Rick's Rant: Up the Ante on National Duals, Crown a True NCAA Champion

2014 NCAA Champions Penn State receiving the championship trophy in Oklahoma City last March. Photo: Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com

This weekend eight universities will show down in Carver Hawkeye Arena to vie for the title of NWCA National Duals champion.


The tournament features the five teams comprising the top five spots in the NWCA coaches poll in No. 1 Iowa, No. 2 Missouri, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Minnesota and No. 5 Cornell, along with three additional qualifying round victors Illinois, Lehigh and Chattanooga. Expect a clash of epic proportions when these teams collide.


A team will walk out of Iowa City with a huge victory, but what does it all really mean?


Someone will have bragging rights, yes, but outside of that there are no serious team implications for the long term of crowning who truly is the best team in the NCAA.


Sure some individual seeding for the conference meets and NCAA tournament will be affected by individual match results. We all know seeding can play a part in who wins those top tournaments, but on the whole the best wrestler will win those individual tournaments.


The quandary is finding the best overall team in the NCAA. To me, nothing can define who the better team is more than a mono e mono scrap, team versus team, winner take all format, a.k.a. the dual meet.


Here is my proposal. Let’s have a true NCAA team champion by incorporating dual meet success into individual tournament success.


As it sits duals are fun, but overall the win-loss record for a team means squat. Whichever team performs the best over a three-day period at the end of March is crowned NCAA champions.


Explain to me how wrestling can sell the importance of a dual when duals play no part in the determination of the NCAA Champion.


Let’s throw together some “what ifs” for the end of this season simply to bolster cognitive reasoning in this argument.


Iowa is currently undefeated and has beaten the best of the bunch with wins over the likes of Ohio State, Minnesota, Oklahoma State and Penn State. Should Iowa go on to win the National Duals they will have notched a couple more top five wins on their resume. Do they not deserve the title of best team in the land? Well if they have one bad day at the NCAA Tournament Iowa can kiss those title hopes goodbye regardless of showing a dominant consistency throughout the season.


If by some chance Penn State is able to squeak out some upsets at the big show and claim its fifth straight national title are they truly the best team for the 2014-15 NCAA season? Keep in mind Penn State has now lost duals to Iowa, Ohio State, Minnesota and Oklahoma State.


Something about this process seems a little off to me.


It is in the best interest of wrestling to place meaning and value on every match wrestled. An early season loss in December should mean something, the same as a February win over a top opponent. We see this in NCAA football all the time. When a top team goes down it is big. It creates buzz. It impacts the remainder of the season. In wrestling though a loss is just downplayed and washed out until we get to the big show in March.


I propose the NCAA holds a true dual meet playoff, raising the bar for every wrestling program in the country to perform at the highest level year round.


It could be as simple as having every conference champion plus an additional two or three wildcards come together one weekend to settle the score, like we are seeing this weekend mind you, so don’t give me the argument of impossible to schedule such an event.


Every team in every conference will have the opportunity to prove their metal win winning its conference dual meet championships and proceeding on to the National Duals.


People rag on the Big 12 for having the campaign slogan of “one true champion” for their college football conference, but it is my argument that wrestling needs “one true champion” when it comes to team results.


Under the current system top teams do not enter the NWCA National Duals. This year only 16 were involved in the whole process. Penn State and Oklahoma State, two perennial powers, where not in the mix. I’m sorry, but the team who wins the National Duals, as it stands, cannot be considered without a doubt the best dual team in the NCAA unless everyone has the opportunity to win.


If you disagree with this idea and think every team has the opportunity to win an NCAA title you a filled with folly. With the current selection process for the NCAA Tournament big schools receive the brunt of the entries while small schools might get one or two wrestlers in the big show.


Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the current NCAA Tournament. It is one of the best tournaments to go to worldwide. I would not want to see it go. That would be crazy talk. But one tournament does not a sport make. Why not have another marquee event that has major team implications and can build the wrestling brand?


NCAA let’s figure out a way to reward the dual team champion in the overall determination of the true NCAA Champion.


A points system would be most logical. Award the dual meet champion a select number of team points heading into the NCAA Tournament. Do the same for teams who place top four. Those teams have shown their quality and deserve a leg up come tournament time.


You can still keep a team score at the NCAA Tournament and have all the drama and atmosphere the tournament currently possesses. All I am asking is to reward a full body of work over a work of three days.


Last season Minnesota upset top ranked Penn State in January, 18-17, in Minneapolis. The Gophers also went on to win the National Duals. If Minnesota had been rewarded entering the NCAA tournament for winning those duals in a system like the one just outlined perhaps we would have seen a different team champion in 2014.


I realize the wrestling community is not one for drastic change and many of you will not agree with my premise. The sad truth is college wrestling needs a spark in America. I can’t even begin to count the number of division I teams that have dropped wrestling programs over the past 25 years. Sometimes change is a good thing and I think wrestling will only be advanced in a system where every team has a fighting chance and more star-studded events grace the schedule.


Make every match count!

To submit your questions or comments to Rick’s Rant tweet @Richard_Immel or email rimmel@usawrestling.org.