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CBHS defeats Pulaski Academy 55-19. Match to decide pool championships coming up against Summit.

CBHS currently upon on Pulaski 19-4. Big match as Drew Nicholson moved up and beat a good James Noel at 170 8-3.

Final was actually 42-35... was off on track with one forfeit not adding points initially. Nice win for Summit.

Early in the dual Summit in a tight one with Pulaski Academy 18-18.

I am looking forward to a good day of wrestling tomorrow. Great chance for Memphis fans to come see some excellent wrestling in a beautiful facility.

Yes top team from each pool goes to the championship pool, 2nd place in each pool goes to 4th place pool, etc. Would have loved to have a bigger championship pool with all the "major" teams in a bracket, pool, etc. but tough to do that with 5 match rule and not having a long, tournament. Don't count Summit out yet... I am sure CBHS likely isn't. Agreed that they probably would be good match with Arlington and Science Hill... that was part of the challenge of developing pools. How do you get good match-ups, avoid certain teams seeing each other that have wrestled too much this year, etc. Should still see some decent match-ups in the initial pool rounds.

I think you can throw any DII ranking out the window that Hamm has posted right now. Unabashedly wrong from kids not wrestling to weightclasses just off. I love Hamm but I don't think he has touched those since pre-season... too far off to predict any match-ups. I wish I had time to do them but I just can't do them to the level I would want in order to post them for the state.

Should be a good day of wrestling. I would imagine the placement pools show some pretty good matches along with the pools shown.

I noticed that the DII rankings say that they were updated on 1/16/17... however, they don't look like they were updated at all. If they were, I would say they are wildly inaccurate. There are a ton of weights that are off and still show some wrestlers ranked who aren't wrestling this year. I know nobody really cares about DII anyway though!

Also a little hard to blame Hamm if he doesn't always take into results of the Fandetti... those can be a bit difficult to find since it isn't on TrackWrestling.

You sure about that? Pretty sure he lost to a TN wrestler on Saturday in the finals.

Looks like Hatcher has primarily been wrestling 195 this season so I doubt we get a chance to see it. I remember them wrestling a few times back at our youth tournament, Mayhem in Memphis... think Hatcher usually got the better of Brackett there but that was a long time ago.

I don't know that the pools / competition format has been finalized yet. I believe there was an initial idea floated out but not set in stone yet.

Actually it is probably worth noting that I didn't see any of McCallie's wrestlers in the brackets at Escape the Rock nor did I see them on the team list; despite the tweets about their wrestlers pre-seeds. It appears they may not have attended after all.

I believe that it has already been stated elsewhere in the thread that McCallie is at Escape the Rock and will not be at GP West.

Looks like it is going to be a pretty full week. Bradley has a loaded three day stretch in there.

Keep in mind that I think that was also Brother Martin's B team as their A team was over at the Prep Slam, which they won over McCallie.

Only comment I am going to make... I AM STILL YOUNG DANG IT!!! Right? Right??? Ugh... nevermind, anyone seen my glasses?

Ah I was waiting on this... I actually put together my own little mock vote last night because I don't like to sleep. You hit on exactly the handful of teams I evaluated for the 12th spot in my not actual vote. Let's take a look at each team: Science Hill - Took three loses to the now #1 (48-12), #11 (36-33), and #6 (36-29) ranked teams. The lose to #11 was extremely close (any one match reversal could swing it and there were several decisions for either team) so I think those two teams are obviously roughly equivalent. The other two are understandable from a rankings perspective... they were "supposed" to lose and still hung within almost a one decision flop with Soddy and as mentioned before right there with Arlington. Now let's look at the other teams you put out there. Mt. Juliet - okay, they won the Slamfest... what else have they done that would make them relevant to the poll? They certainly didn't see any relevant teams there. I think they have an early season lose to Summit. Halls - won the Eagle challege... same question as Halls... anything relevant to the polls? Blackman - So the most notabe things I see are 1) a close lose to WIlson Central and 2) a win over MBA. Let's talk about those two. The lose to WIlson Central was a lose to the now #9 team who didn't appear to have their full line-up (not sure if either team did as not an expert on either)... not enough to get in in my thinking. The win over MBA reverses the Black Horse result where they were behind them... but then again wouldn't you just consider MBA relevant because of their status as a "legacy team"? MBA - win over Brentwood (perhaps another legacy team) and a bigger lose to Wilson Central. In addition to the lose to Blackman they would seem to slot behind them for now. All of that said, looks to me like Science Hill stays in. I tend to lean towards close loses not getting you into the rankings. A close lose may not drop you out but it likely won't get you in. As I believe a coach was told many years ago... beat somebody. Science Hill may have gotten in on legacy but current results are showing they belong in the mix... at least they were up there competing with the other top teams which I would tend to reward over beating the other teams. Honestly, my thought was that if anyone should have some bulletin board material it is maybe Summit. Aforementioned win over Mt. Juliet, undefeated in duals on the season (that I could see), and just finished ahead of Beech at McGavock (again line-ups could come into play here as I don't think that was a full strength Beech squad). If anything, I think I had Summit in ahead of Beech in my notes. That group containing Arlington, Science Hill, Tennessee, Halls, Beech, Summit are all probably competing for a spot in the rankings in the last couple of slots in my head. Beech may have the most upside from what they have shown so far.

Hamm!, You know that nobody on this board has a better appreciation for what you do with the rankings than I do. That said, not sure your statement highlighted above is true. I know you are missing one returning finalist who had wins over at least three guys who won state titles last year. Unless you think that particular wrestler isn't deserving of being ranked. There are a lot of weights that you have guys listed at where they haven't competed yet. Not sure if you are trying to project where they are now or where you think some of them will end up. I appreciate all of the work you do! Call me if you want to talk it over!

Hamm, Just an FYI, you have Aaron Moore (Arlington) ranked at both 195 and 182.

Ah and now I think we come to the crux of the discussion. It is always an interesting discussion when you try to distinguish between rankings and predictions. Rankings are typically "earned" based on tangible results. Early in the year that might need to be based on last years results. Predictions would be based on what someone thinks will happen. I don't vote in the poll and therefore my opinion matters little and I don't know what instruction the coaches are given regarding rankings versus predictions. However, I would prefer it represent a ranking rather than a prediction. I don't think in any way, shape, or form that this should be based on predictions. That said, yes I would say any of those teams that have currently beaten Arlington should be slotted ahead of them. I don't know that Bartlett or Clarksville Northwest deserve to be receiving votes as a top 12 team in the state yet but MBA and Father Ryan probably should. Were I making predictions about where teams will end, then I think a full strength Arlington team is likely better than some of the teams they have lost to... but that is why you wrestle the matches. If you keep it as a rankings based poll then teams can move up, down, in, or out based on results throughout the season as all of the variables of high school wrestling come into play. If you are talking about predictions then many might make a prediction and just not change it at all! Were I making predictions about where teams will end, then I think a full strength Arlington team is likely better than some of the teams they have lost to... but that is why you wrestle the matches.

Keep in mind that if any of the coaches you are talking about had "done their homework" they might have noticed that Arlington (which you seem to be lobbying for) has already taken loses to Bartlett, Father Ryan, MBA, and Clarksville Northwest this season. I would imagine that, for a poll meant to measure dual meet strength, in-season dual results should outweigh what one team did in the individual tournament last season. Two of those teams don't even make the "others receiving votes" category... should they be in there ahead of Arlington? Just trying to point out that early season rankings in particular can be a bit muddy, especially with descent plans, football playoffs, etc.

Worth noting that Jeff Price is just the coordinator of the poll. This is the same poll that has been put out for years, Jeff has recently taken over as the coordinator. There is a state-wide panel of coaches who vote on the poll so if you aren't happy with the rankings then your issue is really with those coaches and not with Jeff. Jeff just consolidates the results. I do think that there were potentially some changes to the coaches who vote in the poll this year as well but I don't know that for fact. Most years it takes a little while for results to roll in and the poll to shake itself out as there aren't many results to go on. A couple of other notes on comments made: - Regarding score between Father Ryan and Arlington, I doubt that was the full varsity line-up for either team. Arlington has already taken a couple of loses this year without what most would consider their full line-up but note that they are in the others receiving votes list. My guess is they are being given credit based on state performance last year and early season short-handed results. - CBHS seems to have been mentioned several times. Like most years, they will need to earn their ranking... thankfully, like most years, their schedule should afford them that opportunity. I wouldn't worry about where they are ranked... I doubt that they are!

Thanks for the heads up... I know a few of the "Academy"s are like that but it is hard to know which ones and I definitely am not as familiar with some of the Knoxville area schools.