Scottrade Center (19,260 capacity) – St. Louis, Mo.

Day 1 First session begins at noon (ET) Thursday and runs until approximately 4 p.m., with pigtails and first-round action taking place on eight mats. Session II begins at 7 p.m. and features wrestle-back preliminaries and first-round matches, followed by second-round championship matches and also another round of consolation bouts.

Day 2 Quarterfinal action takes place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on four middle mats, with wrestle-back matches on the outside four mats mats. At 8 p.m., semifinals will take place on two middle mats (one weight at a time), with fourth-round wrestle-backs on four outside mats and fifth-round wrestle-backs on all mats following championship semifinals.

Day 3 Wrestle-back semifinals begin at 11 a.m., followed by the third-, fifth- and seventh-place medal-round matches; the Grand March Parade of All-Americans will be from 7:35 to 7:50, followed by the championship finals from 8 to 11 p.m.

TV ESPN/ESPN3 will carry live on primetime the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. March 16 and semifinals at 8 p.m. March 17. The finals will air on ESPN beginning at 8 p.m. March 18.

ESPNU/ESPN3 will air Sessions 1 and 3 (first round and consolations) on March 16 and 17, as well as Session 5 (medal round) on March 18.

RADIO WRSC in State College (103.1 FM) will provide tournament coverage, with Jeff Byers handling the play-by-play call. GoPSUSports.com will also stream Byers' call online AT THIS LINK.

WEB BlueWhiteIllustrated.com will provide match updates and tournament news on The Wrestling Room message board. We will also post a daily recap of the action on the front page.

Penn State is the defending national champion, having cruised past Oklahoma State in the final standings last year, 123.0-97.5, but the Nittany Lions' lineup has a different look this time around. Two of its five finalists from a year ago graduated and, while PSU has more top-five seeded wrestlers than any other team in the field, four of this year's nine qualifiers embark upon the national tournament for the first time in their career. The Cowboys, meanwhile, send 10 again this year, all of which are seeded among the top nine of their respective weight class, so they appear poised to make another push. Then there is Ohio State, who won the Big Ten tournament two weeks ago, and could give PSU and Oklahoma State their strongest competition. NCAA champs in 2015, the Buckeyes have three individuals who are returning champs and they have five wrestlers total seeded among the top four. As always, Iowa and its nine-man contingent cannot be completely counted out of the team race either. The Hawkeyes have five seeded among the top five, but after them they don't appear to have the top-to-bottom depth of the aforementioned teams to make a continued push into the third day of the tourney.

It'll take another valiant effort from Penn State's top wrestlers – Zain Retherford (149), Jason Nolf (157) and Bo Nickal (184) – who were all finalists a year ago and bonus-point machines in order to help pace the field. All-America performances from Vincenzo Joseph (157), Mark Hall (174), Matt McCutcheon (197) and Nick Nevills (285), who will be aiming to place for the first times in their career, will also help. But what might be the ultimate boost for PSU depends on the performances of Nick Suriano (125) and Jimmy Gulibon (141). Suriano continues his recovery of a lower leg injury suffered Feb. 19, which held him out of action at the B1G Championships, while Gulibon won only a single match and was pinned three times at the conference tourney. Even if Suriano isn't completely healed and even if Gulibon doesn't return to the podium for the final NCAA tournament of his career, it's critical that PSU gets at least a couple points from each wrestler in order to stay in the the thick of the team race.

There are other factors that could help PSU finish ahead of its competition as well and that involves a strong performance (but not too strong) from Iowa. Yes, Iowa. The Hawkeyes might not have the all-around firepower to finish as champion, but they sure could play spoiler and help the Nittany Lions in their pursuit. Here's how: Depending on how the brackets shake out at 125, 133, 149, 174 and 184, there could be a showdown between a Hawkeye wrestler and one from either Oklahoma State or Ohio State in the important quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. If Iowa can win a couple or more of those, it could help with the overall parity of the tournament. Judging by the seeds, PSU will have to worry more about a push from the Buckeyes and Cowboys in the team race, rather than the Hawkeyes, so fans might find themselves rooting for the Iowa wrestlers if these matchups indeed occur.

That's not the only foe that could boost PSU's chances. At 133, Dom Forys of Pittsburgh might have a showdown against third-seeded Kaid Brock of Oklahoma State in the quarterfinal, and at 141, there looks to be a looming battle between top-seeded Dean Heil of Oklahoma State against Anthony Ashnault of Rutgers in the semifinal. Without Heil and/or Brock in the championship bracket that could significantly hurt the Cowboys' chances.

EDIT: Wednesday (1:45 p.m.) - Penn State has announced that 125-pound freshman Nick Suriano will not compete at NCAAs due to injury

In addition to the team title, multiple wrestlers will be aiming to defend their individual title from a year ago. Penn State's Zain Retherford returns to the top of the 149-pound bracket after winning it a year ago, and there are also seven other returning champions. Ohio State's Nathan Tomasello (133) is up a weight class after winning at 125 two years ago. Heil (141) of Oklahoma State is back to defend his crown, while Isaiah Martinez (165) of Illinois is now up a weight class looking for his third-straight championship. At 184, there are two former champs in Myles Martin of Ohio State, who won it at 174 a year ago, and Gabe Dean of Cornell who has won this weight class for the past two years. J'Den Cox (197) Missouri is in search of his third NCAA title, while heavyweight Kyle Snyder of Ohio State (285) is looking for his second after winning it last year.

There are also a total of 10 wrestlers who are unbeaten on the year, including returning champs Tomasello, Heil, Retherford, Martinez, Dean, Cox and Snyder. Iowa's Thomas Gilman (125) is also 27-0 since falling to PSU's Nico Megaludis in the NCAA final last year. Nolf of PSU is 22-0 on the year after falling to Martinez in the 157-pound final last year, and freshman Zahid Valencia (174) of Arizona State is also undefeated with wins in his first 33 collegiate matchces.

What's also at stake in St. Louis is the race for the 2017 Hodge Trophy, which is often equated to football's Heisman. Heading into the national tournament, all 10 of the aforementioned unbeaten wrestlers are in contention to win the Hodge but a national title is essentially a requirement in order to claim it. Pins and bonus points also help. Therefore, PSU's Retherford and Nolf are two of the favorites pending a NCAA championship.