Tomorrow is a big day for the Cyclones as they go for their 3 straight Big 12 Title! This would be the first time in school history they've won the conference title 3 years in a row!
With that said, the Cyclones are the favorite, although Missouri could give us a little bit of a run for the money.
Another big implication about this tournament is that it works as an automatic qualifier for the NCAA tournament. Here are the allocations as to how many guys in each weight class in the Big 12 will automatically qualify for Nationals.
Below is a quick preview of each weight class and how I think ISU's wrestlers may do:
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125
- Top 3 qualify for NCAAs
- Tyler Clark is seeded 3rd with Fio from OU and Blanc from OSU seeded #1 and #2.
- Clark has lost to Blanc, and Fio earlier in the season. He also barely beat the #4 seed in overtime.
- This could be tough for Clark to get in the top 3, but I have a feeling if he didn't finish in that, he'd be an at large bid.
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133
- Top 3 qualify for NCAAs
- Fanthorpe is seeded 1st with Notte from OSU 2nd, and Shelton from OU 3rd. I think he wins easily.
- Fanthrope is defending his Big 12 title
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141
- Top 3 qualify for NCAAs
- Gallick is seeded #2 behind Hoehn from MU. Gallick beat all of the guys seeded below him easily and lost to Hoehn in OT. I think Gallick will finish 1st.
- Gallick is defending his Big 12 title
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149
- Top 2 qualify for NCAAs
- Mueller is seeded #2 behind Terry from OU. Mueller got worked by Terry pretty good earlier in the season as he lost 6-0. Mueller was runner up last year, and I don't know if he can beat Terry.I would expect him to finish 2nd yet again.
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157
- Top 4 qualify for NCAAs
- Cyler is seeded #3 and Burroughs from NU, and Chandler from MU are seeded #1 and #2.
- Cyler is capable of beating Chandler (although I think Chandler is better overall), but he got worked by Burroughs as he lost to him 12-3 just a couple of weeks ago. He'll qualify for NCAAs and I can see him finish either 2nd or 3rd.
- Cyler is defending his Big 12 title as he beat Chandler last year for it by 1 point (6-5)
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165
- All 5 qualify for NCAAs
- Reader is seeded #2 behind Marabale from MU.
- Marabale is defending his Big 12 title. Reader did only lose by 1 to Marabale, so this could be potentially a good final. Reader is on a roll right now and I'm liking his chances.
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174
- Top 3 qualify for NCAAs
- Burk is seeded #5. We've got Jordan from MU #1, Browne from NU #2, McSpadden from OSU #3, and James from OU #5.
- Browne is defending his title from last year.
- We'll have to see how well Burk can do. He had some relativley close matches, and you never know what will happen in a tournament.
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184
- Top 4 qualify for NCAAs
- Ward is seeded #2 behind Jones from NU
- Ward wrestles close with almost everyone (win or lose). He did get pinned by Jones pretty quickly. I didn't see the match, so I have no idea what happened.
- I would expect Ward to make it through but due to his nature of wrestling so close (being more conservative than aggressive), you never know what will happen
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197
- All 5 qualify for NCAAs
- Varner is seeded #1 of course and will roll easily
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HWT
- All 5 qualify for NCAAs
- Zabriskie is seeded #1, but it should be an interesting tourney for him. He finished runner up to Rosholt from OSU in last year's tourney. Big Z also beat Rosholt this year when he was ranked #1. Rosholt is seeded #3 this time around. Also, Ellis from MU is seeded #2. Zabriskie beat him when Ellis was ranked #1 as well.
- Since this is a pretty stacked weight class, I could see either Big Z, Rosholt, or Ellis winning this. Rosholt barley lost last time around and he's defending his title. This is the most interesting round to me, but perhaps I'm a little biased towards this weight class anyways.
It looks like we are probably going to send 9 guys, which seems about right. I would love to see Burk in it, but it isn't looking good for him. Perhaps he can pull off an upset or two...
Action begins at 11am tomorrow (Saturday, March 7th) in Lincoln, NE. The championship round will be on FSN in Central Iowa at 7pm.
Go Cyclones!