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NCAA Wrestling Championships: Penn State Wrestling’s paths to titles

By Chris Snyder

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 19: Nico Megaludis (L), Zain Retherford (C) and Morgan McIntosh of the Penn State Nittany Lions pose with the first place team trophy after the finals of the NCAA Wrestling Championships on March 19, 2016 at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 19: Nico Megaludis (L), Zain Retherford (C) and Morgan McIntosh of the Penn State Nittany Lions pose with the first place team trophy after the finals of the NCAA Wrestling Championships on March 19, 2016 at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images) /
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Head coach Cael Sanderson of the Penn State Nittany Lions  (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images) /

165

No. 23 Joe Lee

To say Joe had an up and down B1G Championship two weeks ago is a bit of an understatement.

I think most Penn State Wrestling fans will say they are just happy he qualified for the NCAA Championships. Lee’s reward for this? An opening round matchup against Oklahoma State’s No. 10 Travis Wittlake who I have as my sleeper pick in the 165 bracket.

This isn’t a great draw for Lee, however beggers can’t be choosers. And I’m going to peel off several items of my PSU gear and say Lee does end up losing his opening match. Which isn’t all bad news as his next match would potentially be the fighting Scrappy Moc’s No. 26 Andrew Nicholson of Chattanooga.

If Lee can get by Nicholson, NIU’s No. 18 Izzak Olejnik would potentially be next in another favorable matchup.

The bottom line for Joe Lee is for one reason or another, his 2021 season has been plagued by inconsistency. Whether it’s a lack of experience or a nagging injury or something else, I simply don’t know.

Either way, his absolute ceiling for this year’s NCAA’s is a spot in the 7th place match. And he will most likely have to get lucky with a couple of other matchups in the wrestlebacks for this to happen.

Lee has the potential, he just needs more time and more matches.

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