So, the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships kick off on Thursday in Detroit at Little Caesars Arena. Today I have attempted to provide my predictions for each weight, and individual matchups in the 3 day tournament. I will let the brackets tell the story.

Lets start off with the individual brackets.

125

133

141

149

157

165

174

184

197

285

Now for the team score based off of those predictions above.

This will be one of those photo finish weights that will come down to bonus points and placement on Saturday morning.

What is Key

So the key weights in this tournament for Michigan and Penn State, is 174, 184, and HWT. These weights hold high placement potentials for individual athletes. At 174, Starocci is the 1 seed and the returning champion at the weight. He will have to run into either Hayden Hidlay or Michael Kemerer in the Semi-Finals which could be difficult matches either way. On the other hand Michigan has Massa at the 3 seed and has the potential to make it to Saturday night. He will have to most likely phase Mekhi Lewis in the Semi-Finals which will be a very difficult match to over come.

At 184 Michigan has Myles Amine as the 1 seed and will be the most likely to make it to the finals in his half of the bracket, it is not that strong, even with Bernie Traux and Parker Keckeisen because one of them will have to take the other out of the top side. Penn State has Aaron Brooks as the 2 seed and is the returning NCAA champ at the weight. He will cruise to the Semi-Finals but Trent Hidlay will most likely be waiting for him their. Hidlay was very close in winning that matchup last year in the finals and looks to be 5x better than he was last season. I think if we are going to see Michigan take the team title, this weight will be pivotal. I have Trent Hidlay winning this weight because I am just really high on him and think he can take out both Amine and Brooks. But, I would not be shocked to see the Olympic Bronze medalist take home the title.

At HWT, Penn State has a much improved Greg Kerkvliet. His biggest issue is that Gable Steveson is on the same side of the bracket as he is. So we will see Kerkvliet in the consolations but watch out for Wyatt Hendrickson. I know it does not seem like Hendrickson is a threat, he definitely is and should be a big concern for Penn State and Kerkvliet fans. For Michigan, they have Mason Parris and he might not be his dominant self, and maybe Gable Steveson has broke him, but I think he shows up here. Give me Parris over Schultz all day, I just do not see Schultz beating Parris and Schultz is about to be a premier figure in this weight but Parris is already that. Parris will be on the podium this weekend, the issue is where. If he gets through Schultz I think the Cassioppi/Parris match is a coin flip. If Parris makes it to the finals, Penn State is in trouble.