Las Vegas Cliff Keen Invitational Preview

Coming off a short recovery cycle following a 28-8 thumping from Iowa last Saturday, the wrestling team is looking to get back on track in Las Vegas this weekend for one of the biggest tournaments of the year. The Cliff Keen Invitational will feature 11 of the top 25 teams (as ranked by Intermat) and 89 ranked wrestlers among the 30+ team field. Appropriately for the location, the team has a lot to gain, or a lot to lose, depending on how they wrestle this weekend.

Where: Las Vegas, Nevada

When: Friday & Saturday, December 5th & 6th, all day

Liveblog:Available Here

Stream: Flowrestling (Subscription required)

Projected Lineup

Weight	Wrestler	Record
125	Kyle Larson	7-2
133	#13 Earl Hall	7-2
141	Dante Rodriguez	9-2
149	Gabe Moreno	9-1
157	Daniel Woiwer	9-2
165	#3 Mike Moreno	9-0
174	#6 Tanner Weatherman	8-1
184	#18 Lelund Weatherspoon	8-1
197	#3 Kyven Gadson	9-0
HWT	Quean Smith	7-2

Weight By Weight Breakdown

125

Larson has generally been exactly what I expected at 125 for us so far this year. Beating unranked guys, losing to ranked guys, and keeping it close in duals when outmatched. Hopefully the bracket will line up for Larson to get a match or two against one of the lower teens ranked wrestlers so that we can get a gauge for where his ceiling might be this year. And who knows, maybe he can even pick up a quality win for NCAA qualification. I don't expect Larson to end up on the podium on Saturday but I'd like to see him earn at least two wins before getting eliminated.

Expected ranked participants at 125:

RANK	WRESTLER	SCHOOL
2	Nahshon Garrett	Cornell
5	Joey Dance	Virginia Tech
7	Josh Martinez	Air Force
8	David Terao	American
9	Nathan Tomasello	Ohio State
12	Josh Rodriguez	North Dakota State
13	Tim Lambert	Nebraska
16	Paul Petrov	Bucknell
19	Sam Brancale	Minnesota
20	Zeke Moisey	West Virginia

133

Hall is 0-2 against ranked wrestlers since moving up to 133. He's still is holding on to his rankings based on being 7-0 against unranked guys but the closest he has to a signature win so far this season is his major decision over NCAA Qualifier Jade Rauser of Utah Valley. He should get multiple opportunities to prove himself in Vegas, with the 8th, 9th, and 10th ranked guys all in the bracket. Hall will get the chance to state his case for being seeded in the top 8 at NCAAs. But even if he fails to get a win against that group, he should get a match in the consolations against Terao and/or Norstrem to prove that he deserves to stay ranked.

Expected ranked participants at 133:

RANK	WRESTLER	SCHOOL
2	Chris Dardanes	Minnesota
8	Johnni DiJulius	Ohio State
9	Rossi Bruno	Michigan
10	George DiCamillo	Virginia
13	Earl Hall	Iowa State
17	Josh Terao	American
18	Kevin Norstrem	Virginia Tech

141

We should see Dante Rodriguez making his second appearance in a Cyclone singlet this weekend.  Since we really haven't seen him compete much against non redshirting D-1 competition it is tough to peg expectations - he's got a close loss to #8 Levion Meyes of Missouri and that's about it.  Overall I'm just hoping to see him pick up a couple wins to give me reason to think he'll do better this year than Meeks would have.  I'd be totally thrilled if he gets a match against one of the 16-18th ranked guys so we can find out whether to expect NCAA points from Dante this season.

Expected ranked participants at 141:

RANK	WRESTLER	SCHOOL
1	Logan Stieber	Ohio State
3	Devin Carter	Virginia Tech
4	Nick Dardanes	Minnesota
5	Stephen Dutton	Michigan
9	Joe Spisak	Virginia
11	Mark Grey	Cornell
12	Todd Preston	Harvard
15	Anthony Abidin	Nebraska
16	Anthony Ashnault	Rutgers
17	Jamel Hudson	Hofstra
18	Sam Speno	North Carolina State

149

Gabe Moreno has been sitting just outside the rankings so far this season.  With the relative dearth of ranked wrestlers at this weight he should get a seed that will set him up for an eventual matchup with either Ruggirello or Theobold, giving him the chance to get a quality win and with that the bump he needs to start showing up in the rankings.

Expected ranked participants at 149:

RANK	WRESTLER	SCHOOL
3	Hunter Stieber	Ohio State
6	Chris Villalonga	Cornell
7	Gus Sako	Virginia
9	Sal Mastriani	Virginia Tech
15	Cody Ruggirello	Hofstra
18	Ken Theobold	Rutgers

157

It appears that we're giving redshirt freshman Daniel Woiwer a shot here.  Since this'll be the first time he sees the lineup I don't know what to expect.  But if it had been Goettl I'd been looking for a couple wins and hopefully knocking off Schieidel or Staudenmayer.  Since we're using Wovier over Goettl, I suppose my baseline is looking for him to do the same.

Expected ranked participants at 157:

RANK	WRESTLER	SCHOOL
1	Dylan Ness	Minnesota
2	James Green	Nebraska
4	Brian Realbuto	Cornell
5	Nick Brascetta	Virginia Tech
6	Josh Demas	Ohio State
8	Anthony Perrotti	Rutgers
11	Brian Murphy	Michigan
15	Markus Schieidel	Columbia
20	Justin Staudenmayer	Brown

165

With half of the top ten in attendance, there should some big matchups for Moreno at the high roller tables.  Sulzer beat Moreno 13-1 in the consolation semifinals at NCAAs this spring, so I'm sure Moreno would like to see them both make the finals for the chance at a rematch.  Short of an upset preventing Mike from reaching the finals there isn't a whole lot on the line more than pride - there isn't a big difference between being ranked 2nd vs being ranked 3rd.  But it would be really nice to see him take another step towards being a national champion this season.

Expected ranked participants at 165:

RANK	WRESTLER	SCHOOL
2	Nick Sulzer	Virginia
3	Michael Moreno	Iowa State
4	Dylan Palacio	Cornell
7	Taylor Walsh	Indiana
10	Bo Jordan	Ohio State
11	Taylor Massa	Michigan
15	Nick Wanzek	Minnesota
16	Jesse Stafford	Air Force
17	Austin Wilson	Nebraska

174

Looking at the expected participants at 174, Tanner is likely to have multiple matches against the other wrestlers who are going to challenge for the 6-8 AA spots along with him in March.  As I've written about in the past, Weatherman is a good wrestler, but lacks any elite wins to push him over the top.  Though he looks to have closed the gap with Evans based on his performance in Iowa City last weekend, he still hasn't totally made the jump to being elite.  That makes a good performance this weekend very important.  Tanner needs to finish in the top five to keep his ranking (and projected NCAA seed) in the top ten, allowing him to avoid the elite tier wrestlers until the AA rounds.

Expected ranked participants at 174:

RANK	WRESTLER	SCHOOL
1	Logan Storley	Minnesota
2	Robert Kokesh	Nebraska
6	Tanner Weatherman	Iowa State
8	Bryce Hammond	CSU Bakersfield
9	Blaise Butler	Virginia
10	Zach Epperly	Virginia Tech
12	Mark Martin	Ohio State
14	Davanote Mahomes	Michigan
15	Duke Pickett	Cornell
16	Kurtis Julson	North Dakota State
17	Pete Renda	North Carolina State
19	Nate Jackson	Indiana
20	Ray Waters	Arizona State

184

Lelund is in a somewhat similar situation to what Hall is at 133.  He entered the season ranked, has beaten up on all the non-ranked wrestlers he has faced, but fell short in his only matach against a ranked wrestler.  In Vegas Weatherspoon should get a shot to wrestle at least one of the mid-teens ranked wrestlers that currently sit right ahead of him in the rankings.  If Lelund can finish in the top six that would be a pretty big boost to our chances of finishing in the top ten at NCAAs.  Lacking that, since Weatherspoon is the 9th ranked wrestler in the field at 184, just finishing on the podium at all would mean climbing up the rankings.

Expected ranked participants at 184:

RANK	WRESTLER	SCHOOL
1	Gabe Dean	Cornell
6	Kenny Courts	Ohio State
7	Blake Stauffer	Arizona State
8	Taylor Meeks	Oregon State
11	Dominic Abounader	Michigan
12	Ophir Bertnstein	Brown
14	Hayden Zillmer	North Dakota State
15	Brent Pfarr	Minnesota
17	T.J. Dudley	Nebraska
18	Lelund Weatherspoon	Iowa State

197

197 isn't quite as deep as some of the others, but Kyven's bracket includes three title contenders in Schiller, Gadson, and super-recruit Kyle Snyder of Ohio State.  Schiller has been Kyven's kryptonite throughout his career, so a win would be an upset.  But it would also be very important - Kyven is unlikely to see Schiller or Snyder again this season, so wins over them this weekend would go a long way towards prevent the seeding committee from being able to screw him over again with a terrible seed at NCAAs.  This tournament, along with the Scuffle next month, are the two most important events on the regular season calender for Gadson's national title hopes.

Expected ranked participants at 197:

RANK	WRESTLER	SCHOOL
1	Scott Schiller	Minnesota
3	Kyven Gadson	Iowa State
7	Kyle Snyder	Ohio State
12	Max Huntley	Michigan
15	Zach Nye	Virginia
18	Jace Bennett	Cornell

HWT

Much like Larson at 125, Smith has performed so far pretty much where I expected him to.  Beating unranked guys, losing to ranked guys.  Generally holding his own but lacking any quality wins.  Really all I'd like to see here is for Smith to pick up a few wins and give me some hope he can be an NCAA qualifier for us this season.  I'd also prefer he didn't pin himself.

Expected ranked participants at HWT:

RANK	WRESTLER	SCHOOL
2	Nick Gwiazdowski	NC State
4	Adam Coon	Michigan
8	Billy Smith	Rutgers
9	Ty Walz	Virginia Tech
10	Evan Knutson	North Dakota State
11	Nick Tavanello	Ohio State
13	Adam Fager	Utah Valley
14	Collin Jensen	Nebraska

Prediction

At a tournament this large, and this deep, everyone on the roster has a challange.  For our top guys, they have a shot to solidify their rankings and maybe move up to the top.  For our second tier guys they have a shot to show they belong in the rankings and maybe move up in the R12 conversation.  And for the rest of our lineup they have a shot to state an argument for NCAA qualification and to show their weightclasses won't be holes when we get into the meat of the season come January.

Next Up

The team will next take the mat on January 1st & 2nd, 2015 at the Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga, Tenn.