LU v Bucknell

[martinsilvestri]

Crookham is being managed very carefully. He's been idled for two-month-long stretches and his #1 rank is based solely on early season wins against Arujau and Nagao.

Bubble wrap + Styrofoam packing peanuts. At some point, he needs to be released into the wild.

Based on these recent recruits, gotta think bubble wrap/packing peanuts is gonna be a part of the greater strategy going forward. Recruit guys who are talented but have injury history and keep them bubble-wrapped during dual season. Kind of smart in the current "only nationals matter" climate, and helps stay competitive as a small school in the world of NIL etc. Not the best for the fans, but it is what it is. Crookham came out of the bubble-wrap just fine at Journeyman and I'm sure they want more of that. Hopefully that's what's going on and nothing is wrong with RC. He appeared to be in good spirits on the bench.

[JAD77]

Personally, I enjoyed seeing Seymour at 133 last night. If Crookham had wrestled it would have been a routine major or tech. Sheldon’s match was exciting - right up to the very last second.
Another thought - Beard just continues to steamroll. He makes it look so easy - it almost looks like he’s getting in a light workout in the wrestling room as opposed to wrestling in a dual. Any ranking service that doesn’t put him in the top 3 shouldn’t be taken seriously.

[BP-LU87]

Beard rarely wrestles a full match

[FloridaGuy]

>>>>>>>>>> mookster’s ‘ bubble wrap’ comment is simply his dissatisfaction with smart, experienced, coaching that has produced excellent results from two young guys.

Crookham and Stanich are a combined 28-1 and ranked #1 and #3————yet mookster and others find it necessary to nitpick and complain about the way the coaching staff is handling things.

I understand the moaning and groaning when things aren’t going well, but kvetching about the 125-133 coaching process is taking second guessing to a new level.

[Oracle]

FL Guy makes a valid point. All true. But…..

…….. mookie’s not wrong. The staff *has* pushed all the right buttons so far, but as the dual season winds down, fans rightfully state concerns. While the strategy may be correct, it’s not normal in any way, shape, or form.

We’re not lemmings blindly marching off the cliff.
mookie, and others, have legit concerns.

I, for one, support the staff and hope they get it right.

[BP-LU87]

Some of us may be thinking about Jordan Kutler who was similarly MIA a lot the first year leading to missing weight at EIWAs. Sure lessons were learned there and hopefully will not be repeated

Seymour is a decent backup plan for either

[mookie]

I'm not bitching, and Florida Guy isn't wrong, but at some point, you need to engage. The question is will Crookham be battle tested enough to win come tournament time? You can't sit out a tournament.

If he loses, then second guessing the strategy is fair.

[Oracle]

Edit to my earlier post: Fl Guy's basic premise was true, but some of his adjectives and assumptions were not.

"dissatisfaction"
"nitpick and complain"
"moaning and groaning"
"kvetching"

These are not even close to what mookie posted as his opinion.

[jdalu75]

Some of us may be thinking about Jordan Kutler who was similarly MIA a lot the first year leading to missing weight at EIWAs. Sure lessons were learned there and hopefully will not be repeated

Different case entirely, which I view as an aberration -- how many times have Lehigh wrestlers missed making weight in the past three decades? Kutler missed six weeks twice, including in the lead-up to EIWAs. He also made weight on back-to-back days four times that year. He'd wrestled 157 as a true freshman in his redshirt year and again as a r/s freshman. The staff had a long time to figure out his system and they didn't see any problem.

Since 2017 we've entered 60 wrestlers at EIWAs and they've all made weight both days. Let's focus on that. Or maybe we can start worrying about Hines being a HEW case again; has that fantasy been put to bed yet?

[FloridaGuy]

>>>>>>>>> Are fans really worried about Crookham being ‘battle tested’ after beating Vito and Nagao?

Would facing Army or Bucknell have a measurable impact on Crookham’s battle worthiness vs allowing a ding ( or whatever the issue is) time to fully heal?

What is the point of having world class guys in the RTC program for Crookham to practice with if only way he can be ‘battle tested’ is to face a guy Seymour almost beat?

The premise that wrestlers and coaches should ignore injuries/issues because fans want to see them wrestle at a lopsided dual meet is flat out crazy.