Senior Night Already?!?
Last Friday night did not go well for Jim Heffernan's Illinois wrestling team. #3 Ohio State dominated the dual meet, winning nine of ten matches in a 38-3 rout. It wasn't all bad for the Illini, as John Dergo (184) continued his outstanding senior season with a 6-2 win over former national champion Mike Pucillo. It was Dergo's second win of the season over Pucillo, and all but assured him of the #1 seed at 184 pounds at the Big Ten Tournament in two weeks.
Dual meets always come down to matchups. Illinois matched up well against Wisconsin, a higher ranked team at the time, and came away with a one point victory. Tonight against Purdue could be tricky, again because of matchups. Patrick Bond is doubtful tonight at 197 with a knee injury he suffered last week in practice. He would have been matched up against #15 Logan Brown, who he defeated at Midlands earlier in the season. Now, it will likely be unranked senior Jake Norman going up against Brown. That turns 197 from slightly favoring Illinois to favoring the Boilermakers. It also, in my estimation, turns the dual meet from favoring the Illini to making it essentially a tossup.
Four weights that will likely have a big say in how tonight's dual goes are 141, 149, 174 and heavyweight. At 141, #14 Ryan Prater of Illinois could be matched up with junior Juan Archuleta, who has wins over four ranked opponents this season. However, Archuleta has not won since January 31, when he upset Minnesota's Mike Thorn. His last match was an upset loss to Michigan State's Dan Osterman on 2/7 in East Lansing.
At 149, both Eric Terrazas of Illinois and Purdue's Nick Bertucci have had similar Big Ten results. The only Big Ten victory for each wrestler is against Indiana's Matt Coughlin. Plus, all losses in conference duals for both wrestlers have come against ranked opponents. This one is a true tossup that both teams will be looking to win to gain an edge in a very tight dual.
At 174, Illinois' Jordan Blanton will be looking for his first win over a higher-ranked wrestler this season when he faces #6 Luke Manuel. Manuel sports a gaudy 35-2 overall record, but he missed three dual meets in the Big Ten season in which he would have faced #2 Jay Borschel of Iowa, #8 Scott Glasser of Minnesota and #11 Dave Rella of Ohio State. Blanton has suffered close losses to both Glasser (2-3) and Rella (4-6 SV), and also lost a 5-4 match to Manuel at Midlands back in December. Blanton has been very close to getting a signature win in conference action, and tonight could be the night.
Finally, when the big fellas square off at heavyweight, the result of the dual could easily hang in the balance. The Illini will likely send redshirt freshman Pat Walker against Purdue's true freshman Adam Walls. This could be the night for Walker's first Big Ten victory, as Walls has been pinned four times in conference duals, while Walker's worst loss was a major decision to Indiana's #2 Nate Everhart.
Rankings
Intermat team and individual rankings
W.I.N. Magazine team and individual rankings
Amateur Wrestling News individual rankings
D1CollegeWrestling.net team and individual rankings
Last Week's Results
Friday 2/12
#3 Ohio State 38 #21 Illinois 3
#10 Penn State 26 Michigan State 12
Sunday 2/14
#3 Ohio State 30 Michigan State 7
As you can see with all the bold on the left side of those results, I went 8-0 in my Big Ten predictions last weekend, making me 17-2 on the season. To be honest, there weren't many tight duals last week, so I think just about anyone could have gotten those right. We'll see how this week goes.
Thursday 2/18
#23 Purdue vs. #21 Illinois
Friday 2/19
#3 Ohio State vs. #1 Iowa
#10 Penn State vs. #5 Minnesota
Northwestern vs. #14 Wisconsin
Sunday 2/21
#1 Iowa vs. #14 Wisconsin
#13 Indiana vs. Michigan State
Michigan vs. Northwestern
A couple of duals to watch this weekend include Indiana-Michigan State, and Michigan-Northwestern. The Spartans knocked off Purdue a couple of weeks ago, and Purdue gave the Hoosiers a pretty good fight last week. Meanwhile, the Wolverines and Wildcats are both looking for their first Big Ten dual wins.
Tonight's dual will be broadcast on tape delay on WDWS-AM. Our broadcast will begin after women's basketball, around 8pm. Talk to you then, and as always, thanks for reading.
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