Badger badger badger badger - mushroom mushroom
For anyone who doesn't understand the above reference, see this link (http://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com/). The 2011 season for the Badgers was one plagued by snake bites (if you watched the above never ending video, there is a nice snake reference) and under achievement. Despite all of that, the Wisconsin squad still managed a top 10 NCAA finish with the help of some very good tournament wrestlers. However I look into my crystal ball and see a grim outlook in the not-to-distant future (I can't actually afford real crystal so the ball is just made of belly lint). Olympic red shirts and coaching losses will have this Badger squad taking a pounding in 2012. Strong recruiting and the return of the red shirts (sounds like a bad movie title) will make for a stud 2013 squad, but will they be able to maintain the program after that with the coaching fallout? More to come!
2011 Summary
Wisconsin put seven wrestlers into the NCAA tournament and had excellent results with four of them achieving All American status (remember, good tournament wrestling, stinky-smelly dual wrestling).
Name: Tyler Graff (133)
Record: 37 - 5
Status: Junior (Olympic Red Shirt)
Big Ten place: 2nd
NCAA place: All American 5th
Notable win(s): none
Season ended when: Won three straight then met a freight train named Jordan Oliver (OSU, 2-5), lost to Scotti Sentes (CM, 0-5) then beat Mike grey (Cornell, 7-2) for 5th
Vs. PSU: Whooped by Long twice 5-12 and SV 3-7
Name: Cole Schmitt (149)
Record: 24 - 13
Status: Junior
Big Ten place: 8th
NCAA place: Round of 24
Notable win(s): Ganbayar Sanjaa (American, 4-3)
Season ended when: Won one then got sha-lacked by Ganbayar Sanjaa (American, fall) and eliminated by Cole Dallaserra (Wy, 5-15)
Vs. PSU: Lost to Molinaro 1-9
Name: Andrew Howe (165)
Record: 27 - 3
Status: Senior (Olympic Red Shirt)
Big Ten place: Champion
NCAA place: All American 3rd
Notable win(s): none
Season ended when: Won three, lost to Tyler Caldwell (Ok, SV 3-2) then beat Josh Asper (Maryland, 3-1) and Colt Sponseller (Oh St., 6-4) for 3rd
Vs. PSU: Beat Vollrath 19-6
Name: Ben Jordan (174)
Record: 20 - 13
Status: Junior
Big Ten place: 6th
NCAA place: Round of 32
Notable win(s): none
Season ended when: Two straight losses to Nick Amuchastegui (Standford, 1-13) and Rob Morrison (Rider, 7-9)
Vs. PSU: Lost to Ruth 5-8
Name: Travis Rutt (184)
Record: 37 - 4
Status: Senior
Big Ten place: 3rd
NCAA place: All American 7th
Notable win(s): Robert Hamlin (Lehigh, 6-4)
Season ended when: Won two, lost to Grant Gambrall (Iowa, TB2 2-4), won one, lost to Chris Honeycutt (Edinboro, 5-6) then beat Kevin Steinhaus (Minn, 4-2) for 3rd
Vs. PSU: Split with Wright win by fall, lost 3-4
Name: Trevor Brandvold (197)
Record: 18 - 2
Status: Graduated
Big Ten place: Champion
NCAA place: All American 4th
Notable win(s): none
Season ended when: Won three, lost to Clayton Foster (OSU, 3-4), beat Luke Lofthouse then lost to Cam Simaz (Cornell, 2-5) for 4th
Vs. PSU: Pinned Ruggear
Name: Eric Bugenhagen (HWT)
Record: 29 - 13
Status: Graduated
Big Ten place: 3rd
NCAA place: Round of 24
Notable win(s): none
Season ended when: Won one, then lost two straight to Dominique Bradley (Missouri, RT TB2) and Spencer Myers (Maryland, 2-3)
Vs. PSU: Split with Wade 2-5 and 4-3
With two of their qualifiers graduating and three more taking Olympic Red Shirts, only two will be returning to the lineup this Fall. This is basically like an entire football team quitting except for the cheerleaders (we've got spirit!). Unlike Nebraska the Badgers don't have three potential studs coming off unattached seasons either. Apparently the badger has been muzzled. Wait the coaching situation is a mess? The strong recruiting class will help though right? Uh oh...
2011 Summary
Wisconsin put seven wrestlers into the NCAA tournament and had excellent results with four of them achieving All American status (remember, good tournament wrestling, stinky-smelly dual wrestling).
Record: 37 - 5
Status: Junior (Olympic Red Shirt)
Big Ten place: 2nd
NCAA place: All American 5th
Notable win(s): none
Season ended when: Won three straight then met a freight train named Jordan Oliver (OSU, 2-5), lost to Scotti Sentes (CM, 0-5) then beat Mike grey (Cornell, 7-2) for 5th
Vs. PSU: Whooped by Long twice 5-12 and SV 3-7
Record: 24 - 13
Status: Junior
Big Ten place: 8th
NCAA place: Round of 24
Notable win(s): Ganbayar Sanjaa (American, 4-3)
Season ended when: Won one then got sha-lacked by Ganbayar Sanjaa (American, fall) and eliminated by Cole Dallaserra (Wy, 5-15)
Vs. PSU: Lost to Molinaro 1-9
Record: 27 - 3
Status: Senior (Olympic Red Shirt)
Big Ten place: Champion
NCAA place: All American 3rd
Notable win(s): none
Season ended when: Won three, lost to Tyler Caldwell (Ok, SV 3-2) then beat Josh Asper (Maryland, 3-1) and Colt Sponseller (Oh St., 6-4) for 3rd
Vs. PSU: Beat Vollrath 19-6
Name: Ben Jordan (174)Record: 20 - 13
Status: Junior
Big Ten place: 6th
NCAA place: Round of 32
Notable win(s): none
Season ended when: Two straight losses to Nick Amuchastegui (Standford, 1-13) and Rob Morrison (Rider, 7-9)
Vs. PSU: Lost to Ruth 5-8
Record: 37 - 4
Status: Senior
Big Ten place: 3rd
NCAA place: All American 7th
Notable win(s): Robert Hamlin (Lehigh, 6-4)
Season ended when: Won two, lost to Grant Gambrall (Iowa, TB2 2-4), won one, lost to Chris Honeycutt (Edinboro, 5-6) then beat Kevin Steinhaus (Minn, 4-2) for 3rd
Vs. PSU: Split with Wright win by fall, lost 3-4
Record: 18 - 2
Status: Graduated
Big Ten place: Champion
NCAA place: All American 4th
Notable win(s): none
Season ended when: Won three, lost to Clayton Foster (OSU, 3-4), beat Luke Lofthouse then lost to Cam Simaz (Cornell, 2-5) for 4th
Vs. PSU: Pinned Ruggear
Name: Eric Bugenhagen (HWT)Record: 29 - 13
Status: Graduated
Big Ten place: 3rd
NCAA place: Round of 24
Notable win(s): none
Season ended when: Won one, then lost two straight to Dominique Bradley (Missouri, RT TB2) and Spencer Myers (Maryland, 2-3)
Vs. PSU: Split with Wade 2-5 and 4-3
With two of their qualifiers graduating and three more taking Olympic Red Shirts, only two will be returning to the lineup this Fall. This is basically like an entire football team quitting except for the cheerleaders (we've got spirit!). Unlike Nebraska the Badgers don't have three potential studs coming off unattached seasons either. Apparently the badger has been muzzled. Wait the coaching situation is a mess? The strong recruiting class will help though right? Uh oh...
2011 Team Stats
Dual Record: 11 - 6 - 1 (3 - 5 - 1 in Big Ten)
Big Ten Championship: 4th
NCAA Championship: 10th
Cliff Keen Invitational: 2nd
Midlands: 2nd
Individual Record: 428 - 248
Pins: 73
Tech. Falls: 20
Major Decisions: 67
Vs. PSU: Loss 12-30
Recruiting
The Badgers looked downright rabid (full on mouth froth, like cupcake icing...it's always the frothy icing that tastes the best) as their 2011 recruiting class came together. Badger wrestling nation celebrated at the announcement that then #1 recruit in the nation Destin McCauley committed to Wisconsin. McCauley amassed a crazy 238-7 record through high school which included four Minnesota state championships as well as various national tournament titles. Furthermore they bagged the #4 recruit and Greco-Roman standout Jesse Thielke for who the argument could be made that his resume is just as impressive if not more so than McCauley's. The class also included the D1 Wrestling #62 and#84 recruits.
Excitement began to die down when McCauley suffered a huge loss at the Dapper Dan. Destin was dominated early by Mike Ottinger from Parkland, PA on his feet and on the ground. The future Badger's comeback attempt wasn't quite enough and Ottinger emerged the winner 6-4. There was almost unanimous agreement that Morgan McIntosh was the #1 recruit and Destin #2 after this (gasp!). As the summer progressed on the Badger fans would also learn that Destin McCauley and Jesse Thielke had qualified for the 2012 Olympics and would be spending a year training before enrolling at Wisconsin. The huge recruiting class went from outstanding to mediocre.
2012 Outlook
It came as a huge surprise to the wrestling community when Dan Pritzlaff and Jared Frayer left their assistant coaching jobs in back to back weeks. Eventually Pritzlaff landed in Michigan and Frayer joined the new staff at Oklahoma. Both were standout assistant coaches who will undoubtedly be head coaches some day, so the mysterious departures were very confusing at first. The eventual story that came out (short version...mmm, short cake) was that head coach Barry Davis told Pritzlaff that he was going to hand the program over in 3-5 years. Pritzlaff and Frayer helped build the program back up to a national power, which "surprisingly" reinvigorated Davis, who decided he wanted to stay on an additional 3-5 years. Feeling slighted, Pritzlaff departed after AD Barry Alvarez basically gave him the hairy finger. Being not a fan of the deuche slam that Pritzlaff took, Frayer departed as well, leaving a gaping hole in the staff. It will be felt even worse considering national champion Andrew Howe (who is taking an Olympic Red Shirt year) has said he will follow Pritzlaff to Michigan for his final year of eligibility. Basically the 2012 season will make this team look like a badger that has been muzzled, de-clawed and violated...many times.
Their only prestigious out of conference dual in 2011 was against Virginia Tech. In 2012 they don't even have that. The Badgers will once again travel to the Cliff Keen Invitational and Midlands tournaments. I would assume Davis was eager to promote his grapplers to take Olympic Red Shirts. If they can come back a year later and make a huge impact for the team, it will make Davis look like he has everything under control. He will hope that will be enough to keep recruiting up, but if it isn't then he can ride out the wave of good wrestlers and then hand the reigns of a failing program off to someone else. Expect this team to plummet in the Big Ten this season...like a badger falling off a cliff.
Excitement began to die down when McCauley suffered a huge loss at the Dapper Dan. Destin was dominated early by Mike Ottinger from Parkland, PA on his feet and on the ground. The future Badger's comeback attempt wasn't quite enough and Ottinger emerged the winner 6-4. There was almost unanimous agreement that Morgan McIntosh was the #1 recruit and Destin #2 after this (gasp!). As the summer progressed on the Badger fans would also learn that Destin McCauley and Jesse Thielke had qualified for the 2012 Olympics and would be spending a year training before enrolling at Wisconsin. The huge recruiting class went from outstanding to mediocre.
2012 Outlook
It came as a huge surprise to the wrestling community when Dan Pritzlaff and Jared Frayer left their assistant coaching jobs in back to back weeks. Eventually Pritzlaff landed in Michigan and Frayer joined the new staff at Oklahoma. Both were standout assistant coaches who will undoubtedly be head coaches some day, so the mysterious departures were very confusing at first. The eventual story that came out (short version...mmm, short cake) was that head coach Barry Davis told Pritzlaff that he was going to hand the program over in 3-5 years. Pritzlaff and Frayer helped build the program back up to a national power, which "surprisingly" reinvigorated Davis, who decided he wanted to stay on an additional 3-5 years. Feeling slighted, Pritzlaff departed after AD Barry Alvarez basically gave him the hairy finger. Being not a fan of the deuche slam that Pritzlaff took, Frayer departed as well, leaving a gaping hole in the staff. It will be felt even worse considering national champion Andrew Howe (who is taking an Olympic Red Shirt year) has said he will follow Pritzlaff to Michigan for his final year of eligibility. Basically the 2012 season will make this team look like a badger that has been muzzled, de-clawed and violated...many times.
Their only prestigious out of conference dual in 2011 was against Virginia Tech. In 2012 they don't even have that. The Badgers will once again travel to the Cliff Keen Invitational and Midlands tournaments. I would assume Davis was eager to promote his grapplers to take Olympic Red Shirts. If they can come back a year later and make a huge impact for the team, it will make Davis look like he has everything under control. He will hope that will be enough to keep recruiting up, but if it isn't then he can ride out the wave of good wrestlers and then hand the reigns of a failing program off to someone else. Expect this team to plummet in the Big Ten this season...like a badger falling off a cliff.
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