Which wrestlers will leave the 2013 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships with titles?
Fifteen top wrestling journalists have weighed in with their predictions, posted at TheMat.com Tuesday.
In some weight classes, there is remarkable consensus. For example, Penn State's Ed Ruth is the unanimous choice to win the title at 184 pounds Saturday night, March 23. At 133, all but one writer has selected Logan Stieber of Ohio State as holding onto his title.
Other weight classes with clear majority picks for champ include 125 (Illinois' Jesse Delgado, 11 votes), 141 (Oklahoma's Kendric Maple, 12 votes), 149 (Oklahoma State's Jordan Oliver, the top choice of 13 writers), and 197 (Kent State's Dustin Kilgore, 13 votes).
By contrast, three remaining weights have no clear consensus:
- At 157, there was a tie between Northwestern's Jason Welch and Iowa's Derek St. John, with each getting seven votes.
- In the 174 bracket, top-seeded Chris Perry of Oklahoma State got five votes... while Minnesota's sixth-seeded Logan Storley received seven votes.
- Heavyweight: Defending champ Tony Nelson of Minnesota (the No. 2 seed) got eight votes; top-seeded Dom Bradley of Missouri was the top pick of six writers.
As for the most anticipated finals, at 165 pounds... one dozen writers think No. 1 seed Kyle Dake of Cornell will make history by winning his fourth NCAA title. Three others pick No. 2 seed David Taylor of Penn State as being crowned the champ.
See all the picks at TheMat.com.
Note: The traditional order of finals matches, starting with 125 pounds and concluding with heavyweight, will be scrapped this year. Instead, the finals will start with the 174-pound weight class, followed in order by 184 lbs., 197 lbs., heavyweights, 125 lbs., 133 lbs., 149 lbs., 157 lbs. and ending with the 165-pound match.
Want to know more? For complete brackets for the 2013 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, click here. For a preview of each weight class, take a look at College Wrestling Examiner's exclusive "Mat Bracketology" series... and check out all College Wrestling Examiner articles on the 2013 NCAAs.
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