Wrestlers look to improve their fortunes in Vegas

Coming off the heels of a 33-6 beatdown by Iowa, the Cyclone wrestling team is in Las Vegas this weekend for the premier in season tournament of the wrestling season.  With 87 ranked wrestlers expected to be spread throughout the brackets, no win will come easy.   For a down Cyclone team there won't be much to lose this weekend.  But there is a whole lot to gain if they can rebound with a strong tournament.

Where: Las Vegas, Nevada
When: December 4th & 5th, All day
Livestream: Flowrestling (subscription required)

Projected lineup:

Weight	Iowa State Wrestler	Record
125	Kyle Larson	11-3
133	7/4 Earl Hall	8-1
141	Dante Rodriguez	7-1
149	16/15 Gabe Moreno	1-1
157	Logan Breitenbach	4-3
165	12/13 Tanner Weatherman	7-2
174	11/11 Lelund Weatherspoon	7-2
184	Dane Pestano	8-3
197	Duke Egli	1-2
HWT	Joe Scanlon	10-8

Rankings are Intermat/Flowrestling

A full list of expected participants can be seen on WrestleStats

Weight by weight breakdown: (Rankings from Intermat)

125:

As I wrote in the preview for Cliff Keen last year, Larson is a guy who tends to beat unranked opponents and lose to ranked ones.  And yowzer, is this bracket going to have a lot of ranked wrestlers.  With seven wrestlers ranked in the top ten and twelve of the top twenty, this is the toughest bracket of the tournament, and Larson could easily end up facing a top ten opponent in the first round followed by a top twenty in the first round of consolations.  With that in mind, just getting a win to go 1-2 on the weekend would be a good outing for Larson.  And if he can go 2-2 or better that would be a great sign for the season to come.

Expected ranked participants at 125:

Rank	Wrestler	School
1	Nathan Tomasello	Ohio State
3	Joey Dance	Virginia Tech
6	David Terao	American
7	Dylan Peters	Northern Iowa
8	Chasen Tolbert	Utah Valley
9	Ronnie Bresser	Oregon State
10	Zeke Moisey	West Virginia
11	Conor Youtsey	Michigan
13	Barlow McGhee	Missouri
17	Ryan Millhof	Oklahoma
18	Josh Rodriguez	North Dakota State
19	Dalton Macri	Cornell

133:

While 125 is the toughest bracket in Las Vegas this weekend, 133 isn't all that far behind with half of the top ten in attendance and eleven representatives of the top twenty.  If the pre-seeds hold, Hall will be looking at a quarterfinals matchup against three time All American, and one time NCAA finalist, Nahshon Garrett in the quarterfinals.  Despite the depth of this bracket, a place in the top eight should be expected from Hall.  And Earl could help himself greatly in the seedings at Big XIIs and NCAAs with a top four finish, something past results have shown he is very capable of.

Expected ranked participants at 133:

Rank	Wrestler	School
1	Cody Brewer	Oklahoma
4	Nahshon Garrett	Cornell
5	Johnni DiJulius	Ohio State
6	Rossi Bruno	Michigan
7	Earl Hall	Iowa State
9	George DiCamillo	Virginia
12	Josh Martinez	Air Force
13	Mack McGuire	Kent State
15	Zach Synon	Missouri
16	Josh Alber	Northern Iowa
20	Joey Palmer	Oregon State

141:

Teams appear to have run out of ranked wrestlers by the time they got to 141 and Dante Rodriguez will enjoy the weakest bracket in the entire tournament.  With a bracket that not only lacks depth, but also lacks any elite talent in the top seeds, Dante has an excellent chance to make a statement this weekend and push himself into the rankings with a deep run.  Given the level of competition in this bracket, anything outside of the top 8 would be a disappointing tournament for Rodriguez and a spot in at least the semi-finals shouldn't be out of the question.

Expected ranked participants at 141:

Rank	Wrestler	School
8	Solomon Chishko	Virginia Tech
9	Tommy Thorn	Minnesota
13	Todd Preston	Harvard
15	Jamel Hudson	Hofstra
16	Micah Jordan	Ohio State

149:

This bracket is perfect for Gabe Moreno to build some confidence as he gets his shoulder healthy and heads into the meat of the season.   Only two top ten wrestlers headlining this weight, but lots of quality wrestlers that sit outside the top ten will be in attendance, giving Moreno a chance to pick up several quality wins that would help him come seeding time in March.    Anything outside the top 8 would be a bad tournament for Gabe, top 6 should be expected, and a top 3 finish would help Gabe get himself back into where he was in the rankings before his shoulder injury last season.

Expected ranked participants at 149:

Rank	Wrestler	School
5	Lavion Mayes	Missouri
9	Michael DePalma	Kent State
13	Sal Mastriani	Virginia Tech
14	Davion Jeffries	Oklahoma
15	Alec Pantaleo	Michigan
16	Gabe Moreno	Iowa State
18	Geordan Martinez	Boise State
19	Alex Griffin	Purdue

157:

This tournament sets up excellently for us to learn a lot about Brietenbach.  He's likely to get at least one wrestler ranked in the low teens no matter where he draws into the bracket and might get more than one even if he is unable to pick up any wins.  As a freshman he is a big question mark so depending on his performance this weekend we'll know how much can be expected out of him this season.  Since he's an unknown right know going 1-2 or better would be a good weekend for Logan.

Expected ranked participants at 157:

Rank	Wrestler	School
2	Ian Miller	Kent State
4	Nick Brascetta	Virginia Tech
5	Brian Murphy	Michigan
10	Joey Lavallee	Missouri
12	Doug Welch	Purdue
13	Aaron Walker	The Citadel
14	Dylan Cottrell	West Virginia
15	Jake Ryan	Ohio State
17	Eleazar DeLuca	Northern Colorado
18	John Boyle	American
19	Russell Parsons	Army West Point
20	Brandon Kingsley	Minnesota

165:

Weatherman has stumbled out of the gate to start this season and Vegas will get him the chance to right himself.  With eight top twenty wrestlers pretty evenly spread out through the rankings, no matter what the result is we'll get a sounding on whether Tanner's struggles since last year's Big XII tournament have been overcome or if he's heading into a burnt out, disappointing senior season.  Anything in the top 6 would be an okay outing for Weatherman and a spot in the top 3 would be a great sign for the season to come.

Expected ranked participants at 165:

Rank	Wrestler	School
2	Bo Jordan	Ohio State
4	Cooper Moore	Northern Iowa
9	Clark Glass	Oklahoma
11	Duke Pickett	Cornell
12	Tanner Weatherman	Iowa State
13	Seth Thomas	Oregon State
16	Garrett Sutton	Michigan
19	David McFadden	Virginia Tech

174:

Like 165, this weight class is expected to be moderately deep with wrestlers spread out all through the top twenty rankings.  So we will gain a much better feel about what can be expected from Weatherspoon with the drop to 174.  Anything outside of the top 5 would be disappointing for Lelund and top 4 should be the goal.

Expected ranked participants at 174:

Rank	Wrestler	School
1	Brian Realbuto	Cornell
4	Zach Epperly	Virginia Tech
5	Blaise Butler	Missouri
11	Lelund Weatherspoon	Iowa State
12	Matt Reed	Oklahoma
15	Bryce Hammond	CSU Bakersfield
17	Jadaen Bernstein	Navy
19	Davonte Mahomes	Michigan

184:

It wouldn't be good to expect a whole lot out of Pestano this weekend.  His results so far this season have shown he can take care of business against bad wrestlers, but isn't on the level to even really compete against top 20 guys.  Anything other than going 0-2 is a win at this weight.

Expected ranked participants at 184:

Rank	Wrestler	School
1	Gabe Dean	Cornell
4	Kenny Courts	Ohio State
5	Hayden Zillmer	North Dakota State
9	Willie Miklus	Missouri
12	Dominic Abounader	Michigan
17	Dylan Gabel	Northern Colorado
19	Mathew Miller	Navy

197:

Duke Egli deserves credit for his effort against Iowa, if the rest of the team had fought as hard as he did the Cyclones might have won a few more matches.  But until Harrington takes the lineup this weight will continue to be undermanned.  Any win here would be a good one.

Expected ranked participants at 197:

Rank	Wrestler	School
2	J'den Cox	Missouri
5	Max Huntley	Michigan
6	Brett Pfarr	Minnesota
7	Jake Smith	West Virginia
8	Zach Nye	Virginia
13	Jared Haught	Virginia Tech
16	Mark Martin	Ohio State
19	Derek Thomas	Utah Valley
20	Brad Johnson	Oklahoma

HWT:

Not sure why we're seeing Scanlon here rather than Smith.  Like Pestano, Scanlon has shown himself to be a guy who can beat non D-1 guys, but struggles against good competition.  As with 184 and 197, any win is a positive.

Expected ranked participants at HWT:

Rank	Wrestler	School
2	Ty Walz	Virginia Tech
3	Adam Coon	Michigan
5	Amarveer Dhesi	Oregon State
6	Blaize Cabell	Northern Iowa
8	Ross Larson	Oklahoma
9	Michael Kroells	Minnesota
18	Nick Tavanello	Ohio State

Prediction:

Expect the Cyclones to look a lot better than they did last Saturday against Iowa, but still short of pre-season expectations at a few weights.  Reaching the podium at 133, 141, 149, 165, and 174 plus a few wins elsewhere is the most likely outcome, with the holes at the other five weights as well as the general strength of the tournament leading to an underwhelming team finish.

Next up:

The Cyclones will host Big XII opponent Wyoming at 2PM on Saturday, Dec 12th in Hilton.