[Wrestling] 2019-2020 Schedule Released and Lineup Projections

[CTeamPoke]

Nov. 9 - @ OCU Open - Edmond, OK
Nov. 15 - @ Drexel - Philadelphia, PA
Nov. 16 - @ Lehigh - Bethlehem, PA
Nov. 24 - Minnesota - Stillwater, OK
Dec. 6 - Princeton - Stillwater, OK
Dec. 15 - @ Oklahoma - Norman, OK
Jan. 1-2 - @ Southern Scuffle - Chattanooga, TN
Jan. 12 - Northern Colorado - Stillwater, OK
Jan. 17 - West Virginia - Stillwater, OK
Jan. 18 - Pittsburgh - Stillwater, OK
Jan. 25 - @ Northern Iowa - Cedar Rapids, IA
Jan. 26 - @ Iowa State - Ames, IA
Jan. 31 - South Dakota State - Stillwater, OK
Feb. 2 - Missouri - Stillwater, OK
Feb. 8 - @ Air Force - Colorado Springs, CO
Feb. 8 - @Wyoming - Laramie, WY
Feb. 16 - Oklahoma - Stillwater, OK
Feb. 23 - @ Iowa - Iowa City, IA
Mar. 7-8 - Big 12 Tournament - Tulsa, OK
Mar. 19-21 - NCAA Tournament - Minneapolis, MN


Observations:

• Double Bedlam is back! Glad that the Sooners have finally untucked and put on their big boy pants this season. I guess Lou thinks they have the horses to compete with us.
• Princeton coming to Stillwater is a big deal. They have an exciting team with some guys that will test our guys... particularly Pat Glory vs. Nick Piccinnini. Pich is 2-0 against Glory, so believe that Glory is counting down the days here. Also Matt Kolodzik vs. Boo Lewallen can go ahead and get straight into my veins.
• Rutgers chickened out. Anthony Ashnault is the guy that did the pistols thing after barely beating Kaden Gfeller last season... I'm guessing they didn't want to subject their new volunteer coach to the hell he would've received in GIA. Nick Suriano is also taking an Olympic Redshirt so we would've missed an opportunity to show him how we feel about him... he's 0-1 in GIA against Pich.
• Feb. 8 is a weird day... the official release says that they're wrestling in both Colo Springs and Laramie in the same day... that's a 4 hour drive between the two and the weather up there that time of year is usually just absolutely beautiful... So I hope they're just working out logistics to have those duals on the same weekend or at least on the same day both in the Olympic Training Center or Denver or something like that.
• If you pay close attention... something that usually happens is the Friday night dual and the Sunday afternoon dual... well this year it looks like we are doing the Saturday - Sunday dual schedule. This is exciting for a couple of reasons... reason A - it allows a guy like me to spend a weekend in Stillwater, catch both duals, not take time off of work, and not stress about trying to get into Stillwater on Friday night. Reason B - It gets our guys well trained for two day weigh ins, which is often a problem that some guys will run into at NCAAs. Not giving guys a day to recover could help them manage their weight better throughout the season, which will help with peaking in March and also get them used to making those cuts. I love it.
• Ending the season with Iowa again is nice. You can be sure they'll get 15k in their arena for this one and it'll be a wild place. They're putting 7 AAs in their roster this year. Have a couple of freshmen coming off of redshirt that they're expecting to be big impact guys. Making a big push for a national title. We... aren't that. We have 4 AAs in the roster... assuming a Daton Fix redshirt... and some potential breakthrough guys next season that could be a lot of fun! But our team will be the underdog for that dual.
• Big 12's in Tulsa... Iowa State might be giving us a run for our 8th straight title... but that should make this interesting for the first time since Cael went to Penn State.
• NCAAs in Minneapolis at the football stadium... They've already sold more than 20k all session tickets. It's going to be a very interesting atmosphere. If you can make the trip, make it! Friday night at the NCAA wrestling tournament is the best night in sports. I'm dead serious. If you enjoy sports... being at the NCAA Wrestling Championships on Friday night is everything you love about sports.

 

[CTeamPoke]

So based on the roster that's been posted on the official website, here's how I see the lineup shaking out...

• 125 - Nick Piccinnini - R-Sr
  • two time All-American. Clearly talented enough to get to the NCAA finals if he can put everything together.
• 133 - Reece Witcraft - Fr
  • This was going to be Kaid Brock... and still could be depending on how his knee heals... but with a torn ACL, I don't know if he'll be back for Big 12's. Reece Witcraft is a blue chip recruit from Broken Arrow. Consistently won his weight in the state tournament and on the national level. We have a lot to be excited about with him... but were expecting a redshirt and for him to fill in at 141/149 in the future. There are some other options here. Colt Newton is a true freshman from Choctaw... the reason to choose Witcraft over Newton is that they've been in the same weight class in high school and Reece Witcraft typically won those matches, although Newton did beat Witcraft on occasion. Conner Wilson is a redshirt freshman from Allen, TX. His redshirt season was spent mostly recovering from injury sustained at the OCU open... where he pinned two guys. So it could be interesting what comes out at 133 next season. Will likely see several guys.
• 141 - Kaden Gfeller - R-So
  • G at his natural weight will be at least an All-American and certainly a finalist contender this season. Going 0-2 at NCAAs last season after wrestling out of his mind up at 149 for most of last season has to have left a bitter taste in his mouth. G's special and we're going to see it this year.
• 149 - Boo Lewallen - R-Sr
  • Boo's back from injury and, according to him, he's better than ever. This weight opens up a little this year and it could be really interesting for Boo. Don't expect to see him much until the second semester. Dusty Hone will probably fill in. Also expect Boo to get a 6th year.
• 157 - Wyatt Sheets - R-So
  • Wyatt got really good towards the end of last season, unfortunately it was a little bit too late and the Big 12 only got one automatic qualifier for NCAAs. If he continues his improvement, I really think we could see something special from him.
• 165 - Travis Wittlake - R-Fr
  • Super pumped to see Wittlake finally represent the Pokes. I was half expecting him to take an Olympic Redshirt here, as he's eligible since he was a cadet medalist a few years back... but this is a guy that was the #6 in the country in his recruiting class. #1 in his weight class. He had an incredible redshirt season. He's primed to AA here.
• 174 - Joe Smith - R-Sr
  • Joe Joe's last ride. At a more natural weight. I really think this should be a great season for Joe. It's his last chance to kind of live up to the expectations set forth by his father and his uncles... but even if he doesn't win a title, becoming the 18th wrestler in program history to become a 3x All-American. He's a special talent, and if it comes together for him this season it could be really special.
• 184 - Dakota Geer - R-Jr
  • Bit of a curveball here... on the official roster, Geer is listed at 184, when I and others thought for sure that he'd be moving up to 197 for this season since that's what he wanted to do. I was under the impression that he took this summer off from freestyle in order to bulk up to 197. Either that didn't go well, or there was a change of heart... otherwise you have a returning All-American in place at this weight so he's the starter until he isn't.
• 197 - Anthony Montalvo - R-Fr
  • I would've had him at 184 and Geer up here at 197... one of them is going to bump. You also have Alex Kauffman, who transferred in from NEO, in that same situation. It could be any of those three guys at this weight. Fortunately all of them are good enough to at least qualify for NCAAs.
• HWT - Cornelius Putnam - R-So
  • This year's big gap is at heavyweight after getting a finalist at the weight last season... I don't really know what to think. I figured that Austin Harris was going to bump up to HWT. He wrestles at 220 in freestyle. He didn't really have a good redshirt season at 197 at all... but he's pretty darn good at freestyle. But with Putnam being the only guy on the roster, he's the guy that will wrestle at this weight for now.

 

[RxCowboy]

Nov. 15 - @ Drexel - Philadelphia, PA
Nov. 16 - @ Lehigh - Bethlehem, PA

I don't know if I can afford it, but if I can I'm going.

 

[cowboyfan97]

CTeamPoke: Unless I am looking at the schedule wrong, I don't see a Saturday/Sunday combo. I still see Fridays and Sundays.....

 

[CTeamPoke]

CTeamPoke: Unless I am looking at the schedule wrong, I don't see a Saturday/Sunday combo. I still see Fridays and Sundays.....

I only see that once on Jan. 31 and Feb. 2....

Friday, Nov. 15 @ Drexel - Saturday, Nov. 16 @ Lehigh
Friday, Jan. 17 vs. WVU - Saturday, Jan. 18 vs. Pitt
Saturday, Jan. 25 @ UNI - Sunday, Jan. 26 @ ISU
Saturday, Feb. 8 @ USAFA & Wyo... which, again, has to change there's no way they make a 4 hour drive from Colo. Springs to Laramie and expect these guys to wrestle twice in one day for conference duals like that.

 

[chieforange]

Will all the wrestling be on ESPN+?

 

[CTeamPoke]

Will all the wrestling be on ESPN+?

Home duals will be on ESPN+. Most road duals will be on Flo. I believe the OU dual in Norman will be on Fox Sports Oklahoma... Iowa dual could be on anything. My bet is Flo or Big Ten Network.

 

[chieforange]

So the Big 12 wrestling schools are not included in the ESPN+ deal? If not its unfortunate for the Big 12 and those schools.

 

[cowboyfan97]

I only see that once on Jan. 31 and Feb. 2....

Friday, Nov. 15 @ Drexel - Saturday, Nov. 16 @ Lehigh
Friday, Jan. 17 vs. WVU - Saturday, Jan. 18 vs. Pitt
Saturday, Jan. 25 @ UNI - Sunday, Jan. 26 @ ISU
Saturday, Feb. 8 @ USAFA & Wyo... which, again, has to change there's no way they make a 4 hour drive from Colo. Springs to Laramie and expect these guys to wrestle twice in one day for conference duals like that.

Yeah, I am only looking at home duals that I can attend, since I live in Texas.

 

[CTeamPoke]

So the Big 12 wrestling schools are not included in the ESPN+ deal? If not its unfortunate for the Big 12 and those schools.

Well OU isn't part of the media deal, and retain their third tier rights and sell them to Fox Sports.

For some reason ESPN+ doesn't pick up Iowa State until 2020, so I guess this was a slow roll out deal.

The affiliate members... I have no idea how their media rights work but I would imagine it would apply to the broader school's conference affiliation. I know the MWC has a TV deal, so they probably don't want Wyoming giving out any third tier rights.

I'm a huge Flo fan... So I would rather everything be there... But that's just me.

 

[CTeamPoke]

Yeah, I am only looking at home duals that I can attend, since I live in Texas.

Same. If you live close to Allen, go to some of their duals and cheer hard for AJ Ferrari while wearing orange.

 

[StillPoke]

So based on the roster that's been posted on the official website, here's how I see the lineup shaking out...

• 125 - Nick Piccinnini - R-Sr
  • two time All-American. Clearly talented enough to get to the NCAA finals if he can put everything together.
• 133 - Reece Witcraft - Fr
  • This was going to be Kaid Brock... and still could be depending on how his knee heals... but with a torn ACL, I don't know if he'll be back for Big 12's. Reece Witcraft is a blue chip recruit from Broken Arrow. Consistently won his weight in the state tournament and on the national level. We have a lot to be excited about with him... but were expecting a redshirt and for him to fill in at 141/149 in the future. There are some other options here. Colt Newton is a true freshman from Choctaw... the reason to choose Witcraft over Newton is that they've been in the same weight class in high school and Reece Witcraft typically won those matches, although Newton did beat Witcraft on occasion. Conner Wilson is a redshirt freshman from Allen, TX. His redshirt season was spent mostly recovering from injury sustained at the OCU open... where he pinned two guys. So it could be interesting what comes out at 133 next season. Will likely see several guys.
• 141 - Kaden Gfeller - R-So
  • G at his natural weight will be at least an All-American and certainly a finalist contender this season. Going 0-2 at NCAAs last season after wrestling out of his mind up at 149 for most of last season has to have left a bitter taste in his mouth. G's special and we're going to see it this year.
• 149 - Boo Lewallen - R-Sr
  • Boo's back from injury and, according to him, he's better than ever. This weight opens up a little this year and it could be really interesting for Boo. Don't expect to see him much until the second semester. Dusty Hone will probably fill in. Also expect Boo to get a 6th year.
• 157 - Wyatt Sheets - R-So
  • Wyatt got really good towards the end of last season, unfortunately it was a little bit too late and the Big 12 only got one automatic qualifier for NCAAs. If he continues his improvement, I really think we could see something special from him.
• 165 - Travis Wittlake - R-Fr
  • Super pumped to see Wittlake finally represent the Pokes. I was half expecting him to take an Olympic Redshirt here, as he's eligible since he was a cadet medalist a few years back... but this is a guy that was the #6 in the country in his recruiting class. #1 in his weight class. He had an incredible redshirt season. He's primed to AA here.
• 174 - Joe Smith - R-Sr
  • Joe Joe's last ride. At a more natural weight. I really think this should be a great season for Joe. It's his last chance to kind of live up to the expectations set forth by his father and his uncles... but even if he doesn't win a title, becoming the 18th wrestler in program history to become a 3x All-American. He's a special talent, and if it comes together for him this season it could be really special.
• 184 - Dakota Geer - R-Jr
  • Bit of a curveball here... on the official roster, Geer is listed at 184, when I and others thought for sure that he'd be moving up to 197 for this season since that's what he wanted to do. I was under the impression that he took this summer off from freestyle in order to bulk up to 197. Either that didn't go well, or there was a change of heart... otherwise you have a returning All-American in place at this weight so he's the starter until he isn't.
• 197 - Anthony Montalvo - R-Fr
  • I would've had him at 184 and Geer up here at 197... one of them is going to bump. You also have Alex Kauffman, who transferred in from NEO, in that same situation. It could be any of those three guys at this weight. Fortunately all of them are good enough to at least qualify for NCAAs.
• HWT - Cornelius Putnam - R-So
  • This year's big gap is at heavyweight after getting a finalist at the weight last season... I don't really know what to think. I figured that Austin Harris was going to bump up to HWT. He wrestles at 220 in freestyle. He didn't really have a good redshirt season at 197 at all... but he's pretty darn good at freestyle. But with Putnam being the only guy on the roster, he's the guy that will wrestle at this weight for now.

I had heard that the kid from Kansas had a pretty good chance of being our 157 guy. Any thoughts?

 

[CTeamPoke]

I had heard that the kid from Kansas had a pretty good chance of being our 157 guy. Any thoughts?

Well first and foremost let me state that I have no inside information at all and anything that I say is pure speculation.

Wyatt Sheets is the incumbent and he wrestled much better towards the end of last season than he had up to that point. Many think he should have qualified for NCAAs. He really had some impressive upsets going into Big 12s. On top of all of that... he received an extra year of eligibility this offseason so he's repeating his sophomore season.

If it's not Wyatt... the next best bet will be for Andrew Shomers to take this spot. He listed here on the roster... probably because he can't crack the lineup at 165 against Wittlake and 174 against Joe. Shomers started last season at 157, went up to 165 to fill in for Chandler, and then didn't want to cut back down to 157 or couldn't cut back down to 157, IDK. Shomers is a good wrestler and a senior that transferred in from Edinboro.

There isn't anybody from Kansas on the roster at 157... Jalin Harper is a redshirt freshman from Manhattan and Cade Lindsey is a true freshman from Derby, but they're both listed at 165. Not saying they won't make the cut, but based on what we have in front of us it seems like those two are up at 165.

I thought that one of the freshmen, particularly Brevin Balmeceda, would have a great opportunity to break into the lineup here as a true freshman... but he's on the roster at 141!

I strongly think that our coaching staff wants to redshirt true freshmen as often as possible. The best recruits we have had over the past few years, Travis Wittlake and Daton Fix, both redshirted. Joe Smith was kind of forced into the lineup when Chance Marsteller was having issues.. Marsteller also took a redshirt year. Kaid Brock started out with a redshirt, wrestled in two matches, hurt his knee... So... yeah... strong evidence that we are going to redshirt most guys in most instances. I think that we may see an exception this season with Witcraft, but only because he will almost certainly redshirt next season as well.

 

[P4L]

Someone who knows Coach Smith, tell him to schedule a dual at Wisconsin or Northwestern one year. I miss wrestling. Iowa's the closest at 4 hours away, but I don't think this is the year to go.

 

[CTeamPoke]

I really may be overlooking Bear Hughes at 197... I mean.... just look at this guy. Who wouldn't want him to start?

 

[Tommy Gunnz]

It's going to be a weird year with many of the top guys not competing for an olympic redshirt (Yianni, Fix, Suriano, Eierman, probably Spencer & Hall too etc). Gonna be some really wide open weights with guys having a chance to steal a national title. If Spencer redshirts I fully hope and expect Nicky Pich to be a finalist. Gfeller has a good shot at 41 with no Yianni & Eierman. No Hall at 74 will be huge for Joe. If Boo is healthy at 49 I can't think of anyone off the top of my head who he can't beat on any given day. Even without Fix we should be really good but 2 huge gaping holes at 157 and heavyweight (I'm not as high on Sheets as you are)

 

[CTeamPoke]

It's going to be a weird year with many of the top guys not competing for an olympic redshirt (Yianni, Fix, Suriano, Eierman, probably Spencer & Hall too etc). Gonna be some really wide open weights with guys having a chance to steal a national title. If Spencer redshirts I fully hope and expect Nicky Pich to be a finalist. Gfeller has a good shot at 41 with no Yianni & Eierman. No Hall at 74 will be huge for Joe. If Boo is healthy at 49 I can't think of anyone off the top of my head who he can't beat on any given day. Even without Fix we should be really good but 2 huge gaping holes at 157 and heavyweight (I'm not as high on Sheets as you are)

I don't think Spencer Lee or Mark Hall will redshirt. Both of those teams think they can win titles and they need those guys to compete to do that.

I don't think that hurts Pich or Joe in either case. We know Pich can beat Spencer Lee... And I think that Joe could hang with Mark Hall if his conditioning is better.

G has a great shot... And I think he would do well against with a full field. I seriously think we are looking at a 3 time high placer in G... And I think he could beat Yanni.

Boo has a shot too. Let's not forget how good he is when he's healthy. He's beaten some of the best guys in the country at his weight.

Wittlake has also done well at 165 in age level wrestling against top level competition... Including the defending national champ Mekhi Lewis. Lewis won the last time they wrestled, but it's always close. So it's safe to say that Wittlake is every bit as talented there.

I actually think we have three gaps at 157, 197, and HWT. Wouldn't shock me to see our team struggle to find the right guy... Although if Sheets hasn't leveled up as I've heard he has, then Shomers has qualified before and is at least good enough to get a body into the tournament. I'm really not all that confident in Austin Harris or Bear Hughes at 197 and I don't think you bulk a guy up to there. Montalvo is good... But he's a 174 or 184. Putnam at heavyweight... IDK he might surprise us because he's training with Derek White but I'll have to see it to believe it.

As long as we finish top 5 at Nationals I'll call it a good year. I think we start winning titles within the next two years... Lineup gets incredibly deep in 2022.

 

[orngblkzebra]

G has a great shot... And I think he would do well against with a full field. I seriously think we are looking at a 3 time high placer in G... And I think he could beat Yanni.

 

[CTeamPoke]

I know it sounds crazy... But Yanni isn't invincible in folkstyle and G can absolutely get to his legs (most guys can get to Yanni's legs) the difference is finishing... And G is strong enough at 141 to finish against Yanni. No doubt in my mind.

 

[CTeamPoke]

I don't think Spencer Lee or Mark Hall will redshirt. Both of those teams think they can win titles and they need those guys to compete to do that.

I don't think that hurts Pich or Joe in either case. We know Pich can beat Spencer Lee... And I think that Joe could hang with Mark Hall if his conditioning is better.

G has a great shot... And I think he would do well against with a full field. I seriously think we are looking at a 3 time high placer in G... And I think he could beat Yanni.

Boo has a shot too. Let's not forget how good he is when he's healthy. He's beaten some of the best guys in the country at his weight.

Wittlake has also done well at 165 in age level wrestling against top level competition... Including the defending national champ Mekhi Lewis. Lewis won the last time they wrestled, but it's always close. So it's safe to say that Wittlake is every bit as talented there.

I actually think we have three gaps at 157, 197, and HWT. Wouldn't shock me to see our team struggle to find the right guy... Although if Sheets hasn't leveled up as I've heard he has, then Shomers has qualified before and is at least good enough to get a body into the tournament. I'm really not all that confident in Austin Harris or Bear Hughes at 197 and I don't think you bulk a guy up to there. Montalvo is good... But he's a 174 or 184. Putnam at heavyweight... IDK he might surprise us because he's training with Derek White but I'll have to see it to believe it.

As long as we finish top 5 at Nationals I'll call it a good year. I think we start winning titles within the next two years... Lineup gets incredibly deep in 2022.

@Tommy Gunnz I actually kinda think we have a gap at 133 now, too.

I think we qualify at 9 weights... but only get productive points out of 5... still should be good enough for a team trophy. Big part of qualifying 9 will be sticking with the lineup all season. Changing it around a ton will hurt us.