magic. Although I don't think Steinhaus is going to beat Ruth, it is nice that he is on the opposite side from Lofthouse.

197 - Nathan Burak received the 11 seed. He wrestled really well at the Big Tens, so he may start wrestling to his potential. He should get past his first round opponent from Wyoming. After that, he faces the 6 seed from Bloomsburg, Richard Perry. Perry's only loss came to 7 seed Travis Rutt, who he managed to pin later in the year. Outside of that, he didn't face a lot of top competition. Out of any of the top 7 seeds to wrestle into, this is probably my pick as he may be overrated because of his lack of competition. He also may be underrated, but that wouldn't really matter, because I can't see Burak getting by any of the other top guys.

HWT - Bobby Telford is a 5 seed, which is totally fine. The heavyweight division is insane. There isn't a guy in the top-8 that couldn't win this whole thing. Tony Nelson at 1 is still the favorite, because he always seems to turn it on when it matters, but Telford finally got a win over him this year, so anything is possible. He'll have to get through super freshman Adam Coon to get to Nelson, and their first match was a close loss for Telford but could certainly go the other way this time.

I would have rather seen Telford on the other side of the bracket, but that is just because I am very afraid of Tony Nelson. Anyone can beat anyone. Everything means nothing; nothing means everything.

Overall - I would say things worked out fine for the Hawkeyes. St. John is their top ranked guy at 2, but Ramos is their best chance at a national title at 3. Although I projected out a few rounds, anything can happen in wrestling, and they could lose to guys they are projected to beat and beat guys they are projected to lose to. Penn State's still the favorite to win it, but if Iowa or Minnesota get a couple upsets, either team could win the championship. I am so pumped. 

A Look at 2014 Iowa Wrestling

I love Iowa wrestling. In fact, there may not be another sports team that I care about as much as Iowa wrestling. I love Iowa football, and I can't get enough Iowa basketball, but I get ill watching Iowa wrestling. I go from a well-adjusted adult to a screaming psychopath as I watch meets. I once wrote an Iowa wrestling song to the tune of 2Pac's Hit 'Em Up. This is not healthy, but sports are stupid, and I love them. Anyway, I'm really excited about this Iowa team, so let's break it down one weight class at a time.

125 - Cory Clark
Clark has been fine this year. He's getting wins, but they aren't always as impressive as fans would like to see. That's pretty nitpicky this early on. But they have Penn State in a week and a half, and that is the meet that will be a great test for him. Megaludis is tough, but Clark had the talent to beat National Champion, Jesse Delgado, last year, and even though Delgado was not wrestling as well as he was by the end of the season, Clark showed he can wrestle with anybody. If he beats Megaludis, the sky is the limit for him.

Also, Thomas Gilman may be the best backup in the nation. I would definitely pick him as an All-American if Iowa could wrestle two guys at one weight.

133 - Tony Ramos
He's the best wrestler at Iowa. I know DSJ has a National Title and is ranked #1 at his weight, two things Ramos cannot say, but Ramos is, without a doubt, the best wrestler on Iowa's team. He got upset by AJ Schopp, but I don't see him losing again this season. Schopp wrestled a hell of a match and Ramos wasn't getting to his offense and when he did, he wasn't finishing. This has not been an issue for Ramos in the past, and I don't see it happening in the future. He's going to come hard, score points and dominate the competition. Now that he lost a match, he's going to be looking to put absolute beatings on his next opponents. I feel bad for them. I won't feel bad when he wins a National Title this year.

141 - Josh Dziewa
It's pronounced Jeva. You'll be able to impress your friends (not really, none of your friends give a shit about college wrestling) by knowing the correct pronunciation. He got pinned in his last match, but outside of the end result, there were a lot of positives about the match. He wasn't able to really threaten any offense in the first, but he also shut down the second ranked guy in the country. He rode hard, got in an awkward position, and he lost the scramble in the worst possible way. Other than that, he's been taking care of business, and he could definitely challenge for an All-American spot this year, just as long as he can avoid Stieber as long as possible.

149 - Mike Kelly
I love Mike Kelly, and I know that I am in a very small minority with my feelings. Looking at the Iowa roster, 149 is the weak spot. Brody Grothus got the nod in the last meet, and he got destroyed. Mike Kelly always seems to make people work, takes some really great shots too, but man, that guy cannot win a scramble to save his life. He gets in 50/50 positions and can never find a way to get the better of his opponent. It's maddening, but he has tools to be good. His scrambling is an issue, and although if he became Ben Askren in that area, he could be an All-American, I can't exactly predict that. Still, I do see a step up from this weight with him qualifying for Nationals and even scoring some points for the Hawkeyes.

157 - Derek St. John
Derek St. John is the total opposite of Mike Kelly. He wins every scramble ever. It's maddening, because he is always centimeters from losing a match, but he fights for everything and always manages to get the best of his opponents. He's ranked #1, so he's the favorite to take this weight class, but it's tough to always win like that. He is in close matches constantly, so even though he has the ability to win all of them, it's tough to feel very confident that he is going to do it again.

165 - Nick Moore
Moore is a guy who looks like he's taken a significant step forward this year. He controlled a tough opponent at Iowa State, and he actually looked good against Edinboro, although some fans were hoping to see a major decision. He consistently got deep in his shots, but there were a few instances where he wasn't able to finish it off. Still, he's showing good offense, and if he keeps wrestling hard, he could be a threat to anybody not named David Taylor.

174 - Mike Evans
Evans is maybe the most interesting wrestler on the Iowa roster. He started his career at 165, and his offense was stagnant, but he may have had the best rides of anybody at that weight. Then he moved up to 174, and he got explosive offense but really struggled on top. This year, he has plowed through everyone he has faced, but 174 is stacked. He's ranked #6, and although Andrew Howe is the favorite, everyone in that top six is super dangerous. He doesn't have a stache this year, but if he replaces it with a national title, I think all Iowa fans would be pretty cool with it.

184 - Ethen Lofthouse
It's the same story with Lofthouse. He can look great at times and pedestrian at other times. He's been able to turn it on for the national tournament, and if he can do it again, he could be in the finals. If Ed Ruth gets kicked off Penn State, he could even win the whole thing. But it's another slow start for him. Since he's proven himself, it's too early to get worried.

197 - Nathan Burak
He hasn't wrestled yet this year, but considering how much better he got as the season went on last year, I'm really excited to see what he can do this year. I don't think he's going to win a National Title, but if the reports are true, he should be able to compete with anybody this year.

Also, super excited for Sam Brooks, who has been wrestling up a weight in replacing Burak. He has looked very tough so far.

285 - Bobby Telford
He's hurt, but still ranked #3. He's working with the guy that made Tony Nelson an unbeatable monster, so maybe he can finally beat Nelson this year, but I have trouble believing it until I see it. Still, I don't think there's another heavyweight out there that he can't beat, so making the finals would not surprise me.

Overall, Iowa has a shot at 9 All-Americans (10, if you're willing to jump on that Mike Kelly bandwagon with me), and two guys who are probably going to be favored to be national champions. That's if everything goes right, and at the NCAA, it never does. There are going to be upsets. Penn State and Minnesota are stacked this year, so Iowa is going to need more upsets go their way than go against them, but I think this Iowa team does have a chance to finally break up Penn State's dominance, although it won't be easy.

Anyway, Iowa has a meet on Thursday night against Buffalo where they should dominate. After that, the season really begins. Next Saturday vs. Penn State in a meet that you should make time for if you have BTN and even a small interest in wrestling. It's going to be an awesome meet, and I am already way too excited for it. Seriously, watch wrestling; don't be a pencil-neck geek.

Why Everybody Hates Iowa Wrestling

Yesterday, I mentioned that the Iowa Hawkeyes are the most hated wrestling team in the nation.  For those that don't follow the sport of wrestling, you're probably wondering how a simple school from the heartland could be so hated by every other wrestling fan.  Well, for the average wrestling fan, it's super simple, Iowa is better than everybody else.  They go out and kick everybody's ass.

For people who follow wrestling a little bit closer, they might hate Iowa because they perceive Iowa as a dirty team.  It's tough to say they aren't.  They often give up points for unsportsmanlike conduct.  At Nationals, they not only gave up match points for unsportsmanlike conduct, but lost two team points for behavior from their coach and one of their wrestler's.

And if you're a hardcore wrestling fan, you probably look at Iowa as being a bunch of assholes.  If you ever watch an interview where an Iowa wrestler wins a decision, the wrestler will act as if he did terrible and say that he should have been more aggressive and gotten bonus points.  If he gets a major decision, he believes it should have been a tech fall.  If he gets a tech fall, he believes he should have pinned the guy.  And if he pins the guy, he says he should have done it quicker.  No matter what Iowa achieves, they always want more.  If a fan of another team sees an Iowa guy beat their guy, followed by the Iowa guy complaining about how he should have done better, I could see how that might irritate people. 

So Iowa wins all the time, they use questionable tactics, and winning isn't good enough for them, because they are always searching for annihilation.  The three reasons that people hate Iowa are the three reasons that I love Iowa.

The first and last reasons are easy to love, winning is awesome.  And winning big is even more awesome.  I could understand how people would compare the Hawkeyes with the Yankees where it can't be that fulfilling to win championships when it happens so frequently.  Well, there are two major differences with that argument.  The first is that the Yankees have a competitive advantage with their payroll to help them win championships.  Iowa is still just Iowa.  It's rare for Iowa to have the top recruiting class, but they win because they get wrestlers who are willing to put in the work to become champions.  The second major difference is that the World Series is the pinnacle of what you can achieve in baseball.  While the National Championship is great, at Iowa, the goal is to win an individual title at all ten weight classes.  It's incredibly unlikely to reach that goal, but every year, that is what Iowa wants, for every single starter to become a national champion.  They always want more.

With the second reason, I can understand how people see Iowa's style as somewhat "cheap" or "dirty," but it's much more simple than that, they wrestle hard until the whistle is blown.  If a guy is dumb enough to stand out of bounds waiting for a whistle, they're gonna get a hard shove if the ref doesn't blow that whistle in time.  Does Iowa have any chance of scoring in that situation?  Of course not, but Iowa is always going to be aggressive.

On top of that Iowa wrestlers literally don't know how to stall.  Iowa has lost matches in the final seconds, because they don't know how to flee like other schools teach their wrestlers to do.  There were actually two awesome examples of Iowa's disdain for defensive wrestling during the past weekend.  The first one was while Tom Brands was being interviewed about a previous match.  An Iowa wrestler (Derek St. John) was in a bad position near the edge of the mat.  The exchange went something like this:

Tom Brands:  Come on St. John.
Interviewer:  You want your wrestler to get out of bounds right here.
Tom Brands:  No, I want him to improve his position and keep wrestling.

This was not a case of the interviewer saying something dumb.  Every other school in America would want their wrestler to get out of bounds in that situation, but that isn't the Iowa way.  Iowa believes that no matter how bad of a position he is in, as long as he keeps wrestling, he should be able to get in an advantageous spot and score points.  There is no such thing as defense at Iowa; they're always looking for offense.

The second example was even more amazing.  An Iowa wrestler (Tony Ramos) was down big going into the third period.  But he did what Iowa does; he kept wrestling.  He kept taking his opponent down and letting him up.  Finally, he had tied up the match.  All he needed to do was ride out his exhausted opponent to take it to overtime.  But instead, with just 30 seconds left, Iowa told him to cut his guy loose.  With the escape point, his opponent took the lead, but Iowa always stays aggressive.  As time ticked down, his opponent did everything he could to avoid the Iowa wrestler's attempts.  And because of a generous ref who did not decide to call him for stalling, the Iowa guy lost the match.  Iowa could have easily ridden the match out and taken it to overtime, but that isn't the way Iowa wrestles.  I can understand how people would call that a stupid decision, and I really can't argue against that.  But this isn't a case of being smart or stupid, it's a case Iowa believing that their wrestler could get the win.  This time, it bit them in the ass, but it's not the Iowa way to look back; they're always looking forward, trying everything they can to score points.

My second favorite quote about Iowa wrestling (First has to go to Dan Gable's, "I shoot, I score.  He shoots, I score.") actually comes from StateCollege.com's Steve Sampsell as he tried to figure out the reason the Hawkeyes were able to surprise the top ranked Nittany Lions by defeating them in Happy Valley:

The Hawkeyes compete hard every minute. They never stop.

They’re Iowa. And you’re not.

And that's the best way to put it.  Every Iowa opponent knows that they're going to have to go through 7 minutes of hell when they face the Hawkeyes, and every Iowa wrestler knows that he's a Hawkeye, and his opponent isn't.  They're Iowa.  And you're not.

So what happens next year?

Honestly, it's probably going to be a lot of good things.  Going into the year, Iowa had only one returning starter from the previous year in this year's starting lineup.  Iowa was ranked 12 going into the season as everyone saw it as a rebuilding year.  They proceeded to go undefeated in dual meets.  They finished a disappointing third at nationals.  Yes, third is a disappointment, even in a rebuilding year.

Anybody who follows wrestling had to be astounded at the progress that the Iowa wrestlers made throughout the season.  It's a young team that is only going to get better.  Iowa will lose two wrestlers in 5th place finisher (and 7th year Senior), Luke Lofthouse as well as Aaron Janssen, who although he didn't place (Top-8 become All-Americans), wrestled incredibly hard after getting upset in his first match at Nationals.  149 was our weakest weight class this year, but that will be greatly helped with the return of Dylan Carew who tore an ACL early in the season.  Iowa also had a top recruiting class last year, and since everybody redshirts at Iowa (to give their wrestlers the best chance to win as many individual titles as possible), some of those guys should be ready to step up and contribute next year. 

It's a year away, so it'd be really tough to make an accurate prediction.  We know that Penn State is loaded for next year, but if you put a gun to my head, I guess I'll go with Iowa coming in...uh...yeah, 1st Place.  The Hawkeyes will not be the defending champs, but Iowa will right that wrong next year. 

-Joe

P.S.  I've watched this video about thirty times, and it's GLORIOUS every time.