First of all what a great idea to obtain these 10 at large slots so more wrestlers will be competing in Wisconsin. This initial excitement has come to a hault in the past few weeks when finding out the new "fine print details" on these particular slots. We have found that only a few select conferences will be able to obtain these 10 slots (leaving out some regionals/conferences like the OAC and Midwest). Being from the Midwest, we lost 5 bids last year from Del Vals departure which bring us to 11 bids. The midwest conference currently has 5 weight classes with 2 top10 ranked wrestlers nationally within the weight. Now let'sdo some simple math....11 bids. This means there will be 4-5 wrestlers sitting home who are ranked in the top 10 nationally this year from Midwest or the other conferences/regionals. I know individual coaches from the conferences/regionals that can't obtain a slot are certainly upset. I would enjoy some further explanation or light shed on this subject??
OAC only gets 11 also. 165 has Miller, a returning national champ, and Curley, a 2x national qualifier who has been in the top 10 in the rankings. 174 has Kwiat, a returning AA and currently ranked #1, and Scavuzzo, a national qualifier and D3wrestle's wrestler of the week last week. I think all of them have a chance of at least becoming an AA but at least one of them won't even be going to nationals. Keep in mind the OAC's one wild card bid last year was a national runner up (Mizer).
I mentioned OAC and even the Centennial...But definately agree that both OAC and Midwest are really taking a hit hard this year. If you notice within the D3 previews even the IIAC has more than a few weight classes that will certainly not contend for any AA's in Wisconsin. Having seen everyone form the OAC I could also say with certainty that Miller/Mizer, Kwiat/Scavuzzo and even 157 will all have very good (top 10 ranked) wrestlers sitting at home while many other conferences reap the benefits of our great historical data formula. So these 10 bids will be spread throughout the other conferences (many of which don't have top 10 wrestlers) that will all be heading to LAX. This is all the more reason we need to go to Super Regionals like DII...
As for cobbersguy...certainly no comment about the respect of us east coast jokers. I would like to see your own personal definition of respect though?
Every year it's the same thing. We (east coast) are getting screwed, we will dominate this year, blah blah blah. Yet at nationals year in and year out, the IIAC, Great Lakes, and Wisconsin conference schools dominate the team standings! Ithaca will be the only east coast school in the top 5, maybe top 10. All the talk can be thrown out there but the IIAC, Great Lakes, and Wisconsin schools let their wrestling do their talking at nationals.
Cry us a river LION141. If you want those spots, step up and earn it. If the wrestlers in those conferences are as good as you say they are, then they should dominate this year, and increase the number of bids for next season. But, if they do what they typically do, and let the Midwest dominate them at Nationals, you aren't going to get any more bids. That's the way the cookie crumbles.
Here's some advice, try to get into good enough shape where you don't need to take "lung" timeouts. Here in the Midwest, we save our injury time for when we are injured. We wrestle for 7 minutes hard. Not 4 minutes, take a time out, then 3.
Cobbersguy obviously has a bit of difficulty understanding a message. Let me spell it out for you...What we are saying is that the 10 at large bid DID NOT go to the 10 best guys that could be at nationals. Examples: Scavuzzo from BW (NQ and lost to Kwiat by a point--he's sitting at home) while some west coaster will be out there having a shot to positively effect your side of the formula. That is all we are saying....
And as for advice, I certainly don't need much in terms of my lungs....my competitive days are over bud. It seems like your lungs are still fresh though...if you are wrestling at natoinals congrats to you. If not I will say this.... I along with many other AA's and Nationals Champs did not seem to have much difficulty with you Midwest boys at NCAA's back in our competitive days so no crying here on the East Coast...and you still never provided a sound definition for respect on a forum?