Well, well, well. Looks like I'm the last one to the party. Three of my coworkers have already weighed in on the great 133-pound Big Ten Championships debate of 2020. Newb JD Rader took Austin DeSanto, David Bray played it safe and took Seth Gross, and the Wrestling Nomad took Thicccbass, who he has been riding with all season. Unfortunately for them...they're all wrong. When the dust settles on the 2020 Big Ten Championships inside the RAC on the campus of Rutgers University, it will be none other than Roman Bravo-Young standing on top of the 133-pound podium and I'm here to tell you why.

Watch the 2020 Big Ten Championships Live on Flo

March 7-8 | 10 AM & 11 AM Eastern

RBY Is Pouring It On

A year ago entering the postseason Bravo-Young was 20-3. This season the true sophomore is 18-1. While that isn't much of a difference, what's changed is the way Bravo-Young is winning. All of last season the Nittany Lion only won 37% of his matches by bonus points. So far this season, he's won 57% of his matches by bonus points. Eight times this season Bravo-Young has scored 15 or more points (six of those times he scored over 20 points) compared to just four times last year.

We all knew Bravo-Young is an incredible athlete and scrambler, but this season he has upped his attack rate and is looking to light up the scoreboard in a way he didn't last season. Add to that he continues to get better on top and it appears the Penn State room is preparing to take another elite recruit to the next level.

Just your standard backflip single. pic.twitter.com/dsm3Hi9qN6

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) December 2, 2018

RBY-DeSanto IV

Despite lasting just 1:49 of actual match time, this was probably the most talked about match of the regular season. Austin DeSanto came into the showdown 2-0 all-time against Bravo-Young, but the Nittany Lion had dramatically narrowed the gap from the first time the two met to the second matchup. At the Big Ten Championships, DeSanto lead 10-3 going into the third period and at the NCAA Championships, DeSanto lead 3-2 until a late four-point move in the final 15 seconds iced it for DeSanto. 

We could debate about what happened on the mat until we're blue in the face, but it won't get us anywhere. What this matchup comes down to for me is I believe Bravo-Young has a great feel for DeSanto now and will use his speed and scrambling ability to get his first full seven-minute win over the Hawkeye.

I don't see DeSanto's pace being a factor in this match either as it might have been at last year's Big Ten Championships. In my opinion, Bravo-Young worked with Gary Traub to get a bigger gas tank and often this year he has been the one breaking his opponents. While I don't think he will gas DeSanto, I don't think he will wilt as some opponents do under DeSanto's non-stop pressure. 

Watch the first meeting this season between Bravo-Young and DeSanto. 

THAT Close Won't Happen Again

What if I told you that Bravo-Young had the same amount of takedowns as Seth Gross did in their match back in early February and riding time but still lost? Because that happened. Gross scored his six points on a takedown, two back points after he transitioned into a spladle, and two escape points. 

Outside of the leg attack he finished for his lone takedown of the match, Bravo-Young found himself on Gross' leg five other times throughout the match. Once Gross turned it into his own takedown and the other four times Gross earned a stalemate or potentially dangerous was called. While Gross is unbelievably hard to score on and arguable the best scrambler in the country, I believe if they were to meet in the Big Ten finals Bravo-Young will make the adjustments necessary to finish at a higher rate this time around. There is also no way that Bravo-Young gets hit with another spladle. As President George W. Bush once said, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me... you can't get fooled again!"

In my opinion, Gross can't win another match against a guy the caliber of Bravo-Young and only score one takedown while giving up riding time. The 2018 NCAA champion will need to score multiple takedowns this time around and other than when they were scrambling, Gross never touched Bravo-Young's legs from his own leg attack. 

Watch Bravo-Young and Gross' match from last month. 

The Match We've Never Seen Before

We've been lucky enough to see Bravo-Young take on Seth Gross and Austin DeSanto, but the one matchup we've never seen that the wrestling world is dying to see is Sebastian Rivera vs Roman Bravo-Young. How fun would this one be? Two of the fastest and slickest wrestlers regardless of weight class in D1 wrestling going toe to toe.

Much of Rivera's offense is predicated off a collar tie with him looking to drop down to an ankle pick or low-level shot. Who was really good at this? Cael Sanderson. Who coaches Bravo-Young? Cael Sanderson. I would expect Bravo-Young to be prepared for this and work from space where he is very good from anyways. 

I see Bravo-Young working from space and Rivera firing off a shot that the Nittany Lions scores off of with one of his incredibly quick re-attacks and winning the match 4-2 or something along those lines. Of course, we will only get to see this match if Rivera can get revenge on Gross and Bravo-Young gets his second straight win over Austin DeSanto. 

If I'm correct about Roman Bravo-Young being the Big Ten champion on Sunday afternoon, which I will be, please send a congratulatory tweet to @KBratke. If I'm incorrect, which I won't be, please send a tweet to @SpeyWrestle roasting him for being wrong.