Three things Penn State Wrestling needs to do to win a team title
We are now just days away from the start of the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Tournament in Detroit and Penn State enters with high expectations.
The Nittany Lions are once again, for the first time since 2019, the favorites heading into the tournament. But that's less so the case than some expected just a few weeks ago. A resurgent Michigan team and some unfortunate draws see Penn State in a more precarious spot than some expected in the team race.
Here are three things I think need to happen if Penn State is going to come out on top.
PENN STATE NEEDS THREE INDIVIDUAL CHAMPS
The Nittany Lions have four wrestlers seeded No. 1 headed into the tournament and a fifth that is the defending national champion and seeded second. Of those five, however, I'd argue one is considered a clear favorite to win it all, with that one being Nick Lee at 141 pounds.
While Roman Bravo-Young, Carter Starocci, Aaron Brooks and Max Dean are all favorites depending on who you ask, each has a unique challenge standing in front of them and a national championship. All four have reached NCAA finals before, with Dean being the lone wrestlers without a national title to his name.
If Penn State is going to come away with the team race, some combination of three of the five above are going to have to come out with their hands raised on Saturday night.
THE NITTANY LIONS NEED SEVEN WRESTLERS ON PODIUM
Barring a disaster, the five wrestlers mentioned above should all finish the year as All-Americans, and pretty solidly so. But what about the rest of the Penn State team?
The Nittany Lions will be bringing nine wrestlers into competition at Little Caesar's Arena, just three of whom will be seeded outside the top four. In addition to the five wrestlers mentioned above, sophomore heavyweight Greg Kerkvliet comes in with a pretty great shot to once again finish on the podium. Kerkvliet enters the tournament as the No. 4 seed and is considered by many to be one of three best heavyweights in the nation.
That brings us to the trio of Drew Hildebrandt, Beau Bartlett and Brady Berge. Of the group, only Hildebrandt has been an All-American before, taking fourth a year ago. But Hildebrandt and Berge were on the wrong end of some unfortunate seeding, with both landing at No. 16 and set to take on the top seed at their respective weight classes should they reach the second round. That could mean that both are looking at a tough run through the back side of the bracket to reach All-American status. The same is true for Bartlett should he win round one. He would then take one returning national finalist Sammy Sasso of Ohio State. Sasso is 2-0 against Bartlett the last two years, though both matches have had razor thin margins of victory.
For Penn State, one of the trio of Hildebrandt, Bartlett or Berge making the podium would go a long way to securing the team title.
PENN STATE NEEDS TO GO OVER .500 IN "TOSS UP MATCHES"
Odds are, Penn State wrestlers are going to compete in around 20 or so "toss up matches," or matches where the winner is anyone's guess. For Dean, that's the case starting from the second round on, while Bravo-Young, Starocci and Brooks will face that situation from at least the semis on and potentially the quarters depending on who you ask. Only Lee has a relatively clear path to the finals.
Then you look to the other four wrestlers we talked about. Kerkvliet's potential quarterfinal match with Wyatt Hendrickson of Air Force looms very large, with a significant points haul to be had for winning it, while every subsequent round of the back side will be huge for Hildebrandt, Bartlett and Berge. In total, the Nittany Lions are looking at around 20-plus matches that will be decided by slim margins, they're going to need to win more than half of those matches to regain the team crown in Detroit.
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