149lb breakdown:
The 149 bracket holds alot of mystery heading into the 2014 Championships.
Although Drake Houdashelt is a very impressive 34-1 this season with a solid Missouri schedule, the jury is still out on him for some reason and we cannot pinpoint it. His only loss this season came by way of the talented Claxton of Ohio U. Claxton will pose a threat for defending NCAA Champ, Maple, in a 1st round match-up. It's a matter of which Claxton and which Maple will show up for this bout.
Moving down the bracket, the next layer of mystery is which Grajales will show up. The Grajales that can beat anyone on any day, or the Grajales that will look as if he is wrestling his first match on the NCAA mats. We are going on a limb and predicting the Wolverine senior puts together the matches of his life in efforts of getting his hands on a NCAA title. But in order for this to happen, Grajales will have to avoid a 1st round trap match as he takes on the talented, but not consistent Mike Depalma of Kent State. Depalma defeated Grajales handily early this season in a dual meet. He would then have to run the gaunlet of Habat, Houdashelt, Maple/Tsirtsis, and whoever emerges out of the bottom half. This would require Grajales wrestling to his peak potential every second of every match.
Going back to Maple, he has seemed lack-luster in most of his matches this season and not the same Maple that won a title just one short year ago. He looked to be at a different level at the All-Star meet when he took fellow champ Stieber into OT, but has taken four losses that make you scratch your head. If he avoides the trap match of Claxton in round 1, he'll then bump into a fiesty and dramatically improved Grothus of Iowa. Grothus just seems to hang around in every match and puts himself in position to win.
Villalonga and Sakiguchi is a rough 2nd round bout for both wrestlers, the winner will be rewarded by likely seeing Sueflohn in the quarters.
Sako took an odd loss to Barber in the semi's at ACC, but stormed back to dominate to a 3rd place finish. Sako will likely see Neibert in the 2nd round, who he defeated earlier this season. The winner of that will bump into #2 seed, Dardanes, who has the same amount of losses on the year as Sako, which is three.
Dardanes has what many might think is the 'easist' road to the finals, but we believe that Sueflohn is going to come out of the bottom bracket.
Look for the immensely talented and poised Tsirtsis to work through the top half of the bracket.
This is again a tale of........who is going to wrestle consistently for five straight matches. And then you have the always mysterious Paddock who is talented enough to grind his way to a low AA honor.
OWN 149lb Prediction: Jason Tsirtsis, Northwestern
Other Brackets: 125 / 133 / 141 / 157 / 165 / 174 / 184 / 197
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