New York City was three long, long days of wrestling from roughly 11-11 every day, and then doing interviews/writing after that. So after I left for my flight at 5:15 a.m. Sunday, I got back and just slept...not that I'm complaining — it was awesome — but that's why I've been MIA since Saturday night after posting my article (link: https://ncstate.n.rivals.com/news/gwiazdowski-finishes-second-pack-places-11th-at-ncaas.)
Anyway, my final thoughts on the NCAA Wrestling Championships and NC State's 11th place finish:
There was no doubt that the wrestlers (outside of one, third-place finisher Pete Renda at 184) and coaches were disappointed with how things turned out. It's understandable, but it was still a heck of a season. It's impossible to draw parallels and compare it to other sports, so I'm not even going to try doing that.
I think a few guys got hard lessons at Nationals. You can't try to win 1-0 matches every time out — that might have worked in the regular season, but it's a dangerous way to live and won't get you deep into the tournament in March. The tournament also shows that when you get the best guys in the country together anything can happen. Everybody that made it there had to qualify, so everybody's good...there are no gimmes.
For somebody like 141-pounder Kevin Jack, what a tough draw. Has to face a guy that he wrestled every day last year (Wyoming's Bryce Meredith, who was at NCSU last year) in round two — it's really tough when somebody knows you that well, they know what the blueprint is to beat you — and that guy made it all the way to the finals. Then in the "blood round" (winner is an All-American, loser is eliminated), he faced the UNC guy. We saw up and down the tournament that it's extremely tough to beat somebody three times in one year. I saw at least 5 ACC instances — and there might have been more — where one guy won the first two matches and then the other guy won at NCAAs (Renda was an example of that, beating the VT kid after losing to him twice before).
Jack also showed how tough it is to lose in the second round and come back to be an All-American, that's why although I know Tommy Gantt is disappointed with finishing eighth at 157, his finish should still be celebrated.
On top of all that, 125-pounder Sean Fausz, 133-pounder Jamal Morris and 197-pounder Michael Boykin all won matches in their first NCAA appearance. That means NC State returns six national qualifiers from this year, plus two-time qualifier Sam Speno, who redshirted this season. All seven of them have won matches at Nationals, not many teams can say that going into next year.
I can't believe I haven't mentioned him yet, but Nick Gwiazdowski's career was special — one of the best ever at NCSU regardless of sport, despite the loss in his final bout. Many I talked to at Nationals and hundreds of others on twitter called it the best heavyweight finals match they'd ever seen. That's not hyperbole, it was phenomenal. And I was blown away with how he handled something he has not experienced since Jan. 2014. He talked to the media not long afterwards, I saw him congratulate guys who won right after he walked off — he was mad, no doubt, but he was basically still the same old Nick ... even joked around a little bit.
He didn't say this, but after thinking about it, I mentioned in my article about how Nick could've kept his distance (he could've been hit for stalling twice and still won the match), but that wasn't how he wanted to win. That's kind of how he won in the semifinals and there were boos from the crowd as his hand was raised. Maybe it was subconscious, but I don't think he wanted to experience that again (rightfully so), and he gave the people what they wanted. Nobody in the arena or watching at home was disappointed in that match, although some with NCSU ties were obviously disappointed with result.
Again, I would remind fans nobody takes these losses harder than the guys themselves. In an individual sport like wrestling, losing — especially on that stage — is hard. It's just you out there, there's nobody to share the blame with.
As for the team, if you're not familiar with wrestling, it's hard to really explain the difference between dual matches and tournaments. And on top of that, the difference between the ACC Championships (6-man bracket) and Nationals (32-man brackets) is just as stark. I've said it before, but while NCSU finished second in the coaches' poll, those are dual rankings. The websites that do tournament rankings all had NC State in the 6-10 range going in to Nationals, so while they might have underachieved, it really wasn't by much when you take the whole scope of things into account (some individuals underachieved, some overachieved, they nearly balance each other out).
The team went to NCAAs with the goals of something an ACC team has never accomplished ... you don't get better without pushing yourself and setting your sights impossibly high, that's what this team did. I'm not going to hold it against them for verbalizing them. I'm sure many of you on here wish NCSU would "disappoint" like the wrestling team in other sports.
As a fan, you can either focus on the historic things they accomplished this year and even at Nationals — 11th is still tied for the fifth-best performance in program history and three All-Americans tied a school record — or the perceived disappointment, but I feel like people saying 'same old NC State sh!t' are taking their frustrations with other teams out on this one. But that's just my opinion, you can think about this team and season however you want.
Here's what the record books will say about it, you can draw your own conclusions:
- ACC Champions
- Tied a school-record with 3 All-Americans. Only six schools had more this year.
- Eight NCAA qualifiers also tied a school record — and six return next year, plus another who redshirted this year. All seven have won matches on the sport's biggest stage
- Finished No. 2 in the coaches' poll with national-best 23 wins
- Avenged their lone loss by finishing ahead of VT at ACCs. FWIW, Tech placed fourth at NCAAs.
- Became the only team to ever beat OK State and Iowa on the road in the same year.
- Gwiazdowski's 88-match winning streak might have been the longest in NCAA heavyweight history — I have not been able to confirm or deny, but few have ever been as dominant as him over a three-year stretch. His record was 110-3 at NCSU and he never lost a dual match.
- 11th was tied for fifth-best NCAA performance in school annals and best since 1993, and it was just the second time they had two grapplers place in the top 3.
- In Popolizio's first year, the team placed 63rd so the improvements they have made are clear. Since then, they have finished in the nation's top 20 three years in a row — that is a first for the program since 1991-93.
Anyway, my final thoughts on the NCAA Wrestling Championships and NC State's 11th place finish:
There was no doubt that the wrestlers (outside of one, third-place finisher Pete Renda at 184) and coaches were disappointed with how things turned out. It's understandable, but it was still a heck of a season. It's impossible to draw parallels and compare it to other sports, so I'm not even going to try doing that.
I think a few guys got hard lessons at Nationals. You can't try to win 1-0 matches every time out — that might have worked in the regular season, but it's a dangerous way to live and won't get you deep into the tournament in March. The tournament also shows that when you get the best guys in the country together anything can happen. Everybody that made it there had to qualify, so everybody's good...there are no gimmes.
For somebody like 141-pounder Kevin Jack, what a tough draw. Has to face a guy that he wrestled every day last year (Wyoming's Bryce Meredith, who was at NCSU last year) in round two — it's really tough when somebody knows you that well, they know what the blueprint is to beat you — and that guy made it all the way to the finals. Then in the "blood round" (winner is an All-American, loser is eliminated), he faced the UNC guy. We saw up and down the tournament that it's extremely tough to beat somebody three times in one year. I saw at least 5 ACC instances — and there might have been more — where one guy won the first two matches and then the other guy won at NCAAs (Renda was an example of that, beating the VT kid after losing to him twice before).
Jack also showed how tough it is to lose in the second round and come back to be an All-American, that's why although I know Tommy Gantt is disappointed with finishing eighth at 157, his finish should still be celebrated.
On top of all that, 125-pounder Sean Fausz, 133-pounder Jamal Morris and 197-pounder Michael Boykin all won matches in their first NCAA appearance. That means NC State returns six national qualifiers from this year, plus two-time qualifier Sam Speno, who redshirted this season. All seven of them have won matches at Nationals, not many teams can say that going into next year.
I can't believe I haven't mentioned him yet, but Nick Gwiazdowski's career was special — one of the best ever at NCSU regardless of sport, despite the loss in his final bout. Many I talked to at Nationals and hundreds of others on twitter called it the best heavyweight finals match they'd ever seen. That's not hyperbole, it was phenomenal. And I was blown away with how he handled something he has not experienced since Jan. 2014. He talked to the media not long afterwards, I saw him congratulate guys who won right after he walked off — he was mad, no doubt, but he was basically still the same old Nick ... even joked around a little bit.
He didn't say this, but after thinking about it, I mentioned in my article about how Nick could've kept his distance (he could've been hit for stalling twice and still won the match), but that wasn't how he wanted to win. That's kind of how he won in the semifinals and there were boos from the crowd as his hand was raised. Maybe it was subconscious, but I don't think he wanted to experience that again (rightfully so), and he gave the people what they wanted. Nobody in the arena or watching at home was disappointed in that match, although some with NCSU ties were obviously disappointed with result.
Again, I would remind fans nobody takes these losses harder than the guys themselves. In an individual sport like wrestling, losing — especially on that stage — is hard. It's just you out there, there's nobody to share the blame with.
As for the team, if you're not familiar with wrestling, it's hard to really explain the difference between dual matches and tournaments. And on top of that, the difference between the ACC Championships (6-man bracket) and Nationals (32-man brackets) is just as stark. I've said it before, but while NCSU finished second in the coaches' poll, those are dual rankings. The websites that do tournament rankings all had NC State in the 6-10 range going in to Nationals, so while they might have underachieved, it really wasn't by much when you take the whole scope of things into account (some individuals underachieved, some overachieved, they nearly balance each other out).
The team went to NCAAs with the goals of something an ACC team has never accomplished ... you don't get better without pushing yourself and setting your sights impossibly high, that's what this team did. I'm not going to hold it against them for verbalizing them. I'm sure many of you on here wish NCSU would "disappoint" like the wrestling team in other sports.
As a fan, you can either focus on the historic things they accomplished this year and even at Nationals — 11th is still tied for the fifth-best performance in program history and three All-Americans tied a school record — or the perceived disappointment, but I feel like people saying 'same old NC State sh!t' are taking their frustrations with other teams out on this one. But that's just my opinion, you can think about this team and season however you want.
Here's what the record books will say about it, you can draw your own conclusions:
- ACC Champions
- Tied a school-record with 3 All-Americans. Only six schools had more this year.
- Eight NCAA qualifiers also tied a school record — and six return next year, plus another who redshirted this year. All seven have won matches on the sport's biggest stage
- Finished No. 2 in the coaches' poll with national-best 23 wins
- Avenged their lone loss by finishing ahead of VT at ACCs. FWIW, Tech placed fourth at NCAAs.
- Became the only team to ever beat OK State and Iowa on the road in the same year.
- Gwiazdowski's 88-match winning streak might have been the longest in NCAA heavyweight history — I have not been able to confirm or deny, but few have ever been as dominant as him over a three-year stretch. His record was 110-3 at NCSU and he never lost a dual match.
- 11th was tied for fifth-best NCAA performance in school annals and best since 1993, and it was just the second time they had two grapplers place in the top 3.
- In Popolizio's first year, the team placed 63rd so the improvements they have made are clear. Since then, they have finished in the nation's top 20 three years in a row — that is a first for the program since 1991-93.
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