As I write this, the Bobcats are inside the arena at Northern Illinois, probably waiting for the national anthem to start. In a couple hours, the last MAC Championships Erik Schuth and Germane Lindsey will ever compete in will begin.
Yesterday, the tournament brackets were released (click the word "brackets" for link). Why does this matter? It impacts guys that are on the fringe of making the NCAA Championships.
Gabe Ramos, for example, is the second-seeded wrestler at 125 pounds. That means he gets a first-round bye. In the second round he'll face either Christian Cullinan of CMU or Jared Germaine from EMU. Ramos beat both those guys during the regular season, the former being an important pin in Ohio's biggest win of the season.
Neither Cullinan or Germaine were ranked in the final coaches panel rankings (Ramos was 32nd), so Ramos should be able to get by them and face KSU's Nicholas Bedelyon in the finals. Bedelyon is good. He beat Ramos when Ohio lost to the Golden Flashes. But as long as Ramos gets in the finals, coach Joel Greenlee said he'll probably earn an at-large bid.
There weren't many surprises at the other weights. Lindsey and redshirt junior Nick Purdue were Ohio's only top seeds. Schuth was Ohio's only other second seed, so he'll also get a bye.
Elsewhere, redshirt freshman Jeremy Johnson and freshman Brad Squire were third seeds. For Johnson, the good news is that he won't have to face CMU's Jarod Trice, who was ranked second in the nation on Intermat, in the second round. The bad news is he will have to face KSU's Brandon Barlow, who also beat Johnson this season. But again, as long as Johnson finishes in the top-four, he's going to Nationals.
Squire's weight is a different story. 149 pounds was allotted only one automatic bid to Nationals, so he would technically have to win the tournament to get one. But, again, Greenlee said the second-place finisher will probably get an at-large bid. Also, don't sleep on Squire. He was held out of several matches this season with a concussion, but that doesn't mean he isn't good. In fact, Greenlee and Purdue have both told me on separate occasions that Squire is one of the best yound talents on the team. Purdue said he was good enough to win a MAC title. We'll see how that goes.
That's about all I got in terms of analysis. Ohio's only other seeded wrestler was redshirt freshman Ryan Garringer (fourth at 184 pounds). The Bobcats appear to finally be healthy. Redshirt sophomore Chris Kline got the nod at 157, which is interesting because Casey Gordon's done a pretty good job there while he's been injured. Gordon won a crucial four-OT decision against CMU.
Anyway, we'll see today how the Bobcats do. I won't be able to watch it, because Northern Illinois' athletics website wants me to pay money to watch the webcast, but I'll post Twitter updates as I get news (@NMaund).
