Missouri will be a heavy favorite to win the MACC Wrestling Tourney next Sunday in Buffalo. The Tigers, who left the Big XII, are making their debut in their new league.

While they are moving over from what has been considered a power conference, that's not the reason why they are favored. Rather, Mizzou has springboarded off of last year's Big XII championship to a #4 national ranking.

Central Michigan, champions of the last 11 MACCs, won't be quick to concede the trophy. One of the highlights of the #11 Chippewas season was an upset victory against Missouri in Columbia. But it will take a herculean effort to pull it off again.

The MACC, like all the other league championship tourneys, carry with it the opportunity for wrestlers to qualify to participate in the NCAA Championships. Regular season results determine the number of automatic qualifiers (AQs) for each league, with each weight class assigned 29 AQs. The MAC earned 30 spots this year, whose distribution across the weight classes will be described below. A wrestler who doesn't AQ has a chance for one of four at-large berths in his weight class. They tend to be hard to get because a few highly ranked wrestlers inevitably fail to AQ and take up those spots.

Without further ado, here's how the MAC shakes out by wrestlers nationally ranked by weight class, with particular attention placed on the prospects of each CMU wrestler to gain an NCAA berth.

• 125 – 4 (AQs) Alan Waters, Missouri (Ranked #1 in Coaches Poll & #1 RPI); Christian Cullinan, Central Michigan (#9/#9); Steve Mitcheff, Kent State (#26/#30); Jared Germaine, Eastern Michigan (#27/#33). Cullinan is basically a lock.

• 133 – 3 (AQs) Nathan McCormick, Missouri (#5/#2); Scotti Sentes, Central Michigan (#8/#12); Levi Wolfensperger, Northern Iowa (#10/#14); Mackenzie McGuire, Kent State (#27/#31). Sentes is also a lock.

• 141 – 1 (AQs) Joey Lazor, Northern Iowa (#13/#17); Nicholas Hucke, Missouri (#32/#26); Kevin Fanta, Northern Illinois (#30/unr); Scott Mattingly, Central Michigan (#33/unr). With Hucke just missing out on a 2nd AQ for the MAC, Mattingly is in a very tough spot. He has lost to Fanta and has not wrestled the others. He needs to be the runner-up in order to gain a serious look from the at-large selection committee.

• 149 – 2 (AQs) Drake Houdashelt, Missouri (#12/#12); Donnie Corby, Central Michigan (#23/#33); Bart Reiter, Northern Iowa(#27/unr); Andrew Romanchik, Ohio (unr/#24). Corby is on the bubble if he doesn't secure an AQ. MAC just missed out on a 3rd automatic slot, which would have made the path easier for him.

• 157 – 3 (AQs) Kyle Bradley, Missouri (#15/#24); David Bonin, Northern Iowa (#21/unr); Luke Smith, Central Michigan (#29/#28); Spartak Chino, Ohio (#31/#33); Aaron Sulzer, Eastern Michigan (#29/unr). Smith is in the same situation as Corby, with a deep list of good wrestlers vying for the 3 AQs.

• 165 – 2 (AQs) Mark Lewandowski, Buffalo (#14/#8); Zach Toal, Missouri (#16/#18); Mike Ottinger, Central Michigan(#24/unr); Caleb Marsh, Kent State (#33/#31). The MAC really received the short end of the stick with only 2 AQs. It is beyond me how Ottinger, who wrestled one of the toughest schedules in the country, didn't make the Top 33 in the RPI. He beat both Lewandowski and Toal this year, didn't wrestle Marsh, and lost to Ohio U's Harrison Hightower, who's 22-14 record (with an incredible 13 pins) makes one wonder why the Bobcat isn't ranked in either poll.

• 174 – 5 (AQs) Todd Porter, Missouri (#10/#10); Cody Walters, Ohio (#17/#13); John-Martin Cannon, Buffalo (#18/unr); Craig Kelliher, Central Michigan (#23/#22); Sam Wheeler, Kent State (#25/#23); Cody Caldwell, Northern Iowa (#23/#28). Here's the deepest weight class of the MAC, whereby a 6th AQ would have been earned except two leagues without ranked wrestlers still gets a berth for the champion. Kelliher looks safe for the NCAAs, unless he totally bombs out.

• 184 – 4 (AQs) Ben Bennett, Central Michigan(#2/#11); Ryan Loder, Northern Iowa (#6/#3); Mike Larson, Missouri (#12/#9); Casey Newburg, Kent State (#15/#12); Phillip Joseph, Eastern Michigan (#31/#32). Bennett is a master lock.

• 197 – 3 (AQs) Dustin Kilgore, Kent State (#1/#2); Brent Haynes, Missouri (#12/#11); Nick Whitenburg, Eastern Michigan (#28/#12); Phillip Wellington, Ohio (unr/#19). Only chance for CMU's Jackson Lewis is to upset a couple of ranked wrestlers to earn one of the coveted AQs.

• 285 – 3 (AQs) Dom Bradley, Missouri(#2/#3); Jarod Trice, Central Michigan(#6/#12); Jeremy Johnson, Ohio (#16/#15). Trice is all but a lock.

I'm not sure about the internet coverage of the event. I suggest periodically checking either the MAC-sports.com website or Buffalo's (http://www.buffalobulls.com/sports/wrest/index).

(03-03-2013 12:00 PM)Okie Chippewa Wrote:  Missouri will be a heavy favorite to win the MACC Wrestling Tourney next Sunday in Buffalo. The Tigers, who left the Big XII, are making their debut in their new league.

While they are moving over from what has been considered a power conference, that's not the reason why they are favored. Rather, Mizzou has springboarded off of last year's Big XII championship to a #4 national ranking.

Central Michigan, champions of the last 11 MACCs, won't be quick to concede the trophy. One of the highlights of the #11 Chippewas season was an upset victory against Missouri in Columbia. But it will take a herculean effort to pull it off again.

The MACC, like all the other league championship tourneys, carry with it the opportunity for wrestlers to qualify to participate in the NCAA Championships. Regular season results determine the number of automatic qualifiers (AQs) for each league, with each weight class assigned 29 AQs. The MAC earned 30 spots this year, whose distribution across the weight classes will be described below. A wrestler who doesn't AQ has a chance for one of four at-large berths in his weight class. They tend to be hard to get because a few highly ranked wrestlers inevitably fail to AQ and take up those spots.

Without further ado, here's how the MAC shakes out by wrestlers nationally ranked by weight class, with particular attention placed on the prospects of each CMU wrestler to gain an NCAA berth.

I waited to respond until after I finished watching the CMU v Mich St match I had on DVR. CMU won 28-10.

I wanted to see how CMU performed there as I'd never seen them before. They lost at HWT, but still dominated.

Quote:• 125 – 4 (AQs) Alan Waters, Missouri (Ranked #1 in Coaches Poll & #1 RPI); Christian Cullinan, Central Michigan (#9/#9); Steve Mitcheff, Kent State (#26/#30); Jared Germaine, Eastern Michigan (#27/#33). Cullinan is basically a lock.

I didn't realize Waters had a win over McDonough. McDonough has hit a bit of a losing streak. 125 lbs is going to be fierce in the NCAA tourney.

Quote:• 133 – 3 (AQs) Nathan McCormick, Missouri (#5/#2); Scotti Sentes, Central Michigan (#8/#12); Levi Wolfensperger, Northern Iowa (#10/#14); Mackenzie McGuire, Kent State (#27/#31). Sentes is also a lock.

Sentes looked good when I saw him, but he didn't get to the MAC championship match (Wlfensperger took 2nd).

Quote:• 285 – 3 (AQs) Dom Bradley, Missouri(#2/#3); Jarod Trice, Central Michigan(#6/#12); Jeremy Johnson, Ohio (#16/#15). Trice is all but a lock.

I suspect Trice will go after finishing #2.

Basically Mizzou came in stacked this year, best team they've had in a long time. They beat #1 ranked Iowa to take 3rd place in the Duals championships.

Great time to get Okla St, Okla, and ISU into the conference and make it a major event. Sorry if that's expecting too much foresight by the MAC.

Actually, several months ago the Oklahoma head coach was quoted as saying he WANTS what's left of the Big XII to JOIN the MAC!!!

(03-13-2013 11:32 AM)Okie Chippewa Wrote:  Actually, several months ago the Oklahoma head coach was quoted as saying he WANTS what's left of the Big XII to JOIN the MAC!!!

I ask what is the delay?

NCAA championships are headed to Okla in 2014. It will be sold out. But why not build on that hype w/ conf championships there?

Adding ISU would give the MAC TWO wrestling teams in Iowa!

You could rotate the championships from Okla, Cleveland, Iowa and Chicago, building solid media attention by having the #2 conference in the nation, w/ a variety of premier programs, generate revenue, build the fan base and improve recruiting.