CHAOS: Is Oklahoma State The ONLY Real Threat To Penn State Wrestling NOT Breaking Records?

It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

What's up everybody?

This is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network, and if you haven't

heard yet, we started a club and we would love for you to join.

It's called the Everydayer Club, and one of the things that you get as a member is an

ad-free version of the podcast that you're listening to right now.

It works with whatever podcast app you already used, same episodes every day, just no

ad.

There's also a member's only group chat for fans of your team, plus a lot more.

You can check it out by tapping the Everydayer Club link in the show notes.

Once again, Penn State is trying to break NCAA records again, the ones that they just set

a season ago.

Oklahoma State wants to disrupt that, Jacks Forest is a heavy favorite to win an NCAA title,

but there are some other Oklahoma State wrestlers that could surprise and pull off some

upsets.

You are Lockdown College Crossroads, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every

day.

And today's episode is brought to you by Fandall.

Fandall's giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with the

college basketball, parlay, profit boost at defandall.com to get started.

This is a crossover episode to talk the NCAA wrestling tournament once again.

My name is Zach Seiko, the host of Lockdown, Knitney Alliance.

He is Cody Stovall, the host of Lockdown, Oklahoma State.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Please be a part of the conversation.

Let us know your comments down in, down below as we are going to make our predictions.

Weight class by weight class, does Penn State break records?

How many champions do the Knitney Lions get?

Can Oklahoma State have more than just one champion with Jacks Forest, who is the overwhelming

favorite, I think, at 133?

I want to give him due respect, right?

It's crowded.

Marcus Blaise, Vendivino, I get it.

So Cody, let's begin here before we go, weight class by weight class.

How many individual champions are you expecting for Oklahoma State?

Is it just Jacks Forest?

Well, last year we had two and we have to show that there's evolutionary moments and

cowboy wrestling.

So to me, you have to get three.

And I think it's very, very much a possibility.

You mentioned Jack Forest.

He's going to have a lot of competition as we talk last time.

I think Side L is somebody that could potentially trip jacks up.

But at the same point in time, if you have DJ, Amity, Jr., Winnet last year and why Hendrix

and Winnet, you got to have more guys.

So I think you got to throw Troy Spratley into this mix and that's going to make things

interesting for Luke Lilidol, who obviously is going to be the favorite.

But I think Troy Spratley proved that he could do it last year by getting there.

Now he just has to complete his, you know, his transition into being the top guy in the

country.

And I think he can do that this tournament.

I'm surprised you didn't say Sergio Vega in there.

Well, Sergio.

So I got Sergio, Jacks and Troy.

Those are my three.

The lightweight.

And you know what?

I'm not going to argue against the people that because Ohio State tries to take the claim

that well, our, our light weights are, are better than anyone else's, you know, in Penn

State, hey, Luke Lilidol, Marcus plays, well, Braden Davis is kind of the weakest link

of the trio.

But then you look at OSU and you look at the other OSU, you look at Oklahoma State and it's

wow, you know, Troy Spratley, top five guy with, with title potential, right?

Jacks Forest is going to be the favorite at a very loaded 133.

And then at 141, the only guy in my opinion that I think can beat Jesse Mendes is Sergio

Vega.

Yeah.

Sergio is just so crafty, right?

They call him the scramble God for a reason.

He almost puts himself in precarious situations on purpose to find ways to score unorthodox.

And it makes him extremely exciting to watch.

But as you, we talk a little bit off air, right?

There is a lot of talk around guys like Casey Sureski is the lock it going to be able

to bring it.

But that's the thing is it's likely going to be an OSU is the only one that can really

prevent Penn State from breaking a bunch of records and I don't think it's going to

be the other OSU.

I think Oklahoma State is in prime position to unequivocally be that number two team in

the country that can finally start to nip away a little bit at the Penn State legacy.

I don't think it's going to happen necessarily this year.

But we just mentioned you got to have, you know, moments for David Taylor.

He has came in, came in like gangbusters, I think everybody can agree what he's done is

absolutely remarkable, but you got to keep taking those steps.

DJ Hammond, he wasn't supposed to be a national champion.

Why is Hendrix and wasn't technically supposed to be a national champion?

So you did something unique last year.

You've got to counter that with something better.

And I do think that Troy Spratley, Sergio Vagan, Jacks Forest are the ones to bring

that home.

What Casey Sureski does, I don't know, but it should be fun, right?

What do you lock it does?

We don't know, but it could be fun.

It's, it's just nice to see that you guys finally have some semblance of competition.

And that's the thing is everybody's trying to prevent Penn State from breaking their own

record, right?

That is kind of like the consolation prize at the season, and it's how infatically you do

it.

And Oklahoma says biggest issue has been scoring enough bonus points to put him in

contention there at the end.

And in order for us to have those, you've got to have multiple title contenders.

And thankfully, I do think that we have that.

There's definitely multiple title contenders, and we'll go weight class by weight class

to see the likelihood of some of these, of some of these upsets, maybe in theory.

What, what the results actually are.

So we started 125.

You're thinking Troy Spratley has as good of a chance as anyone.

I think Luke Lillidol is a strong favorite here at 125.

Are you taking Lillidol Spratley or the field at 125, which is the most likely outcome?

I'm, I'm going to take Luke Lillidol, spoke to him today with, with Penn State media availability.

But Lillidol seems like the, the only one that's standing, and he might, he might have

to face Spratley in order to get to the end, just alone to get to the NCAA finals.

So if Spratley wants to even get to the finals, he has to go through Luke Lillidol.

All right.

The field or one of those two wrestlers.

That's Troy for me.

Absolutely.

In 133.

I got Jacks, right?

So you can just, you can just ask me now and we can get that one out of the way.

Jacks Force will win 133, all right?

That's a guarantee up against whether it's, even if it's Bendivino or if it's Marcus

Blaze, he's got to go through Side L or Kyler Larkin again.

Well, guys, I shouldn't even throw Kyler Larkin in there, he almost tech, he almost

teched him.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The beauty of Jacks is he's in this tournament to wrestle the best.

And that's the thing.

He never wants to get to a point.

I would imagine where somebody could say, well, you didn't wrestle X, Y or Z.

You didn't wrestle this guy.

You didn't wrestle that guy.

I would imagine Jacks Force wants to beat the best.

So he can claim he is the best without any, any, you know, conversations about how well

you avoided this guy or this guy or that guy.

Yeah.

I think he wants all of it.

He wants all the smoke as the kids say, Zach.

Let me, let me frame it this way because I, as much as I want to take Marcus Blaze here,

I can't, in my mind, I can't project anybody else outside of Jacks Force winning this

year.

I mean, he just looks phenomenal.

You could say he's even better rested because he comes in without the full NCAA slate and

just, and just look how he's dominating the competition that he's faced.

So maybe it's played into his favor that he's only wrestled half of the matches here.

Who is the opponent that gives him the biggest challenge?

Is it, is it Ben Devino?

Is it Penn State's Marcus Blaze?

Side L is that the biggest threat in the semifinal or one of the veterans?

Are you worried that, hey, maybe Drake Ayala or Lucas Bird gets to the final and that's

going to be his toughest competition, not the other true freshman counterparts.

Side L definitely concerns me because he's really the only wrestler this season to take

Jacks Force in the any level of deep waters.

And then Devino, honestly, that's a, that's a matchup.

I think everybody in the country would be salivating for if it were to come to fruition.

But that talent of Devino over the versatility and explosiveness of Jacks, I don't think, I don't

think it matters in the end.

Yeah, facing Side L again, that was, was that 10 to 9 or 11 to 10?

It was something like that.

It was, yeah, it was, they were definitely both capable of scoring, right?

And whenever you get to the waterfall position with either one of them, there's no

comfortability.

And typically whenever you get to that waterfall, you know points are probably about to come

in your favor.

When those two get in those scramble situations, it's, it's crazy to see.

But again, I do think that Jacks is has underestimated strength.

Everyone talks about his link, his quickness, his, his ability to get behind.

I don't think people value his strength enough at that way.

There's going to be conversation at some point in time about Jacks moving up just because

of that long lengthy body that continues to get stronger.

I think his strength is what wins out at the end of the day.

Yeah, he's definitely moving up from all these wrestlers.

I don't think I probably maybe Side L, maybe Side L stays at 133.

But I don't want to try to project that too much.

I have to, I have to stand up for Marcus place.

I got to give the, I got to defend the Penn State side of it here because I, I do think

that blaze, even though we haven't seen it there, there is just so much confidence from

Kale Sanderson and maybe he's just saying that at the end of the day because that's his

guy.

That's his wrestler.

But there, there seems to be this, this new optimism for blaze where, hey, he's showing

more competitiveness.

I mean, Kale went out of his way just to say Marcus blaze is one of the most competitive

people that I've ever been around.

So is that too much to a fault, right?

Is that going to get into blaze his mind a little bit and maybe weigh him down at the

end of the day or does that propel him?

And that's the difference that, okay, this guy's going to work harder than you, train

harder than you and be better prepared for you in these moments.

So blaze, I am eager to see how he bounces back from that loss against Davino, but just

like Davino, just like forest, just like side out, they all have as good of a chance as

anybody in 133.

That's it.

You could pick any one of these guys and you very well could be right.

I think it's an even, I will give the slight edge to forest, of course, here as I prefaced.

But any of those four guys, plus Lucas Bird, I don't think we should count out Lucas Bird

who has one final go at this.

He is the defending NCAA finalist after all, he had a bad, he had a bad big 10 tournament.

So we'll see how he, how he bounces back at the end of the day.

Now when we come back here on this show, 141, it's all Jesse Mendes, right?

I don't, I don't think so.

Sergio Vega, if there's anybody that can do it, he's at Oklahoma State.

We're going to talk about that next year and the other way class is coming up next on

this locked on crossover.

Today's episode is brought to you by Fandall, college basketball is nonstop, big games,

tight spreads, momentum swings, every single night from the early tip offs to those late

night west coast battles, there's always action on the board.

And now Fandall is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins

with a college basketball parlay profit boost.

You can build any college hoops parlay that you want, rivalry games, rank matchups, whatever

fits your read.

You can mix spreads, totals, player props to match how you see the slate playing out.

Then you can apply that profit boost and instantly bump up the potential payout.

You can look at the board and see which teams are trending, go safe, go bold right with

the team.

You've been following all season long.

It's your parlay.

It's your style now with more upside behind it.

Head over to fandall.com to get started.

That is fandall.com one more time fandall.com fandall play your.

One thing no one tells you about hiring globally is how unclear the cost can be.

I recently needed to hire an assistant who would work remotely, but I didn't have the

first clue where to start.

So I've seen firsthand how important it is to get an expert to help out.

Pebble is an AI-powered global human resources platform built for founders, HR leaders,

and operators who are hiring and supporting teams around the world.

Pebble helps you hire, pay, and manage talent in over 185 countries with fast onboarding

that can be done in minutes.

Instead of juggling separate tools for contracts, payroll, benefits, and compliance, Pebble

brings everything together with built-in guidance and local expertise to support you.

The fastest growing companies in the world use Pebble to stay organized and reduce risk.

Bottom line, it simplifies global people operations so you can spend more time growing

the business and supporting your team.

Our new standard discounted pricing at $399 per month per employee helps you contain

costs.

Go to hipubble.ai to get a free estimate.

That's hipbll.ai for a free estimate.

Game.

Today's episode is brought to you by Indeed.

Workplace chaos.

Deadlines are stacking up.

Your inbox is overflowing in the one position you have to fill.

It's still sitting open.

When the pressure's on and you need the right hire, this is a job for sponsor jobs.

Indeed, sponsor jobs helps you reach the people who actually fit what you are looking for,

whether that is skills, experience, location, maybe.

So you're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles across your post.

Now, here's the stat that says it all.

In the minute, I've been talking to you.

Things like yours may 27 hires on Indeed.

According to Indeed data worldwide, spend less time searching, more time, actually interviewing

candidates who check all your boxes, less stress, less time, more results.

When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for indeed, sponsor

jobs and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsor job credit to help get your job.

The premium status it deserves.

Indeed.com slash podcast, just go to indeed.com slash podcast right now, support our show

by saying you heard about indeed on this podcast terms and conditions apply need to hire.

This is a job for indeed sponsor jobs.

Join the all new everyday club now with code March and get your first month free.

That is right.

promo code March gets you one free month of the everyday club.

If you sign up before the NCAA tournament tips off this Thursday, you can

compete against myself against Cody in our men's and women's bracket pools on discord.

The winner in each will get $100 in locked on March.

The rest of us can co-miserate in the members only chats as our brackets get destroyed.

As a member of the club, you get ad free shows.

That's right.

Ad free versions of locked on knitting lines and locked on Oklahoma state.

Again, it's all free for a month with code March.

Check the link down in the show notes to learn more.

Let us pick back up with 141 Jesse Mendes, I mean, Brock hearties there.

I'll give a shout out to Anthony etch him in DIA because I, but he lost a Sergio Vega,

right?

Luke Stanich, Luke Stanich is battled injuries Lee high wrestler for anybody that doesn't

know.

There.

I do think he could end up being the third best wrestler.

What would not shock me, Jesse Mendes and Sergio Vega in the final Luke Stanich taking

third place here, where Braden Davis is going to finish.

I hope on the podium, I've been kind of expecting a breakout moment for him as he gets settled

in at 141.

That's just not really happened and he's run out of opportunities at this point.

But Cody as the Oklahoma state expert, what are the odds that the true freshmen can do

the unthinkable here and kind of pull off a Spencer Lee type of moment where he defeats

the big fish when Spencer Lee is going to win another title at 125, where this is Jesse

Mendes's case at 141.

Well, I think whenever you look at the same level of competition, right?

What did Brock Hardy do against Sergio Vega?

He got absolutely throttled by Sergio Vega.

What do you mean?

It was a tech fall, right?

If I were to call correctly, he got throttled that bat.

Now, etch him in DIA, right?

They've wrestled a couple different times and they've both been fairly close, but they

also go back and they go to the same high school.

So those dudes know each other in and out.

So the fact that etch him in DIA does make it close, it doesn't really surprise me, but

at the same point in time, man, that we go back to that scramble God situation.

It can't be good if you're the top dog and you've got the target on you and you know

you've got this guy coming in Sergio Vega that's just really hard to prepare for because

more often than not as soon as you get an advantageous position, he's sneaking out the

back door or he's grabbing an ankle out of nowhere that you never saw coming.

He just does unique things on the mat that are really hard to prepare for until you're

in that situation in Sergio Vega, his legs and knees and ankles goes ways they're not

supposed to.

I think I've talked to you off air about how watching him makes, it makes my body hurt.

Watching Sergio Vega wrestle hurts my body physically because of the pretzel way in

which he wrestles.

So I just, it's hard to prepare for.

I'll say this for Jesse Mendes.

His path, he has to earn it because whether it's Luke Stanich or Brock hearty, I've

honestly, I think it's going to be Luke Stanich in the semi-final there against Jesse

Mendes.

He will have to beat Luke Stanich and then Sergio Vega if he's going to, it's not like

it's Cruz control all the way through 141.

He will have to earn it against wrestlers that he is not familiar with.

Then we go to, so Sergio Vega, I think does have a legitimate shot here to upset Jesse

Mendes.

Is it likely?

No.

Is it a possibility?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

I'm going to answer Lee moment here where Mendes doesn't, like I say, Cruz all the way to

a 141 title in his final year.

We go to 149.

Hey, there's a lot of positive chatter around Casey Swardersky started out slow this season.

Was he going to even hold the 49 weight class for, was he going to even be the starter

down the stretch?

I'm not talking about weight control, weight management.

I'm talking about just being the guy at 49 for Oklahoma State because there were so

many lineup changes as we got to this point.

Now there's chatter.

Hey, guys are people that cover the sport, followed the sport aren't afraid to take Casey

Swardersky as an underdog title contender here, title champion.

In my opinion, it's still Shane Vanness because Vanness was the preseason favorite.

Oh, well, he had his dicey matches here and there at points in the season.

It doesn't mean that he's still, he's the number one guy.

He's undefeated until until something does happen where Vanness, Vanness hasn't lost.

Okay.

He's had some close, close calls, but he hasn't lost to anybody yet.

So until proven otherwise, this is Shane Vanness's class.

The only place he would meet Swardersky is in that NCAA final.

But most other people are projecting Jackson joy of Cornell to be that counterpart in the

championship.

In my opinion, Jackson joy is the only wrestler who can beat Vanness in this weight class.

But I'll give you the floor to give me the Swardersky, the sort, the case for Casey Swardersky.

I mean, I'd love to stir the pot here and say that Casey's gonna come all the way and

get it.

I don't necessarily think that happens.

I do think he makes a deep run because as you'd mentioned, he's a completely different

wrestler than the guy who began the season for whatever reason, right?

Obviously, the development and the wrestling room is going to be a big contributing factor.

But yeah, to begin the season, right, we had guys like T-track, T-Travis and Carter Young

that everybody was excited about, right, making multiple years back and still order.

And they weren't able to fend off some of these younger guys.

And then Casey Swardersky, having that injury last year, maybe that was a contributing portion

of why he struggled in the beginning, but he has come on late.

He has been able to score points, get us in bonus point situations.

And I got to give credit to the coaching staff whenever we got Casey Swardersky.

I thought he was a little bit of a hot head.

And I thought that was the reason he got himself in bad spots is because he led his emotions

outright as technique.

That is something that seemingly has changed in the last month and a half or so.

He's allowing his physicality to become technical instead of just physical.

And that is why he is putting himself in a position to at least make a fun, crazy run here.

And for the record, I want to get this correct because I'm going off of rankings and I pull

up the seeding.

Swardersky and Vanness could potentially meet in the quarter finals.

So in order to get to a championship at 149, Vanness and Swardersky have to go through

one another.

I mean, I won't, here's what I will say, David Evans, who is a former Penn State wrestler

is the nine.

So Swardersky is going to have to wrestle not one, but two former or Penn State connected

wrestlers at a point in time.

So kind of like Mendez, you know, he's going to have to earn his spot in the championship

if you're, if you're Casey Swardersky there.

But if you do unseat, if you beat David Evans, if you beat Vanness, you are, you're basically

the guy from that side of the bracket of 149 in my opinion, you would be the most crazy.

You think of all time would be Swardersky beat Vanness and then lose in dramatic fashion

right afterward.

Yeah, next round because I think Casey's good enough to get all the way there.

But if I were to be a betting man, I would put money on Vanness on this particular weight

class.

Okay.

So we're going, yeah, Vanness, Swardersky or the field.

I lean Vanness of the reason that it's, it's Jackson Joy, the field is Jackson Joy in

my opinion.

I mean, that's a 149 weight class that just doesn't have any other big fish in it other

than other than Jackson Joy.

The potential is there for Swardersky and it's, I mean, Shane Vanness is the big fish.

This is his right class.

It'd be a different conversation of Caleb Henson was here, but this is just what happens.

Weight class is turnover.

Vanness is a really darn good wrestler and it's just his year.

So and, oh, and he's a junior.

So he'll be back next year and we can have the same conversation once again, unless Sergio

Vega moves up a weight class.

So then maybe that changes things.

Hey, 157.

Okay.

PJ Duke, Landon Robadoo or the field here and I'm going to go PJ Duke pretty confidently

in the same way that we talked about Jack's forest.

I think if you compare and contrast 133 and 157, I made my case for, hey, I think 157

is the deepest, most star-studded weight class of any of them this year.

I think 133 is just very top heavy, but you look at 157, 157's got a lot of guys that

have title potential and not just for true freshmen.

PJ Duke, Antrell Taylor, Meyersha Piro, Caleb Larkin, the brother of Kyler Larkin, Landon

Robadoo, Cannon Webster, Brandon Cannon, Vinnie Zurban of Iowa State.

I throw Thai waters in there of West Virginia as well.

Daniel Cardinus.

Somebody that is, is just, I mean, PJ Duke, it took him late in the third period to

beat him when they met in the regular season.

There are 10 guys in this weight class who have title potential compared to what, five

at 133.

So, but I'm taking PJ Duke out of all of them.

Yeah.

No, no, you and I have had spirited discussions about PJ Duke.

I have, I have come around on the PJ Duke fandom to some degree and here's the, if we're

taking Landon Robadoo or we're taking PJ Duke or we're taking the field, I actually,

I think I'm going to take the field on this one because of the precise that what you

just mentioned.

You have Antrell Taylor, who clearly is, is a defending national champion level individual.

Landon Robadoo, I think, physicality wise, can match up with anybody on this list.

The only thing that I think PJ Duke may have over Landon Robadoo is the athleticism.

That's the only thing that PJ, or, I mean, sorry, Robadoo seems to struggle with.

And we saw that with Larkin in the big 12 tournament.

So PJ Duke, strength wise, I think he's up there with PJ Duke and everybody else.

But I think the field here is probably going to get it done over PJ Duke and Landon Robadoo

because you mentioned it's just so, so stacked and there's so many ridiculously good athletes

at this weight that present different problems.

So every single time you advance in the bracket at this weight, you're facing a different

level, a different wrestler that has different levels of ability to score.

And that's what makes this class difficult.

So give me the field.

Interesting that if you're taking anybody from the, from the group, I would go with Shapiro.

I think it's going to be PJ Duke over Meyer Shapiro in the championship and, and for the

entertainment part of it and for the Penn State, Oklahoma State crossover part of it.

I hope we see PJ Duke and Robadoo in, in that semi final in order.

So I hope, I hope every single Oklahoma State versus Penn State wrestling scenario does

in fact take place, just so we can strengthen our conversations together, because again,

I think if that happens, you're going to see some upsets every year.

We see some level of upset right last year, obviously, white Hendrickson was not even supposed

to be in the same hemisphere as gay, but things happen.

And I think PJ Duke is the favorite, but because the field is stretched so thick with different

levels of talent and different takedown capabilities, yeah, I got the field in this one.

One 65, one so we got to rattle off a bunch of them when we come back from break 65, I think

is easy to predict 74 kind of like that 184, I think I don't think you can go wrong with

any of the top four wrestlers at 84 97 heavyweight.

We're going to get to all of those coming up next here on this lockdown crossover.

What if sports were traded like markets?

How you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robin Hood prediction markets.

It's not you against the house.

It's you participating in a live market.

You can buy or sell your positions live all game long, use your sports knowledge in the

moments that matter Robin Hood prediction markets changes the game.

It's people moving the action so when momentum shifts, you can move with it.

I always knew the game, but I never had a dynamic way to apply that knowledge.

Now I can actually take part live in a market powered by people.

You're no longer just a spectator play by play you decide trade every play with Robin Hood

now available across the US download the Robin Hood app now to begin futures and cleared

swaps trading in both significant risk and is not appropriate for every one event contracts

are offered by Robin Hood derivatives LLC a registered futures commission merchant and

swap firm and this episode is brought to you by way fair spring is the perfect time to

refresh your space and make your home better for you.

Whether it's updating a room adding some outdoor furniture or finally organizing that cluttered

corner.

It's a great chance to bring a fresh look into your home.

That's where way fair comes in from furniture and decor to organization solutions and outdoor

essentials.

Way fair makes it easy to find pieces that will match your style and your budget.

The best part about shopping on way fair is how simple the process is.

You can filter by style size and price so you find exactly what works for your space.

The thousands of reviews make it easy to shop with confidence and options like easy assembly

or installation make the whole experience smooth from order to set up so whether it's

a new desk for a home office some storage solutions or outdoor pieces for spring.

It's easy to find something that fits both your style and your daily routine.

Find furniture decor and essentials that fit your unique style and budget head over to

wayfair.com right now to shop all things home that is w-a-y-f-a-i-r.com.

Way fair every style every home.

The 65 is probably going to be our shortest discussion as we continue to move through

these way classes.

Are you taking anybody that's not named Mitchell Messenbrink?

I am not unfortunately again.

I think that if the aggressive version of DeLocket shows up he can make a run in this and

he can make this thing fun.

But I do think this is one of the rare areas where if we had a one-on-one I think Mitchell

Brink would get the better just because he has a better capability to score and he's

much more aggressive than DeLocket.

These are just too tentative I think to win a title right now.

Back one could go down in the semi-final right?

If David Taylor is supposed to, you know, if he picked up all these lessons wrestling

and training at Penn State and being part of the Netanyline Wrestling Club in Kale Santerson

Yeah, that these guys are only going to get better.

So for us, Vega, Locket, which is a from the outside perspective, it's great for you.

It's a scary thought for the competition, not necessarily for Penn State today, but for

the rest of the competition, right, that oh gosh, there's more to these true freshmen.

Yeah, they're absolutely is so Locket versus Messenbrink is fairly reasonable in the semi-final.

But beating Messenbrink today and even tomorrow, definitely a tall task here, Messenbrink

at 65.

Now in the preseason, the same conversation I think was had for Levi Haines that his

way class, he's all he's all by himself and Levi Haines, well, he's undefeated.

He's the number one seed.

I don't think he's personally had any close calls.

You look at the scoreboard in some of these and it's not, well, he got away from that.

One, no, he was leading and just did what was necessary to get the win.

He really didn't have a moment where it's like, man, he was almost upset.

But the one wrestler that I think truly has challenged him, he could meet once again

in the NCAA finals.

So Levi Haines, Chris Minto, or the rest of this group, which includes Alex Facundo.

I don't know that Facundo's necessarily a title contender here, et cetera.

No, no, I don't think he is.

I mean, he's the podium level individual, certainly he could, he could mix it up and

get there.

I tell you the guy who concerns me the most in this weight class is actually Camp Steed

from Mizzou because you would know he had the same thing last year, right?

He just kept building up through the season, kept building up through the season, had a

nice big 12s and then makes a massive run in the NCAAs.

He looks equally as good at this weight as he did last year at the same time.

So if you're going off of who's hot right now, that Camp Steed is the representative

from the big 12 that everybody should be concerned about.

However, as it pertains to the title, I know, right?

There's a discrepancy and there's a reason why Chris Minto did not win.

But I think there's some chinks in the armor that Levi Haines showed and I think Chris

Minto is probably going to be chomping at the bit to get another opportunity at him.

So I think I'm going to have to take the field over a cowboy or an Indian line in this

one.

I could see a Camp Steed versus Levi Haines final.

I don't know that Steve DeFete Haines, but I could absolutely see that being the, because

all those guys see that's the thing that part of the bracket is Simon Ruiz, Chris Minto,

Matt Singleton from NC State, he won an ACC title, Camp Steed.

That is a really, that is a really loaded part of the bracket there.

But Carson Harch was up on Levi Haines's side, Patrick Kennedy, Beaumann Sonona.

So Haines is still going to have to have his work cut out for him.

But those guys, the ones that really do challenge him would be Ruiz, Minto, and potentially

Camp Steed here if we're thinking that he can pull off some upsets of his own.

Get out 184, go for it.

Well, 184 I think unfortunately is a, is almost a given, right?

Rocco Welsh is the guy who was the guy before he even went to Penn State.

He's been the guy all year.

I know Adenston Clare has had some impressive moments, McNeely from Minnesota, also pretty

impressive.

And then also if, if Angelo Ferrari is healthy, I can't believe these words are leaving

them out.

The Vangelo Ferrari is healthy.

That could be slightly problematic.

But at the end of the day, I do think it's Rocco Welsh's to win, and I do think Rocco

Welsh does in fact get it done.

I thought you would take the big 12 guy here.

I thought I was waiting for Adenston Clare.

No, not at all.

Not Adenston Clare.

And he beat McNeely this season.

Yes, he did, barely.

And again, but you also got to look at Oklahoma State as a good representation.

Those natty tools and the teams that, that you took the mat are light years different

than the teams now.

As you and I even discussed last time, there was a couple cowboys then that are going

to be wrestling cowboys in the nationals now.

So I think it is also applicable that you have to look at the timeline when they met.

And yeah, I'm not honestly, bro.

I don't like Adenston Clare.

I'm just going to be real.

Okay.

I don't like him.

I can't wait to see him give me.

Then that, then that, okay, so then that kind of changes to hear the outside perspective

because I think my chatter and some of the Penn State chatter, definitely the national

chatter is that Rocco Welch is a fraud or let me rephrase that because I don't think

rock.

Okay.

Personally, I don't think Rocco Welch is a fraud.

I'm jumping the, I'm jumping the gun a little bit to say to speak for the national, the

national level is that people are waiting for Welch to lose because he won by tiebreaker

against Ferrari.

He won by tiebreaker again against Ferrari and then he wins by tiebreaker and nearly

got taken down by McInelli.

So I think that's the idea is that people are waiting for Rocco Welch to lose, but kind

of like Shane Van Esley by Haynes, well, he's the one seed, well, he's undefeated just because

it's close.

It doesn't mean that it wins a win, even if it is close.

So he is defeating Ferrari's not on the losing side of Ferrari's not on the losing side

of McInelli.

I do think McInelli is the biggest threat to Rocco Welch because he does all the things

that Rocco Welch does well and I think he's got a little bit more of an offensive side

to him.

And as we saw with that aggression late in that 84 pound championship for big 10s that

man, if McInelli just pushed the pace five seconds earlier, he wins that.

So I imagine his approach is going to change here for our, it's Sinclair's just I've been,

I have a different perspective on Sinclair.

So since he's not in the big 12, I think he's really talented.

He was someone that I considered a dark horse in the preseason.

So it's him or McInelli that is going to meet Welch.

And then at that point, it's still a toss up whether it's Sinclair, whether it's McInelli,

whether it's Welch, it's a, it's a 50, 50 draw one way or another.

I don't, I don't really have somebody that I can predict.

Josh Barg to me is the same as Mitchell Messenbrink, where for me, this conversation short

overwhelming favorite, I'm picking him against all the odds, no matter what, but the outside

perspective.

I mean, it's a loaded big 12 class.

Rocky could be there, Joey, no, no vac could be there.

Cody Merrill of Oklahoma State.

So who does it?

I think you hit the nail in the head.

I, I do think that Rocky Elam is legitimate.

And I think he will end up being the winner here at this weight.

Right.

I will stay tight alone.

Okay.

Yeah.

And former and former Missouri wrestler, right?

Cody Merrill, what are, what are his chances here?

Because he has to go through Rocky Elam if he's going to stay alive in the, in the tournament.

You know, there was a little bit of a contentious moment and, and, and their duel against each

other.

But at the end of the day, I do think that Cody Merrill.

He doesn't struggle in a lot of areas, but one area he struggles, in my opinion, is he

lets people get to his ankles a little bit too easily.

And he's not quite a Sergio Vega when it comes to those scramble situations.

So it's not like he has inadequate defense.

But there has been some top two wrestlers get to ankle picks fairly easily on Cody.

And whenever you're going up against a guy who's good at that and athletic enough to pull

that off like Rocky, like bar, those are the things that limits Cody at this particular

moment.

But yeah, Cody's definitely strong enough to, to pin people that aren't supposed to

be pinned, right?

So I think that's Cody will probably find himself in a scenario where he takes down some

people he's not supposed to.

But when it comes to those, those top athletic guys, I think Cody does have a little bit of

struggle there still.

Rocky's the best wrestler that's not named Josh Barr.

I still think Barr defeats Elam, whether it's by decision, I don't think that one gets

to a major decision.

But I can still see Barr winning by a couple of, you know, something like a 73 victory

where it's two takedowns are the difference there.

A lot of names in this weight class, though, for 97 that, because Joey Novak, Steven Little

Justin Rotomacher, Sammy Sassow, Cody Merrill, as we've mentioned, Angela Posada of Stanford,

this is quite, Lee, this weight class is, is pretty talented.

But I think it's the race for second place in my, in my honest opinion, in my humble opinion,

heavyweight.

There's, this is tough.

You know, Cole, Mirosola, I don't have title aspirations for him this time around.

Connor, do set is really talented.

But it's kind of because Younger, Bastita, it's not that Mirosola isn't capable of winning

a title.

It's just that Younger, Bastita's really good.

And Mirosola would have to pull off an unthinkable upset in that case.

Or Connor, do set.

Do you like his chances to get to the finals?

It's basically Younger, Bastita, or everybody else, which includes the Penn State Oklahoma

State wrestlers.

Well, here's, I, I think Goodalley is probably going to take, wait, and I'll tell you why.

I know you've been taking, I'm not even taking the big 10 guy.

He's, Younger, Bastita is like the hot topic, the big name, the guy who has been the

clear number one all year, the Gable States.

But if you watch his matches against Connor, do set are always really close.

Like he's not light years better than Connor, do set.

And I think Connor, do set being a number eight rank is fair.

So if Younger, Bastita is not light years better than, than Connor, do set, but Connor

, do sets just not quite there to win it.

I think, I think Goodalley could definitely take this thing home because I think Younger

Bastita is a little overrated or Connor, do sets a little underweighted.

I don't know which one it is, but we're going to find out, I guess Bastita would potentially

knock out Colmarisola and then face AJ Ferrari in a semi-final because Ferrari is the

four seed.

But I do like that Goodalley pick.

If there's anybody that can beat Bastita, it, I do believe that it's Goodalley.

So that sets up nicely with the one and three seeds on each end of the bracket.

Wow.

We're almost at the NCAA tournament just a couple of days away at the time of this,

this recording at the time of when this episode's posted.

Hey, thank you so much for joining us.

If you got any surprise championship picks or if you think we're underestimating anybody,

let us know down in the comments section.

Thank you so much for being here.

Subscribe to our YouTube channels, wherever you get your podcasts for the latest conversations

around Penn State, Oklahoma State.

He is Cody Stovall.

My name is Zach Seiko Cody.

Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you so much for doing this crossover episode and can't wait for NCAA's two finally

go down.

Dude, I love it.

I love it.

We're kind of setting the bar, setting the expectations of doing these fairly regularly

because in the next two years, we're going to be having this conversation with the Cowboys

holding a natty.

All right.

I'm just planting the seeds for the day we get to flip rolls on the show, buddy.

You were good to sneak that here at the end of the episode.

Smart on you.