Instant Reaction: 2022 NCAA Wrestling Bracket Revealed
Brackets for the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Detroit were released on Wednesday night and can be found in-full on TrackWrestling.
Penn State enters the tournament as the favorite to reclaim the team title after Iowa won it a year ago and the tournament was cancelled in 2020. But it won't be straightforward for the Nittany Lions.
PSU wrestlers received the No. 1 seed at four different weight classes, with two others falling in the top four. The full seeds for the Nittany Lions are as follows.....
125: Drew Hildebrandt - 16
133: Roman Bravo-Young - 1
141: Nick Lee - 1
149: Beau Bartlett - 13
157: Brady Berge - 16
165: N/A
174: Carter Starocci - 1
184: Aaron Brooks - 1
197: Max Dean - 1
285: Greg Kerkvliet - 4
So what does that all mean?
Numerically Penn State's seeds shook out pretty well, with Bartlett, Kerkvliet and to an extent Brooks being seeded slightly higher than most projected. But the draws themselves were relatively unkind to the Nittany Lions when you look at the brackets in totality.
After a rough Big Ten Tournament, Hildebrandt falls all the way to the 16. If he can top Anthony Noto of Lock Haven in round one, he'll have top-seeded Nick Suriano of Michigan in round two.
Up at 157, Brady Berge finds himself in a similar situation. Berge didn't meet the minimum number of matches for a number of the seeding criteria at 157, so if he wins round one, he'll see defending national champion David Carr of Iowa State in the second round.
Jumping back around, Bravo-Young could be in for yet another showdown with Iowa's Austin DeSanto in the semifinals. DeSanto, despite having the third-best resume in the country, somehow fell to the No. 5 seed.
At 141, Lee has a fairly straight shot to at least the semifinals where he could see Stanford's Real Woods or Northern Colorado's Andrew Alirez.
Bartlett has a winable first match at 149 against Colin Realbuto of Northern Iowa, but then would have returning national finalist Sammy Sasso of Ohio State in the second round.
Up at 174, Starocci got the short end of the stick with Nebraska's Mikey Labriola surprisingly dropping all the way to eighth seed. They could meet in the quarterfinals with Iowa's Michael Kemerer and NC State's Hayden Hidlay set to likely clash in the other quarter on the top half.
Brooks got a nice bump at 184, as he stays in the top two behind Big Ten champ Myles Amine of Michigan but ahead of NC State's Trent Hidlay in third. For his efforts, however, Brooks could see No. 7 Kaleb Romero of Ohio State in the quarters while Hidlay could see No. 6 Trey Munoz, a surprising PAC 12 champ out of Oregon State.
Up at 197, Dean grabbed the top spot in a loaded weight class and after what should be an easy opening match, he immediately faces a stern test in either U23 World Medalist Jay Aiello of Virginia or Kordell Norfleet of Arizona State, though Dean did major Norfleet earlier in the season. Should he win that, either Lou DePrez of Binghamton or another matchup with Sparty's Cam Caffey appears to loom in the quarters. Caffey is the lone wrestler to beat Dean this season. Finally, Michigan's Patrick Brucki and returning NCAA finalist Nino Bonaccorsi of Pitt sit in the four and five seeds respectively.
And at heavyweight, Greg Kerkvliet stays on the top side of the bracket as expected, but as the No. 4, not the No. 5. Kerkvliet will be a significant favorite in each of his matches on Thursday, but then could be set to see undefeated Big 12 champ Wyatt Hendrickson of Air Force in the quarters. While I like Kerkvliet's chances in the matchup, a win sends him to a semfinal again top-seeded Gable Steveson of Minnesota, likely ending his run through the winners' bracket.
Stay tuned for more coverage of the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships in the coming days and weeks.
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