The Best and Worst of the Iowa Hawkeyes at the 2016 NCAA Tournament

So the NCAA Tournament did not exactly work out how Hawkeye fans had hoped it would. Penn State was expected to win, and they went out and dominated. It seems as if there is nobody better than Cael Sanderson in prepping his team for the NCAA Tournament, and this year was no different. Even though there were some disappointments for the Hawkeyes, there were also things to celebrate. Let's break it down in chronological order to get through the muck early, so we can celebrate late.

141 - Brody Grothus - N/A
Iowa didn't qualify anybody for the tournament, and there was no Vince McMahon to bring in a brand new Iowa wrestler, Grody Brothus, to liven things up at the Nationals. So, yeah, nothing to note here.

165 - Patrick Rhoads - 0-2
Rhoads was unseeded, and he lived up to that in the tournament. He lost both of his matches. He just didn't have the necessary skills to generate any offense. He wrestled hard; it just wasn't enough.

Heavyweight - Sam Stoll - 0-1
I knew this was a possibility. Sam Stoll's injured knee just couldn't hold up. If he was healthy, I think he would have become an All-American as a freshman, which would have been an incredible accomplishment. Only his knee did give out, and it's a what if as opposed to what actually happened. Wrestling is a hard sport, and it always sucks to see a talented guy not be able to showcase what he has worked so hard for because his body simply can't perform (Brian Realbuto was another example from this year). I'm guessing he'll still struggle early in the season next year, but he will hopefully be back to 100% by the time the matches get meaningful.

157 - Edwin Cooper - 1-2
We knew Cooper was going to need some good matchups to do much damage in this tournament, and unfortunately, he did not get those matchups. He got to his offense early in his first round matchup and took care of business with an 8-3 win. After that, he got matched up with Ian Miller, who nearly beat Isaiah Martinez in the semifinals, and Miller just ran right through Cooper. After that, he was in a match against Austin Matthews from Edinboro, and he started off really well as he got into a shot immediately, but he couldn't finish his shots. After that, he lost some scrambles, ended up on his back repeatedly, and finally got pinned as he knew it was basically the end for him. Obviously, it would have been preferable for him to win another match or two, but he beat the guy he should have, lost to a guy he should have, and didn't find the breaks in his the match that was pretty even going into it. It happens.

174 - Alex Meyer - 4-3 - All American (8th)
Alex Meyer came much closer to having a bigger impact in the tournament. Unfortunately, he got off to a slow start where he was in a match that was seven minutes long, and about six minutes of that were scrambles. He lost 10-9 to Gordon Wolf in a match that he would definitely win the next time around, but that's what makes winning the NCAAs so tough. You face a mystery opponent and one slip up and you've lost your shot at a national title. After that, Meyer really started wrestling great. In the consolation round, he took out the 4, 6, 9, and 14 seeds on his route to become an All-American, and I think he may have trailed in each of those matches. He finally lost to Zach Epperly who took third place in the tournament. Even that was on Friday night after Meyer had a match while Epperly advanced by medical forfeit. On Saturday morning, he lost a hard fought match against Cody Walters from Ohio who pulled out the victory in the final seconds. It was disappointing to end with a couple losses, but considering how he battled back after his first match, it was a really strong performance for Meyer and gives Hawkeyes a reason for excitement for his senior year.

184 - Sammy Brooks - 3-3 - All-American (8th)
Where Alex Meyer bounced back to become a happy surprise as an 8th place finisher, it seems that 8th place is what happened for Sammy Brooks because everything went wrong. He won his first two matches, and then had his third match with TJ Dudley of Nebraska. It was an issue of falling behind early and then not having enough time to catch up. He did make it interesting though as he continually went for upper body throws and actually put Dudley on his back for a second, but he couldn't hold the position, and Dudley held on to win and eventually make it to the finals. That easily could have been Brooks going up against Gabe Dean, but alas, it was not meant to be. On the back half, things continued to get screwy. Brooks faced Dominic Abounader from Michigan and put him on his back in the first period. Right before he is about to complete the pin, the second ref stops the match because he thought there may be an illegal hold. There wasn't, but Brooks lost the position and an extra two points. On top of that, Iowa lost another team point because Assistant Coach, Ryan Morningstar, would not stop screaming at the officials. Iowa would have made the podium as a team with those points, but fourth place isn't really all that important to the Hawkeyes despite what the announcers were saying on Saturday night. Back to Brooks, instead of having a two minute match, he had to go seven hard minutes and then wrestle again later that night against Mat Miller who did get a two minute pin and got up early on Brooks. Sammy went for a big move but got put on his back and pinned. The next morning it was more of the same where Brooks got down and never came close to coming back against Nathaniel Brown from Lehigh. It was a disappointing end to what had been a very good season for Brooks. Still, I think he's a top competitor at 184 next year.

197 - Nathan Burak - 4-2 - All-American (4th)
Burak did exactly what he was supposed to do. He was seeded fourth and he finished fourth. Really, there's nothing to complain about. He won his first three matches, went up against Morgan McIntosh and lost his sixth match to McIntosh. He couldn't generate any offense, and that's the way it has always gone against McIntosh. In what was the only match between Iowa and Iowa State wrestlers, Burak bounced back to beat Patrick Downey in sudden victory. He then lost to Brett Pfarr, a guy he had split with in their previous two matches. Burak was an incredibly solid wrestler for all four years, but he just never had the athleticism to take out the top guys. Iowa would be lucky to get anything close to Nathan Burak for their next starter at 197.

149 - Brandon Sorensen - 4-1 - All-American (2nd)
Brandon Sorensen came in as the #2 seed, and he lived up to that seed. Ultimately, it was a really good performance from Sorensen. The guy is not a point scoring machine, but he is solid everywhere, and he finds ways to win. After a major decision in the first round, he won by two points in his next three matches, one of which went to the second sudden victory period against Jake Sueflohn. It's not flashy, but it gets the job done, and it got him into the finals. That earned him a second match against Zain Retherford, and Retherford is just on another level right now. I think he deserves the Hodge Trophy for best wrestler at any weight class, and he completely overwhelmed Sorensen in the finals. Still, Sorensen did the best of any of his opponents as he was the only one to last all seven minutes. Retherford won by tech fall, pin, pin, and pin before the finals. I feel like second place was his ceiling, and he reached it. Unfortunately, Zain is only a sophomore, so I don't really see that ceiling changing in the next two years.

133 - Cory Clark - 4-1 - All-American (2nd)
Clark wrestled a smart tournament. And by smart, I am implying safe. He got a major decision in his first match and then just plugged along with enough offense to win each match. It got him to the finals where he met Nahshon Garrett, and Garrett is a different sort of wrestler. Technique wise, Clark can hang with anyone, but Garrett's athleticism gave him a lot of problems. Garrett did an excellent job of finding open spots to take his shots, and he was very successful in doing so. The match ended up 7-6, but it really wasn't that close, as Garrett took a large lead and played it safe to hang on to win in the end. Next year, this weight class opens up as the guys who have beat him the last two years (Garrett and Cody Brewer) both graduate. There's a good chance he opens the year as the top ranked wrestler in the 133 pound weight class.

125 - Thomas Gilman - 4-1 - All-American (2nd)
Although he was one of three Hawkeyes to be runner-up in his weight class, Gilman had the best performance of any Hawkeye in the tournament. He absolutely steamrolled his way into the semifinals with a tech fall and two major decisions. He then faced top-ranked Nathan Tomasello and battled for seven minutes. Tomasello almost got a takedown at the end, but Gilman managed to hold him off. Then in overtime, Tomasello looked pretty gassed, and Gilman was not only able to get a takedown, but he got the pin as well to give Iowa even more bonus points. Tomasello was the only top-seeded wrestler to not make the finals, so it was a great job by Gilman. As for the finals, Gilman had a good shot early on, but Megaludis was able to reverse the advantage and get two himself. It changed the whole dynamic of the match, and Gilman wasn't able to make up the deficit. Still, Gilman had a great tournament, and he'll be a co-favorite with Tomasello to win the National Title next year.

This was a disappointing season in many ways for Iowa. Not winning the National Title was not one of them, as Penn State was absolutely stacked, and it was going to take not only Iowa performing well but Penn State to perform poorly to rise to that standard. Still, fifth place is about as low as this team could have finished. The most disappointing part were all those even numbers in the All-American finishes. Every single Iowa wrestler ended his season with a loss. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth, but maybe it's just what they need to take a big step forward for 2017.

Why No Iowa Wrestler Won a National Title in 2015

The 2015 NCAA Championships were this past weekend. You may have missed most of it if you are a normal sports fan. I am not a normal sports fan, so instead, I watched approximately 300 wrestling matches from Thursday-Saturday, and it was amazing. Bravo to ESPN who had coverage of all eight mats, so I was able to see every match that I was interested in from start to finish. Unfortunately, the payoff wasn't quite there as Iowa did not win the National Title and no Iowa wrestler claimed an individual crown either. I want to take a look at each wrestler and figure out what went wrong, as only two guys on the team outperformed their seed.

125 - Thomas Gilman - 6 Seed - 4th Place
Gilman was one of two Hawkeyes to outperform his seed, and I have very little to complain about with his performance. He had some close matches, but he took care of business. In the first round, he got a major decision. Then he got a takedown in sudden victory to beat Jordan Conaway. On Friday morning, he got a late takedown and rideout to tie the match and erase riding time against Joey Dance. After that, he won again in sudden victory, and I was totally convinced he was going to the Finals. I mean, all he had to do was beat an unranked freshman from West Virginia. Well, that unranked freshman came out firing and I'm not sure if Gilman realized the match had even started before he was wrapped up in a cradle and pinned in the first minute of the match. After that, he bounced back to get a pin to make it into the third place match. He got two early takedowns against Alan Waters from Missouri, but Waters got a takedown and back points in the final period to win the match. 125 was a super tough weight class this year, and outside of the Moisey match, Gilman wrestled everybody tough. It's not what he wanted, but there's no way to say he didn't wrestle incredibly well to take fourth.

133 - Cory Clark - 3 Seed - 2nd Place
Cory Clark was the other guy who outperformed his seed, and he was definitely the top wrestler in this tournament for Iowa. He just went out and took care of business. His first match was probably his worst effort as he had a little bit of a lead and kind of stalled out and held on for the victory, even though he was never in any real danger. After that, he put together a Major Decision and a decisive victory over Hall from Iowa State. He scrapped with Gulibon but showed he was the better wrestler. That took him to his Saturday night final with Cody Brewer. Brewer was definitely peaking at the right time as he got bonus points against every guy he wrestled in the tournament. He was big, strong, and did a great job of getting to his shots. Still, Cory Clark didn't try to protect himself and get passive. Clark kept on attacking, and he wore out Cody Brewer. Brewer easily held on to win by stalling his ass off in the third period, but Clark went hard for seven minutes, and you really can't ask more than that. In January, I picked him as Iowa's best chance at a National Title, and even though he didn't pull it off, he gave it one hell of an effort.

141 - Josh Dziewa - 5 Seed - 2-2 DNP
Josh Dziewa may be the Hawkeye that I feel the worst for in this tournament, because he actually wrestled really tough in all of his matches but got nothing to show for it. He drew Kevin Jack from NC State in the first round and wrestled tough, but Jack was wrestling out of his mind in this tournament. The guy made it to the semifinals before running into Logan Stieber, so it was just a bad draw for Dziewa in the first round. Then, Dziewa gets a Major Decision in his first consolation match only to run into the guy ranked 6th at the weight in Chris Dardanes. I was very concerned about that matchup, but Dziewa nearly got a tech fall as he won by 14 points. It was amazing. Unfortunately, he ran into Mayes from Missouri, and Mayes was just too athletic for him, and he was eliminated before the Round of 12. There are probably six guys at 141 who could beat Dziewa with how he was wrestling. He ran into three of them out of four matches. Still, that guy turned it on at the end of the season and wrestled as well as I had ever seen him. The end result does not match the performance.

149 - Brandon Sorensen - 4 seed - 4th Place
Sorensen is another guy who wrestled really well in this tournament. He took care of business in his first match with a major decision. He has wrestled close matches all year long and found ways to come out on top in nearly all of them, but in his second match, he gave up a cheap takedown at the end of the first period, and his opponent was able to stall his way to a victory. He took out the guy who took out two former National Finalists in his first consolation match. After that, he wrestled hard and won in sudden victory before getting another major decision with some hard wrestling for seven minutes. He then won again to make it into the third place match before losing to Tsirtsis in OT. They had some tough scrambles, but Tsirtsis is a guy who easily could have won back-to-back National Titles had some things gone differently in his Semis match. Sorensen was the 4 seed; he took 4th place, and overall, he looked pretty good doing it. I'm excited to see how he progresses.

157 - Mike Kelly - Unseeded - 0-2 DNP
Mike Kelly was not the most talented guy, but he always worked hard in his matches. I think a lot of Hawkeye fans are ready to say goodbye to Mike Kelly, but I am going to miss him. He came so close to having impressive wins, but it just never happened for him. He got outwrestled by Demas, which wasn't surprising. Then, he came close to hitting some big moves, but in classic Mike Kelly fashion, nothing quite worked out. That second match was winnable, but he unfortunately couldn't get the victory.

165 - Nick Moore - Unseeded - 0-2 DNP
There are a lot of rumors that Nick Moore wrestled this year injured, and I definitely believe it. He was one of the top guys going into the NCAA Tournament last year, had a terrible performance and hasn't looked the same since. There was just no explosion from him. He wrestled hard, but he simply didn't have it. He just couldn't get any offense going. It's a tough way to go out.

174 - Mike Evans - 3 seed - 6th Place
This is the most disappointing one. Sixth place for a 3 seed isn't bad, but I think everybody's left with the feeling that it should have been more. Evans was a maddening wrestler in that he would almost always have slow matches, but he'd still flash glimpses of explosive offense. He cruised into the semifinals after beating arch nemesis, Logan Storley. He met up with his other arch nemesis in Matt Brown and wrestled tough. He came super close on a few takedowns but couldn't quite get it and lost 1-0. That was tough enough, but then he lost another two matches in sudden victory and in the first tiebreaker. So he ended his career losing his last three matches. Last year, it was the defensive pin that wasn't called against Chris Perry, and this year it was a bunch of almosts. For fans who watched Mike Evans, he'll be seen as a special wrestler, but without that asterisk, it will be tough for his name to stand the test of time.

184 - Sammy Brooks - 9 seed - Round of 12
Brooks kind of matched his seed, and his NCAA Tournament closely resembled Dziewa where he wrestled well but just got some really bad matchups. He won his first two matches to set up a rematch with eventual National Champion, Gabe Dean. He pushed the pace the entire match (and even got a stalling call on Dean) until Dean pulled off a takedown with a minute left in the final period. Brooks was charging hard, but Dean held on. He got sent to the consolation bracket where he got faced off against 3 seed, Blake Stauffer from Arizona State. Stauffer was a really bad matchup for Brooks, and he really took it to him. I think Brooks is better than the 9th best wrestler at 184, but he went up against the champion and fourth place finisher in back-to-back matches. It was a tough draw, but he will take over the title of "Guy I think is capable of absolutely anything whether that is reasonable or not" from Mike Kelly. Sammy Brooks brings it hard in every match, so I know he can compete with anybody at 184. A little more experience and he might ruin Gabe Dean's day next year.

197 - Nathan Burak - 6 seed - 7th Place
It may not look it from his finish this year, but Burak took a huge step forward this season. He was far better at snatching that single leg and turning it into points. He has really tightened up his game, and he's a dangerous wrestler at 197. He ran into Gadson, who absolutely peaked and wrestled incredibly well in every match this tournament (hence the national championship he won and the giant bowl of ice cream I am sure he received afterwards). After that, he lost to Morgan McIntosh, who is not a good matchup for Burak, but he kept it closer this time, so that's a positive step. Burak still has a redshirt year to use, and considering that Iowa loses 5 seniors this year, I wouldn't be surprised to see him sit out next year and prime himself for a big run in 2017.

Heavyweight - Bobby Telford - 3 seed - 5th Place
It is one of the most incredibly difficult things to be peaking for five matches over three days. Being a little flat and the wrong opponent can end the dream of a national title so easily. Telford was ranked third and went against an unseeded Spencer Myers from Maryland. He was unseeded because of a lack of matches this year, even though he was an All-American last year. He made one mistake early in the match and while he was fighting against the takedown, put himself in a bad spot where he got taken down and gave up two back points. He was aggressive in his comeback, but Myers was able to do enough to hold onto the lead. Then it was Consolation Bracket Bobby Telford who seriously wrestled like he didn't have a care in the world. He steamrolled dudes. Fall in 39 seconds, fall in 1:47. 9-2 win, 4-0 win, 2-0 win. He finally wasn't able to impose his will against Medberry and lost in sudden victory, but he came back to win 5th with a dominant 6-0 victory. He got a huge applause, and you could tell it was still a huge disappointment. Gwiazdowski from NC State looked dominant, but Telford is a tough matchup for anybody.

If things could have gone differently for these Iowa wrestlers in a single moment or single match, who knows what could have happened? But there are 330 qualifiers for the NCAA Tournament, and 320 are asking themselves the same question. What could have been? This wasn't the year for Iowa, on a team or individual level, but there are plenty of positive things to build on. And it's Iowa. They may lose five seniors, but they don't rebuild; they reload. They'll be one of the top five teams in the nation next year, and things may get tougher next year, but anything can happen at Nationals. That's what makes it such an incredible thing to watch.

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.