WHAT: 2021 NCAA Wrestling Tournament -- Session IV
WHEN: 7 PM Central
WHERE: Enterprise Center (St. Louis, MO)
TV: ESPN
ONLINE: ESPN3.com/WatchESPN, ESPN app
RADIO: 800 AM KXIC, iHeart.com, iHeart Radio app
Your best source of live scoring is here.
QUARTERFINALS RESULTS
| WT | WINNER | RESULT | LOSER |
|---|---|---|---|
| 125 | #1 Spencer Lee | MAJ DEC (10-2) | #9 Devin Schroeder (Purdue) |
| 133 | #4 Austin DeSanto | MAJ DEC (13-5) | #5 Micky Phillippi (Pitt) |
| 141 | #1 Jaydin Eierman | FALL (3:49) | #9 Dresden Simon (Central Michigan) |
| 149 | #4 Boo Lewallen (Oklahoma State) | DEC (6-4 SV) | #12 Max Murin |
| 165 | #8 Shane Griffiths (Stanford) | DEC (3-1 SV) | ##1 Alex Marinelli |
| 174 | #1 Michael Kemerer | MAJ DEC (13-4) | #8 Daniel Bullard (NC State) |
| 197 | #4 AJ Ferrari (Oklahoma State) | DEC (3-2) | #5 Jacob Warner |
| 285 | #5 Tony Cassioppi | DEC (4-1) | #4 Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) |
Iowa went 5-3 in the semis; not great, not but not terrible. The Marinelli loss is the one that really stings, obviously. Any time you lose a projected finalist it hurts; losing one in the quarterfinals is especially damaging. He'll need to do a lot of work for Iowa in the consolation bracket. Speaking of...
| WT | WINNER | RESULT | LOSER |
|---|---|---|---|
| 157 | #5 Kaleb Young | DEC (8-2) | #22 Benjamin Barton (Campbell) |
| 184 | #22 Devin Kane (North Carolina) | MAJ DEC (15-4) | #12 Nelson Brands |
| 157 | #5 Kaleb Young | DEC (5-1) | #13 Hunter Willits (Oregon State) |
Two very solid wins from Young, who rebounded well from his second round loss last night. He's one win away from attaining All-America status again. Nelson Brands had a rougher go in the consolation bracket; he got flat worked by Kane in their match. Not good. His NCAA Tournament is over.
SEMIFINALS
| WT | IOWA | VS | OPPONENT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 125 | #1 Spencer Lee | vs | #4 Drew Hildebrandt (Central Michigan) |
| 133 | #4 Austin DeSanto | vs | #1 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) |
| 141 | #1 Jaydin Eierman | vs | #4 Tariq Wilson (NC State) |
| 174 | #1 Michael Kemerer | vs | #12 Bernie Traux (Cal Poly) |
| 285 | #5 Tony Cassioppi | vs | #1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) |
We need the #1 seeds to get the job done and make the finals. DeSanto and Cassioppi face tall tasks to win their matches -- Steveson has been nigh-unbeatable the last two seasons and Fix has looked outstanding this tournament -- but, hey, hope springs eternal, right?
CONSOLATION BRACKET
| WT | IOWA | VS | OPPONENT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 149 | #12 Max Murin | vs | #8 Jaden Abas (Stanford) |
| 157 | #5 Kaleb Young | vs | #23 Jacob Wright (Wyoming) |
| 165 | #1 Alex Marinelli | vs | #11 Cameron Amine (Michigan) |
| 197 | #5 Jacob Warner | vs | #10 Cameron Caffey (Michigan State) |
All four Iowa wrestlers are in the Round of 12/blood round. A win here locks up All-America status. A loss (obviously) ends their NCAA Tournament runs. Iowa really needs them to get some wins tonight; there are several points available in the consolation matches tonight and Iowa needs to get as many as they can to maintain their lead over Penn State. Speaking of...
TEAM SCORE
| PLACE | PTS | TEAM |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 73.5 | Iowa |
| 2 | 57.5 | Penn State |
| 3 | 51.0 | Oklahoma State |
| 4 | 46.0 | NC State |
| 5 | 40.0 | Missouri |
Iowa has a decent lead -- but it would a lot better if Marinelli had won in the quarters. Sigh. But what's done is done; time to focus on what's still to come. There are a lot of points available tonight, mainly in the semifinals, where each win is worth at least seven points. But the consolation matches tonight are very important as well -- each win in the Round of 12 is worth 3.5 points and each win in the consolation match after that (which locks a wrestler into a finish no worse than sixth place) is worth another 3.5 points. So two wins in the consolation bracket tonight would be worth seven team points. Go get some more points, Hawkeyes.
I'll post results in the comments and I'll try to update mat assignments there, too, but the best place for live commentary is going to be our Discord server, so join up and have some fun with us, why don't you?
