First off, kudos to the Huskers for a great performance at the Big 12s. Overall, I think that was the best tourney performance I’ve seen from NU wrestling. Championship teams score late in periods and score on the edge of the mat. NU did both repeatedly. I can think of only one Husker who wrestled below his seed, and many wrestled above it (how about Pokorny @ 125 getting a pin in the pigtail match and then placing 4th). There were some semifinal matches that didn’t get much press but were, if not epic, at least really big. Dwyer (165) got a blood N guts OT win over Reader of ISU and the crowd was fantastic, both during the match and afterwards as Dwyer saluted the folks in the stands. Later, I was shocked by how easily Brester (197) beat Askren of Mizzou (ranked 4th at the time, seeded 6th in the NCAAs). The takedowns were almost ridiculously easy and he followed those up with repeated tilts. Just a dominating performance. Askren likes to do “funk” (similar to his brother Ben Askren) but Brester has it figured out now. Finally, Lane (285) and Zabriskie of ISU (#1 seed at the NCAAs) are pretty much a coin toss as to who will win. Lane had a deep shot in OT that I thought was going to score, but to his credit Zabriskie countered and ended up winning on a nice shot of his own in the second OT. They could hook up again the quarterfinals, but Lane has a tough draw in round 1 (#8 seed Massey of Wisconsin) and if he wins that would likely have to meet the #9 seed in round 2, so a lot of work to do before that happens.

I’d like to think that NU could be in the running for an NCAA team title, but it would be a small miracle for that to happen. Iowa has 9 qualifiers and has been dominant all year. WIN Magazine's points projection has Iowa running away with it and a close battle for second. It is hard to argue with that assessment:

http://www.wi...rrenttpi.html

That said, while NU only has 7 qualifiers, it would be disappointing if there were not at least 5 All-Americans by Saturday, and I think 6 is realistic. Plus there are two #1 seeds. NU ought to score a lot of team points. The WIN analysis has them finishing second. I suspect the difference between good and great is going to be: 1) Burroughs and Brester not getting upset early (please Mr. Burroughs, attack from the opening whistle – you can only be beaten if the pace is slow), and 2) Jones (# 12 seed @ 184) and Lane (unseeded @ 285) wrestling above their seeds. Jones can beat anybody. Odds are he will have to beat the #5 and then #4 seeds to make the semis. If he gets hot, this is realistic. And if you get to the semis, anything is possible. Similarly, Lane is unranked because of some silly losses, but anyone who has watched him wrestle (and beat) Zabriskie and Rosholt (#4 seed for Okie State) has got to know that he is capable of winning it all – really.

Of course the problem with all this is that bracket analysis goes to crap quickly. High seeds lose early (just ask Max Askren), and a lot of these guys are emotionally brittle. Once they lose and an NCAA title shot is gone, they often cave in and don’t come back strong in the consolations. Hopefully it will be the other guys who do this.

PS - It’s water under the bridge, but I can’t help but think NU would be the favorite if Donahoe (#1 seed at 125) hadn’t been dismissed from the team.

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