The Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational has proven to be the toughest in-season tournament in college wrestling for the past couple of years. With eight ranked teams heading west next weekend for the 35th edition, it could very well be the best event of the year once again.

Ranked Teams Participating

3) Ohio State
5) Virginia Tech
7) Cornell
12) Wisconsin
13) Minnesota
15) Michigan
16) ASU
20) Iowa State

Missouri ran away with the title a year ago, racking up 154 points and seven placers (two champions and five third-place finishers), but the Tigers will not be in attendance this year. Cornell was 41 points behind Missouri and no other team had more than five placers. But will any school be able to blow away the field this year?

Watch the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational LIVE on FloWrestling on Friday, December 2, beginning at 11 AM CST

Ohio State certainly has the firepower to win, especially if all the Buckeyes' big guns wrestle. Kyle Snyder, Bo Jordan, and Myles Martin did not compete last time around, and Ohio State will need all three to overpower Virginia Tech. But even with all those hammers, the true X-factors are at 141 and 197 pounds.

141

This 141 bracket could end up being a massive crap shoot. Joey McKenna is the overwhelming favorite on paper, but it is not entirely out of the question to see Ke-Shawn Hayes make the finals for tOSU. The other finals spot opposite McKenna really is wide open. With Bryce Meredith, Logan Everett, Brock Zacherl, Joey Palmer, Tyler Smith, Kyle Springer, and Jared Prince all likely to come, we could see a monkey wrench thrown into the Buckeyes' hopes of a team title.

The seeding meeting takes place at 3 p.m. PST the day before, so we will have a good idea of Hayes' path to the finals. The redshirt freshman, who checks in at No. 13 this week, has yet to wrestle any of those guys mentioned above. Keep your eyes peeled for the brackets on FloArena after weigh-ins for the full visual of where all these landmines will end up.

197

Meanwhile up at 197, Minnesota's Brett Pfarr and Virginia Tech's Jared Haught are the projected finalists based on our ASICS FloRankings. That's a huge potential 16-20 team points for the Hokies if Haught can advance. Right below Pfarr and Haught are Jake Smith of West Virginia and Kollin Moore for Ohio State as the likely 3-4 seeds.

Moore still has yet to lose a match this year after making a huge jump from being on the junior world team. His offensive pace is carrying him through, with four pins so far and averaging over 15 points per match when he doesn't finish with a pin. If the redshirt freshman can keep up that pace, Virginia Tech may come up short in the team standings.

Who Will The Buckeyes Bring?

Again, it depends on if Ohio State coach Tom Ryan brings the stars to Las Vegas. Nathan Tomasello has not competed so far this season, but he would be the top seed at 133 and considered a virtual lock to win 133 pounds over the likes of Iowa State's Earl Hall and Michigan's Stevan Micic. This could be a guaranteed 20-plus team points for the Buckeyes and would cancel out an equally likely title for Virginia Tech's Joey Dance at 125 pounds.

Like Tomasello, Bo Jordan has also not wrestled thus far, although NaTo was the 125 champion at last season's CKLV. Jordan's absence could again mean a champion for Virginia Tech if you went chalk using the ASICS FloRankings as a proxy for placers here, not to mention the massive team points swing. The Hokies' Zach Epperly would face stiff competition from Cornell's Brian Realbuto and Arizona State's Zahid Valencia, though ASU isn't likely to factor into the team race.

Epperly pins Dylan Wisman of Missouri


Epperly and VT heavyweight Ty Walz may need to pull what would on paper be considered upsets to win the team race. Walz will be in a bracket that could wind up with each of the top five heavyweights in it. Again using our ASICS FloRankings, Walz ends up third, which is obviously excellent, but would still be behind a champ in Snyder for Ohio State.

The final two weights that tip slightly in Ohio State's favor are 149 pounds and 184 pounds. OSU's Micah Jordan ranks just ahead of Virginia Tech's Solomon Chishko, while Ohio State's Myles Martin is a few slots ahead of VT's Zack Zavatsky. Micah/Chishko is one of two potential Buckeye versus Hokie finals. Cornell's Gabe Dean and Iowa State's Pat Downey round out the likely top four seeds at 184, so a Zavatsky semifinal win over Martin is one of several cracks VT might get to take home the title.

Cornell could wind up with three champions, Wisconsin might get two, while Arizona State and Iowa State can make things squirrelly for the other teams hoping for a high finish. But ultimately this comes down to the "Scarlet & Gray" and the "Orange & Maroon." Tune in on December 2 right from the jump to see this fascinating team race go down.

How To Watch

CLIFF KEEN LAS VEGAS INVITATIONAL
ON TV: Now available on Roku and Apple TV
STREAMING: Available only on FloWrestling - $20 monthly or $150 yearly. Yearly FloPRO access is to all FloSports sites. JOIN NOW.