sx1234

Was Gray on staff last year? If so what did he coach?

Well Said.

Okay, I'll bite.... 1.Step up in what way? 2. What's wrong with where we are at now? (and yes I realize I may be opening pandora's box with that question) 3. Need more support in what way? If you mean need more financial support from the school system I would absolutely agree! If you mean more support as in publicity or coverage then I would agree too, especially here in Knoxville! But again, your comments are very vague and could be interpreted several different ways And finally, what do you mean by compete nationally? In high school you compete on a state level... that's in every sport in every state. Any type of team "national championship" in high school is largely voted on rather then a true competition where the teams compete with one another.

So unless anyone in their division has beat them- those are my votes for AAA and D2!

Kind of hard argue against national rankings. Random question but who else in TSSAA was ranked nationally? And No- I don't care who was ranked in middle school (Go ahead and get that out of the way now).

Congrats to Gibbs and Coach Pittman!

DId Halls wrestle Gibbs this year? I've gone and watched region duals the last couple of years and I have to admit that it felt very lackluster this year. I'm not from the area originally but could easily tell that was a very heated rivalry last year and the years before that.

Its a computer algorithm so zero thought is all that's required. As soon as the last region finals match is finished the state bracket should be completed. 32 man bracket made from top 4 of 8 regions means each bracket has 4 8-man brackets, or 4 "mini brackets" to help eliminate confusion. Each of the 4 mini brackets has 1 representative from each region, and the 4 representatives from each region will be placed into a different mini bracket. These 8 man brackets will have 2 region champions, 2 runner ups, 2 3rds and 2 4ths. An Example of a this mini bracket template: Region 1 Champion vs Region 2 4th Region 3 3rd vs Region 4 Runner up Region 5 Runner up vs Region 6 3rd Region 7 4th vs Region 8 Champion Each of these mini brackets is seeded so that the two region champions meet in the finals of the mini bracket, or what is the quarter finals of the whole 32 man bracket. Furthermore, each of the 4 mini brackets will be placed in order so that each region's champion and 4th is placed on either the top or bottom half of the bracket and the runner up and 3rd is placed on the other. So by seeding 1 kid, you lock in the other 3 guys from his region into one of two spots on the bracket, and if you seed 4 kids, mathematically you essentially already know how the whole bracket will look. All you have to do is just enter the kid's name into the "Region 3 Runner up" slot on your bracket. As far as changing it- if you think the algorithm isn't needed, please go look at the rankings of 113 and see the top 4 in the state are all in the same region. If you think seeding last years place winners is an odd criteria is to use, I absolutely agree, but I can see that its used to ensure the finalists of last years state tournament wont meet in the quarter finals of this years tournament (assuming they both win their regions). If you think you can do a better job seeding each bracket yourself, aka want to bring in the human factor, please keep in mind that means you must have seen all 32 wrestlers in each bracket (which you haven't) and a be able to rank them 1-32 without using any bias or favoritism (which you can't). Personally I think there should be a seeding meeting, but sadly most coach's wouldn't want to take the time to do this, so it may have to be done by a committee. However, to be considered for seeding, you still have to win your region and then the committee will seed 1-8 using the 8 region champions. You could maybe make an argument to seed 1-16 by using region champions and runner ups, but I think that would open the door to too much bias

You could make an argument for as young as possible, or you could make an argument for not at all- Just depends on whose Kool Aid you wish to sip from. In my opinion though, don't take parenting advice from message boards!

People talk about 126 being the toughest this year, but I think 132 is the deepest weight class this year!

Were there any major individual upsets at state this past weekend? I saw where Brentwood and Heritage shocked a few people team wise but what about individual match ups that will shake up rankings leading into these last two weeks.

About half of the tournaments, and most of the matches, I go watch every year aren't on track. TSSAA may require all district or region results (no idea what the rule is) but I would say a lot of the kids who have about 10 matches on their track profile truthfully have had around 25 matches this season.

I agree with you about Blackman, I just have Arlington picked to beat them but I did pick that to be the closest match of that round and I could easily see Blackman in the semifinals aswell!

I worked out the entire bracket and got some surprising results. Most people won't agree with my top 4, and honestly I don't believe they are the 4 best teams in the state, but based off of the bracket and how certain teams match up with other teams this is my prediction for this weekend! I broke it down by round and put what I believed to be the closest match of each round in bold. Also, I am going to go ahead and apologize to all the Nashville area fans beforehand because I know I have some picks most of you are going to argue Round 1 Cleveland over Centennial Wilson Central over William Blount Blackman over Dobyns Bennett Arlington over Anderson County Soddy Daisy over Brentwood (sorry Bruin fans) Heritage over Houston Knoxville Halls over Beech Senior Science Hill over Oakland Quarter Finals Cleveland over WIlson Central Arlington over Blackman Soddy Daisy over Heritage Science Hill over Knoxville Halls Consolations Round 1 William Blount over Centennial Dobyns Bennett over Anderson County Brentwood over Houston Beech Senior over Oakland Consolations Round 2 Knoxville Halls over William Blount Heritage over Dobyns Bennettt Brentwood over Blackman (Just because I picked Brentwood to lose to Soddy) Wilson Central over Beech Senior Semi Finals Cleveland over Arlington Science Hill over Soddy Daisy Consolation Round 3 and 4-aka-"Blood Round" Heritage over Knoxville Halls Wilson Central over Brentwood Heritage over Arlington Soddy Daisy over Wilson Central (decided this on a coin flip) Final Results Cleveland Science Hill Soddy Daisy Heritage The rundown- I think Cleveland and Science HIll will be a clear cut 1 and 2. I think WC and Soddy may be the real 3 and 4, however, they will meet in the "blood round" and only one of them can place (if WC loses to Cleveland in the quarters and Soddy loses in the semi's to SH). Additionally, The first round of the tournament has a big match in Halls vs Beech, as I think whoever wins that match will meet Heritage in consolation round 3, and the loser will eventually be put out by WC in the 2nd round of consolations. I think the winner of that consolation round 3 match (match 23 on the bracket) will ultimately finish 4th, as I think all 3 of those schools can beat Arlington in the "blood round" but would also fall to either WC or Soddy for 3rd and 4th. So truthfully my notes look like this: Cleveland Science Hill Wilson Central/Soddy Daisy Heritage/Halls/Beech.

I would guess early next week. Region 8 still hasn't wrestled yet.

How is that allowed? In other sports that would make them ineligible for state. I know in football if you forfeit a playoff game than you are ineligible for playoffs for the next 2 (maybe more?) years. I understand that the match doesn't matter as the two teams will wrestle again for a state title, but TSSAA really needs some parallelism on their rules across its sports!!

I am not 100% clear on how region duals work anymore, so please correct me if I am wrong. But from the information gathered- Bradley wrestlers Cleveland tonight (at Bradley nonetheless). And if Bradley wins- then the no.1 team in the state won't be going to Franklin next week? (key word there is "if" as I understand Cleveland is highly favored)

Did Fowler and Milasauskas wrestle at 132 or 126?

These lists always seem to be dominated by the lower weights because in those weight classes they are mostly wrestling other freshman or underclassman. I think a better title may be the 40 best freshman records as apposed to "top freshman".

Are the duals still scheduled for tonight?

This may truly be an "individual" tournament, as McCallie should run away with this one easy (team score wise). However, there are a lot of talented kids spread across the other teams in the field, which should make for some exciting matches in the semis and finals. Have any of those four at 132 wrestled each other yet? A lot of people probably want to see Henderson vs. Brown but that match may not be guaranteed by seeding.

Didn't Arlington finish behind Halls this weekend?

1. Cleveland 2. Science Hill 3. Bradley 4. Wilson Central 5. Soddy Daisy 6. Blackman 7. Heritage 8. Halls 9. Arlington 10. Beech And please remember, I am originally from the state of Florida, which means I get to cast my vote as many times as I see fit.

I know the poll is mostly dual meet strength, but I would rank Heritage over Halls as they have finished over Halls in two different tournaments now.

Rumor to have some type of major injury and will not be wrestling his senior season.