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Discussion Topic: Meyer Shapiro
Rex Holman added to this discussion on January 11, 2024

This guy is fascinating to me as his performances are so high level but there are things that wrestlers can do collegiately to thwart his attacks.

I rewatched his matches against Cardenas and Chumbley. Mind you, he beat Andonian soundly in a previous round. Also, I watched his World Championship finals match.

Cardenas is very disciplined in his tie ups and wrestles from space. He was able to takedown Meyer but gave up some reversals. The order in which he scored was important. He was first and last (sort of).

Chumbley was able to weather the initial storm and not get taken down. From there he wrestled from position and eked out a 1-point win.

Meyer sprints in his wrestling and expends a ton of energy which is usually accompanied by a lot of points. However, college wrestling can be very stingy. Effort and attempts are not always rewarded in points. The quality goes down as he fatigues. He had outward signs of obvious fatigue after physically expending a lot of energy.

Everything that could go wrong at Vegas for him, went wrong.

For him to win this year, it is largely a matter of becoming more efficient at his energy expenditure in the context of scoring points. Said differently, he needs to make better choices on what attacks to spend his energy. Better match management.



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Discussion Topic: Meyer Shapiro
Brian Mathews added to this discussion on January 11, 2024

Quote from Rex Holman's post:

"For him to win this year, it is largely a matter of becoming more efficient at his energy expenditure in the context of scoring points. Said differently, he needs to make better choices on what attacks to spend his energy. Better match management."



I think it's possible, but it's going to be very difficult. He's a dynamic talent/athlete, has a wide variety of attacks, and is good in most positions--on his feet. At this point he's far better in free than folk, in large part because of the expenditure->outcome mismatch you mentioned that's so common in folkstyle.

He's good on top, which is great for a true freshman, but he lacks some of the tools most NCAA champs have in their kit in that: (1) he can be ridden, and (2) he doesn't yet have elite defense when his opponent gets to a leg. Yianni and Dake are the benchmark for him, obviously. Both could force stalemates from almost anywhere when their position did lapse, and neither got ridden.

Those (relative) weaknesses, combined with the questions around him managing his energy throughout a three day gauntlet, give me some pause. You often reference wrestlers understanding their positions of advantage and forcing action in those positions (forgive the bad paraphrasing). I think Shapiro is still too willing to engage everywhere, which will ultimately bite him.



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Discussion Topic: Meyer Shapiro
Hank Kornblut added to this discussion on January 11, 2024

Judging by the earlier comment about how the coaches constantly worked his mindset, he's a super talent who's in the throes of adjusting to the college game. I don't think he'll win it this year but he's the one guy who can beat a Peyton Robb or Jared Franek without it being a shock. Levi Haines, however, would be a surprise.



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Discussion Topic: Meyer Shapiro
Rex Holman added to this discussion on January 11, 2024

Brian-

Really good assessment.


Going from memory; against Cardenas he reversed twice which gave him a total of 4. Way better off if he escapes and gets a takedown. Also, unable to get off bottom quickly at the end because he was tired. Also, got stymied with loose tie wrestling.

Against Chumbley, 2 minute first period and came close to a takedown.

If he gets the first takedown, he is going to be hard to beat. Did not get first takedown in either of those two matches.

He does wrestle too freely and willing to engage positions which don't amount in anything but wasted energy and almost scoring.

Coaching him to a title has to address the above issues. That being said, he does check most of the boxes. He could win with some luck, or they could spend the next couple of months addressing those issues and make him more capable.



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Discussion Topic: Meyer Shapiro
Bill Splete added to this discussion on January 12, 2024

How do we get Rex on the air? It's a good day when I come on and read such solid analysis. Well done guys



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Discussion Topic: Meyer Shapiro
Hank Kornblut added to this discussion on January 15, 2024

Quote from Bill Splete's post:

"How do we get Rex on the air? It's a good day when I come on and read such solid analysis. Well done guys"



Agree. Can Ohiowrestling.net develop a podcast?



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