B1G Wrestling Championship: Predicting winners for each weight class

STATE COLLEGE, PA - FEBRUARY 5: A view of the crowd in the arena during a match between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Ohio State Buckeyes on February 5, 2016 at Recreation Hall on the campus of Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania. Penn State won 24-14. (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images)
STATE COLLEGE, PA - FEBRUARY 5: A view of the crowd in the arena during a match between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Ohio State Buckeyes on February 5, 2016 at Recreation Hall on the campus of Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania. Penn State won 24-14. (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images)
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Nebraska’s Eric Schultz, middle, reaches out for a handshake from Iowa’s Jacob Warner after their match at 197 pounds during a NCAA Big Ten Conference wrestling dual, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.210115 Neb Iowa Wr 035 Jpg
Nebraska’s Eric Schultz, middle, reaches out for a handshake from Iowa’s Jacob Warner after their match at 197 pounds during a NCAA Big Ten Conference wrestling dual, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.210115 Neb Iowa Wr 035 Jpg

197

197 B1G Pre-Seeds
1. Eric Schultz, Nebraska
2. Myles Amine, Michigan
3. Jacob Warner, Iowa
4. Cam Caffey, Michigan State
5. Lucas Davison, Northwestern
6. Thomas Penola, Purdue
7. Michael Beard, Penn State
8. Matt Wroblewski, Illinois
9. Gavin Hoffman, Ohio State
10. Billy Janzer, Rutgers
11. Garrett Joles, Minnesota
12. Jaron Smith, Maryland
13. Nick Willham, Indiana
14. Andrew Salemme, Wisconsin

The winner of this bracket is going to come from one of the top three pre-seeds. Schultz and Warner squared off back on January 15th where Schultz was able to earn the close 3-2 decision.

Unfortunately, Amine did not get a chance to wrestle either Warner or Schultz. The top opponents he did face in the regular season were Caffey (Amine won via decision 11-6) and Beard (Amine won via decision 8-5).

Of the top three guys, Amine is the most decorated as he has national finishes of 4th (2017) and 3rd twice (2018-2019). However this was at 174, so clearly Myles took a page out of my playbook and “strategically” put on 20+ pounds in two years*. But so far this year he looks every bit of the wrestler he was at 174.

Based on this I’m going to predict a Schultz/Amine final and an individual title for Michigan’s Myles Amine at 197. But I’m not certain.

* – you know, for the gAiNs