Amid a tumultuous time for the program, the Fighting Illini wrestling team heads to State College this weekend for the Big Ten Championships.
Illinois’ fifth-place finish at the event last year was its best since 2013, but they may be able to improve on that result. More importantly (to me anyway), Lucas Byrd has a chance to make it three years in a row with an individual Big Ten champion wearing orange and blue.
Byrd enters the contest as the defending Big Ten and NCAA champion as well as InterMat’s
top ranked wrestler at 133 lbs, but due to new seeding rules Penn State freshman Marcus Blaze earned the #1 seed. Byrd settles for the 2 seed. The two did not wrestle this season and therefore both sport the only undefeated records in the Big Ten at this weight class. They’ll likely meet in the finals.
Spencer Moore (125lb) also received a 2-seed at his weight despite his 14-6 record. I don’t completely understand the new seeding rules if I’m honest.
Here’s a complete list of where the Illini are seeded, along with their record and national ranking per InterMat:
125: (2) Spencer Moore (14-6, #15)
133: (2) Lucas Byrd (17-0, #1)
141: (12) Danny Pucino (5-4, #23)
149: (9) Michael Gioffre (14-7, #29)
157: (3) Kannon Webster (16-3, #9)
165: (6) Braeden Scoles (14-6, #8)
174: (9) Colin Kelly (15-6, #24)
184: (5) Chris Moore (14-8, #17)
197: (12) Dylan Connell (6-9, unranked)
285: (6) Luke Luffman (12-4, #15)
The national championship seed allocations by conference tournament have also been published by the NCAA, which indicate how many wrestlers will qualify for nationals from each conference by weight class. The Big Ten has the following seed allocations:
125: 9
133: 8
141: 7
149: 9
157: 8
165: 9
174: 10
184: 8
197: 10
285: 9
Comparing Illinois’ seeds to the seed allocations, if the tournament results are all chalk then eight Illini will qualify for the NCAA championships. Connell and Pucino are on the outside looking in, but Pucino has a longer way to go as a 12 seed at a weight where only the top 7 finishers qualify.
87 seed allocations went to the Big Ten this year, which is the most among conferences. The Big 12 had 63 and the ACC had 39. This is yet another metric that shows how dominant Big Ten wrestling is.
A fourth-place finish would match 2012’s result, while a runner-up finish would be their first since 2009. They last won the event in 2005.
They will not win the event this year. Penn State is the kind of prohibitive favorite that just doesn’t exist in mainstream sports like men’s basketball.
