2010 NCAA Wrestling Championships 184 Weight Class Preview

Published on March 16, 2010 by viratas   ·   No Comments

Not exactly what we expected

The season started out with two heavy favorites and they are not the ones we are talking about now.

We have a 3 X AA and National Champion from Ohio State seeded #10 in Mike Pucillo (20-7) and another early season favorite seeded #9 in Iowa’s Phil Keddy (23-7).

If I would have said that this would be the case at the start of the season I would have been run out of town. How things can change in a year.

Our #1 seed from Boise State is Kirk Smith (25-0) who is sitting on a perfect season so far. The #2 see is maybe one of the most improved wrestlers of the year in Illinois John Dergo (26-2). Our #3 seed comes into the tournament with only 1 loss and that would be Kent State’s Dustin Kilgore (33-1). Like Kilgore, American’s #4 seed Mike Cannon (25-1) also only has 1 loss.

All of this should make this a very fun weight.

Round 1

This round could end up with multiple upsets.

Watch out right away when Smith takes on Iowa State’s unseeded Jerome Ward (18-9). Ward has not had a stellar season but he has proven that he can hang with and beat top guys. Smith needs to be ready for this one. We take Smith advancing.

Keddy also has a tough first round match up with Virginia’s Mike Salopek (27-8) who has had a pretty good year. We pick Keddy.

Missouri’s #6 seed Max Askren (15-2) gets a tricky first round match with the very capable Zach Giesen (30-5). Look for Askren to advance.

Pucillo also gets a pretty tough first round match against unseeded Mike Miller (12-4) of Central Michigan. Miller who was a National Runner-up last year has missed some time this year. We are going with the upset here and taking Miller.

Round 2

The first good match we see here is when Keddy takes on #8 seed Louis Caputo (22-3) from Harvard. Should be a good match and we are going with the higher seed Caputo.

Another match that should be pretty good will take place when Oklahoma State’s #5 Clayton Foster (19-3) matches up with Lehigh’s #12 David Craig (22-5). Look for Foster to advance another round.

Round 3 (Quarterfinals)

We expect to see Smith and Caputo mixing things off to kick off the quarterfinals. Look for a controlled match with Smith coming out on top.

We then think we will see Foster out on the mat against Cannon. Cannon is on a mission this year and we expect him to continue that mission here.

The next two guys both spent time at #1 on the TOM rankings this year. Kilgore and Askren kick off the bottom half of this one. In a very entertaining match we are going with Kilgore in this one.

Dergo and Wyoming’s #7 Joe LeBlanc (35-4) is who we expect to square off in the last quarter at this weight. Dergo looked great at Big 10’s and we do not think that will end here. Dergo wins.

Round 4 (Semifinals)

Getting closer to a national champion, look for Smith to meet up with Cannon. In what we predict to be close one, we take Cannon moving into the finals and handing Smith his first loss on the season.

Moving on Kilgore and Dergo will vie for the other spot in the finals. This may be a bit higher scoring then the first semifinal. Our pick for this one is Kilgore winning an exciting match.

Finals

Cannon vs. Kilgore

I think this match has the potential of being a very fun match to watch. It is a tough one to call as we are high on both of these guys coming into this tournament. With that said, our choice for this one is Kilgore.

Dark horses

1. Mike Salopek (Virginia)
2. Zach Giesen (Stanford)
3. Mike Miller (Central Michigan)

TOM’s Picks

1. Kilgore
2. Cannon
3. Smith