Archives for March 2014

I am going to dribble out pieces in the next week in preparation for the NCAA Wrestling Championships March 21-23 in Oklahoma City. I hope no one takes offense—I am not in the wrestling room and these are only musings from a distance. I do tend to focus on the positive—we are talking about young men here competing in the hardest sport imaginable. No matter how it sounds or how wrong I might be, I always have great respect for wrestling and the people involved.

Johnni DiJulius, photo courtesy of photo.theozone.net

Let me start with a commentary provoked by the commentary on another website. I just read someone else’s take on wrestlers whose stock is either down or up, and one cited for being down was Buckeye redshirt sophomore Johnni DiJulius The observation was that after some eye-popping wins early, Johnni’s ceiling had been capped, with a mediocre B1G season and a three loss B1G Tourney showing. The ultimate conclusion was that Johnni’s style does not match up well with others.

If I had hair statements like that would make me pull it. Any style can work, but DiJulius is particularly blessed with the style he has. I truly don’t know what Johnni is thinking, but my guess is that he has won with that scrambling type of crazy style so much that he has the confidence to just dive in and go with the flow. I have always thought that most people who win at the highest level go in with a game plan they want to enforce and know what their contingencies are. They enforce the script until they have to vary and then know their escape routes. So planning and going with your strengths while limiting the exposure of your weak spots is critical.

I’m just guessing that Johnni is young and still has not put his style to its best strategic use. Young guys need to adjust to the fact that college is different—they are not wrestling high school kids who often do not adjust to a style, but are wrestling grown men who watch, learn and implement to stay ahead.

I think it may be true that Johnni could benefit from realizing his style may in fact hurt him in precise moments even as it is usually his biggest asset. For example, from the bottom position, DiJulius likes to instantly turtle and then either rip hands and stand up or try to pull an arm over and dig back in. The formula works, but with a skilled rider, it can take a lot of time. Johnni lost an overtime match against Michigan where he needed an escape, but his style is one that can take too long for the 30 seconds of an overtime. That certainly suggests he needs another plan, but for that limited sort of instance.

But outside of specific instances, the DiJulius way is a gift others usually don’t have. Some diversification would help but I am willing to bet Johnni is one guy who could really benefit from game panning his match so that he puts his style in play on purpose rather than happenstance. Precisely what that means I cannot say because really only the wrestler knows what he is capable of and how he can best position a match to use it to his advantage.

DiJulius actually had a rebound in the B1G Tourney from his dual meet season. He lost two very close and tough matches that could have gone either way. The truth is that his trajectory is what you like to see at this time of the year. Yes he got beat up in the 5th place match but all wrestlers, especially young ones, get deflated after a big loss. I don’t read much into what happens in a 5th place match in a conference tourney where the NCAA bid was locked up. True, he should get up for every match, but human nature sometimes takes over.

Johhni has that intangible style that is instinctive and cannot be taught. He should add tools, but those are the teachable things. I quite disagree that Johhni is capped—in fact with a plan, more discipline and probably adding to his arsenal on a strategic basis, there is no reason he will not be wrestling for a national title next year (though looking at the seeds, if he can close the small gap on Minnesota’s David Thorn and duplicate his beat down of No. 1 Seed Joe Colon of Northern Iowa–he could arrive a year early).

The Buckeyes put in a strong fourth place finish in the 100th B1G Wrestling Championships this weekend at the Kohl Center on the University of Wisconsin campus. Although a constant creep by Illinois, Nebraska and Wisconsin, and a sprint by Michigan made it look as if the Buckeyes’ hold on that spot was tenuous, in the end the Buckeyes had enough firepower to comfortably put all comers away, primarily on the strength of their two leaders throughout the year, Logan Stieber and Nick Heflin. Fourth in the powerful B1G may translate to a top 6 or 7 national showing.

In a match that had much of the nervous anticipation and ups and downs of Stieber’s 2013 NCAA title victory over Iowa’s Tony Ramos, Logan revenged his only loss in over two years to Penn State’s freshman Zain Retherford 7-3. Stieber’s loss to Retheford in December was attributable to a punishing second period ride out by Retherford and an ankle pick in overtime that caught a tiring Stieber off guard.

There would be no takedown surprise on Sunday—when Stieber is on guard, he is virtually unassailable from his feet. He is just too strong and compact to be taken down. Instead, he hit a lighting quick double leg for a first period takedown and then went on earn over a minute of riding time. The first period ended after a Retherford escape.

When the coin flip went Stieber’s way he chose the neutral position, which is usually a surprise when it happens because choosing down is the most reliable way to earn an extra point with an escape. But Logan had an effective 3-1 lead counting the riding time. Not only would choosing down give Retherford a chance to wipe out the one point, Stieber faced the potential of a punishing Retherford ride yet again. The wisdom of the strategy was immediately apparent when Logan hit a second takedown, stretching out to an effective 5-1 lead.

Stieber then succeeded in a daring tilt to his own back exposing Retherford for two near fall points. At that point the outcome seemed secure. But just as in his match against Ramos, as two takedowns had staked Logan to a commanding lead, Retherford completed a third period reversal on the heels of more daring turn tilt acrobatics from the Buckeye, (Ramos had executed a second period takedown after a daring attempt by Stieber to avoid a takedown by diving to the mat for a Ramos ankle) and like Ramos, Retherford looked ready to put Stieber in deep near fall trouble.

But something must go off in Logan’s brain that causes his body fibers to explode if his back is in danger. His extraordinary strength just dismissed the attempt. Retherford did put in his punishing leg ride and in his maniacal fashion contorted Logan who simply waited it out, kept his riding time and claimed his third B1G title, and first at 141.

Given how effective and impenetrable Logan is on his feet, it is hard to see how Retherford can match up with Stieber if they meet in the NCAAs (they might either face each other in the semis or Retherford may have to go through Edinboro’s Mitchell Port to get to Logan in the finals). Retherford did execute his ride hard again—he is going to have to get to the second period without Stieber leading and then hope he can get another chance at a second period ride. But this match felt like it does with all of Stieber’s opponents. With a healthy and prepared Stieber, Retherford must have felt this was a different force entirely then the one he faced in December. At times it felt Stieber was just simply too strong. The mental calculus for the approach to the rubber match would be a fascinating one to learn, but there is no doubt each no knows what he is in for.

In the case of Nick Heflin, the growth has been taking place right before our eyes all winter. Nick was hurt a good part of the early season and no doubt he was adjusting to a jump of two weight classes. A weight-lifting freak and nutrition major, Nick spent all his time until this weekend building a body that finally was ideally suited for his new weight class. Coach Ryan had no doubt of Nick’s readiness and bit by bit the evidence started to bear itself out.

Nick is always prone to having a very close match—“like watching paint dry,” as Coach Ryan puts it. That is because Nick has a history of defensive wrestling which manifests itself in him not shooting from his feet, but simply countering shots. And much of his defensiveness seemed to relate to a mental block of shooting. But through the season, Nick demonstrated he could shoot effectively, sometimes racking up overpowering wins. In indeed, he hit a big last 15 second takedown in his semi-final win against Scott Schiller of Minnesota.

Nick seems to have evolved to the perfect blend of aggressive vs defensive takedown attitude. If one thinks Logan is impenetrable from his feet, Nick is doubly so. He is now so strong, when others attempt a double or single leg he just swats them away, or if the opportunity presents itself, pounces in response to earn a takedown. So I like Nick’s approach at this point—why expose yourself if you can stop anything they throw at you—just be patient and wait for the opportunity.

And so it was on Sunday. I would say Nick’s wrestling is how people who have been in combat describe what it is like—long hours of tedium punctuated by moments of extreme terror—or in Nick’s case, exhilaration. After a scoreless first period, Nick started the second position up and was reversed by number 1 seed Moran McIntosh of Penn State. Nick quickly escaped and went back to the same pattern of parrying a few attempted shots. Heflin was down to start the third period, again quickly escaped and most of the third period was spent as the first two were except toward the end McIntosh got caught in a shot. Heflin squeezed his head in a vice grip that must have sobered up McIntosh something special. Nick then spun around completing a would be match winner just after the period ended. The match ended predictably in the second sudden victory period by Nick pouncing after a McIntosh shot.

Anything can happen, and the group is close, but I just don’t think anyone else has the power to hang with Nick. If he continues to play smart and to his strengths I just do not see anyone beating him.

I will address the broader team in the two weeks heading to the NCAA championship in Oklahoma City. But just for the record, the highest finisher other than the two champions (Ohio State’s two champions tied Nebraska and overall team champion Penn State for most—in the team standings, Iowa finished second and Minnesota finished third) was Kenny Courts’ 5th place at 184. Nick Roberts and Johnni DiJulius finished sixth at 125 and 133 respectively and Ian Paddock and Mark Martin finished 7th at 149 and 174 respectively. Heavy (285 actually) Nick Tavanello scored one of the most dramatic wins of the tournament with a late thundering slam of a takedown against number 1 seed Adam Coon of Michigan. Nick went on to finish eighth, locking up one of the nine tournament bids for the B1G’s stacked 285 class.

The team earned 7 automatic bids to the NCAA with at large bid to be expected for Ian Paddock. After an heroic and seemingly unjust loss to Dylan Alton of Penn State on Saturday night, Randy Languis wrestled two more matches, technically finishing 9th. Those two wins may have earned him an at large bid—the weight class was awarded eight qualifying spots but Dylan Ness medically defaulted into the sixth spot. If Ness is unable to go, presumably Languis would be in line to pick up the last spot—and if not, he may have done enough to qualify for an at large—which would be the Buckeyes’ ninth NCAA bid—a very decent result.

Between the first and second round of Saturday, Coach Ryan was obviously agitated with the team’s then standing at about sixth place. Without making an excuse for his team because of all the firepower red-shirting this year, he said, “this is Ohio State—we should not have to rebuild.” Despite the red-shriting, despite the youth on the one hand and inexperience on the other that dot the line-up, he was unhappy the next man up was not capable of pulling the upset or turning close losses into wins.

Then the Buckeyes went out and saw huge wins by Tavanello, Courts, Martin, Stieber and Heflin. When Roberts and DiJulius picked up their own dramatic wins, this young team was no longer in fact rebuilding—they were arriving. Yes, some results before and after were difficult for all, but this young team is learning to win and to adjust.

The irony of it all is that in the first 90 years of the B1G tourney, no Ohio State wrestling coach has been successful. Coach Ryan, who attributes whatever he achieves to the fact he is his own biggest critic, has delivered to such a remarkable extent in his decade or so here that his own success is all that makes the less successful years seem as though they are not acceptable. The results achieved this weekend would have been cause for great celebration before Coach Ryan. The good news is that the team rose up and delivered results to make any coach proud. Even tough critic Tom Ryan. And as he says—“we still have two weeks.”

After day 1 of the B1G Wrestling Championships the Buckeyes sit in 4th place. Now to many of you that might sound like so what, but in wrestling, the B1G is what the equivalent of the “mirage” of SEC football is, except this is actually real and you’d have to put the SEC football mirage on super steroids to even match it. I will save my argument to the end, but if you love Ohio State sports, do me the honor of reading it. But let me put this in perspective. For a “down” year, 4th in the B1G is like the football team beating LSU by 20 in the Capital One Bowl.

Day 1 was delicious. Logan Stieber continued his march with decisive wins including a 9-0 sacking of third seed Chris Dardanes of No. 1 Minnesota. Now he goes to the finals to face Zain Retherford, undefeated from PSU and the only person to beat 2 time national champ Logan in over 2 years. It’s on BTN at 2 EDT. It’s an epic match so don’t miss it.

Buckeye senior Nick Heflin electrified the crowd with a dramatic takedown to oust former No. 1 Scott Schiller. Nick now joins Logan in tomorrow’s finals. Nick Heflin is simply a man on a mission. The National
Champ at 197 will come from the B1G. Nick is a guy who lifts with the football linebackers (as Coach Ryan jokes, “he doesn’t lift with guys who think they’re strong, like the wrestlers. He lifts with the guys who really are strong”). Nick is a guy you can’t help but root for.

The Buckeyes have six other wrestlers going for places, including Johnni DiJulius, Nick Roberts and Kenny Courts who all could battle for as high as third. Coach Ryan expressed pride in the way each performed. They lost tough quarterfinal matches to highly ranked opponents and then came back with two impressive wins each. It is clear all three came to wrestle, especially young Nick Roberts (they’re all young) who escaped a match ending takedown to walk away with his second wrestle back win.

Coach Ryan saved special praise for three individuals: “I cannot tell you how proud I am of Joe Grandominico and Randy Languis. The way Joe kept shooting when he was down.” Capturing a little Rudy flavor he added, “if I could get some of my best wrestlers to attack like that…” And the obvious was left hanging.

Randy Languis seemed to be the victim of poor clock keeping and bad referee review. To make a long story short, he lost to highly regarded Dylan Alton of PSU by a mere 1 SECOND of riding time that appeared falsely earned. Randy then went on to win an exhibition that, coupled with the strong showing against Alton, will hopefully earn him an at-large birth in the NCAA tourney.

Coach Ryan saved his most emphatic praise for heavy Nick Tavanello of Wadsworth. Nick has wrestled gamely all year. In CBus he took number 2 ranked Adam Coon of Michigan to overtime before losing in sudden death. Facing now No. 1 seed Coon in the B1G, Nick hit a late takedown on a dramatic and definitive slam to get the upset. The arena erupted. Beaming, Coach Ryan said, “Nick grew up today. He is learning how to beat really tough guys.” Which in the B1G is saying more than most of us know. Nick also has locked up an NCAA tourney bid (the Buckeyes have 7 for sure and will wait on Paddock and Languis as at-larges ).

Ian Paddock will wrestle for 7th (as will Mark Martin and Tavanello) but because his weight only got 6 bids, he will have to await a possible at-large.

On the whole, a Buckeye fan could only leave Kohl Arena elated.

So here is my thing. No one could be a bigger Ohio State football fan than me. At least no one reasonably attached to reality. As for BB, I have had OSU BB tix for a long time and loved it. Then I had Golden State Warrior season tix for years and there is nothing like Oaktown for excitement. As much as I love both, neither matches the drama and sheer adrenaline for wrestling. It’s like bungee jumping for fans. It might take a little investment of time to completely understand, but if you love FB. If you love boxing. If you love MMA. Give wrestling a chance and you will have enriched your sporting life in a way you cannot now know.

Ohio State will contend for a National Title next year. As many as 3 could be favored for National titles and 5 or 6 could compete for the same. Do yourself a favor. This is a fun bandwagon at your doorstep. Jump on.

Seems like the flight from San Diego in route to Madison, WI is a good time to offer up some observations on the B1G Wrestling Championships I am about to enjoy. But first let me direct you to some excellent detailed previews of the tourney. First is Dan Vest’s complete breakdown at landgrantholyland.com. I cannot really quibble with any of Dan’s OSU perspective. I do think Logan Stieber revenges his lone loss to PSU’s Zain Retherford and I agree that a commanding decision is very possible. This is a very highly anticipated match–if you cannot get to Madison, find BTN on Sunday and don’t miss this one. I also agree that Johnny DiJulius and Ian Paddock have the potential to break through but both have not exactly lit up the B1G this year, so if they do shoot to a high finish it will mean they surprisingly showed something they have not for several months. Which would be really cool because these are two very talented and likable young men who are easy to root for.

My quibble is not so much with Dan’s discussion of Nick Heflin, but I will go one better and predict Nick wins his first B1G championship. I agree that any one of three competitors including Nick could win the B1G and the NCAA titles. I also agree that Nick’s win over Minnesota’s Scott Schiller was closer than it looked because of a five point throw. But Nick was not the one who got thrown, he is the one who pulled it off–it’s not a fluke. And here is the thing. Nick has clearly gotten over the fear of shooting from his feet, something that has caused his matches to be close. I actually think Nick is the best athlete of the group—so once he threw off his mental block he has been a bit of a wrecking ball. A third place finish is entirely possible for Nick, but his trajectory has been steep and forceful. Our boy is on a mission and I expect that to continue.

Also, please enjoy a round table from Dan and a few other of his cohorts for both the lighter and heavier weights.

Ok, we have also said, ad nauseam perhaps, that this is a year in which Ohio State sits on its firepower as several high performers redshirt, including defending B1G champ at 141 and third place NCAA finisher Hunter Stieber. Oh, and the studs that arrive on campus next year are headlined by current junior world champ Kyle Snyder.

But there are many reasons to be interested in, and still believe in the team potential of Ohio State this year. First, let me draw a parallel between this tourney and international soccer leagues which, because of their habit of relegating the least successful teams to lower divisions for the following season, and promoting successful teams from lower divisions to higher ones, create excitement at the top and bottom of the “table” (to use the cute phraseology of the Brits).

What am I babbling about? This:

“This” is the NCAA allocation of NCAA Championships by conference. There will also be a few at large bids extended (which make for some interesting non-placing exhibitions at each conference tourney) but it means for example, that in the 149 weight class, the top six finishers in the B1G Tourney will receive a bid to the big dance, to borrow from college basketball.

Ok, I have said this before, but if you step on any mat with an Ohio State singlet, you are one of the best wrestlers in the country competing in far and away the best conference (see the allocation of 74 NCAA slots to the B1G compared with 47 for the number two conference). So don’t feel too sorry for the likes of Randy Languis at 157 or Joe Grandominico at 167. Despite their lack of success within the B1G dual meet season these are two very good wrestlers who competed well and fought very well. I am sure Coach Tom Ryan bursts forth with respect and gratitude for the efforts these guys have been giving. Joe is not going to derail Ohioan David Taylor of Penn State from becoming the next four time B1G champ, but it will be exciting to watch him and Randy compete for one of the eight tickets in their respective brackets to Oklahoma City in two weeks.

The same can be said for Ian Paddock as he competes to squeeze into one of only six spots at 149. The B1G enjoys a whopping nine slots at 285 where the competition is fierce. Nick Tavanello has really competed well this year and I expect him to make a fun run to pick up an invite for himself. So obviously the point is—don’t just look at the championship matches—points can be scored, meaningful matches can be won, respect can be earned and lifetimes of satisfaction can be enjoyed with what is happening up and down the brackets.

Take a moment and listen to this short interview with Tom Ryan. It is impossible not to like Coach Ryan. He is an intense and thoughtful man enlightened and hardened by the trials of having given all he had while competing: and enjoying and suffering the highs and devastating lows the sport has to offer (this is a guy who gave up a full ride at Syracuse to walk onto Dan Gable’s Iowa Hawkeyes, where he had a brilliant career, losing a National Championship in the final seconds of his bout with Oklahoma State’s Pat Smith). He is speaking with love for his wrestlers but there is also a hope and frustration that fairly leaps out between the lines. I had written with high hopes of the strides which the Buckeyes could take over the recently concluded B1G dual meet season. Frankly, with the exception of Nick Heflin throwing off the doubt, growth was not apparent and in fact some backsliding was disheartening to see. Obviously Logan Stieber continued to motor on—these comments are largely directed at about half the team, the half which has the potential to burst through but never really showed much during the dual meet season. Comparing results to potential, one has to be disappointed, but still hopeful, and my guess this is what weighs on and encourages Coach Ryan.

Now things can be misleading. If for example a wrestler says, “look, my target dates are mid-March. I am going to work my ass off every day, including days before and maybe even days of dual meets. Maybe that means I’m a little out of gas for a dual, but I cannot afford to take any days off getting ready for March.” I want to think that has been happening, but human nature is to want to be ready for every match. I suspect what we saw with this portion of the team is where they are. And to me, Coach Ryan is speaking to the same disappointment.

There is a point here and it is at times a subtle one—one needs a mental commitment to winning. On the one hand that sounds too much a cliché—certainly the guys want to win and I am guessing they train to win. So fighting hard with determination is almost a given. But the opponents at this level come with the same intensity. Invariably one will wear the other down and when the crushing starts, the aggressiveness gets wiped away, heads fall and energy gets trumped by a stronger opposing energy. It has been Ohio State wrestlers who have too often this year had their attitudes set back by their opponents.

Former Buckeye great JD Bergman once said at a certain point he just decided, in tough matches he was no longer going to settle for losing by a point. If he loses by a point, why not win by one. That sounds more like a conclusion than a strategy—a conclusion that can be countered simply by an opponent who is determined not to let you write your own conclusion. It is kind of like saying, “ok, I am going to make myself invisible.” Nice to say, but how are you going to do it? How do you make this more than words? But to anyone who has gotten to a similar point and made the same determination, it is a state of mind that resonates and can translate into a meaningful difference.

To decide to win is not a conclusion, it is a process. The process starts with being as fit as the other guy, working hard and competing hard and staying determined but it is more. But more importantly, guys who make this determination, as suggested by former Buckeye great Reece Humphrey, go in with a plan and they make that plan stick. They know where they are strong and where they are weak. It is not so much about the other guy, though knowing tendencies, strengths and weaknesses is important. But the bigger key is to know your game, what works, what doesn’t and how to game manage the two (William Sherman once said about Grant, “I’m a damn bit smarter than him but where he beats me and beats me soundly is he doesn’t give a damn what the enemy is doing out of our sight and it scares me like hell”).

That winning mindset means fighting hard to make the match go as you want it to, fight for a lead and defend that lead so that you can continue to wrestle your match. It is a subtle distinction about how to turn a match in your favor. It involves being disciplined about what you have to do and fighting to enforce that. And as Logan Stieber says, it is about not making little mistakes. At this level, the guys are good enough to make their own things work if you give them any opportunity to do so.

No, this is not as strong as a Tom Ryan team can be, but it has the talent to be a very successful team if each member of the squad can tell himself he has earned the right to win by a point.