Maple v. Stieber All Star Breakdown
Christian Pyles

 
One time only.

This is your chance to see these two scrap.  After Saturday, they go back to their weights where they both are heavily favored to win.  They're doing this for the challenge and for the fans.  Don't miss it. 

This match is our Dake v. Taylor for this year.  Only this time, it's for one match and one match only. I'll give you some thoughts about the match up and my final prediction on how I see this one going.

We saw last Sunday when an undersized, noticeably less muscular Ben Askren throttled the bigger, stronger, more explosive Quentin Wright.  This harkens back to my opinion that the best wrestler wins, not the guy with the height, weight, reach, speed, etc. advantage.  It's a wrestling match and it comes back to much more than your measurables.  

I feel similarly about the Stieber v. Maple match up.  To be fair to Logan, he's a physical monster, so the comparison of him to Askren in that regard is off.  One of Logan's most important attributes is his tremendous strength.  On his feet and on the mat, you see how his physical strength aids him in dominating his opponents.  

Strength aside, we have seen Logan be an especially adept game planner and strategy-executor.  After the tight Big 10 final with Ramos, he was able to expose and score much more consistently on Ramos in the NCAA final.  He hit his slide by based on Tony’s forward pressure, a noticeable adjustment.  Additionally, we saw him score a beautifully timed low double.

I believe Steiber to be more battle tested than Maple.  Stieber has been wrestling the country’s best since high school.  In both Freestyle and Folk, Logan is the man.  He’s been high on the Senior ladder for some time now and has trained alongside Cejudo, Bunch, Humphrey, Escobedo for years.  That’s not even mentioning his college partners and coaches. 

Has he had his setbacks and off matches?  Sure.  A Freshman loss to Dardanes and a one sided defeat at the hands of Oliver were examples of those setbacks.  However, Maple has had his share of off days and defeats.  In that same year Maple lost 11-9 to Goettl of ISU.  Maple had additional losses to Marion and Novachkov that season.  

So in short, Stieber has beaten better guys (Ramos, Oliver), Maple has a sketchier loss (Goettl), and I believe Stieber to be a more prolific scorer.

Technically both guys are phenomenal, Maple can have a bit of a wait and see approach because he’s so defensively gifted.  One area where he may be able to expose Stieber will be with his re-attacks.  If Maple wins, it will be off of Stieber’s aggressiveness.  Stieber is a high-volume attacker from his feet.  Meaning he is taking lots of shots/attempts from neutral.  This could play into Maple’s hands as one errant shot from Logan could turn into a takedown for Maple.  

Logan's variety of attacks, both singles, doubles, and slide by's lead me to believe he's going to have too much offense for Maple.  Maple needs an early td and a ride to keep Logan from having 7 full minutes of scoring opportunities, and I don't see that happening.

On the mat, both guys are excellent and I haven’t seen either ridden in quite some time.  I think Stieber is a bit tougher on top as far as turns go, but from a control/riding point of view it’s possible Maple is comparable with his ability to keep forward pressure and get wrists. If anyone gets a turn or RT point, it’ll be Stieber.

So there you have it.  I think Stieber is better in all 3 positions.  I think he’s beaten better guys, and I think his losses aren’t as questionable.  He’s my pick.  Feel free to weigh in below, and I hope you’ll be watching Saturday on Flo Pro!