NCAA DIV I Brackets Now Out

Want the brackets? Easy. Here are the brackets for the 2009 NCAA DIV I Wrestling Championships. Have fun. If you want to save it to your computer, right click on the link and select Save Link As. Done and did.

Should Brent Metcalf Have to Apologize For His Last Second Push?

OK for any of those who STILL haven’t seen it, here are the videos of the match.

[flashvideo file=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNY4VW6Bi3U /]

[flashvideo file=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI2j0fZOpIQ /]

I love watching Metcalf wrestle just becuase he is always fighting back, as if he were always on his back, even if he is ahead by 8 points. He’s just that sort of animal. Personally I would hate to go up against him even in the practice room. He’d tare me apart and then eat me for breakfast.

So in the final seconds of the match, Caldwell knows he’s won the match and just stops. He actually takes up and starts running, putting his hands up in the air, celebrating already. He runs away from Metcalf and half a second after the ref blows the whistle, he does a back flip. Well tries to anyways. What he doesn’t see is Metcalf chasing after him, trying to finish the match. Right when Caldwell is in the air, Metcalf pushes him and Caldwell lands on his back.

Before we get into the different angles of the push, here’s what I had to say earlier this week about it in a comment I left on a blog:

If I was in his situation, I totally would have shoved him. Doesn’t matter if he did the flip before or after the whistle. From the side of Caldwell, I would have done the flip! He just beat the second best wrestler in collegiate history and pulled off one of the biggest upsets since 1970! How could he not flip?!!? I just wish Metcalf would have won it though.

I can see where both guys are coming from. Going into the match, everyone thought that Metcalf had it made. If I were Caldwell, there’s no DOUBT I would be doing a flip. But when you do that with someone like Metcalf, you had better know that it’s just going to egg him on. Coming from Metcalf, I totally would have pushed the dude.

Now lets look at the refs. Personally, I think they dropped the ball on this on. When a wrestler starts celebrating before the whistle sounds, that’s call for unsportsmanship. And sure he did the flip after the whistle, but he started it before the match ended. Metcalf cost the team a point, but Caldwell’s actions whent unpunished. Now I’m not calling for Caldwell’s apology or for him to hand the title over to Metcalf, cuz that won’t happen. But he had it coming to him. In my opinion, I wouldn’t have apologized unless it was for PR reasons. That’s just me though. Your thoughts?

What in the WORLD?! Caldwell Beats Metcalf! Can it seriously be true?

MetcalfYou know when you have those moments when you just say “Seriously? Really? Are you SERIOUS?” That’s about the reaction I had when I got back from California this weekend – a trip I had where I deliberatly didn’t have internet – and found out that Darrion Caldwell upset Brent Metcalf. For those of you who haven’t been paying attention to college wrestling in the past couple years, Metcalf, who wrestles for University of Iowa’s 149 lb spot, is not only the top ranked in the nation in 149, but is heralded as the second best wrestler in collegiate history, right behind Cael Sanderson. “Seriously?” One of the biggest upsets in college history. “Really?” Metcalf had a 69 win streak going into the match. The last time that he lost a match was actually to Caldwell back in early 2007. That’s right. Two years without a loss. “Are you SERIOUS?!” Yes, I’m serious.

So having not watched the match live and only being able to find a couple clips of it online, it looks like Caldwell was actually ahead by 6 points at one point. (Please correct me if I’m wrong on that one). Yes both wrestlers have grown since that point, but going into the match, no one gave Caldwell a second thought. Virtually all thoughts were that Metcalf would pull ahead as the winner. So what are your thoughts? Is Caldwell the better wrestler or was it a fluke? “He’s human,” Caldwell said. “It was a wrestling match. It was not like he had a gun and me a knife.” This was very obviously a well-matched fight. Metcalf knew it and didn’t make any excuses: “I looked at it as I had to go in and take it away from him, not just go in there and expect things to happen because I’m Brent Metcalf, because I wrestle hard. That is not enough,” Metcalf said.

So what say you? Who’s the better wrestler? Or smarter wrestler? Everyone, including myself, has been building up Metcalf like none other. Is he still the best? Here’s the best video I could find. Let me know what you think!

I just found the other video and I’m updating this post. Here it is!

[flashvideo file=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNY4VW6Bi3U /]

[flashvideo file=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI2j0fZOpIQ /]

How to Buy a Wrestling Mat

Buying a wrestling mat is probably one of the most important – and most costly things – that your wrestling team or club is going to buy. They can range from $4.50 a square foot down to $1.50 per square foot. Because it is measured by square foot, it is easy to see how you can get very pricey very fast. Think floor space, then wall space and if you have any support columns, you’ll want to cover those as well. An average high school wrestling mat is between 32′ x 32′ and 40′ x 40′. Plug in the cost for the smaller, cheaper, mat and your running $1,500. For the larger, new wrestling mat, it would be $7,200. That’s just for the floor. At those prices, you better know what you’re doing when you buy a new wrestling mat. To help out, we’ve written this up. Hope it helps!

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Big Ten 2009 Tourney Results and Highlights

So imagine how mad and frustrated I was when I go to create this post yesterday and the servers are down. Awesome. As soon as I get home, they’re working. Better. Best part is, I didn’t email the post to myself, so I couldn’t get it posted once I got home. It’s the best! – Nacho Libre plug. Anyways, here is the post that SHOULD have been up last night. Sorry for the delay.

Here is the transcript of the video. I’ve probably butchered a bunch of the names; sorry if yours is one of them and you’re reading it! Contact us and let us know and we’ll correct it!

Welcome back again wrestling at the 2009 big ten championships at 141 lbs Michigan sophomore Kellen Russell had a late take down to knock off top ranked Zach Tenelli 6-4 for his first individual title.
Brent Metcalf at 149 lbs continued his dominating performance. Metcalf pinned Bubba Jenkins to notch his 65th consecutive match win, breaking into Iowa’s top ten for pins in a season with 18.
At 157 lbs, defending big ten champion Mike Poeta defeated North Western’s Jason Welsh 8-2 for his second title
At 165 lbs Wisconsin true freshman Andrew Howell lived up to his top seed beating Ryan Morningstar in overtime giving the badgers their first big ten championship since 2006
174 lbs Michigan Steve Luke captured his third straight big ten title. The 12-5 decision over Quinton Right leaves Luke undefeated this season
At 184 lbs top ranked Jake Herbert became the first wildcat ever to capture 3 big ten championships with a win over Phil Petty. Herbert extended his college winning streak to 60.
At 197 lbs Tyron Todd of Michigan gathered riding time to beat Wisconsin’s Dallas Hurbst with a 5-4 decision this is Todd’s first title, helping Michigan to a third place finish while Iowa captured it’s second consecutive title.
6 wrestlers repeat as big 10 champs, including the winners from each of the first 5 weight classes. Defending NCAA champion Brent Metcalf who captured the 149 lb title was named The wrestler of the championships for the second straight season.
As for the final team standings behind their two individual winners, the Hawkeyes repeat as big ten champs, recording their 33rd title in program history. Pretty impressive. Iowa finished with 141 pts and Illinois was second with 113.5 and Michigan third with 92.5. The hawks will send 9 wrestlers to the NCAA championships beginning March 19th in St. Louis and will be looking to repeat as the title holders in this event as well.

Tournament results:

School Score Individual Champs Weight
Iowa 141 A. Escobedo 125 125
Illinois 113.5 E. Gomez 133 133
Michigan 92.5 K. Russell 141 141
Wisconsin 88 B. Metcalf 149 149
Minnesota 86 M. Poeta 157 157
Ohio State 80 A. Howe 165 165
Penn State 79.5 S. Luke 174 174
Northwestern 73.5 J. Herbert 197 197
Indiana 67.5 D. Erekson HVY HVY
Purdue 52
Michigan State 45.5

Iowa Shutdowns Indiana

Just as a super quick note: earlier this week, we did put up a video of Metcalf in an interview. We said that he had 59 wins. We would like to correct that; he now has 60 straight wins.

Senior 125-pounder Charlie Falck upset defending NCAA champion Angel Escobedo Friday night in Bloomington.

Senior 125-pounder Charlie Falck upset defending NCAA champion Angel Escobedo

Indiana took on Iowa Friday night. And lost. Big surprise. That makes 37 straight dual victories for Iowa and they are 7-0 in the Big Ten this season. I’m pretty sure I can call this one and say they are going to stay number one and take the NCAA title this year as well. The final score of this match was Iowa 24, Indiana 12. They opened the match at the 125 lb mark with Iowa’s Charlie Falk, ranked fifth, going up against third-ranked Angel Escobedo. Falk took it 3-1, improving his record 19-2. After the 125 came the 133 pounders. Again, Iowa took the mat with Daniel Dennis, who gained a major decision over Matt Ortega, putting the Hawks ahead 7-0 and putting up his own ninth straight win.

Metcalf was able to get a tech fall over Nick Walpole at 149, scoring 19-4. This brought the Hawkeye’s up to an 11-3 lead for the night. He is now 28-0 this season alone but has, as we’ve said before, won 60 consecutive matches.

Other wins of the night came from Ryan Morningstar, Jay Borschel, Phillip Keddy and Chad Beatty.

One on One With Brent Metcalf: Mini Interview on His Wrestling Career Past and Future

We found this new interview with Brent Metcalf on www.BigTenNetwork.com and thought we would share the joy. Gotta love Brent’s style with the hunting hoodie and the cauliflower ear!

Here is the transcript from the interview as well:

Announcer: Time now to bring in Brent Metcalf of the Iowa Hawkeyes, the number one team in the country and Brent with 59 straight matches that you have not lost, at what point does this really sink in, what you’re accomplishing right now?

Brent: I think you don’t worry about win streaks you don’t worry about records until probably the end of the season, you know after the NCAA tournament is over and really, you know in my case, I won’t worry about those things until, you know, two seasons from now when I get ready to graduate. But I think, you know, those things are on the line and you gotta be aware of it and be ready to go every time you step on the mat.

Announcer:  Do you get the feel, Brent, that you’re always going to get guys best shot? That no matter what, people are pointing at the schedule and saying, “I’m gonna to be the guy that knocks him off?”

Brent: Absolutely. You know, you work hard to really create a position where you  put a target on your back and you gotta be, as a competitor, you gotta love that;  you gotta be aware of it and you gotta know that guys are gunnin’ for you; that there is a dot on the University of Iowa when they come to town and you gotta be ready to go.

Announcer: Up and down the line up, do you feel like if the NCAA championships were tomorrow you guys would NO DOUBT, and of course the rankings and the records reflect it, but you guys would NO DOUBT be the team to beat?

Brent: I think so. I think, you know, record wise we prove that, I think that on a daily basis we prove that but really one of the biggest things is we got a pretty tough team who rises to the occasion every single time and I think if you were to throw a situation like that at us right now we would be ready to go because the sort of competitors we have on this team and the way that they compete. So..

Announcer: Brent Metcalf, the defending Champion at 149 pounds; he has won 59 straight and his team is going to take on Iowa coming up, uh Indiana, coming up on Friday. Brent, appreciate the time!

Brent: Yup, absolutly!