The annual tradition of holiday wrestling tournaments continues as it does every year with Midlands on December 29th and 30th, followed by the Southern Scuffle on January 1st and 2nd.

Watch the 57th Ken Kraft Midlands LIVE on Flo

December 29-30 | 10:30 AM Eastern

Once again we will be splitting up our previews into thirds, and I will be handling the lightweights (125, 133, and 141) for both Midlands and the Scuffle. We're projecting 24 ranked wrestlers will be in Hoffman Estates at those weights, hoping to wow the Sears Centre crowd.

The brackets for Midlands 57 will be on FloArena. On day one, the first session will set the quarterfinals for that night, and then the semis will happen Monday afternoon at 1PM eastern, with the finals coming at 8PM the evening of the 30th.

Middleweight Preview | Upperweight Preview

125 Pounds: 8 Ranked

#3 Pat Glory, Princeton

#7 Drew Hildebrandt, Central Michigan

#8 Devin Schroder, Purdue

#11 Michael DeAugustino, Northwestern

#13 Michael Colaiocco, Penn

#16 Jay Schwarm, Northern Iowa

#22 Gage Curry, American

#24 Joe Manchio, Columbia

Commentary: At the beginning of this season, we thought this weight would include Spencer Lee, Jack Mueller, Sebastian Rivera, and Pat Glory, and even had a clip ready from a Mueller interview this summer talking about it. However, Rivera's gone up to 133, Spencer just wrestled at Senior Nationals, and Mueller didn't wrestle there in Fort Worth because he got dinged up at CKLV.

That leaves Glory as the heavy favorite, like minus odds if you could bet on this in Vegas. He has three ranked wins this year, including avenging three separate losses from last season to Nick Piccininni. Princeton is set up to have a great tournament, having been eighth, eighth, and fifth the past three years. Glory will likely not be seriously challenged and could wind up bonusing his way through.

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It seems like Hildebrandt and Schroder will be the semi, a match we haven't seen since January 2017 at the Purple Raider Open. Schroder won that 2-1, and I think the Boilermaker takes it again. He's tough on top, scoring 12 nearfall points at CKLV with a roll through tilt and had six techs going in. However, he's also given up riding time this season, so he'll look to improve on his ability to get escapes this weekend.

Hildebrandt has just one loss on the year, falling to Brock Hudkins in the MSU Open finals (though Hudkins hasn't wrestled in several weeks and probably won't be here). However, he has just one other ranked win, 4-2 over Sidney Flores, so this tournament represents a big opportunity for him to solidify his ranking and, more importantly, his NCAA seed. He's improved his Midlands performance every year, but still has yet to place.

DeAugustino was a revelation in Vegas, and is why Rivera moving up to 33 is possible. He could get a third chance to beat Jay Schwarm and a first crack at Colaiocco, which should probably be like a quarterfinal or placing match. Colaiocco has split with Schroder this year, and is coming off a loss to Brandon Meredith, so he could be an interesting dark horse pick to make the finals.

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Jay Schwarm has seven wins this year, six of them are pins. He went just 1-2 the last time around at Midlands and was seventh at CKLV. Two-time qualifier Curry and Columbia's Manchio could use this to jockey for EIWA seeding over each other.

Among the not ranked looking to make an impact are Wisconsin true freshman Eric Barnett, Bryce West of Northern Illinois, and Reno TOC champ Korbin Meink of Campbell. A pair of Treys from the EIWA (Chalifoux for Army and Keeley for Brown) could present some early round intrigue and upset potential.

Kyle Biscoglia and Justin Cardani are returning placers who should be competing as well. Former Akron finalist Chris Cannon is currently undefeated on redshirt for Northwestern and Fargo champ Angelo Rini, not a redshirt but not starting for Columbia, are both first year wrestlers who you should set FloArena alerts for if you are looking for future prospects.

If Lee and Mueller don't compete, that will also be good opportunities for their backups in Aaron Cashman (Iowa) and Patrick McCormick (UVA), both of whom are redshirt freshmen. North Carolina will likely send both 125s in Joey Melendez and Jeremiah Derby, who have yet to pick up a win in a dual. This is a chance for one of them to grab hold of the starting spot.

Nomad's Picks: 1) Glory, Princeton  2) Schroder, Purdue  3) Colaicco, Penn  4) DeAugustino, Northwestern

133 Pounds: 7 Ranked

#1 Austin DeSanto, Iowa

#2 Seth Gross, Wisconsin

#3 Sebastian Rivera, Northwestern

#9 Travis Piotrowski, Illinois

#10 Noah Gonser, Campbell

#16 Anthony Madrigal, Oklahoma

#21 Louie Hayes, Virginia

Commentary: You better get used to hearing about this weight because it is spectacular. We've got three Midlands champs all in one bracket, which I'm going to say has only happened at most once or twice before.

It makes sense for DeSanto to be the top seed due to his win over Seth Gross in Iowa's dual with Wisconsin. DeSanchize went into last year's Midlands ranked 11th with a loss to Austin Gomez on his resume, and now is ranked 1st with a win over Gross.

The Hawkeye will likely be waiting in the finals for the winner of the Gross/Rivera semifinal, a match we've never seen before. The outcome will likely hinge on the opportunities for Gross on top, whether that's by getting the first takedown or choosing top heading into either the second or third period. For Rivera to win, he'll probably have to do something similar to his final last year with with Spencer Lee, where he took him down three times before Spencer got on top, and even then Sebass got out before Spencer could get riding time.

As for Gross, speaking with Badger head coach Chris Bono this past weekend, it's obvious Seth Gross has already begun making mental and technical adjustments for his rematch with DeSanto and his potential bout with Rivera. I've already made my pick on FRL that it'll be Rivera, but the thought of a locked in Gross is terrifying and he will probably not beat both by 4+ points.

Piotrowski looks better up at 133, though he has yet to bonus anyone. Illinois should once again be carried by their lightweights, but the quarterfinal will be huge for potential Pio points. Gonser is coming off a runner-up finish at RTOC and was second to DeSanto here last year. I believe his top work will carry him to a fourth place finish.

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Madrigal continues his upward trajectory from last season, but oddly enough most of his losses are to true freshmen, so he may be interested in putting up some points on redshirts. Hayes has settled into 133 and will be back in his home state.

Beyond the ranked wrestlers, Bloomsburg's Josh Mason is one to watch after transferring from Nebraska. Jaime Hernandez is looking to rebound from a pair of losses, but the Junior Trials finalist has the talent to place very highly and like Hayes is back where he's from in the Land of Lincoln.

I was hoping we'd see a little more out of Mario Guillen by now, and the UNI coaches are very high on Jack Skudlarczyk's progression this season.

Nomad's Picks: 1) Rivera, Northwestern  2) DeSanto, Iowa  3) Gross, Wisconsin  4) Gonser, Campbell

141 Pounds: 9 Ranked

#3 Dom Demas, Oklahoma

#7 Max Murin, Iowa

#8 Tristan Moran, Wisconsin

#10 Josh Heil, Campbell

#12 Michael Blockhus, Northern Iowa

#17 Dresden Simon, Central Michigan

#19 Shakur Laney, Ohio

#23 Matt Kazimir, Columbia

#24 Corey Shie, Army West Point

Commentary: We're not sure if Demas will be wrestling since he just competed at Senior Nationals, but that guy doesn't really take any matches off. A few weeks ago, I thought the final would be him vs Moran, but that was before the Iowa dual. Now there's nothing to suggest the Badger can't reverse the 3-2 loss to Murin, but he did lose the last time they faced off.

Heil is 15-1 on the year with three ranked wins: over #18 Kyle Shoop, #20 Mitch Moore and #25 DJ Lloren. Blockhus has four losses on the year, but three are to Chad Red who's not in the field. The redshirt freshman is a returning fourth and should be around that same position again this year.

Aside from the Murin loss, Moran has three ranked wins and five other victories by bonus thus far. He seems to have made jumps in his consistency and with his ability to scramble, plus being big for the weight, he is extremely dangerous every time he steps on the mat.

Heil is seeded below him, but does have an 8-2 win over Moran, though that was back in January 2018 when he was still at Oklahoma State. Dresden Simon appears back on track after having losing records at 133 and 149 the past two season, but has a winning record thus far like he did back as a 141lb freshman.

Nomad's Picks: 1) Demas, Oklahoma  2) Moran, Wisconsin  3) Heil, Campbell  4) Blockhus, UNI