Nainten

Baylor without Duffy at 182. No one to replace him so they lost all his would-be points.

Unofficially: Arlington 52 -- Blackman 24 Arlington 47 -- Brentwood 24

Looking forward to the Blackman-Arlington dual. These teams are very close. Noticed that Brooks Sacharczyk was out against Oakland and Tullahoma. His availability could be pivotal tonight at 182.

It's a poll. It just tells us what the coaches as a group are thinking. It's a "wisdom of the crowd" kind of thing. Why would one put anymore stock in it than that?

cbg, you are the king of understatement . Winning any college tournament is a major accomplishment. Winning one as a high schooler is rare and exceptional. Winning one as a middle schooler is virtually unheard of. cbg: " Sending that rover to Mars? Yeah that's kinda cool."

I think Blackman and Arlington will both be at Brentwood. It's not hard to imagine Brooks winning a rematch given their first match was relatively close, and it was towards the beginning of the season at Blackhorse. Then what; Dylan, Brooks, Austin? I think we can all agree it will all get sorted out in short order in the coming weeks. I think my main point was that both Brooks and Austin IMO have been outperforming Dylan and the rankings did not reflect that. Clearly Hamm values the "highest returning placewinner" criteria, but I'd think at some point one has to give more weight to this year's body of work. That was my point. And for the record I agree with you on the order of Antcliffe, Sacharczyk, Jones... as of this week.

Austin was down 1-7 at end of 1st. Came back and wore Clark down over the last two periods. Down 10-12 with time winding down in the third he got a point on a stall call then got the takedown plus two backs to win it 15-12.

Okay. Antcliffe just wrestled down in Alabama today and took down the #15 ranked guy (nationally) at 182. Will be interested to see if this affects the rankings, especially in light of the fact that Jones went to Florida and took two more losses (another by pin).

Oustanding. I hope everyone is healthy going in and coming out.

Negative. It's one thing to call the rankings crap and disparage the work Hamm does. It's another to bring up legitimate, constructive points. For instance, Jones has one loss while wrestling up this year but it was to another 182er who was also wrestling up. In fact Samuel Smith wrestled at 182 in his next two matches against Cookeville and Tullahoma on that same day. So in my book that is a bad loss for the number one guy to -- by Hamm's own criteria -- an unranked opponent. By that reason alone he should drop. Also...to weaken the "returning medalist" consideration...aren't we far enough along this season that their body of work should outweigh last year's accomplishments. I think so and given this both Sacarczyk and Antcliffe merit a higher rank. Furthermore Antcliffe made it to the semi finals at 170 last year before medically forfeiting out to 6th place. They never wrestled one another and any claim that Jones' 5th place is a better accomplishment in light of this is suspect at best. Nevertheless if one has to be dogmatic I'll grudgingly concede this last point.

Would be interested to hear the case to have Dylan Jones as the #1 in the rankings at 182 given he as lost 3 of 7 wrestled matches this season and two of those losses were by pin. No notable wins over any ranked wrestler. Brooks Sacharczyk has only one close loss to Antcliffe (AAA #2) and two convincing wins over Cade Young (AAA #4). Antcliffe has one SV loss to McCallie’s Sell (AA #1) and wins over Sacharczyk (AAA #3), Duffy (AA #2), Johnson (AAA #5), and Hagey (AA #5). Seems at this point it should be Antcliffe and Sacharczyk at 1 and 2 then Young and possibly Jones as 3 and 4.

The other thing that ANY coach should invest time and energy into is establishing and building a feeder program. For long term success it is paramount. For this also you need to have the right people. Preferably a person who is technically competent, good with kids and parents, in it for the long haul, and communicates well with you. If you are lucky you will find all these qualities in one person but more likely it will be a group effort.

Dang, I looked in TW and couldn't ferret it out. Thanks! That looks to be another good pool of teams.

No. Talking about Friday January 11; the night before the GP west tourney at Brentwood HS.

Can someone in the know please post the teams participating in this event. Can't seem to find this online. Thanks in advance.

The thing about Blackman is that they don't give up any points to forfeits and the bottom tier of their lineup is not horrible. They are serviceable wrestlers, and I don't mean that to be dismissive of them; just to say that they aren't just "warm bodies" that are there to pick up forfeits. Those guys complement the middle-to-heavy part of their lineup which is excellent. Anyone but teams like Cleveland, Father Ryan, McCallie, CBHS, and Baylor will be at a disadvantage against them IMO. I would favor them against Arlington at this point. I don't know much about Wilson Central this year so I can't say there but I am looking forward to that dual this week.

Blackman had seven finalists and three champions. Came in second to CBHS; far outdistancing Grissom (Alabama) and Arlington. They will give other top teams fits. They have the depth to match up against elite teams in duals and the horses in to go deep in tournaments. Impressive squad if they are healthy at the end of the season.

Brother Martin is supposed to have four returning state champs this year. But they usually bring excellent wrestlers at every weight. Actually they typically bring two squads to Blackhorse each year. Can't imagine how big that wrestling room must be. Connor Hoffman.....113/120 (champ at 106) Dan Croy……………….132 (2x champ) Patrick Evans...……...145 Mack Brown...………..285

Bump

Assuming he has given permission to have this posted. Thank you for sharing that. I hope for the best outcome for her.

Baby steps for Region 8 but there is a trend forming. Placers 2014 - 0 2015 - 1 2016 - 3 2017 - 5 2018 - 7 Would be nice to see 9 in 2019 with a 1 in the state champ column.

So based on seeding this would appear to be the projected order of finish (again...if the seeds run pretty close to true): Arlington 219 Houston 159 Bartlett 154 Collierville 100 Kingsbury 91 Bolton 52 The race will be close between Bartlett and Houston for second and Collierville and Kingsbury for 4th.

Thanks for posting these, Coach. I am a fan of the work you have done at KHS in a time where Memphis programs pop in and out of existence like quantum particles. Hoping your kids do well at state.

Nice post! Yeah, I wasn't sure where to put John and Johnson so I figured I just put 'em where they have been wrestling since the 23rd of January. I like the idea of Artiles at 113 (115). I too think O'Callahan would still be favored there. I didn't really give any thought to the awards but your ideas seem more a than reasonable. Aside from several of the Arlington guys, I think O'Callahan has one of the better chances to place at state. He's a fighter.

Not meant to be comprehensive by any means. Just putting out some names of those that I think will be in the hunt for a trip to Franklin. Hopefully they are in the right weights to provide a somewhat accurate preview. Please feel free to chime in, correct, or add to. 106: Sutton, Bartlett Cotton, Kingsbury Shultz, Munford Champion – Sutton The freshman will easily take this weight. 113: Gabe O’Callahan, Bartlett Champion: O’Callahan. I don’t know anyone else at this weight. Can't see a serious challenge to O’Callahan, however. 120 Canon, Arlington Artiles, Collierville Koss, Bartlett Spiecha, Houston Champion: Canon. Artiles should make finals but Canon is another safe bet to repeat. Koss and Spiecha have inside track to qualify for state. Good competitive bracket. 126 Morgan, Arlington Bozarth, Bartlett Briant, Collierville Kinnear, Houston Champion: Morgan. This may be the deepest weight at the tournament. Bozarth or Briant can take it if Morgan is off his feed. 132 Jake Manuel, Houston Luke, Kerns, Arlington Franklin, Bartlett Champion: Manuel. This Manuel and Kerns meet in the finals in the possible match of the night. 138 Donahue, Arlington Vankirk, Bartlett Spiecha, Houston Champion: Donahue Donahue has been the most consistent at this weight. I don’t know if Vankirk and Vatter will flip flop weights. I think Vankirk makes the finals if he wrestles here. 145 Phillips, Arlington Fisher, Houston Vatter, Bartlett Champion: Phillips Not much drama at this weight. No one here who can really mount a challenge to Phillips. 152 Cockman, Arlington Jones, Bartlett Dawson, Houston Champion: Cockman Same as 145. Cockman should dominate this weight. 160 John, Kingsbury Braswell, Germantown Worley, Arlington Champion: John Competitive weight but John is the clear favorite here. Braswell and Worley will be a good semi if it happens. 170 Antcliffe, Arlington Johnson, Kingsbury Champion: Antcliffe This another match of the night candidate between Dontae Johnson and Austin Antcliffe. Edge goes to Antcliffe. 182 Young, Houston Longo, Bartlett Anderson, Bol Champion: Young Young made a huge jump from 152 last year to this weight. I don’t see anyone here to challenge him, however. 195 Lewis, Arlington Another weight without serious contenders to #1. He is as prohibitive a favorite here as O’Callahan is at 113. 220 Phillips, Bartlett Allen, Kingsbury Milton, Arlington Jackson, Bolton Dawson, Collierville Champion: Phillips Freshman Milton may surprise and make the finals but look for Phillips to come out of the region as the champ. 285 Oliver, Bartlett Worley, Arlington Frankland, Houston Coleman, Bolton Bedford, Cordova Champion: Oliver Oliver has been ranked all season long, but Frankland has a hardnosed style and is capable of the upset. Worley is a dark horse to make finals.