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I have a Nintendo emulator and I’m trying to hack it so Swoff’s face appears when I destroy Ganon. Any other mods I should make?
I disagree with the notion that the Asterisk will escape penalty, but the rope-a-dope strategy will be successful in mitigating punishment. The NCAA’s system has two considerable loopholes in his enforcement: (1) make sure non-athletes had the same benefits, (2) don’t self-report. If I was any collegiate institution, I would abide these two principles by their letter and implement them forthwith for the benefit of the athletics’ programs.
Thanks for the compliments. Sorry for the repost, but wrote it with old (or new) switches. Will do a bracket breakdown by tomorrow.
The animated gif of the Herb-infested dojo is still the funniest thing I have ever seen, and my most lasting memory of The Sunshine Wizard. I would assume the joke is true that a bald head is a solar panel for a coaching machine!! It certainly has helped him in the land of the sun!!
The ACC Wrestling Championship Tournament will be held in Pittsburgh on Sunday. I’ve always wanted to do a complete wrestling breakdown, so here goes.
Teams
Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech was the clear regular-season favorite this season, and nothing during the season hindered that squad. Virginia Tech ended the season winning its last five duals (they would have made it six but the Hofstra match was cancelled due to weather), sweeping the ACC in the process to finish at 14-2 overall. Only two duals losses for Va Tech (@ #4 Penn State 20-15, and @ #13 Iowa State 21-12). Virginia Tech will be the overall team favorite will returning defending National Runner-up Devin Carter at 141 pounds. If you like tough, they don’t come much tougher than Devin Carter who made the NCAA finals last year despite a severe hamstring pull at mid-season. Carter is currently ranked #3 in the nation, and joins fellow teammates Joey Dance (3rd at 125 lbs.), Sal Mastrani (9th at 149 lbs.), Nick Brascetta (5th at 157 lbs.), Chad Strube (18th at 165 lbs.), Zach Epperly (8th at 174 lbs.), Jared Haught (20th at 197 lbs.) & Ty Walz (8th at 285 lbs.) in the WIN Division I Rankings. A very tough squad, and the safe bet for repeating as Conference Tournament Champions. Prediction—ACC (1st), NCAA Top-Ten
Pittsburgh
Pitt has had a solid season for their first in ACC competition. Last year’s ACC Dual team Champions, the Panthers have three outstanding wrestlers who could cause problems in both the conference tournament and the NCAAs. Although the squad finish the dual season at 8-8, all but one of those losses was to a team ranked in the top-25 (a home loss to rival West Virginia who has been ranked during the season). The three-headed monster begins with Max Thomusseit (whose name I still can’t pronounce correctly) who has finished his senior campaign in style with a 22-1 record and a #2 ranking at 184 lbs. Max has earned the top-seed at that weight class, and is the clear favorite. Pitt’s other two ranked wrestlers have also had solid seasons: Tyler Wilps (13-3, ranked 9th at 174 lbs.) and Mikey Racciato (19-8, ranked 18th at 149 lbs.). Other than these three, the Pitt squad is solid but not great. Prediction—ACC (4th), NCAA—NP
North Carolina
UNC had a tough season (despite somehow earning a top-25 ranking), finishing with a 11-6 dual team record and a 2-3 mark in conference. The Asterisk sports three ranked wrestlers, the best of which is Ethan Ramos who is currently ranked 11th at 165 lbs. Since the Asterisk decides NOT to put overall individual records on its write-ups, I have no idea what the individuals’ records are. John Staudenmeyer (15th at 174 lbs.) and Joey Ward (14th at 141 lbs) conclude the ranked list for the Tarheels. Prediction—ACC (6th), NCAA—NP
Virginia
The Cavaliers have a strong squad and were ranked in the top-20 for much of the year. Late conference losses to UNC and NC State hampered a strong campaign which features a handful of strong All-American candidates. The best of the bunch Nick Sulzer (24-2) who finished the year ranked 2nd at 165 lbs. Sulzer earned a 4th place finish at the NCAA championships last year, and looks to repeat as ACC Champion on Sunday. George DiCamillo (ranked 13th at 133 lbs.) finished the season at 24-7 and is the top seed in his bracket. Blaise Butler also looks to earn All-American status at the NCAAs; he finished the season with a 17-3 mark at 174 lbs and is currently ranked 7th. Prediction—ACC (2nd), NCAA—Top-20
NC State
The Wolfpack had a very solid year under Coach Pat Popolizio, finishing the season in 2nd place with a 3-2 conference mark, losing only to Va Tech (29-9) and Duke (18-17) and earning a top-20 ranking in three separate polls. The Wolfpack sports the only defending NCAA Champion for the ACC, in Heavyweight Nick Gwiazdowski. Gwiz finished the year undefeated and ranked #1, and is on a 48-match winning streak (the longest in NC State history). Gwiazdowski pinned every opponent in the conference during dual season, so his title is as sure a bet as any in the tournament. NC State has turned the corner this year on the backs of many solid performances from other wrestlers, including Joe D’Angelo (125 lbs.), Kevin Jack (ranked 16th at 141 lbs), Pete Renda (18th ranked at 174 lbs) and Michael Boykin (197 lbs). Max Roshkopf was also ranked at times through the year but faltered late, losing several matches against quality opponents. Prediction—ACC (3rd), NCAA—Top-15
Duke
The Blue Devils had a solid season in 2014-2015, winning 10 of 17 matches during the dual season. Duke will definitely factor into the team scoring as Connor Hartmann currently ranks 7th at 197 lbs and is the top-seed in the tournament. Hartmann finished the year at 24-2 and is the strongest All-American candidate for the Blue Devils. Immanuel Kerr-Brown (21-9 at 157 lbs) and Jacob Kasper (seeded #2 with 23 wins at 184 lbs) should easily earn NCAA bids and could earn ACC titles on Sunday. Prediction—ACC (5th), NCAA—NR
Final Analysis—Virginia Tech should have its 2nd consecutive conference title in the bag. The only question remaining to be answered Sunday is how the NCAA bids might fall. The NCAA tournament committee has awarded the ACC with 29 overall bids (including conference champions—10 bids), leaving 19 at-large bids. Here is a more clear breakdown of the bids per weight class: 125 (3), 133 (3), 141 (4), 149 (3), 157 (2), 165 (3), 174 (5), 184 (2), 197 (2), 285 (2). NC State has a solid chance to get five NCAA qualifiers with a good showing on Sunday. More than that would be awesome.D’Angelo joins Michael Boykin (Fr.) and Nick Gwiazdowski as Pack wrestlers who have won the ACC Wrestler of the Week award. I will add this, if Nick Gwiazdowski DOES NOT win ACC Wrestler of the Year, then something is seriously wrong. But then again, TJ Warren won ACC Player of the Year last season and only won Player of the Week ONCE!!
Joe D’Angelo wins ACC Wrestler of the Week!! Here is the link. Great job by Joe, who has had his struggles throughout his tenure at State, but I believe we are seeing him wrestle his best. His upset of Klimara from Oklahoma State last Friday was his last match in Reynolds, and he went out a winner. Good luck in the ACC tournament to Joe, and he should get an at-large bid to the NCAA’s for several upsets this year over ranked opponents.
Statefans (the author, not the collective) should be applauded for the original post. I showed as many of my Asterisk fans as I could (which is three) and they all even got the joke. Get over yourselves. If you’re ashamed of anything on this blog, don’t read, don’t post. I will gladly continue to post and read while the plaintive cries of non-fans are ignored. Keep posting, Statefans.
Speaking of Tokoto v. Lacey. The other white official (not recalling the name, but not Brian Dorsey) admonished Lacey on THREE separate occasions during the game. During the 2nd of these (I believe it was the first admonition of the 2nd half), I clearly read the official’s lips who said “Don’t get into trouble.” I never once saw an official talk to Tokoto; Lacey got the talkin’-to THREE times. I was still impressively shocked that the foul situation was as even throughout the game (even though it still favored the Asterisk). Great post-elation write-up!
Not sure if anyone else watched, but State fought a good fight but was overmatched as the team fell 20-12 at home to Oklahoma State (#6 ranked). Gwiz ran his streak to 48 with a win over the #5 Austin Harden 4-1. Joe DeAngelo scored one of two upsets beating #8 Klimara, Kevin Jack (redshirted until two weeks ago) scores a victory over #16 Dean Hall at 141 lbs.; Beau Donahue scores an overtime victory over Davey Dolan. Great wrestling to end the season. Looking forward to the team showing well at the ACC Tourney, which will be held in Pittsburgh this season.
Mr.Plywood, I thought Pop’s testicles were huge in burning the redshirt on Kevin Jack before the Pitt match, only to have him score a pin, followed by a major decision in the UVa win. It is obvious that Pop wants to win badly and next year’s squad will definitely be the best since Jordan’s one ACC championship year (2006-07), as Thomas Gantt will return for his last season along with Gwiz, and a ton of solid sophomores (Meredith, Hall, Boykin, Jack). Roshkopf and Renda will return as well, but they have had tough seasons. I hope they both turn it around for conference tourney.
Cool. Burlington isn’t exactly close by Athens Drive. Good for Crisp though. I hope he signs with the Panthers or the Dolphins, the two NFL teams I like who have an apparent neglect for State grads.
The quoted portion of the article mentions Crisp as a ‘Burlington’ native. He played HS football at Athens Drive. Am I reading this correctly?
BassPacker, I heard about this after I had listened to THREE interviews over local media (Triangle and Charlotte radio) about how The Asterisk was having so much negative recruiting. The only plausible explanation for firing Disch is that Chizik wanted to be the head recruiter or wanted his own head recruiter for when the Hat is out. I feel sorry AGAIN for all those kids who still believe the Tao of the Asterisk (my new euphemism for the Carolina Way).
Gott’s comments postgame did not instill much confidence in me. He said the phrase ‘There’s no doubt about it’ three times. Mentioned how practice tomorrow is going to be about seeing who’s tough. Apparently neither player nor coach, Mr. Gottfried. If you’re only finding out now how tough your team is, the season is over.
Agreed that Cat is now a liability. His defense isn’t that bad, but Paige has his number and then some. My worst fear for Cat is that he turns into Scooter Sherrill 2.0. KW is definitely playing well, and I like most everything he did tonight EXCEPT why does he continue to attempt to rebound by a volleyball kill? I counted three instances in the 1st half where he had position to get the ball with two hands and decided to swat at it, which cost us three possessions. Offensively, KW and Abu will be a wonderful combination in time, I’m just hoping that it is THIS season not NEXT season when they can play well together.
Read this over on ‘that’ board and agreed with one of the posters. You don’t hire another former Federal prosecutor unless something that involves jail time is out there. Pell grant stuff maybe? Either way, anyone want to the take the over on how much the firm will bill the Asterisk? I’m setting my number at $1.485 million ($990/hr X 1500 hours). Takers?
Agreed, Bill. The real question isn’t this win, but what our energy and play will be like against the Asterisk on Wednesday. Gott again won the post-game interview by saying we have to maintain that level of play throughout the season. Wednesday to me, and I hope to the team, is a MUST-WIN!
Solid 1st half. Turnovers early but none late. Great rebounding, especially positioning, and Gott’s got his five for the second half, rotating Anya and Abu in to spell Washington.
I would have been more pleased had Turner passed the ball on the 3-on-2 earlier, but good ball movement on offense made up for it. If we keep rebounding consistently, our chance to win improves drastically.
