#8 Returning NCAA Points: Iowa
#8 Returning NCAA Points: Iowa
Who is returning the most NCAA points from the 2017 wrestling championships? We look at all the college teams and see who is returning the most firepower for the 2017-18 season. Up now, the number 8 team, the Iowa Hawkeyes.
The upcoming NCAA season may only seem like a distant ship's smoke on the horizon during these long summer days, but that doesn't it mean it's too early to start speculating about the 2017-18 season. Indeed, it is never too early to start speculating.
To get a better idea of what we might see next season, we took a look back at the 2017 NCAA Wrestling Championships. We compared all the Division I programs by how many team points were earned by their underclassmen to see who will be returning the most firepower for the 2018 tournament.
Teams 11-20 | No. 10 Virginia Tech | No. 9 Lehigh | No. 7 Minnesota
Half of the starting lineup has been lost to graduation; Thomas Gilman, Cory Clark, Topher Carton, Alex Meyer and Sam Brooks all need to be replaced. This will be a tall order, as those five wrestlers collected a total of ten All-American honors over the course of their careers.
Thankfully for the Hawkeye faithful, a couple of guys of All-American caliber will be returning, specifically middle weight studs Brandon Sorensen and Michael Kemerer at 149 and 157 respectively.
Joey Gunther is going to face stiff completion in the Hawkeyes' wrestling room next season, with blue chippers Kaleb Young and Alex Marinelli coming off redshirt.
With Brooks graduated, it has been speculated that Cash Wilcke could move down to 184. It's unclear who would then takeover 197. 285 is more settled, however, head coach Tom Brands and the rest of the black and gold coaching staff are counting on heavyweight Sam Stoll healing up and returning to the lineup.
And no look ahead at the Hawkeyes would be complete without a mention of uber recruit and two-time UWW Junior World Champion Spencer Lee. Lee is the No. 2 recruit on the Class of 2017 Big Board and though true freshmen rarely start at Iowa, Lee may be pressed into service at 125 pounds.
Iowa is going to need a lot more than 38.5 team points if they are going to hoist a team trophy in Cleveland next year. Whether they can beat the odds and climb over their more deeply stocked rivals will be one of the closely followed storylines of the 2017-18 NCAA season.
The whole Hawkeye squad will look to perform, perhaps none more so than three-time All-American senior Brandon Sorensen. Sorensen has stayed busy this off season, recently winning the Freestyle University Nationals in Akron. You can watch his finals match below.
We'll take a closer look at the No. 7 team next, so stay tuned. Until then, stay comfortable but not necessarily numb, as we have plenty more content about the impending NCAA wrestling season on the way.
To get a better idea of what we might see next season, we took a look back at the 2017 NCAA Wrestling Championships. We compared all the Division I programs by how many team points were earned by their underclassmen to see who will be returning the most firepower for the 2018 tournament.
Teams 11-20 | No. 10 Virginia Tech | No. 9 Lehigh | No. 7 Minnesota
No. 8 Iowa Hawkeyes: 38.5 Points
It's rare to see the University of Iowa so low on any rankings related to college wrestling, but a peak at last year's senior laden lineup is all it takes to figure out how the Hawkeyes land in the no. 8 spot.Half of the starting lineup has been lost to graduation; Thomas Gilman, Cory Clark, Topher Carton, Alex Meyer and Sam Brooks all need to be replaced. This will be a tall order, as those five wrestlers collected a total of ten All-American honors over the course of their careers.
Thankfully for the Hawkeye faithful, a couple of guys of All-American caliber will be returning, specifically middle weight studs Brandon Sorensen and Michael Kemerer at 149 and 157 respectively.
| WT | NAME | PTS |
|---|---|---|
| 149 | Brandon Sorensen | 16.5 |
| 157 | Michael Kemerer | 19 |
| 165 | Joey Gunther | 1 |
| 197 | Cash Wilcke | 2 |
Joey Gunther is going to face stiff completion in the Hawkeyes' wrestling room next season, with blue chippers Kaleb Young and Alex Marinelli coming off redshirt.
With Brooks graduated, it has been speculated that Cash Wilcke could move down to 184. It's unclear who would then takeover 197. 285 is more settled, however, head coach Tom Brands and the rest of the black and gold coaching staff are counting on heavyweight Sam Stoll healing up and returning to the lineup.
And no look ahead at the Hawkeyes would be complete without a mention of uber recruit and two-time UWW Junior World Champion Spencer Lee. Lee is the No. 2 recruit on the Class of 2017 Big Board and though true freshmen rarely start at Iowa, Lee may be pressed into service at 125 pounds.
Iowa is going to need a lot more than 38.5 team points if they are going to hoist a team trophy in Cleveland next year. Whether they can beat the odds and climb over their more deeply stocked rivals will be one of the closely followed storylines of the 2017-18 NCAA season.
The whole Hawkeye squad will look to perform, perhaps none more so than three-time All-American senior Brandon Sorensen. Sorensen has stayed busy this off season, recently winning the Freestyle University Nationals in Akron. You can watch his finals match below.
We'll take a closer look at the No. 7 team next, so stay tuned. Until then, stay comfortable but not necessarily numb, as we have plenty more content about the impending NCAA wrestling season on the way.