maj

That might be but the phrase has been well used to describe Bradley wrestling and with good reason.

Bradley is a top 10 team right now. I don't care who or how many they graduated. I'm pretty sure the now cliché phrase, " they don't rebuild, they reload " originated to describe Bradley. Heritage is not a top 10 team and I think it a stretch to include TN high as one.

I hope you are right, but given the sorry state of McMinn, Monroe and Loudon counties I wouldn't hold my breath

I think your last sentence sums up the origin of this noise ( which I've yet to hear about ). The old saying " it's the one with his head above the crowd who gets shot at most " is applicable. I remember back in the stone age when Gable was outclassing the completion year after year some of the losing coaches floated the idea of not allowing iowa to compete in march for a couple of years so the rest of the pack could claim a title or two. Coach t would no doubt have to censor my response to this type of stupidity so I won't bother typing it.

4 out of ten with the upset at 184. Not bad. No one could have predicted 165 and 74- Cael had them ready and they delivered. Penn State going to be downright scary with 5 returning national champs. Best TV coverage ever, by far and matches better than any I can remember.

Just have a measure of respect and appreciation for a great coach. Of course some stump broke, squat to pee, Richard Simmons groupie hiding behind his newbee screen name while banging on daddy's keyboard might have a hard time relating.

Good point on the scholarships. If he doesn't have the 9.9 ( ? I guess this is still the # ) to work with, then it's hard to expect him to compete with those who do.

I think Penn State has the team race in the bag. I love the way Cael has his guys ALWAYS looking to score. His wrestlers are working non stop towards and sometimes taking chances for majors , techs and falls as long as there is a second or two on the clock. Other teams wrestlers are content to get up by 2 or 3 and then stall their ####es off. Really refreshing to see guys going after something other than a standup. For too many years we were treated to Iowa style meatheads spending the entire match ear to ear and get to see maybe 3 total points scored in a match. Penn State is the best thing to happen to collegiate wrestling in a long time. Whatever they pay Cael - he'd be a bargain at twice the price.

Remember- this is the UPSET pick. Dean is the favorite by far. He's been number one all year for a reason. Dam_n good and going to be real tough to beat.

Thoughtful response. I wasn't suggesting a total purge of the existing staff and I am in total agreement , we are not and likely will not be competing with some of the top 5 teams you mentioned, ever. That said I am concerned our local bar may be a bit low, a top 25 and 1st or second in the socon should be a bare minimum expectation each and every year. If as you noted we get a couple of ranked guys and a few others step it up cracking the top 20 should not be too far fetched.

Hope you are correct, looking forward to seeing these guys next year. Just out of curiosity , what do you see happening if next year looks like this year and don't make top 3 in socon ?

I'm pulling for all three qualifiers but I don't think there is any getting around a 4th place in socon being anything other than dismal. If it turns out the socon winners and the guys UTC wrestlers lost to end up being all americans at ncaa's meaning we lost to really good, national caliber guys this week, I'll think a bit differently but right now it certainly appears to me the local program is stagnant and needs to be jump started. I have no illusions we will be competitive with top 10 teams but somewhere in the lower end of top 20 should be an attainable goal. I don't have the answers but I can't help but think this program should be doing better.

Why should kids have to wait 3-5 years to co op with another program if their school chose to drop the sport ?

Most of the complaints and dislike regarding the Ag center in the first few years seems to have gone away or at least quieted down a lot. I think all involved did a fine job this year and have no problems with the building. I do think different / better mat placement in the finals could really improve the spectator viewing. Not sure the rationale in having 4 matts packed tight in the center but unless you happen to be sitting in the middle of the arena the view is not very good. I'm thinking by putting the AAA finals mat all the way in the end of the arena, opposite the score boards there would be very good viewing from three sides. the same thing should be done with the D-2 finals mat, all the way at the end , under the scoreboard. AA and Girls could be in the middle with plenty of seats for all. The idea people want to be able to view all the action simultaneously I think is mistaken. D-2 wants to watch D-2 and AAA and AA want to watch their divisions as do the girls. It would be a little bit of nothing to do this. Back in the day when there was only two divisions maybe putting the two in the center made sense but 4 is too much and the center seating inadequate in my NSHO.

Predicting Bradley's demise for a year following a senior heavy class is a well traveled road , really wishful thinking for the other top 10 schools. I'll wager despite the rebuild in 2017-18 BC is a top 3 team by season end and I will not be surprised one bit if they are in the hunt for the top spot again. It may be a bit closer but history tells us it could sure happen.

Bradley crushing Tenn.

I don't see any harm in including more teams. The intent should be to grow the sport, and T$$AA could always use the extra dollars more teams bring in. No need to add any more trophies. The cream will rise and the same two teams would likely be in the finals even if you opened it up to every team in the state. The rest of the placers would be a real dog fight. 24 or even 32 teams is not too big a number. What happened in the NCAA when the basketball tourney went from 32 to 64 (8) ? Interest went exponential

No easy answer to making sure the best get in. This ( deserving athletes or teams staying home ) happens at every level with almost every sport. We've seen pro football teams with 9 and 7 records go to the playoffs in football and 11 and 5 teams stay home. I personally would expand the state duals tournament format to include more teams, but there will always be a case where the winner of one region would likely not even place in another. In football and baseball adding wild cards helped but doesn't fully solve the problem. Bumping the number of dual teams to 24 and utilize a 32 man bracket with byes for region winners would solve this year's problems.

I think you are REALLY close with your predictions, maybe even spot on. I see a couple other possible scenarios but would wager the consolation finals will be won by one of the teams you listed with maybe a different opponent. Barring a bad case of dysentery or some catastrophic event, the championship finals are pretty much set. I'm going with Bradley but it could certainly go to Cleveland.

I'm thinking the real race is for third place

the number of forfeits in these meets is really disturbing.

Get back under the bridge troll- big billy goats coming your way

Not sure what your ax to grind is but more often than not Greenback has fielded playoff caliber teams, so much so that many of the larger local schools don't want to play them. Up until a couple of years ago virtually of the kids were second and third generation students at the dilapidated Greenback school. A new school and some small residential subdivisions in the area have attracted a few new people but most of the kids still have their roots in GB and surrounding Loudon county. Exactly how many kids make up your ballyhooed " all the transfers " statement ? Nobody ever moves into whatever school it is you claim ? Various blended families where kids of divorced parents move back and forth doesn't happen in your world ? The GB program while historically strong was pretty much in a mess in 2015. The school was going through a lot of changes, New Building, new principal , exodus of a lot of long term teachers and a new football coach who probably never should have been hired in the first place. Said coach left before the season started but some damage was done and the 2015 team could have easily folded the tent and become one of the whipping boys in 1a. I've said it a couple times and I will do it again- the co head coaches deserve a lot of credit for keeping the kids focused and winning. The first 2 years the two coaches worked together have produced a record maybe equaled only a couple of times in TN. Why you feel the need to detract from it is something of a mystery to me. The statement about most coaches being able to win with the other teams' best players is idiotic. You know nothing of the sort. Some coaches get more out of a particular kid than others. All stater one place might be a mal content bench warmer some other place- same kid different coaching styles. I'm fairly certain Kilpatrick and Ryan are too busy prepping for next year to be spending any time on this board, but just in case they take a peek- Great job guys ! Pay no attention to the east TN downer. He is the sort of expert that knows more and more about less and less and he now knows absolutely everything about nothing.

I'm not sure they have any serious D-1 prospects. The D-1 description gets tossed around pretty casually these days. No knock on any of the kids but most of the kids I've seen this year both for GB and all their opponents would be a long shot to start for 1AA or D2. Not saying they can't be developed but the idea GB is loaded with can't miss future college stars that anybody could coach is just BS.