Tag: Jordan Decatur

Big Ten Wrestling Tournament: Jordan Decatur at 133 pounds

What does Ohio State’s 133 pound wrestler Jordan Decatur have to do to qualify for the NCAA Championships?

Jordan Decatur started his college wrestling season off with a bang, burning his redshirt to fight then-No. 15 Josh Kramer of Arizona State. Decatur sprang the huge upset, and the Buckeyes looked like they had their answer at the 133 pound weight class.

Fast forward two months, and Decatur has gone 2-7 in Big Ten dual matches. Meanwhile, the win over Kramer doesn’t look as meaningful now, as the Sun Devil also lost his next seven matches.

Decatur is seeded 14th out of 14 wrestlers at the Big Ten Championships. Since the Big Ten only receives seven bids to the NCAA Championships at 133 pounds, Decatur will likely need to do the most work of any Buckeye to make it in.

Big Ten Wrestling Championships: 133 pounds

Basic Info:

Buckeye Wrestler: Jordan Decatur
Seed:No. 14
Place needed to qualify: 7th

133 pounds is the Big Ten’s second-weakest weight class, which is bad news for the lower-ranked wrestlers trying to get through to pick up a bid. Decatur will have to wrestle well above what he’s shown in Big Ten competition so far this year if he wants to earn a bid to the NCAA Championships.

Paths to the NCAAs

Winner’s Bracket

The simplest way to guarantee a seventh-place finish would be to reach the semifinals. All that means is winning your first two matches. Unfortunately for Decatur, that seems like a very unlikely path.

Decatur’s first-round opponent is No. 3 seed Austin DeSanto. The Buckeye faced DeSanto earlier in the season, and DeSanto won by a 15-point Tech Fall victory. If Decatur can turn that around and spring the upset, he should feel very confident about his second round match against Minnesota’s Boo Dryden or Nebraska’s Ridge Lovett. Decatur has never faced Dryden and lost a nail-biter against Lovett in January, but if he can beat DeSanto, he can take on either one of those.

Consolation Bracket

Assuming Decatur can’t take out DeSanto, what’s his path to seventh place? Well, it’s not a great one. He would face the Dryden-Lovett loser in his first Consolation Bracket match. If he wins that match, he will face the loser of the second-round match involving either Travis Piotrowski of Illinois, Sebastian Rivera of Northwestern, Travis Ford-Melton of Purdue, or King Sandoval of Maryland. Of those four, Decatur has only faced Piotrowski and Sandoval, and he lost to both of them. If Decatur can win that match, he will have to win one more match (against potentially anyone) in the next consolation round, or in the seventh-place match if he loses the next consolation round.

Decatur is in one of the tougher brackets, and he was the weakest of the Buckeyes in Big Ten play this season. It’s not impossible for him to earn a place in the NCAAs–he definitely has the talent for it–but it would involve him wrestling better than we’ve seen so far from him this season. And, well, no one should really be confident in a path to the NCAA Championships that involves beating either Rivera or Piotrowski.

Other Buckeyes in this series:

125 pounds: Malik Heinselman
157 pounds: Elijah Cleary
165 pounds: Ethan Smith
174 pounds: Kaleb Romero
184 pounds: Rocky Jordan
Heavyweight: Gary Traub

Can Ohio State qualify ten wrestlers for the NCAA Championships again?

Last year, the Ohio State Buckeyes were the only team in the country to place ten wrestlers in the NCAA Championships. Can they repeat that?

Last year, the Ohio State Buckeyes were the only wrestling team in the country to place ten wrestlers in the NCAA Championships.

That record seems very unlikely to repeat this year, as the Iowa Hawkeyes will almost certainly qualify a full squad for the NCAAs. Additionally, Campbell might be able to pull off that by sweeping the SoCon, and Oklahoma State looks to be competitive in the Big 12 at every weight class, except maybe heavyweight.

However, the big question for the Buckeyes is whether Ohio State can put a full lineup in the NCAAs. And, if they can’t, just how many spots can the Buckeyes earn? Let’s go through the lineup and break it down.

The Locks

141, 149, and 197 pounds

There’s no need to get too into the weeds of the bracket and number of bids at these three weight classes. Luke Pletcher, Sammy Sasso, and Kollin Moore are going to get in the NCAA Championships. Even if all three lose early in the Big Ten Championships, they’re still getting in to the NCAAs. And while Pletcher would obviously like to avenge his loss to Penn State’s Nick Lee in the process, for our purposes right now, we know he’s done enough this season to reach the postseason.

What about the rest of the Buckeyes? Some of them, like Kaleb Romero and Rocky Jordan should have pretty easy paths to the NCAA tournament. Some–like No. 14 seed Jordan Decatur–will have a very challenging path indeed. In a series of articles over the next few days, we will break down the paths and brackets for the other seven Buckeyes in the Big Ten Championships. We will look at how many spots are available for Big Ten wrestlers, and how tough each Buckeye’s path to those spots will be.

For now, let’s just give a quick overview of where the rest of the Buckeyes stand.

Near-Locks

174 pounds: Kaleb Romero
184 pounds: Rocky Jordan

Should make it

165 pounds: Ethan Smith
Heavyweight: Gary Traub

Very difficult path

125 pounds: Malik Heinselman
133 pounds: Jordan Decatur
157 pounds: Elijah Cleary

Ohio State Wrestling solid in close loss to Nebraska

The Ohio State Buckeyes lost a very tight wrestling dual against Nebraska on Sunday, but they looked strong in the process.

If the college wrestling season has taught us anything so far, it’s very likely that the top four teams in the country are all from the Big Ten. Iowa is ahead of everyone with Penn State, Nebraska, and Ohio State just behind them.

It’s no surprise, then, that the dual match between Ohio State and Nebraska went down to the wire. Don’t let the 19-14 final score deceive you. The Buckeyes were in this match until literally the final second.

The dual began at 174 pounds, where Mikey Labriola beat Ohio State’s Kaleb Romero on a last-second takedown to win the battle of Top 10 wrestlers. That match was tight as can be, but there are no ties in wrestling, and someone had to win. There’s no shame or hurt for Romero in not coming out ahead. The same is true for Nebraska’s Taylor Venz, who lost to Rocky Jordan (in another ranked matchup) on a late reversal. After two matches, each team had one win, and the margins in each were razor-thin.

The next match was not as close, as No. 1 Kollin Moore got two early takedowns against No. 10 Eric Schultz and never relinquished the lead. Schultz kept the match close enough to avoid giving bonus points, which is always important. Nebraska followed that with its second win, as Gary Traub couldn’t out-wrestle David Jensen’s size advantage over him.

Nebraska took its second lead of the dual when Malik Heinselman couldn’t make good on any of his attacks, several of which led to points the other way. 125 pounds is quickly becoming Ohio State’s most troublesome weight, as Heinselman hasn’t been able to replicate his form that saw him into the NCAA tournament last year. Jordan Decatur then lost his match at the last second as well, to No. 14 Ridge Lovett. There’s no shame in that, regardless of the team outcome.

Luke Pletcher and Sammy Sasso–who, along with Moore, are Ohio State’s three real National Champion contenders–each earned bonus points with Major Decisions, Sasso’s the courtesy of four back points with just a few seconds remaining. After Peyton Robb beat Quinn Kinner, who moved up from 133 pounds to 157 pounds, the dual would come down to its final match, as the score entering it was 14-14. (Kinner’s move up to 157 pounds is interesting and worth a longer discussion. He’s new to the weight and it showed in his match, but he also seems to have more upside than Elijah Cleary.)

The final match was a good one. Isaiah White is a Top 5 wrestler, and he was just a bit better than Ethan Smith until White injured his ankle. After that, it was a very even match. The 19-14 final score is a product of an ill-advised last-second move by Smith, that got countered into a takedown and pin (Nebraska then lost a team point for storming the mat).

All in all, it was a great dual, and a strong showing by both programs. Each wrestler competed very well against talented (and in almost all cases ranked) wrestlers of the opposition. Nebraska will move up in the rankings after a well-deserved win, but these teams are both clearly very good, and right there behind Iowa and Penn State.

Ohio State Wrestling impresses in upset of Arizona State

The Ohio State wrestling team upset No. 4 Arizona State on Monday behind strong performances from Luke Pletcher, Kollin Moore, and others.

The Ohio State Buckeyes had a strong opening half to the wrestling season, though a tough dual loss against Virginia Tech marred it a bit. The Buckeyes, as they have been all year, are clearly competitive in most weight classes, though a few still need work. How did the Buckeyes spend the month gap since their last dual?

Well, we were about to find out, as the Buckeyes hosted Arizona State in the Covelli Center. The Sun Devils are a top dual team, and they shockingly upset Penn State earlier in the year. Arizona State actually came into this match as the higher-ranked dual, team, at No. 4 to Ohio State’s No. 7 ranking. Would the top Buckeyes be able to take care of business to give the team a chance? And could the other guys step up and get the win?

Match Day: Ohio State vs Virginia Tech

The match went in order, from 125 pounds up to heavyweight. Ohio State’s Malik Heinselman fought hard against the nationally-ranked Brandon Courtney, but couldn’t quite get the win. At 133 pounds, though, the Buckeyes look like they finally have a new contender. True freshman Jordan Decatur burned his redshirt to compete in this match, and he wasn’t disappointed. In his first-ever college dual match, he pulled out an upset of No. 15 Josh Kramer. Decatur got an early takedown, and he managed to hold off his opponent and fatigue to gut out a 5-3 win. He’ll need to work on conditioning a bit as he adjusts to the full seven minutes of college wrestling, but he is clearly an incredible young talent.

Unlike his usual tight matches, Luke Pletcher went straight for the pin from the start against Navonte Demison. He got four near-fall points in the first minute, and added four more towards the end of the first period. Pletcher couldn’t get the full six team points for a pin, but a very quick 19-4 win gave him five team points for a Tech Fall. Sammy Sasso followed that up at 149 pounds with a good win over Josh Maruca, but Sasso couldn’t quite hold on to his eight-point lead for a bonus point.

157 pounds is one of the weight classes where Ohio State doesn’t quite have an elite contender yet, and Elijah Cleary couldn’t get a win. He fell by decision to Jacori Teemer, so the Buckeyes took an 11-6 lead into the halfway mark. Arizona State’s biggest names were yet to come, though, so this was still anybody’s dual.

Second half

Ethan Smith fought hard against No. 4 Josh Shields, but he couldn’t pull off an upset. After two straight wins, Arizona State had cut the Buckeyes’ team lead to 11-9. At 174 pounds, ninth-ranked Buckeye Kaleb Romero took on No. 8 Anthony Valencia. Romero had a tough time at the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas, but he came out firing in this match. After a tight first period, he got a quick escape and takedown in the second, followed by a long and impressive ride out to end the period. Romero went for the Major Decision late and couldn’t quite get it, but he still picked up the win and three team points.

Of course, Arizona State’s Zahid Valencia was up next, and against Ohio State’s weakest weight class. Buckeye freshman Gavin Hoffman did an amazing job not only to avoid getting pinned, but to keep the final score to 19-5. Valencia only earned one bonus point, so the Buckeye’s carried a 14-13 lead into the final two matches. At 197 pounds, No. 1 Kollin Moore gave up a quick takedown to No. 14 Kordell Norfleet. A wild first period ended with a 5-5 score. Moore earned the only three points in the second period, and held on for the 11-9 win at the end.

So the stage was set for the heavyweights. Ohio State carried a 17-13 win into the final bout. If Ohio State’s Gary Traub won the match or lost by Decision or Major Decision, then the Buckeyes would take the dual. If No. 6 Tanner Hall could earn a Tech Fall or Fall, then the Sun Devils would win. Hall rode Traub out for the entire second period and earned a quick escape in the third. Traub gave up another takedown, but kept the final score to 4-2, so a Decision gave Arizona State only three points, and a very good dual win for the Buckeyes.

Next up for the Buckeyes is a home dual against Rutgers on Friday. The Buckeyes still have some holes to fill, but this is very clearly one of the top overall teams in the country.