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► Add to the Discussion Page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5  Next Discussion Topic: Buckeyes at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Ben Golden added to this discussion on December 5, 2010 I don't know how I feel about the idea of Sponseller going back up to 65. He's probably spent most of the offseason atrophying his body and being committed to this drop, and frankly he would be very small at 65. Gaining that weight back (in a way that isn't just fat and meaningless tissue) is not going to happen in a month. I don't know that he could be big enough by the end of the season. Either way, it's his and the coaching staff's decision. I'm sure he'll do everything he can to make the best of it.        Discussion Topic: Buckeyes at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Don Bork added to this discussion on December 5, 2010 I have little problem with Steibers results. I understand that he is a true frosh. I have seen video of only one of his matches from this weekend and so cannot judge his performance. I do remember seeing Lance Palmer at the MSU Open his freshman year where he lost in the consolation round to Jason Johnstone and then chose (I don't think he was injured) to forfiet the 7th place match. He ended that year as an AA. Logan will be fine. We also had pretty good results from both Paddock and Heflin, both of whom were in loaded weight classes this weekend. All is not gloom and doom and I do think TOSU can still have a pretty good year, even in a down year. My biggest concern is the choice of weight cut for Sponseller and whatever issues there are with Palmer and Magrum. Colt made R12 each of the last two years and was one of the best at 165 both of those years. I think 165 is his best chance to AA based on what I have seen over the last three years and his performance to date.        Discussion Topic: Buckeyes at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Hank Kornblut added to this discussion on December 6, 2010 I have a problem with the fact that Sponseller even went down a weight class! It was a poorly thought out move done for the wrong reasons. I've said it repeatedly...he wrestled well at 165. His problem was never the size at the weight! He had multiple wins at 165 over Jarrod King (national champ), Dan Vallimont (national runnerup) plus victories over Stephen Dwyer, Moza Fay, Morningstar and other AA's as well as many other quality wrestlers. He wasn't struggling due to size. His issue remains mat skills. He was a takedown machine in high school who needed to redshirt for a year in order to develop on the mat. He especially needed a coach--any coach--whose expertise in bottom wrestling would help develop this very hard working young man into an escape machine. The Bucks didn't redshirt Sponseller. Instead, they threw him out as a frosh hoping he'd help them win a national title. He failed to qualify for nationals. His soph year, they needed him to place to win it all. He couldn't get out on bottom and lost his AA place match. Last year, Jon Reader lost early which left him a seemingly wide open path to the semis. Once again, he couldn't get out on bottom. Now, they have him down a weight where he looks a bit worse because in addition to his mat wrestling deficit, he's killing himself to weigh in 8 pounds lighter. ARRRGH! I can't get over the stupidity. I just think that Tom Ryan can't rid himself of the mindset that every single year his team needs to be a national title contender. And so he fiddles with everything rather than doing what's smart for long term success. He needs to step back for a year, do what's best for his talent, and take the necessary beating (which is happening anyway). He needs to figure out how to get a lot more out of all the kids in his room. He needs to stop chasing the best out-of-state kids while nearly comparable in-state talent makes its way to Virginia Tech, UVA, CMU, Mizzou, etc...And next year--REDSHIRT EVERYONE! Paddock, Stieber, Stieber, DiJulius, Tessari, Garcia, Courts, Elor--redshirt them all, break down their wrestling, figure out how to improve them. Wrestle Triggas, Touris, C. Palmer, Kusar, Nemec, Fee, Demas, Jameson, Campbell, Capone, Heflin, Magrum and Hiles. Let them get experience. Then throw it all together in fall 2012 and you'll have a team that's on it's way. And, just to finish--move Sponseller and Nemec back up. It's not working. No sense having them kill themselves all year for nothing.        Discussion Topic: Buckeyes at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Jack Muni added to this discussion on December 6, 2010 Being his senior year, my guess is they thought Colt had a better chance of beating Jenkins, Hall or Taylor at 157, than Howe or Burroughs, 2 National Champs at 165. Just my guess...        Discussion Topic: Buckeyes at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Rex Holman added to this discussion on December 6, 2010 Hank- I agree with your assessment of his down position, which has acted as his achilles heel. Colt strikes me as the kind of guy who would physically give everything he has and push that limit back as far as his physiology will let him. A great quality that when paired with the right technique wins championships. Unfortunately, his lack of bottom wrestling has haunted him. I, too, suspect that the 157lb weight may have seemed the right choice at the right time. I know from my past experience that it can be relatively distressing to give everything you have and come up short of reaching your goals. The kind of distress which influences major decisions and leads you down a different path.        Discussion Topic: Buckeyes at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Jack Muni added to this discussion on December 6, 2010 I just watched Stieber's match with Patterson and Colt's match with Hall on Flo. Stieber's was much more winnable than Colts. Hall got in on the legs several times and out scrambled Colt. Logan had two TD's out of bounds and was never in any trouble until Patterson threw him near the end of the match. Logan was way more the aggressor. I didn't like the way Patterson continually put the palm of his hand in Logan's eyes/face for a good part of the match. I thought it bordered on dirty wrestling. You be the judge. Watch the Heflin/Bennett match too. Nick almost scored a TD with 40 seconds. left that would have put him up 2-1. Heflin choses neutral in the 3rd period down 1-0. Might want to reconsider the next time they meet. Very close match.        Discussion Topic: Buckeyes at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Ben Golden added to this discussion on December 6, 2010 I was thinking the same about Heflin's match with Bennett. That looked like a winnable match for him. He spent a lot of the match inactive, but got in deep on several shots. Heflin was definitely a bright spot for the Buckeyes this weekend.        Discussion Topic: Buckeyes at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Jack Muni added to this discussion on December 6, 2010 He is so, so close to getting to the next level. Right now he is competitive with the top ten guys, except perhaps Lewnes, who appears to be in a league by himself. The next step will be to beat them. Very encouraging so far, very encouraging.        Discussion Topic: Buckeyes at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Michael Rodriguez added to this discussion on December 7, 2010 When Ohio State fans look back at these four years, I think they'll recognize that Coach Ryan has done a lot right, almost everything. But the handling of Colt Sponseller (from begining to end) will stand out as a place where things could have, and probably should have been done differently.        Discussion Topic: Buckeyes at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational J.P. Barner added to this discussion on December 7, 2010 Quote from Michael Rodriguez's post: "When Ohio State fans look back at these four years, I think they'll recognize that Coach Ryan has done a lot right, almost everything. But the handling of Colt Sponseller (from begining to end) will stand out as a place where things could have, and probably should have been done differently." Maybe, but you have to also consider some other factors - some of which aren't necessarily provided to message board posters (:)): - what did Colt want - maybe he didn't want to redshirt? - squad depth - something we haven't had, but should start seeing an improvement in soon - expecially at the higher weights. Did we have any kind of 165 to allow Colt to be red-shirted? - a shot at a national title - let's face it, with Jaggers, Pucillo and Palmer on the squad, an AA from Colt (and Triggas) may have given us a real shot at a NCAA championship and the fact that it didn't work out shouldn't condemn Ryan for trying. Maybe it would have been best in the long run for Colt to redshirt, but circumstances didn't allow it? It's hard for me to be overly critical of Ryan, as the program has been much better since he replaced the former regime.        Discussion Topic: Buckeyes at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Mark Niemann added to this discussion on December 7, 2010 I'm not choosing sides here, but my guess is, had Sponseller redshirted his freshman year, and Ohio State finished without his points, everyone and their brother would have been screaming (kind of like they are now, but only the opposite) about how if Tom Ryan would not have red-shirted Sponseller, Ohio State could have been champions. They would throw out some crazy stat like, "Look! They X amount of points away. An AA GUARANTEES X amount of points. That means all colt would have had to do is major two guys...something he could have easily done in the first two rounds." Then, they would have used his redshirt freshman year as proof because he would have made the national tournament and - possibly AA'd or maybe just been a round of 12 guy. To which the argue-er would have said, "See! He had it in him!!! Not to mention the motivation that would have stemmed from being a part of a national champion team!!!" Whatever, dude.        Discussion Topic: Buckeyes at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Roe Fox added to this discussion on December 8, 2010 I believe that not redshirting Sponseller was justified by his in-season results. He had a fantastic record and beat some top-ranked guys. As far as his obvious weakness on bottom, whether he worked on it his redshirt year or over the next regular season (or three) he had time to correct it. It seems he hasn't. Could be him or could be coaching. I simply don't know. The reality is it seems he can't beat Howe. I think he doesn't think he can't beat Howe, though he has wrestled him to close scores. He was able to drop to 157 and though he hasn't looked to be a national titleist yet, the season is early. My guess is that is why he is there. It has to be mentally difficult to know you are facing probably two losses to the same guy before the season starts. Unfortunately that may be the case anyway the way Taylor is handling people. I do wish he would have stayed at 165 much the way Lance stayed at 149 and beat the unbeatable at Big Ten's. The difference between Howe and Metcalf however is that Howe is an absolute physical beast. Metcalf had the big motor but certainly wasn't physically stronger or tougher than Lance. J.P. and Mark make a great point about Nationals. If Sponseller wrestles to seed, or even a spot or two lower, we win the title a couple of years ago.        Discussion Topic: Buckeyes at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Mike Hojnacki added to this discussion on December 8, 2010 Some observations from Sponseller's semi match... http://www.flowrestling.org/videos/coverage/view_video/237925-cliff-keen-las-vegas-invitational/378228-157-lbs-semi-finals-colt-sponseller-ohio-state-vs-adam-hall-boise-state - As critical as everyone has been of Colt's bottom wrestling, I think he was moving quite well on the mat. Hall did not get riding time and Colt was moving and getting his feet on the mat and getting out. Plus, you can't take anything away from Hall's riding ability. He did a great job. - I think the trouble in this match was Hall's ability to waste a lot of Sponseller's time in scrambles and then come out with a takedown. Colt did scramble well, but he thrives on his feet (not where he spent most of the match). When they were on their feet, Hall utilized excellent hand fighting and re-attacks. He hit that really nice drag/go-behind when Sponseller was coming up from his single in bad position. - The last thing is that Hall did not go into a defensive mode at all. He kept attacking and there was no way he could have been banged for stalling. Bottom line is that Hall is a tough son of a gun, but definitely beatable. I think 2 or 3 tactical and positional re-adjustments on his feet and Colt gets him next time around. Just my thoughts.        Discussion Topic: Buckeyes at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational J.P. Barner added to this discussion on December 8, 2010 why do they allow the BSU wrestler to get into such a 'crouched' position on the bottom at the start of the 2nd that Colt couldn't get his hand around his waist? I've never seen anyone else do that, or even try.        Discussion Topic: Buckeyes at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Don Bork added to this discussion on December 8, 2010 I've seen four of Colts matches this year and he does not seem to be able to keep his opponents off his legs. Colts style at 165 seemed to be more physical and upper body oriented. In fact a number of guys he has wrestled over the past three years have gone up to 174. Many of those he is facing at 157 have moved up in the last couple years from 149.Styles are much different and I don't think it's translating well. How many times in the last few years have you seen Colt shoot on his opponents legs? I saw him shoot once or twice on Hall and it was not effective.        ► Add to the Discussion Page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5  Next