We are coming into the final weight of are NCAA previews, so let’s hop into 285 lbs.
Conference Championship Predictions
Big Ten – Gable Steveson (Minnesota)
ACC – Nathan Traxler (Virginia Tech)
Big 12 – Zach Elam (Missouri)
PAC-12 – Cohlton Schultz (Arizona St)
EIWA – Jordan Wood (Lehigh)
MAC – Matt Stencel (Central Michigan)
SoCon – Michael McAleavey (The Citadel)
All-American Predictions
- Gable Steveson (Minnesota)
- Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State)
- Mason Parris (Michigan)
- Anthony Cassioppi (Iowa)
- Jordan Wood (Lehigh)
- Zach Elam (Missouri)
- Matt Stencel (Central Michigan)
- Cohlton Schultz (Arizona St)
Round of 12
- Yaraslau Slavilouski (Harvard)
- Lucas Davison (Northwestern)
- Trent Hillger (Wisconsin)
- Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force)
Gable Steveson
Steveson is the undisputed, best heavyweight wrestler at the moment, and some could argue of all-time even over Kyle Snyder’s dominant run a couple years ago. I think the true battle of this weight is between 3 Big Ten wrestlers and that is Kerkvliet, Parris, and Cassioppi. I think this will be a 4-way Big Ten NCAA Semi-Finals at heavyweight as well so that kind of points to how special Gable Steveson has been. I think last season I had a little doubt of Steveson because I thought Parris had the opportunity to beat him at least once last season, but Steveson proved that wrong. I think Steveson will see Kerkvliet in the Finals as a full year of wrestling for Kerkvliet will pay off for him, but Steveson pulls off this NCAA Final in a somewhat close match by what the scoreboard says, but if you watch it, it will not be that close.
Round of 12
Matchups
- Zach Elam vs Yaraslau Slavilouski
- Matt Stencel vs Lucas Davison
- Cohlton Schultz vs Trent Hillger
- Jordan Wood vs Wyatt Hendrickson
So, in the first blood round matchup, we will see Elam vs Slavilouski. Elam will drop from the Quarterfinals and Slavilouski from the Second Round. This will be a closer matchup than some might think, but I will go with Elam in a tight one. Next up is Stencel vs Davison. Stencel will drop from the Quarterfinals and Davison is going to suffer an early round loss. I have Stencel in this matchup, pulling away late.
Now for the other set of blood round matchups as I have Schultz vs Hillger. Schultz will suffer a Quarterfinal loss and Hillger with suffer a Second Round loss. I have Schultz in this one, fairly easily actually. The final blood round matchup will go to Wood vs Hendrickson. Wood will suffer a Quarterfinal defeat and Hendrickson will lose, most likely in the Second Round. I have Wood pulling off the win in this one, but it will be tough as Hendrickson is very talented.
All-Americans
So, we will see Elam vs Stencel and Schultz vs Wood for the chance to wrestle in the Consi-Semi’s. I have Elam over Stencel and Wood over Schultz in a close one. That sets up Consi-Semi matchups with two Big Ten hammers, Cassioppi and Parris and they will move on. For seventh we will see Stencel vs Schultz in an interesting matchup. I have Stencel over Schultz in a close one. For fifth we would see Wood vs Elam and I like Wood to cap off the season with a fifth place finish. For third, we have a massive matchup between Parris vs Cassioppi and this will be a fun one. I think Parris will pull this match out late and take third over Cassioppi.
Wrap-Up
At 285 lbs., this is Gable Steveson’s world and everybody else is living in it. I think this is the best crop of heavyweights we have seen in a long time at this weight and Steveson is still multiple steps above them. This is a Big Ten heavy weight and I think this is the deepest the Big Ten is at a single weight. I pick Kerkvliet over Parris and Cassioppi in NCAA’s because I think Kerkvliet is going to jump in talent level this season. With a full regular season and the chance to feel out and possibly beat Parris and Cassioppi during the season, I think it will provide him with a better gameplan than he had last year at the NCAA Championships. The other conferences are not as deep and will probably have to rely on their conference champions to medal, which shows how deep the Big Ten is.