@mattheinrix Okay, Matt. You said, “I think it’s fair to assume a lot of the guys who forfeited weren’t legitimately hurt” and “it’s not very prestigious if you don’t want to compete for it”. Those look like direct attacks at the wrestlers. Sorry for reading into and twisting your words ✌🏼
@mattheinrix I don’t understand the point you’re trying to make. A conference tournament has never been, and will never be, more valuable than a national tournament.
Injuries happen. A lot of ppl are questioning the toughness. It’s not a good look for the sport. I’m going to defend the sport
@mattheinrix You’ve insinuated it by using the word want and the statement about assuming these guys aren’t actually injured. We are talking about injured athletes. Wrestling injured, and risking further injury, for the fans approval, is not how you grow the sport.
@mattheinrix Holy cow. You don’t think these guys wanted to compete!?!
Nobody questions the toughness of athletes of other sports when they sit out when they’re injured. Now we have people questioning the toughness of some of the toughest athletes on the planet. “Fans” must know more!!!✌🏼
@mattheinrix Of course it’s more than JUST a qualifier. It might be the toughest conference tournament across all NCAA athletics. There’s individual champions awarded and a team champ awarded; both are very prestigious. However, being healthy and winning a National Title is the ultimate goal.
@mattheinrix Eierman’s and Cass’s seed would have had little, if any, impact if they wrestled and lost. They’ve already lost and both guys are consensus no. 1’s. They weren’t trying to protect their seed, but their health. They likely would’ve done the same thing if it was counted as an L.
@mattheinrix Bad take. Every other sports conference tournament is a qualifier for the NCAA Championship. Gable referred to it as a qualifier in the 80s and 90s. You only notice injured guys in wrestling because you can’t put a backup in.
I agree they need to look into counting MFF’s as L’s.
@mattheinrix Why risk missing your shot because of a meaningless qualifying match?
That being said, there are too many MFF’s.
Maybe time to look into some of these scramble positions and implement more potentially dangerous calls to keep these athletes healthy. Or MFF’s count as L’s. My 2¢
@mattheinrix I don’t think it’s fair to assume a lot of these guys weren’t/aren’t seriously injured. I think that’s where a lot of these problems are stemming. Wrestlers are a different breed, as we’ve seen with Lee. They will wrestle through anything for a shot to become a National Champ.