Coaches won’t pick a favorite for this year’s NCAA Wrestling Championships
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by Gary Abbott
According to national rankings, the University of Iowa is the top-ranked team going into the NCAA Championships this weekend in St. Louis, Mo. But if you ask Hawkeye coach Tom Brands, or a number of the other top coaches at the pre-event press conference, nobody is a favorite going in this year.
"I don't think rankings mean anything now, especially tomorrow morning," said Brands. "You can look at the brackets now, and this is good for the thousands of fans coming here. We have to take care of individual matches as they come up. If we get ahead of ourselves, not a lot of good will come from that. We have guys, if they get ready, they can do well."
Brands did not discuss being the pre-event favorite with his team coming in.
"I don't coach that way. We talked about the unique perspective about competitors in general, competitors that succeeded at the highest levels. You stay in the championship bracket, one match at a time. If disaster happens, you come back and wrestle to the highest place you can get. You know my mindset. We come here to win. It is not just to win. We care here to perform. We are here to win, one match at a time. After a three day scramble, if we do our job, we will do all right."
Iowa State, the Big 12 champions and runners-up at last year's NCAA Championships, come to the tournament with momentum and a positive attitude.
"We are wrestling at our best right now," said Iowa State head coach Cael Sanderson. "I'm real proud of how we competed at the conference tournament. We competed at our best at every weight class and that is exciting for us. We will need to wrestle that way this week. We will need some upsets along the way."
Last year, with a young team, the Cyclones had a tremendous performance. The young competitors from last year are back again, and Sanderson believes being at the NCAA Championships last year will help them under pressure this time.
"Experience is huge. We saw that at the conference meet. All six sophomores made the final round. If you get to this tournament, you come to realize it is just a tournament. There are more fans here. But wrestling is wrestling. It's just an opportunity to compete for your team and your family. It is fun. There is not much more fun than this," said Sanderson.
Minnesota, the defending champion, comes in after a challenging year with a second-place finish at the Big Ten Championships.
"It has been a frustrating year. We had a lot of injuries. We didn't have our team together until the Big Ten tournament. You don't defend a title. You come here to win a title," said Minnesota head coach J Robinson.
Robinson has hopes for his team reaching its best performance at the national championships, in spite of the problems they have endured all season.
"They learned that when they are together, good things happen," said Robinson of the Big Ten effort by the Gophers. "We haven't had any luck this year. The thing they realized is when they are together, they have a chance. It has to be a team effort."
Robinson does not want to predict how the tournament will go, if it is going to be won on the championship side or in the consolation rounds.
"It will be won one match at a time. If you start thinking about the finals, you are in trouble. You can only control the things you can control. The bottom line is you have to win. This is the NCAA Tournament. Crazy stuff is going to happen. There will be close matches, bad calls, emotions. That is what the national tournament is about every year. The unexpected will happen, that is what you can expect," said Robinson.
Central Michigan coach Tom Borrelli, attending his first NCAA Championships press conference in his 17 years as head coach, is excited about his team's chances. The powerhouse from the Mid America Conference, Central Michigan comes from a less prominent conference than many of the other "favorite" teams.
"We see most of the people who are here," said Borrelli of his schedule. "The people we compete against here are at the National Duals and other events. It does take some pressure off of our guys, though. There's not a whole lot of expectations. It's a good position to be in."
Host Missouri coach Brian Smith does not believe that his team has any "home field" advantage, although he enjoys when his team competes in St. Louis at the NCAA Championships.
"The trip here was quicker than everybody else's. That's about it. Being at home, the guys are comfortable. They were able to eat at the athletic cafeteria yesterday. You still have to show up at the mat and wrestle hard. We will have a big fan section. We have about 1,200 people here supporting us," said Smith.
Smith believes his team can do some damage in a field that may be one of the tightest in recent years.
"I want to see them compete hard. When we have, we have done good things this year. If they compete well, good things will happen. Max Askren, Nick Marable have not lost in a long time. Our other guys are wrestling well. I know if they show up and wrestle to their potential, we will be in the hunt," said Askren.
Smith likes it when the tournament is hard to handicap, and many times have high hopes.
"It is good for the sport. The crowd gets into it. Look how exciting the college football year was this year, with so many teams No. 1 for awhile. There are a lot of teams coming here this week that think they have a chance," said Smith.
Still, everybody is looking back at Iowa, to see if they can keep their momentum from a strong regular season.
"It's not that we are the favorite," said Brands. "Are we number one ranked now? Yes. Do we have the most points going in? Yes. I like that we are here, our guys are excited and we are ready. We have guys who are eager and motivated. That is what it takes. You look at the draws, and you go one match at a time. We have to be ready right away. The one thing we told our guys, if you have a play on words, is that we have a dual meet on Thursday morning, then we will go from there."
Brands has faith in his athletes and his program, believing that they can achieve great things.
"We love our guys. I wouldn't trade this team for any other team. There is a lot of loyalty and it's reciprocal," said Brands.
"I don't think rankings mean anything now, especially tomorrow morning," said Brands. "You can look at the brackets now, and this is good for the thousands of fans coming here. We have to take care of individual matches as they come up. If we get ahead of ourselves, not a lot of good will come from that. We have guys, if they get ready, they can do well."
Brands did not discuss being the pre-event favorite with his team coming in.
"I don't coach that way. We talked about the unique perspective about competitors in general, competitors that succeeded at the highest levels. You stay in the championship bracket, one match at a time. If disaster happens, you come back and wrestle to the highest place you can get. You know my mindset. We come here to win. It is not just to win. We care here to perform. We are here to win, one match at a time. After a three day scramble, if we do our job, we will do all right."
Iowa State, the Big 12 champions and runners-up at last year's NCAA Championships, come to the tournament with momentum and a positive attitude.
"We are wrestling at our best right now," said Iowa State head coach Cael Sanderson. "I'm real proud of how we competed at the conference tournament. We competed at our best at every weight class and that is exciting for us. We will need to wrestle that way this week. We will need some upsets along the way."
Last year, with a young team, the Cyclones had a tremendous performance. The young competitors from last year are back again, and Sanderson believes being at the NCAA Championships last year will help them under pressure this time.
"Experience is huge. We saw that at the conference meet. All six sophomores made the final round. If you get to this tournament, you come to realize it is just a tournament. There are more fans here. But wrestling is wrestling. It's just an opportunity to compete for your team and your family. It is fun. There is not much more fun than this," said Sanderson.
Minnesota, the defending champion, comes in after a challenging year with a second-place finish at the Big Ten Championships.
"It has been a frustrating year. We had a lot of injuries. We didn't have our team together until the Big Ten tournament. You don't defend a title. You come here to win a title," said Minnesota head coach J Robinson.
Robinson has hopes for his team reaching its best performance at the national championships, in spite of the problems they have endured all season.
"They learned that when they are together, good things happen," said Robinson of the Big Ten effort by the Gophers. "We haven't had any luck this year. The thing they realized is when they are together, they have a chance. It has to be a team effort."
Robinson does not want to predict how the tournament will go, if it is going to be won on the championship side or in the consolation rounds.
"It will be won one match at a time. If you start thinking about the finals, you are in trouble. You can only control the things you can control. The bottom line is you have to win. This is the NCAA Tournament. Crazy stuff is going to happen. There will be close matches, bad calls, emotions. That is what the national tournament is about every year. The unexpected will happen, that is what you can expect," said Robinson.
Central Michigan coach Tom Borrelli, attending his first NCAA Championships press conference in his 17 years as head coach, is excited about his team's chances. The powerhouse from the Mid America Conference, Central Michigan comes from a less prominent conference than many of the other "favorite" teams.
"We see most of the people who are here," said Borrelli of his schedule. "The people we compete against here are at the National Duals and other events. It does take some pressure off of our guys, though. There's not a whole lot of expectations. It's a good position to be in."
Host Missouri coach Brian Smith does not believe that his team has any "home field" advantage, although he enjoys when his team competes in St. Louis at the NCAA Championships.
"The trip here was quicker than everybody else's. That's about it. Being at home, the guys are comfortable. They were able to eat at the athletic cafeteria yesterday. You still have to show up at the mat and wrestle hard. We will have a big fan section. We have about 1,200 people here supporting us," said Smith.
Smith believes his team can do some damage in a field that may be one of the tightest in recent years.
"I want to see them compete hard. When we have, we have done good things this year. If they compete well, good things will happen. Max Askren, Nick Marable have not lost in a long time. Our other guys are wrestling well. I know if they show up and wrestle to their potential, we will be in the hunt," said Askren.
Smith likes it when the tournament is hard to handicap, and many times have high hopes.
"It is good for the sport. The crowd gets into it. Look how exciting the college football year was this year, with so many teams No. 1 for awhile. There are a lot of teams coming here this week that think they have a chance," said Smith.
Still, everybody is looking back at Iowa, to see if they can keep their momentum from a strong regular season.
"It's not that we are the favorite," said Brands. "Are we number one ranked now? Yes. Do we have the most points going in? Yes. I like that we are here, our guys are excited and we are ready. We have guys who are eager and motivated. That is what it takes. You look at the draws, and you go one match at a time. We have to be ready right away. The one thing we told our guys, if you have a play on words, is that we have a dual meet on Thursday morning, then we will go from there."
Brands has faith in his athletes and his program, believing that they can achieve great things.
"We love our guys. I wouldn't trade this team for any other team. There is a lot of loyalty and it's reciprocal," said Brands.
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