Way to early thread...will we be better next year?

[CowboyT]

With the transfer portal, there has been a lot more excitement in the offseason like free agency in the pros. This allows teams to fill holes. I am going to make my way to early predictions for next year compared to this year. On first glance, it looks like there is no way we will be better. Losing Fish, Amine, Hamiti, Plott, Surver, and Hendrickson are difficult to replace. I am also mostly basing this off the NCAA tournament and possible placement.

• 125 Spratley - Spratley: We can call this one a push. Spratley could win it next year, but he could also wrestle well and get 5th. There is lots of volatility at this weight.
• 133 Witcraft - Figueroa: This one will be an improvement and has the potential to be the biggest change from last year. Figueroa has won a national title, so that is his ceiling. Witcraft didn't qualify, so the point difference could be significant.
• 141 Jamison - Jamison (Vega? Hughes?): If it is Jamison I would say we see a slight improvement. If it is one of the others, I don't know, so I will at least say this weight is a push.
• 149 Travis - Swiderski (Jamison? Travis? Vega?): Swiderski was an all american last time we competed, so this weight could see an improvement on points. I would expect improvement from whoever goes here.
• 157 Fish - Jamison? Robideau?: I don't know who will go here next year. There is a lot of potential, but Fish did make all american, so I will say this will be a point decrease for now.
• 165 Amine - Lockett: Again there is a lot of potential here. Amine is a multiple time all american. Lockett has the pedigree. I will say push right now, but it shouldn't be a huge surprise for a true freshman to struggle at the first NCAA tournament. On the other hand, Lockett might not be your normal freshman.
• 174 Hamiti - Facundo?: I'm not sure who is left at 174, but I don't see how we can replace Hamiti's points. This will be a point decrease, but we could still get some solid points here.
• 184 Plott - Ryder: Ryder has potential, but Plott is a 4 time all american. I will predict a slight point decrease here.
• 197 Surber - Merrill: Surber did not do anything at NCAAs, so I will predict an increase here. If Cody's match with Buchannon was an indication of this coming year, there could be a big increase here.
• 285 Hendrickson - Doucett: No suprise that this will be a point decrease. Wyatt won a national title and pinned multiple people. Doucett could advance, but he will not get close to Hendrickson's points.

Based on my predictions we have point increase in 3 weights, decrease in 4 weights, push in 3 weights. This next year is shaping up to be very exciting because even with the question marks, there is so much excitement that some of the new guys will make a lot of noise next March.
Thoughts?

 

[MJM]

If you look at where we were at start of last season, and compare that to where we are now, we are much better. Last year we were returning 1 guy who was an AA, Plott who was second, and got Hendrickson as a transfer who placed 3rd in 2023/24 year. Hamiti had placed 7th(?) twice, but failed to place in 2023/24. Amine had placed twice before (maybe 3rd and 5th) also did not place in 2023/2024, and he seemed to be going downhill. Fish was a pretty good wrestler, but had never been an AA. As for how other guys did in NCAAs in 2023/24, Spratley was a blood round guy, Jamison was 0 and 2 and Travis round of 16. And Plott's weight class had just gotten much tougher with 4x champ from PSU and stud freshman from Minn. So Plott was unlikely to do as well. And at 285, with Stevenson returning and the guy from PSU, both of who had beaten Hendrickson badly, he was at best a 3rd place guy. And O'Toole and Haines were both moving to 174, same as Hamiti. So he had not placed year before and was in weight class with 2 NCAA champs.

So that doesn't look like a team with 3 finalist and 2 champs. I would argue are four transfers, Ryder, Facundo, Figueroa, and Swiderski, look better than our 4 transfers last year before start of last season. And we have 3 top 10 recruits coming in. I think we have 9 guys who can be an AA. Our only weak weight is 157. Only time will tell as it is a young team with a lot of talent, but that is Penn St model and it has worked for them. And of course, I am a homer.