March.

Matness.

Starts.

Now.

Where: Tulsa, Oklahoma

When: All Day, Saturday March 7th and Sunday March 8th

Stream: ESPN+ ($$) (Except for Finals)

TV: Fox Sports Regional Channels (Finals Only)

Live Brackets & Results: Trackwrestling

Schedule

• Session 1 (Pigtails and Quarterfinals) - 11:00 AM-2:00 PM, Saturday, March 7th
• Session 2 (Semifinals, Consolation Rounds 1 & 2) - 5:00 PM-9:00 PM, Saturday, March 7th
• Session 3 (Consolation Semifinals, 3rd & 5th Place Matches) - 11:00 PM-1:00 PM, Sunday, March 8th
• Session 4 (Finals) - 6:00 PM-8:00 PM, Sunday, March 8th.

Weight-By-Weight Breakdown

125: Alex Mackall, 3 Seed

Number of Allocations: 4

What Would Be A Good Weekend At 125?

Mackall has a first round bye and then gets a chance to open up his tournament against, most likely, Danny Vega of SDSU. Mackall pinned Vega when they met earlier this season so a good tournament definitely requires another win in that match. A win there most likely would give him #2 seeded Jake Schwarm of UNI in the semifinals. Those two have met twice this season with very different results. In November Mackall walloped Schwarm 20-4 for a second period tech fall. But in February Schwarm got his revenge in Hilton with a first period pin. A win in the rubber match and a trip to the finals would be a good weekend here, no matter what happens in the finals against Piccinninni. However, if Mackall takes a loss in the semifinals then all that really matters is claiming a spot in the top four and a ticket to Minneapolis - his NCAA seed is not going to be much impacted by a 3rd vs 4th place finish.

133: Todd Small, 5 Seed

Number of Allocations: 8

What Would Be A Good Weekend At 133?

Being healthy, to start. Small injured his knee in the last dual of the regular season against NDSU and while the coaching staff has said he is good to go for this weekend, we won’t really know until he takes the mat. Luckily he should be able to ease in to things with an opening pigtail match against unseeded Price of SDSU, who he beat 11-5 in the middle of a blizzard in Brookings. If Small picks up a solid victory there that’ll be a great sign that he’s ready to go, but if he struggles it probably means that this weekend will be about doing just enough to pick up his ticket to Minneapolis and not much more. And if that happens the big question will be whether an extra two weeks of healing time will be enough to bring him back to full speed.

141: Ian Parker, 2 Seed

Number of Allocations: 5

What Would Be A Good Weekend At 141?

A good weekend for Parker is making the finals. He should have no trouble in his opening pigtail against Droegemueller of NDSU beyond pronouncing the guy’s name. And in the quarterfinals he will get a guy from SDSU that he beat 8-2 earlier this season. In the semifinals he’ll get a tougher opponent in Blockhus of UNI but he also owns an in season win there, 7-2 over Blokhus at the UNI dual less than a month ago. That sets up a finals match against Dom Demas of Oklahoma, who has beaten Parker twice so far this season. Once in a dominating 19-4 tech fall in Vegas last December, and more recently 3-1 in overtime when Iowa State traveled to Stillwater. Demas is a big throw kind of guy similar to Austin Gomez and in that first match he was able to get multiple big moves, but the second time around Parker was able to keep his position and avoid giving up points. For the third match we’ll have to see if Parker can take the next step and create offense of his own.

149: Jarrett Degen, 4 Seed

Number of Allocations: 5

What Would Be A Good Weekend At 149?

A good weekend for Degen is a weekend that involves him leaving Tulsa with a functioning shoulder. Beyond that I honestly don’t care all that much. If he steps on the mat and defaults out, trusting that he’ll get an at large to Minneapolis, that’s alright with me. But hopefully we’ll be able to see him take the mat for at least a few matches and wrestle to seed.

157: David Carr, 1 Seed

Number of Allocations: 5

What Would Be A Good Weekend At 157?

We have not seen much of Carr since he hurt his knee against Wyatt Sheets of Oklahoma State back in January. So like with Small at 133 the first thing is just to see how healthy he is coming back to the mat. There are no other wrestlers at this weight ranked in the top ten so a good weekend will be if Carr can run through this bracket in his return to the mat and show that he’s operating at or close to 100%. If he struggles or eats a loss that’ll be cause for concern for how well he will be able to wrestle in Minneapolis in two weeks.

165: Chase Straw, 6 Seed

Number of Allocations: 4

What Would Be A Good Weekend At 165?

A year ago Chase Straw came to Tulsa needing to win the bracket to steal a bid to NCAAs. And he succeeded in doing so. This year he doesn’t need to win it, there are four tickets available out of this bracket, but the competition is also considerably tougher. Straw will open up against (likely) #26 Meneweather of Air Force, who he hasn’t met this season. From there he has two paths. With a win he’d go up against #17 Andrew Fogarty of NDSU in the semifinals, a match he’d be unlikely to win, and then #24 Tanner Cook of SDSU in the consolation semis with a trip to the 3rd place match, and with that a ticket to Minneapolis, on the line. Cook is a pinner and caught Straw on his back in Brookings. But as long as Straw keeps his wits about him it’s a match he’ll have a reasonable shot in. His second path, through the consolations via a loss to Meneweather, isn’t a whole lot different in terms of strengths of his opponents but will require stringing together three wins in a row on the backside.

Straw’s chances of getting in the top four this year are probably about the same as his chances were of winning 157 last year - not great, not not impossible. If he can put together the same kind of weekend that he did a year ago then he can keep his career going for an extra two weeks.

174: Sam Colbray, 3 Seed

Number of Allocations: 5

What Would Be A Good Weekend At 174?

A good weekend for Colbray is one where he proves that he can put together a consistent string of good wins. And he’ll get that opportunity in Tulsa. He’ll open up against #18 ranked Hayden Hastings of Wyoming for what we hope to be good win number one on the day. Then he’ll get a rematch against #10 Mantanona of Oklahoma, who he beat 7-5 in overtime in his second best win of the season to move in to the finals against #5 Steiert of UNI, who he beat 7-6 in Ames last months in his best win of the season. A single loss to any of these guys wouldn’t be the end of the world, they’re all ranked and none of them would be a terrible loss. But if Colbray is going to take the next step this postseason and put himself on the podium in Minneapolis he’s going to have to string together 3 or 4 tough wins in a row over guys guy like the three in front of him in Tulsa.

184: Marcus Coleman, 5 Seed

Number of Allocations: 5

What Would Be A Good Weekend At 184?

Looking through these brackets I think that fourth place would be a good weekend for Coleman. He should open up against #25 Clothier of Northern Colorado, and if Coleman is going to have any hope of scoring points in Minneapolis he needs to win that match. That’d set up a semifinal against #1 Lujan of UNI. A win there probably isn’t in the cards but would likely give him #31 Samuelson of Wyoming in the consolation semifinals. Like Clothier, that’s a match he should be able to win and would then give him a chance in the 3rd place match to pick up a signature win - either over #11 Carlson of SDSU or #12 Montalvo of Oklahoma State.

197: Joel Shapiro, Unseeded

Number of Allocations: 6

What Would Be A Good Weekend At 197?

Like Straw at 165, Shapiro doesn’t have much hope of an at large bid coming his way if things don’t go well in Tulsa. So Joel needs to go big to avoid going home. Avoiding going 0-2 will require knocking off a top twenty ranked opponent - either #14 Sloan of SDSU or #18 Buchanan of Wyoming. But it is postseason, and you have to create your own opportunities. So hopefully Shapiro can get a win in one of those matches and keep himself alive for another round.

285: Gannon Gremmel, 2 Seed

Number of Allocations: 7

What Would Be A Good Weekend At Heavyweight?

As I have written throughout the season, Gremmel is a guy who has the strength and size to bully his way to a win over most opponents. But he actually has a pretty tough bracket despite his #2 seed. He’ll be heavily favored in his opening match but in the semifinals he’ll get two sport athlete Josh Hokit, who was an All American at 197 last season. An athletic guy like Hokit is the perfect foil to Gremmel’s style so a loss and a third place finish wouldn’t be the end of the world. But if Gannon is going to AA he has to be able to beat guys like that so hopefully we’ll see him get the win there and then against #7 Orndorff in the finals to cement himself as a contender at this weight going in to Minneapolis.

Prediction

Going in to the season there was talk of Iowa State possibly knocking off Oklahoma State for the conference title. But with the injuries ISU has sustained I think that is off the table and, honestly, I’d rather they save themselves for NCAAs than try to pull out all the stops in Tulsa. I think that a depleted ISU team still have what it takes to have 3 guys in the finals but with Small, Carr, and Degen all big question marks I struggle to be able to make a prediction about the team finish other than being confident that ISU will finish in the top half in Tulsa.

Next Up

At Large Selections and Brackets will be released on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 11th.