Thursday night didn't go so well for Iowa -- three more guys dropped into the consolation brackets, while Penn State enhanced their lead in the team title race (and went a perfect 7-for-7 in the second round) and Cornell put up enough points to sneak ahead of Iowa. The Hawks enter Friday's action in third place; at this point they need to not just pull their heads out of their asses and wrestle better themselves -- they also need the teams ahead of them to stumble. So far, Penn State has wrestled an almost flawless tournament. But what other teams do is mostly out of the hands of Iowa; what is in their control is how they wrestle -- and they need to be much better than they were today. Too often today they seemed tentative and defensive -- they can't wrestle like that and expect to win much. For more info, see the recap below this post.
WRESTLING
VIDEO: ESPNU/ESPN3.com (free if you get it)
AUDIO: TheOpenMat (free), Hawkeye All-Access/KXIC (free)
LIVEBLOG: HawkCentral (Andy Hamilton)
LIVE BRACKET: Penn State Wrestling Club
SESSION III (9:30am-1:30pm CST -- roughly)
quarterfinals
125: (2) Matt McDonough vs. (7) Ryan Mango (Stanford)
141: (5) Montell Marion vs. (4) Jimmy Kennedy (Illinois)
157: (6) Derek St. John vs. (3) David Taylor (Penn State)
184: (12) Grant Gambrall vs. (4) Travis Rutt (Wisconsin)
197: (5) Luke Lofthouse vs. (4) Dustin Kilgore (Kent State)
consolation bracket
133: (6) Tony Ramos vs. (UN) Tyler Small (Kent State)
165: (11) Aaron Janssen vs. (UN) Justin Lister (Binghampton)
174: (9) Ethen Lofthouse vs.(UN) Hunter Meys (Boston)
HWT: (7) Blake Rasing vs. (4) Dom Russo (Rutgers)
BASKETBALL
Meanwhile, as far as our hoophead friends (all times CST):
11:15, Tulsa -- (4) Texas vs. (13) Oakland (Marv Albert/Steve Kerr) (CBS)
11:40, Charlotte -- (8) Michigan vs. (9) Tennessee (Nantz/Kellogg) (truTV)
12:40, Chicago -- (2) Notre Dame vs. (15) Akron (Spero Dedes/Bob Wenzel) (TBS)
1:10, Cleveland -- (8) George Mason vs. (9) Villanova (Gus Johnson/Len Elmore) (TNT)1:45, Tulsa -- (5) Arizona vs. (12) Memphis (Albert/Kerr) (CBS)
2:10, Charlotte -- (1) Duke vs. (16) Hampton (Nantz/Kellogg) (truTV)
3:10, Chicago -- (7) Texas A&M vs. (10) Florida St. (Dedes/Wenzel) (TBS)
3:40, Cleveland -- (1) Ohio St. vs. (16) UTSA (Johnson/Elmore) (TNT)
Gus AND Marv? CBS is bringing out the big guns today. Hopefully they get games worthy of their talents. The early games look like they have a lot of potential for excitement and drama. Oakland has been one of the more popular upset picks and Michigann-Tennessee and George Mason-Villanova are 8-9 games. On the other hand, it wouldn't be too shocking to see these games devolve into routs, either: if Texas regains their form from a few weeks ago, they should mop the floor with Oakland and both Tennessee and Villanova have been struggling of late (especially Nova, entering the tourney on the rarely-seen five-game losing streak).
The usual rules of open threading apply here: no porn, no illegal online streams, no slurs, no politics, no religion, and be prudent when posting pics (and for god's sake, use a subject line when you do so that the pics can be hidden). Game on.
Session II results
second round
125: (2) Matt McDonough MAJ DEC (14-4) (UN) Sean Boyle (Michigan)
133: (11) Scotti Sentes (Central Mich) DEC (2-0) (6) Tony Ramos
141: (5) Montell Marion DEC (10-3) (12) Zack Kemmerer (Penn)
157: (6) Derek St. John DEC (8-2) (11) Walter Peppelman (Harvard)
174: (8) Mike Letts (Maryland) DEC (8-3) (9) Ethen Lofthouse
184: (12) Grant Gambrall DEC (8-3) (5) Joe LeBlanc (Wyoming)
197: (5) Luke Lofthouse DEC (8-3) (12) Zack Giesen (Stanford)
HWT: (10) Nathan Fernandez (Oklahoma) DEC (3-1 OT) (7) Blake Rasing
consolation round
165: (11) Aaron Janssen DEC (10-6) (6) Dallas Bailey (Oklahoma State)
STANDINGS
1) Penn State -- 30.5 pts
2) Cornell -- 29 pts
3) Iowa/Oklahoma State -- 25 pts
5) American -- 23.5 pts
6) Arizona State -- 21 pts
7) Wisconsin -- 20 pts
8) Boise State -- 19.5 pts
9) Minnesota -- 19 pts
10) Nebraska -- 18.5 pts
Iowa: 5 alive in championship bracket, 4 in consolation bracket
Penn State: 7 alive in championship bracket, 1 in consolation bracket
Cornell: 5 alive in championship bracket, 4 in consolation bracket
Oklahoma State: 4 alive in championship bracket, 4 in consolation bracket
American: 3 alive in championship bracket, 2 in consolation bracket
Arizona State: 3 alive in championship bracket, 2 in consolation bracket
Wisconsin: 4 alive in championship bracket, 2 in consolation bracket
Minnesota: 2 alive in championship bracket, 6 in consolation bracket