The brackets for the NCAA Wrestling Championships were released Wednesday night. NC State, which swept the ACC regular-season and tournament championships for the first since 2004, is tied for second nationally with nine entrants at nationals, held March 21-23 in Pittsburgh.
The brackets, made up of 33 wrestlers at each weight, can be viewed in their entirety here, but we'll go in-depth on the draws, seeds and more involving the Wolfpack's nine below:
Most Controversial Seed
Let's start with the controversy. Several Wolfpack wrestlers were seeded a bit lower than expected, but redshirt sophomore 157-pounder Hayden Hidlay, an NCAA finalist last year, drawing the five seed really sticks out.
Hidlay lost two of his first seven matches this year, but has won all 15 since. Those two defeats gave him three in the two years of his college career — and the guys seeded second through fourth have combined for 14 losses just this year. Hidlay beat one of those three by major decision in the NCAA semifinals last season.
Furthermore, a look at each wrestler seeded second through fifth, behind defending two-time national champion Jason Nolf of Penn State, their record and who they lost to this season:
2 seed Tyler Berger, Nebraska: 24-3, lost to 1 seed twice and 19 seed
3 seed Ryan Deakin, Northwestern: 29-4, lost to 1 seed, 2 seed, 4 seed, 10 seed
4 seed Alec Pantaleo, Michigan: 18-7, lost to 1 seed twice, 3 seed, 9 seed at 157; 15 seed at 149; and three wrestlers who did not qualify for NCAAs (granted, all three were big-time recruits who are redshirting this year)
5 seed Hayden Hidlay, NC State: 20-2, lost to 2 seed and 7 seed.
While everybody seeded above Hidlay competes in the Big Ten, Nolf took first at this weekend's conference tournament, while Berger was second, Deakin was fifth and Pantaleo third (by way of a 10-4 win over Deakin).
Hidlay won the ACC title over 12 seed Taleb Rahmani of Pitt.
Seeds, bracket analysis for all NC State wrestlers
125-pound fifth-year senior Sean Fausz (11-2 record, 14 seed)
After the original 14 seed withdrew from the tournament due to injury, Fausz gets bumped up from his original No. 15 starting point (though it can argued that may still be a slot or two too low). That means if he wins in round one — where he now faces No. 19 seed Alex Mackall of Iowa State (25-10, with a 5-3 loss to redshirting NCSU freshman Jakob Camacho Jan. 1) — he'll take on No. 3 seed Spencer Lee of Iowa (18-3).
Normally, going from having to face the 2 seed in the round two (as he would have from the 15 slot) to the three is good. However, in this case although the 2 seed is undefeated this season, Fausz beat him 9-5 in the dual against Oklahoma State last January, and the 3 seed is the defending national champion.
Playing the bracket out with higher seeds prevailing, Fausz could expect to see No. 20 Gabe Townsell of Stanford (18-10) after dropping to the consolation bracket. That's clearly a winnable match Friday morning, and then he'd likely get No. 11 seed Travis Piotrowski of Illinois (20-10). A win there would put Fausz in the blood round, where a win earns a wrestler All-America honors by way of guaranteeing a top-8 finish and a loss ends his run one painful loss shy of the podium.
133-pound redshirt sophomore Tariq Wilson (14-3 record, 11 seed)
Wilson's 11 seed might make fans do a double-take, considering he placed third nationally last year (after placing fourth in the ACC two weeks prior, welcome to the craziness that is the college wrestling postseason). However, 133 is just a loaded weight class, and perhaps one of the most wide-open ones in the country. There could be double-digit wrestlers with a chance to win NCAAs at 133.
From the 11 seed line, Wilson draws 22nd-seeded Noah Gosner of Campbell (20-8) round one. If he wins that, he's likely to face sixth-seeded Ethan Lizak of Minnesota (28-5), a two-time All-American and former NCAA finalist at 125 who is now a fifth-year senior in his first year at 133. It's no easy draw, but last year Wilson's magical run included wins over wrestlers seeded third, fourth and fifth, while he took the one seed and eventual national to overtime before losing a wild one.
141-pound fifth-year senior Jamel Morris (22-3, 14 seed)
Morris stepped into the starting lineup for twin brother Jamal in mid-January and has since gone 7-0 in his first opportunity as a full-time starter. The former 125-pounder earned the No. 1 seed at last weekend's ACC Championships and won the gold medal in a weight class that featured five NCAA qualifiers.
He draws the 14 seed, but is significantly higher than the ACC's other four NCAA qualifiers, who are all seeded between 21-26. Round one pits Morris against Old Dominion's 19th-seeded Sa'Derian Perry (23-8), an All-American last season who lost earlier this year to twin Jamal Morris, 6-2. Jamel will try to duplicate his brother's success in the opening round of NCAAs, to likely give him a shot at No. 3 seed Nick Lee of Penn State (27-2).
149-pound fifth-year senior Justin Oliver (18-5, 9 seed)
2019 will mark the third time Oliver has been the nine seed at the NCAA Championships.
One of those prior two instances was in 2016, when Oliver, as a redshirt freshman at Central Michigan, placed seventh for his first, and only so far, All-America honor. He's lost in the blood round (one win shy of All-America honors) the last two years . He starts his final opportunity in a familiar place where he's had success before.
Oliver draws 24 seed Cortlandt Schuyler of Lehigh (14-9) in round one, and likely eighth-seeded Jarrett Degen of Iowa State (25-6) after that if he wins.
157-pound redshirt sophomore Hayden Hidlay (20-2, 5 seed)
We've talked about Hidlay's seed above, so let's focus on the probable matchups. He gets 28 seed Hunter Willis of Oregon State (19-8) in round one, followed by the winner of the 21 seed Justin Thomas of Oklahoma (21-9) and Pitt's Taleb Rahmani (16-6), the 12 seed. Hidlay has beaten Rahmani twice already this year (including 8-2 in the most recent meeting) and is 5-0 against him the last two years. However Rahmani has kept it close a few times, including an overtime match.
If the seeds play out, Hidlay will draw fourth-seeded Pantaleo of Michigan in the quarterfinals. That was an NCAA semifinal matchup last year, with Hidlay prevailing 10-2. Nolf, the defending two-time champion, would be likely to follow in the semifinals.
165-pound redshirt sophomore Thomas Bullard (20-8, 16 seed)
The ACC runner-up draws 17 seed Jonathan Viruet of Brown (31-8) in round one, a wrestler he defeated by a 17- 5 major decision in the dual meet. He'd be likely to face No. 1 seed Alex Marinelli of Iowa (23-0) in round two. A loss there would drop him to the consolations of the double-elimination bracket.
However, a win in round one is crucial. If Bullard were to lose his first bout, he'd be likely to face the loser of the No. 1 seed Alex Marinelli of Iowa (23-0) vs. No. 33 seed Joseph Smith of Oklahoma State, who is 18-6 on the year but is a two-time All-American. Smith is likely to be the toughest competitor to fall into the first round of consolations.
174-pound redshirt sophomore Daniel Bullard (20-9, 23 seed)
It's a rematch from the regular season in round one, where Bullard will face No. 10 seed Mikey Labriola of Nebraska (26-6), to whom he lost to 13-4 in December. Depending upon if he wins/loses he will face the winner/loser of No. 7 Jacobe Smith of Oklahoma State (27-3) vs. No. 26 Drew Hughes of Michigan State (26-13).
Bullard lost to Smith twice last year, but took him to overtime in an NCAA elimination match before falling 6-4.
184-pound redshirt sophomore Nick Reenan (15-4, 7 seed)
The redshirt sophomore has battled injuries throughout the season, but proved last summer he is always dangerous by losing the starting Team USA spot for the World Championships to the eventual world champion.
Reenan will take on the 26 seed Dakota Geer of Oklahoma State (25-5) in round one, and likely the 10 seed after that, Iowa State's Samuel Colbray (26-6). The likely quarterfinal match if he wins both of those would be against second-seeded Shakur Rasheed of Penn State (18-0).
If the seeds play out, there's a high likelihood that if Reenan lost to Rasheed, he would eventually draw No. 13 seed Nino Bonaccorsi of Pitt in the consolations. Reenan and Bonaccorsi have met twice already this season — the Feb. 10 dual against the Panthers, an 8-0 major decision for the Pitt standout, and at the ACC Championships, a 10-3 defeat for the Pack grappler.
197-pound fifth-year senior Malik McDonald (18-9, 13 seed)
McDonald looked the best of his career at the ACC Championships en route to his gold medal from the 3 seed position. He had a pair of wins over wrestlers who are still seeded in the top 10 for NCAAs despite the recent losses.
In the first round, the Hope Mills, N.C., native — the only North Carolina product in the Pack's starting lineup and one of just four from the state who qualified for NCAAs overall — will face 20th-seeded Noah Adams of West Virginia (18-13), whom he beat 12-6 in the regular season. In round two, a victorious McDonald would be likely to face fourth-seeded Patrick Brucki of Princeton (29-1).
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