OSU Wrestling: Looking at OSU’s Upper Weights for the NCAA Tournament

On Sunday I ran through the lower-weights and how the  NCAA tournament brackets set up for OSU there. Here’s a look at the upper weights.

165: Joe Smith

Joe Smith certainly got an interesting draw. With the 33 seed, Joe will wrestle in a pigtail match for a shot at the No. 1 seed Alex Marinelli. There will be a quick turnaround between the pigtail and the match with Marinelli. That doesn’t benefit Joe, who has a big weight cut. An upset win for Joe would be massive, but the path for the winner of Smith-Marinelli isn’t an easy one. The path for the loser isn’t either. Win or lose in this mega first round match-up and Joe will still have to run through a gauntlet. This will be one to follow. You can mark it down that he’ll likely finish higher than his seed.

174: Jacobe Smith

As the 7 seed, Jacobe received a decent draw. He has a very winnable first round match then hits Nebraska’s Mikey Labriola, who will be a good test. Labriola beat Smith last year. A win there and he should match up with the No. 2 seed Daniel Lewis. I think Jacobe could pull the shocker here and upset Lewis. If he doesn’t he’s got very winnable matches in his path to come back and place.

I’m really intrigued by what we’ll see here. Jacobe has been up at 184 so much this season we really haven’t been able to see what all he can do at 174. There are some really good wrestlers at the upper echelon of this weight. Can Jacobe go with them? We’ll find out soon enough.

184: Dakota Geer

Geer received a really low seed at No. 26, but he caught a pretty reasonable draw. His first match is with Nick Reenan, who’s a great wrestler. He hasn’t been healthy lately though. It wouldn’t be a big surprise at all for Geer to pull the upset here. If he does beat Reenan, he’ll have Big 12 runner up Sammy Colbray next and possibly Shakur Rasheed in the next round. He would be an underdog in any of those. If he falls he’ll hit some tough matches on the way back. If he emerges as an All-American after getting this low seed, it’s a really good tournament for him.

197: Preston Weigel

Preston Weigel got a great seed and spot in the bracket. As the 3 seed, Weigel will not hit Bo Nickal, who has looked untouchable all season, until the final. Weigel, the Big 12 champion, could see Big 12 opponents nearly all the way to the semifinal. If the bracket wrestles to seed with the exception of one minor upset of Orndorff over Schulz, then Weigel really just has to beat a few guys he’s already beaten.

In the semifinals he’s probably looking at Kollin Moore of Ohio State. If it happens that’s a huge match for each guy and also in the team race.

285: Derek White

Derek White earned the No. 1 seed. This was huge for him. Based on what we’ve seen this season t’s a definite three man race for the title at heavyweight between Derek White, Anthony Cassar, and Gable Steveson. All three have beaten each other this year and it was a big unknown who would be the #1 seed at the tournament. Derek got it and is in a great spot for it.

He has a very manageable path to the final while the other two are opposite him and will likely meet in the semifinals. The usual worry in scenario’s like this is that he could take too much of a forward look into the finals before he gets there and slip up early. He should be a solid favorite in each match on his way to the final though.