Pat Downey to 197lbs for post season
- Thread starter RossIAwrestle
- Start date
Can someone explain this quote from KJ?
“Really disappointing because it looked like they were ready for their season to be over. Which it is probably leaning towards for a couple of them.” Kevin Jackson said in his press conference Monday.
“Really disappointing because it looked like they were ready for their season to be over. Which it is probably leaning towards for a couple of them.” Kevin Jackson said in his press conference Monday.
Nice for Pestano to get a shot after a strong season. Willing to see how it shakes out for the wrestlers. As a commentary on coaching, well, I guess disorganization can be considered a leadership style.
Its out of context with the rest of the article. He said that during the press conference in reference to the way some of the guys wrestled on Friday at Minnesota.
Good for Pestano but I don't see this as a good move for the team. Downey has a lot more upside at 184 than 197. Maybe he can grow during the offseason but bumping up now after getting down to 184 seems like a bad call. He might qualify but, unless the cut was totally killing him, given the working he got on Friday night I don't see how we can expect to get many points out of him at 197.
I mean, I'd love to see both him and Dane prove me wrong. But I just don't see the net positive in NCAA points.
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Confused by him saying he doesn't have time to get his nutrition in order to maintain 184. KJ was saying he was going to 184 last June. WTH has he been doing? I grow more confused/concerned about the direction of the program every day.
Obviously there's been no plan. There was a video just last week about how Downey was good with the 184 weight cut. I've supported KJ longer than most people, but these kinds of things don't happen at other good wrestling programs. Figure it out fellas.
So we've got guys wrestling up in three weight classes (and at 141 it was two guys that couldn't make weight) and a HWT who has to cut to make 285?
Even if you give them the benefit of the doubt on Boston since he grew during his redshirt year that's still bad.
Even if you give them the benefit of the doubt on Boston since he grew during his redshirt year that's still bad.
Pat hasn't been able to train since the NYAC Holiday International Open in November (nasty injury...that's all I'll say about that); consequently, his weight got up to 208. He's been back on the mat only a few weeks. There wasn't a sufficient amount of time for him to 'properly' get down to 184...too much, too soon. So far, we've yet to see the 'real' Pat. I hope he doesn't disappoint us. Go Cyclones.
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I'm happy for Dane, he deserves it. Beside Tanner, he may be our best shot to AA.
Earl and Tanner are our best two shots by a wide margin. Dane is further down the list.
Ross's article said Downey won a wrestle off at 197. But I don't think that makes it all that much better - I bet Hall would win a wrestle off against Boston at 141 as well. That doesn't mean its a good idea to move him up.
I'm not an insider at all so this is pure conjecture but what this stinks of is after Smith got hurt on Friday the staff panicked and since Downey was having a rough cut (but was making 184 and would have had two more weeks to settle in to the weight before Big XIIs and another two weeks until NCAAs, but which time presumably the cut would have been a lot easier) they took the easy route of bumping Downey up to 197 since he can beat Harrington and (and this is the mostly guessing part, we'll see at Big XIIs) bumping Harrington up to HWT since he can beat Scanlon.
Doesn't make any sense though. This isn't middle school. You don't just bump guys up mid season and expect them to perform. That type of line up tinkering is totally fine for duals when the matchups are favorable. In fact I think coaches could probably do it more often. But for post-season tournaments? Not at all.
Again, not knowing the inner details, I see two possibilities here.
1: The coaches don't have high confidence that Downey is capable of making a run at 184 so they're making the safe bet of Dane qualifying and Downey having a better chance of stealing a spot at 197 than Harrington would. This move does increase our chance of qualifying 184 and 197. That's true. But qualifying doesn't get you points. Going deep in the tournament and bonus point wins score points. It'd be better to only qualify 184 and have that person get a couple wins than it would be to qualify both weights and have both guys finish short of the R12.
2: They have no control over how guys manage their weight and are grasping at straws.
Basically, assuming Smith is out
184: Downey
197: Harrington
HWT: Scanlon
You're putting all your chips in on Downey making a run at 184. High risk, high reward
184: Pestano
197: Downey
HWT: Harrington
You're maximizing your chance at qualifying these weights, maybe even all three with a good Big XIIs. But you're not setting guys up to do any damage at NCAAs once they get there. Low risk, low reward.
I mean, it is totally possible that this move could end up paying off huge dividends. It just doesn't seem very likely.
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