B1G Wrestling Chamiponships Pre-Seeds: Where are Nittany Lions?

Let me set the scene for Penn State Wrestling:

The 2021 B1G regular season came to a close on the night of Monday, February 22nd as Purdue put the finishing touches on IU in a 38-3 victory. It would be a long 12 days until any B1G wrestlers had the opportunity to toe the line at the upcoming B1G Championships on March 6th.

No one:…
B1G: Hey, does anyone want some preliminary seedings? They don’t mean anything because the final pairings won’t be out until later on Friday.
Me: Hell yeah!!!

So wrestling fans, here you go – B1G Pre-Seeds

These seedings were announced earlier this afternoon (3/2) and after a quick look, Penn State fans may have some questions.

Starting out at 125, the No. 1 seed is Iowa’s Spencer Lee (no shock). Penn State’s Robbie Howard comes in at No. 11 and his opening round match is tentatively set against Wisconsin’s Eric Barnett in a 6/11 match up.

Roman Bravo-Young headlines the 133 group as the No. 1 seed, earning a first round bye. His next opponent would be the winner of the 8/9 match which is Ohio State’s Jordan Decatur (RBY trounced him 27-8 earlier) or Purdue’s Jacob Rundell.

No surprises at 141 as Iowa’s Jaydin Eierman locks down the No. 1 seed followed by Penn State’s Nick Lee as the No. 2 seed. As with RBY, Lee will get a first round bye and the pleasure of whoopin’ either Boo Dryden of Minnesota or Kyle Burwick of Wisconsin in their 7/10 match.

Here’s the first bit of a surprise for Nittany Lion fans. After a fantastic start to his Penn State career, Beau Bartlett is awarded a pre-seed of 11…Wait. What? 11? Alright B1G, I see you. This clearly has to change before the final 149 rankings but this puts him in line to tackle Minnesota’s Michael Blockus in a 6/11 matchup.

At 157, Northwestern’s Ryan Deakin is the No. 1 seed and Penn State’s Brady Berge is the No. 5 seed. This simply means Berge will have the opportunity to take Deakin out in the semi-finals before heading to his first every B1G finals

Alex Marinelli of Iowa is the No. 1 seed at 165 and Penn State’s Joe Lee currently sits at No. 6. I personally would like to see this pre-seed stay the same as this would mean Lee would go to the bottom half of the bracket and not have to take on Marinelli in any of the early rounds.

The 174 group comes in right around where everyone was expecting. Iowa’s Michael Kemerer occupies the No. 1 seed and Carter Starocci has the No. 3 seed. This would give Starocci a chance to warm up in his first match as Maryland’s Philip Spadafora sits in the No. 14 spot for the 3/14 opening match.

Aaron Brooks leads the pack at 184 as he comes in as the No. 1 seed. He could potentially face Illinois’ Zach Braunagel or Iowa’s Nelson Brands in the second round.

Nebraska’s Eric Schultz is the king of the hill at 197 and Penn State’s Michael Beard is slotted as the No. 7 seed. This pits him against Billy Janzer of Rutgers in an opening 7/10 match up.

And last but not least, we have the heavyweight class. Clearly the B1G is going to come to their senses and put Greg Kerkvliet among the top 4, right? Nope. Kerkvliet got an open-handed slap across the face when they pre-seeded him at No. 7. Really? I have a feeling Kerkvliet is hearing the immortal words of Jake Taylor in his head right now. “There’s only one thing to do now. Win the whole f-in’ thing.” Exactly.