Sports Blog — February 7, 2010
Oklahoma tops Missouri wrestling
As part of the 2010 Beauty and the Beast Event at the Hearnes Center, the Missouri wrestling team lost to No. 9 Oklahoma 25-10. The Tigers three seniors (Mark Ellis, Max Askren and Nick Marable) were the only wrestlers to win their matches against Oklahoma. All three will face top ten opponents Sunday afternoon in a duel with Oklahoma State.
The match started at heavyweight where No. 8 Ellis needed overtime to defeat No. 12 redshirt junior Nathan Fernandez. Ellis had been battling some illness coming into the match.
“I was just glad to get a match that was a long full match to hopefully sweat some of this stuff out of me so that I feel better for tomorrow,” Ellis said.
Ellis will face No. 1 senior Jared Rosholt Sunday when Missouri takes on Oklahoma State.
“I’ll be fine tomorrow,” Ellis said. “I plan on winning this thing tomorrow.”
The best losing effort for the Tigers came from No. 19 junior Todd Schavrien at 141 pounds, who lost 3-0 to No. 3 redshirt junior Zack Bailey. Bailey was not able to score a takedown against Schavrien, with his points coming off of an escape, stalling penalty and riding time bonus.
“I thought Schavrien wrestled pretty well,” coach Brian Smith said. “He’s in it to win it, but you got to get a takedown.”
The biggest disappointment for the Tigers came at 125 pounds and 133 pounds. At 125 pounds, freshman Eric Wilson lost a major decision to No. 19 freshman Jarrod Patterson, and at 133, redshirt freshman Nathan McCormick suffered a near fall at the hands of unranked freshman Kendric Maple.
“Our lighter weights just aren’t very good right now,” Smith said.
Another big loss for the Tigers came at 157 pounds where sophomore Patrick Wright lost 5-2 to redshirt senior Chad Terry. The score was tied at two with less than a minute left in the match, and the loss put Missouri in a huge hole down 19-3.
Missouri will face Oklahoma State Sunday at 1 p.m. in its last home match of the season, and the seniors will be recognized before the match. Oklahoma State and Oklahoma tied when they met earlier this season.
Ellis was optimistic about the dual tomorrow, remembering that Missouri was able to upset Iowa State after a tough match the previous day against Central Michigan last season.
“We just got to go out and wrestle tomorrow,” Ellis said. “I believe our guys will be ready.”
Maneater Bracketology: Missouri a No. 9 seed
Despite a blowout win at Colorado on Saturday, Missouri drops two seeds this week, in part because of their home win streak ending at the hands of Texas A&M, which rose to a 7-seed this week.
Overall, I have seven Big 12 teams, which is becoming a pretty standard count. Kansas is the overall No. 1 seed and Kansas State is a 2-seed. Texas, since becoming the overall No. 1, has lost four games and falls to a 3-seed. Baylor is an 8-seed, and Oklahoma State holds onto a bid at No. 11.
A couple movers and shakers: Watch out for Mountain West-leading UNLV (a 4-seed this week) and Atlantic-10-leading Charlotte (a No. 7), while Clemson and Ole Miss are both falling.
And before I get to this week's bracket, here's my Final Four countdown. For an explanation of that, see last week's post. Three teams have stood out as tournament contenders: Kansas, Michigan State and Kentucky. Then I have a bunch of teams I've put in my Final Four just once: Texas, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Villanova, Syracuse and BYU.
Here's the bracket:
MIDWEST (St. Louis)
Oklahoma City: 1. Kansas vs. 16. Arkansas State/Jackson State; 8. UAB vs. 9. California
Providence: 4. Tennessee vs. 13. Northeastern; 5. New Mexico vs. 12. Marquette
Spokane: 3. Purdue vs. 14. Pacific; 6. Butler vs. 11. Utah State
Providence: 2. Georgetown vs. 15. Lehigh; 7. Charlotte vs. 10. Siena
SOUTH (Houston)
Oklahoma City: 1. Syracuse vs. 16. Robert Morris; 8. Baylor vs. 9. Clemson
Spokane: 4. Pittsburgh vs. 13. UTEP; 5. Gonzaga vs. 12. Wichita State
New Orleans: 3. Michigan State vs. 14. Oakland; 6. Vanderbilt vs. 11. Maryland
Milwaukee: 2. Kansas State vs. 15. Morgan State; 7. Rhode Island vs. 10. Louisville
EAST (Syracuse)
New Orleans: 1. Kentucky vs. 16. Jacksonville; 8. Florida State vs. 9. Cornell
San Jose: 4. BYU vs. 13. Kent State; 5. Wake Forest vs. 12. Old Dominion
Buffalo: 3. Wisconsin vs. 14. Murray State; 6. Temple vs. 11. Oklahoma State
Jacksonville: 2. Duke vs. 15. Coastal Carolina; 7. Texas A&M vs. 10. Richmond
WEST (Salt Lake City)
Buffalo: 1. Villanova vs. 16. Stony Brook; 8. St. Mary's vs. 9. Missouri
San Jose: 4. UNLV vs. 13. Sam Houston State; 5. Northern Iowa vs. 12. Connecticut
Jacksonville: 3. Texas vs. 14. Charleston; 6. Ohio State vs. 11. Ole Miss
Milwaukee: 2. West Virginia vs. 15. Weber State; 7. Georgia Tech vs. 10. Illinois