FloWrestling's Official 2019 Big Ten Tournament Seed Predictions
FloWrestling's Official 2019 Big Ten Tournament Seed Predictions
FloWrestling's official seeding predictions for all 10 weights at the 2019 Big Ten conference tournament.
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The regular season is over and the postseason is right around the corner. With every dual in the books, we thought we'd take a crack at predicting the seeds for the nation's premier conference tournament, Big Tens.
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Hosted by Minnesota this year, the Big Ten tournament starts on Saturday, March 9th at 11AM Eastern. There is no doubt the conference will once again get the most automatic qualifier allocations, which should be released later this week.
The number of auto qualifier slots determines if the seeds go to the Top-8 or if the entire weight class is being seeded. Every weight will have eight seeds, even if the conference is given fewer than eight spots at a given weight. However, if any weight guarantees more than 8 spots to the national tournament, then the entire weight will be seeded.
Big Ten seeding is done by the 14 head coaches. On to the predictions.
125 Pounds
- Sebastian Rivera, Northwestern
- Spencer Lee, Iowa
- Rayvon Foley, Michigan State
- Sean Russell, Minnesota
- Travis Piotrowski, Illinois
- Drew Mattin, Michigan
- Zeke Moisey, Nebraska
- Devin Schroder, Purdue
- Malik Heinselman, Ohio State
- Elijah Oliver, Indiana
- Devin Schnupp, Penn State
- Brandon Cray, Maryland
- Ethan Rotondo, Wisconsin
- Shane Metzler, Rutgers
One and two are crystal clear. It should be noted that with Lee losing to Nick Piccininni, if the Hawkeye beats Rivera they'll likely be seeded to meet again in the NCAA semis. Foley and Russell did not hit, so I went with the Spartan because his loss is to Rivera while Russell's is to Lee. Piotrowski split with Mattin and his loss to Connor Brown will probably be thrown out since Brown will not be wrestling at Big Tens. Mattin beat Moisey at CKLV, and Moisey also beat Schroder at CKLV. Heinselman split with Liam Cronin and beat Elijah Oliver.
133 Pounds
- Stevan Micic, Michigan
- Austin DeSanto, Iowa
- Nick Suriano, Rutgers
- Roman Bravo-Young, Penn State
- Luke Pletcher, Ohio State
- Ethan Lizak, Minnesota
- Ben Thornton, Purdue
- Dylan Duncan, Illinois
DeSanto's win over Suriano ensured him a top-two seed, but I think Micic will get the nod for the top spot. The four through seven spots are a gut feeling, due to the following chain: Pletcher beat Lizak, Bravo-Young beat Pletcher, Thornton beat Bravo-Young, and Lizak beat Thornton. Based on rankings, as well as a loss to Pletcher in the dual, Thornton seems the most likely to be punished, which benefits RBY the most. Duncan lost to Jens Lantz but beat Anthony Tutolo, who lost to Colin Valdiviez. That eight spot is going to be difficult to identify, but it may be better to be drawn in and not have to face Micic in the quarters.
141 Pounds
- Mikey Carr, Illinois
- Nick Lee, Penn State
- Joey McKenna, Ohio State
- Tristan Moran, Wisconsin
- Mitch McKee, Minnesota
- Kanen Storr, Michigan
- Chad Red, Nebraska
- Max Murin, Iowa
No one's going to be happy with this weight. Carr went undefeated, but didn't wrestle against Nick Lee and didn't get a chance to beat McKenna as the Buckeye missed the dual at Illinois. Following my argument at 165, plus the case I made in a prior 141 article, I'd like to see Lee get the one but I don't think that's how it will happen. McKee had a slightly better conference ledger than Storr, but they didn't wrestle this season, so the coaches could very easily flip them. The eight seed is hard to figure out as we don't know if Iowa is going with Vince Turk or Max Murin. The latter lost to Kyle Luigs of Indiana but should still be seeded ahead, however, Turk only wrestled in two B1G duals.
149 Pounds
- Anthony Ashnault, Rutgers
- Micah Jordan, Ohio State
- Pat Lugo, Iowa
- Tommy Thorn, Minnesota
- Cole Martin, Wisconsin
- Brady Berge, Penn State
- Shayne Oster, Northwestern
- Malik Amine, Michigan
If the favorites make the finals, the winner of this weight will get the top seed at NCAAs. Lugo lost to Sammy Sasso at Midlands, but the Ohio State freshman won't be in this field. The Hawkeye majored Thorn and beat Martin in overtime. Martin lost to Thorn and beat Berge, but also lost to Brayton Lee and Collin Purinton, neither of whom should be in the bracket.
157 Pounds
- Jason Nolf, Penn State
- Tyler Berger, Nebraska
- Ryan Deakin, Northwestern
- Alec Pantaleo, Michigan
- Kaleb Young, Iowa
- Steve Bleise, Minnesota
- Eric Barone, Illinois
- Ke-Shawn Hayes, Ohio State
- Griffin Parriott, Purdue
- Jake Danishek, Indiana
- John Van Brill, Rutgers
- Jacob Tucker, Michigan State
- Garrett Model, Wisconsin
- Ryan Diehl, Maryland
A very clean top four, as Nolf beat 2-4, Berger beat Deakin and Deakin beat Pantaleo. Although Young lost to Barone and didn't wrestle Hayes, his win over Bleise combined with Barone's two losses to Jeren Glosser give him the five. Bleise beat Barone and Barone split with Hayes, but Hayes otherwise has no wins over anyone above him. There are so many conflicting results in 9-12 that there is no easy way to do it, but Parriott's win over Berger was the best of the bunch so he's at the top of that little heap.
165 Pounds
- Alex Marinelli, Iowa
- Vincenzo Joseph, Penn State
- Evan Wick, Wisconsin
- Isaiah White, Nebraska
- Logan Massa, Michigan
- Te'Shan Campbell, Ohio State
- Tyler Morland, Northwestern
- Carson Brolsma, Minnesota
- Bryce Martin, Indiana
- Joey Gunther, Illinois
- Phillip Spafadora, Maryland
- Stephan Glasgow, Rutgers
- Austin Hiles, Michigan State
- Cole Wysocki, Purdue
I've made the case for Marinelli, but Cenzo could very well end up the top seed. White beat Massa and lost to the three above him. Campbell being at 174 for half the year could be problematic, but given the losses of those below him, six is probably fair. The big win in his favor is Tyler Morland, who beat Carson Brolsma, who beat Joey Gunther. Martin and Gunther did not meet, but I gave Martin the edge since Gunther has a loss to Nelson Brands.
174 Pounds
- Mark Hall, Penn State
- Myles Amine, Michigan
- Mikey Labriola, Nebraska
- Dylan Lydy, Purdue
- Devin Skatzka, Minnesota
- Ethan Smith, Ohio State
- Ryan Christensen, Wisconsin
- Drew Hughes, Michigan State
The top two are easy, but then there is a rock-paper-scissors below that. Christensen beat Labriola, Smith beat Christensen, and Labriola beat Smith. However, Labriola also beat Skatzka and placed ahead of Lydy at CKLV, so he should be the three seed. Lydy was 2-0 against Skatzka and also beat Smith. Skatzka placed ahead of Smith at CKLV but did not get a head-to-head with the Buckeye. Christensen has the big win over Labriola, but missed too much time to be able to justify putting him ahead of the Husker. Hughes beat Grello, who in turn beat Bowman and Covaciu.
184 Pounds
- Myles Martin, Ohio State
- Taylor Venz, Nebraska
- Emery Parker, Illinois
- Cash Wilcke, Iowa
- Max Lyon, Purdue
- Cameron Caffey, Michigan State
- Shakur Rasheed, Penn State
- Jelani Embree, Michigan
- Mason Reinhardt, Wisconsin
- Nick Gravina, Rutgers
- Norman Conley, Indiana
- Brandon Krone, Minnesota
- Kyle Jasenski, Maryland
- Brendan Devine, Northwestern
Myles is the no-brainer at one, but Venz beat Parker, Wilcke beat Venz, and Parker beat Wilcke. For the tiebreaker, we went with our 184lb national rankings, but any combination of those three is fair game. Lyon beat Caffey but lost to Nick Gravina, so it's possible Caffey goes ahead of Lyon. Rasheed missed six duals, including Michigan State and Purdue, plus his best win was Embree, so he gets dropped pretty hard. No one should be surprised if they put him five though. Embree's best win is Conley, so he's not going to be fun to seed. Conley could even go above Reinhardt and Gravina, but with Gravina beating Lyon and Reinhardt beating Gravina I think that's how they shake out.
197 Pounds
- Bo Nickal, Penn State
- Jacob Warner, Iowa: 10-0
- Kollin Moore, Ohio State: 10-1
- Eric Schultz, Nebraska
- Christian Brunner, Purdue
- Jackson Striggow, Michigan
- Dylan Anderson, Minnesota
- Brad Wilton, Michigan State
It would be perfectly reasonable if they made Kollin Moore the two seed, as his only loss is to Nickal. Schultz lost to the three guys above him, and Brunner did not wrestle in the dual against Nebraska. Brunner also suffered a loss to Mitch Bowman of Iowa, who is normally their 174. Striggow only lost to those above him: Nickal, Moore, Brunner, Schultz. Anderson was the Gophers' starter for the last six duals of the season. Wilton beat five of the six guys who won't be seeded. This weight will likely have fewer than eight auto qualifier spots.
285 Pounds
- Gable Steveson, Minnesota
- Anthony Cassar, Penn State
- Mason Parris, Michigan
- Trent Hillger, Wisconsin
- Chase Singletary, Ohio State
- David Jensen, Nebraska
- Conan Jennings, Northwestern
- Sam Stoll, Iowa
This weight will no doubt be the hardest to seed. Steveson and Cassar did not lose, so they will be your top seeds, but beyond that no one has a clean resume. Try to follow this web: Parris beat Hillger, split with Singletary, and twice lost to Jennings. Hillger beat Singletary, lost to Jennings, did not wrestle Jensen, and beat Stoll. Singletary beat Jensen and Jennings, while Jensen beat Jennings and Stoll but lost to Youssif Hemida. That win is Hemida's only consideration of making it in the Top-8 seeds, which again there are only eight because there are that many auto qualifier spots for the NCAA tournament. Stoll beat Jennings and Hemida but lost to Jensen and Hillger.