The Tigers are bringing six qualifiers to Philadelphia, their fewest since 2010. They’re projected to finish 17th with seeds, almost entirely from Keegan O’Toole. Of their six qualifiers, three of them are in the 30’s. Cam Steed has a top ten seed, but has a tough draw to make the podium. O’Toole is the top seed at 174, but has one of the tougher quadrants at the weight. If the Tigers can put a handful of wins in consolations and get O’Toole and Steed onto the podium they could still push for a top 15 spot.
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133lbs: #31 Kade Moore (12-17)
- Round 1: #2 Drake Ayala, Iowa (16-2)
A stellar Big 12 tournament wasn’t enough to bump Moore’s seed up too high, as he draws the #2 seed in the first round. Ayala is a redshirt junior and now a three-time NCAA qualifier. Last season he was an NCAA runner-up at 125lbs and was a favorite at 133 for most of this season before a runner-up finish at Big 10’s. He’s great in all three positions and has a great slideby. Moore has shown he can hang with the best of them and could certainly make this match interesting, but I have him dropping this one.
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In consolations he’ll either see #15 Anthony Noto (Lock Haven) or a rematch with #18 Julian Farber (Northern Iowa). Farber is now a two-time qualifier and just beat Moore 10-6 for 3rd at Big 12’s. His positional wrestling gave Moore’s wide open style difficulty, and I think that’s a tough matchup. Farber vs Noto is likely to be low scoring, and is a true tossup.
Noto is a two-time All-American at 125 in his first year at 133. He’s an interesting prospect as he had a lot of early season losses to ranked wrestlers but won his last seven and the MAC tournament. He also losses to #27 Ethan Berginc (Army), #25 Kurt Phipps (Bucknell), and non-qualifier Osmany Diversent (Iowa State). He’s a gritty wrestler that can get hot in a match but also struggle in scrambles at times. I think Moore could potentially make this one interesting if he scores first but can’t fall into an early hole.
I don’t have high expectations for Moore given his seed and matchups, but I didn’t at Big 12’s either. He still struggles with consistency match to match, but certainly has the upside to make something happen.
141lbs: #23 Josh Edmond (13-10)
- Round 1: #10 CJ Composto, Penn (23-3)
Edmond’s potential seed tanked after an 0-2 showing at Big 12’s but he has an interesting first round matchup. He’ll see 2022 All-American Composto, who won the Ivy League conference and Midlands this season. The reason this match is interesting is because Edmond actually beat Composto 11-5 in the consolations of NCAA’s last season.