2019 NCAA Wrestling Qualifier Allocations for Conference Tournaments Released

The Postseason Is Officially Here!

It’s been almost four months since the first matches of the season were wrestled at the Harold Nichols Open in Ames. Since then we’ve seen hundreds of matches. And luckily for us, for the first time in a few years there were a lot more wins than losses. The Cyclones were a great dual team this season and put together a 10-4 dual record, ending the season ranked 15th, their highest ranking in a long time. But all that is behind us now. March is here. And that means the postseason. It’s a fresh start and whats happened since the first whistle blew in November only counts for seeding purposes.

A Quick Refresher on Allocations

As with years past, there are 33 spots available in the brackets at NCAAs and 29 of them have been allocated out to the various conference tournaments taking place next weekend. Allocations are earned by individual wrestlers based on the criteria discussed below, but given to the conference tournament. That means that regardless of whether a certain wrestler earned an allocation, they have to place at or above the number of Big 12 allocations available at their weight in order to punch their ticket to NCAAs in Pittsburgh. For example, at 133 there are five allocations available. So even though Austin Gomez was one of the wrestlers who earned an allocation for the Big 12, they have to finish in the top five on the podium in order to get their ticket punched. If they finish sixth or lower they’ll have to sweat it out for one of the at large spots announced later on this week. But on the flipside of that Logan Schumacher was not one of the six wrestlers to earn an allocation at 165, but he could wrestle his way in to the brackets in Pittsburgh by finishing in the top six in Tulsa.

The criteria to earn an allocation is detailed in this NCAA Selection Criteria Grid PDF. Briefly, the requirement is to meet two of these three criteria

1. A top 30 Coaches Panel Ranking (The 2-28-19 Coaches Panel Ranking is available here)
2. A top 30 RPI (The 2-28-19 RPI is available here)
3. A win percentage against other Division 1 wrestlers greater that 0.700

In the event that cutoffs capture more than 29 they can move it up (to say, 28/28/0.800) in order to get to only 29 wrestlers. The numbers move in concert up or down until they get to 29 allocations. Sometimes this means fewer than 29 allocations will be awarded if not enough wrestlers make the 30/30/0.700 cutoff. This year that happened at 149 and 197 pounds, which only have 28 spots pre-allocated, and at 174, which only has 27.

If something about this doesn't make sense or you want some clarification leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to explain further.

Allocations By Conference

The full release by the NCAA can be found here. But here’s the important part.

Where Do ISU Wrestlers Stand

What Does This Mean For The Cyclones Lineup

Guys Who Are Wrestling To Improve their NCAA Seed

• 133: Austin Gomez
• 141: Ian Parker
• 149: Jarrett Degen
• 174: Marcus Coleman
• 184: Sam Colbray
• 197: Willie Miklus

All six of these guys, short of injury or complete disaster, are going to Pittsburgh. There’s no reason to expect that any will fail to autoqualify based on their Big 12 finish. But even if they do stumble and have a terrible performance in Tulsa their high rankings assure that they’ll be at the front of the line for an at large spot. Gomez, Parker, Degen, Coleman, Colbray, and Miklus can already pack their bags for Pittsburgh. The Big 12 Tournament for them is all about getting some good wins to improve their resume for the seeding committee.

Guys Who Are Wrestling To Make Sure Their Spot Is Secure

• 125: Alex Mackall
• HWT: Gannon Gremmel

These two guys both earned allocations for the conference. As long as things go according to seed they’ll have no problem punch their ticket to Pittsburgh. And if they fall just short of placing high enough to earn an autobid they’ll probably be alright - the at large criteria is very similar to the criteria used to determine allocations so wrestlers who earned a spot but failed to cash it in almost always end up getting an at large spot. But when you’re in the 20s like these two there’s always some risk that either they’ll be lots of upsets around the country or that the updated coaches panel/RPI after the tournaments are over will reflect a big drop due to a poor performance. Every year there’s one or two guys that earned their conference an allocation but end up watching NCAAs on TV. So for Mackall and Gremmel it’s all about making sure they do enough to finish at or higher than the number of allocations available at their weight. If they end up having to sweat it out for an at large spot they’ll probably get one. But it won’t be a sure thing.

Guys Who Are Going To Have To Steal A Spot

• 157: Chase Straw
• 165: Logan Schumacher

For these two, it’s a strong performance at Big 12s or bust. For Chase, he is in a clump of wrestlers who just missed an allocation at this weight and all of them are going to be gunning to steal the one spot available. There’s no unbeatable wrestlers here, Straw will just need to wrestle to his abilities all weekend and he has a decent chance of ending up with a trip to Pittsburgh. Schumacher, or the other hand, is pretty much hoping for a pinner’s chance. There’s more allocations available at 165 than 157 but they’ve all been earned by guys in the top twenty. And while Schumacher has exceeded expectations since stepping in to the lineup for the Cyclones, he hasn’t beaten anyone of that caliber. He’s going to have to live by the words of Austin Gomez in Tulsa. “Scared Money Don’t Make Money”.

Next Up

The Cyclones will be in action at the Big 12 Championships in Tulsa, OK on Saturday March 9th and Sunday, March 10th. We’ll have a preview up for the tournament once seeding and brackets are released.