BTN to cover more wrestling in 2019-2020
Per the BTN website, plans to cover 40% more wrestling this season as well as BTN+ showing an additional 100 matches (between programs, not individual matches). This is great for the sport, and exciting for someone who would love to be able to flip on the TV at random and hopefully catch some high level wrestling.
Michigan is set to enter the season ranked #7 in the nation. Though this lofty ranking still sees them behind a slew of other B1G programs, including Penn State (#1, looking for 9th national title in 10 years), Iowa (#2), OSU (god fucking damnit I hate this school), and Wisconsin (#5). Rounding out the top 25 for other B1G programs are Nebraska (#9, Minnesota (#11), Northwestern (#16), and Illinois (#24).
Attempted link embed:
https://btn.com/2019/10/17/record-breaking-wrestling-coverage-on-btn-in-2019-20/amp/
Have always loved the tidbits of wrestling info I can get from this blog, hoping to be able to catch more UM meets this season to throw up a discussion thread with some regularity.
October 18th, 2019 at 10:11 AM ^
This is good news. Wish they'd cover more mens and womens hockey too. Both are awesome sports at the collegiate level that deserve alot more attention, particularly from a conference station.
October 18th, 2019 at 11:02 AM ^
And don't forget Softball....BTN should be giving a lot more attention to our nationally ranked team than running repeats of "Campus Eats" all the time.
October 18th, 2019 at 10:30 AM ^
Gotta love some good ol’ wrasslin
October 18th, 2019 at 11:27 AM ^
Jumpin' Johnny Defazio agrees. Human interest story: he was also my dad's union representative at Jones and Laughlin Steel in Pittsburgh.
October 18th, 2019 at 10:35 AM ^
Somehow I missed what a good program Wisconsin has. I knew the other Big 10 schools were loaded yet somehow I don't ever remember the badgers having such a lofty ranking.
October 18th, 2019 at 12:15 PM ^
They brought in a new coach last year who has created momentum in recruiting and he also brought a transfer in with him, Seth Gross, who won an NCAA title in 2018 at 133lbs (defeating Michigan's own Stevan Micic in the final). Also a couple carryover guys from the prior staff who are really good (Wick @ 165 and the HWT).
October 18th, 2019 at 10:44 AM ^
Further proving the B1G ruined college hockey just to put it on BTN+ and sell it for $9.99 a month.
The best part is the season opener stream didn’t even work. Awesome.
October 18th, 2019 at 11:00 AM ^
So we will get Even more PSU wrestling with no increase in Michigan wrestling.
October 18th, 2019 at 11:11 AM ^
Not really. Last year, U-M had 4 duel meets on BTN, PSU had 3. This year, both programs have 5.
The coverage is fairly balanced, at least to my eye.
There may be more PSU on BTN+, but honestly, BTN+ is for the real hardcore fans. And, while I respect U-M wrestling, there are considerably less U-M wrestling die-hard fans vs. PSU.
October 18th, 2019 at 11:10 AM ^
Sort of crazy that PSU became the new Iowa/Oaklahoma in the past decade. Really dominant. Wrestling could be really exciting if they packaged it right. I wrestled for 10-12 years and I admittedly don't watch a lot of wrestling. If you only showed the exciting and/or pivotal matches and were able to put in some of the storylines.
October 18th, 2019 at 11:38 AM ^
Wrestling is a lot like college football. A lot of the success is local talent staying home. Pennsylvania is arguably the best high school wrestling state in the US. Thus, keeping home state guys makes a difference. Secondly, coaching. Cael Sanderson is their head coach. He was undefeated in his 4 years of college wrestling and is probably a better coach than he was a wrestler. While PSU is always annoying and some of their wrestlers come off as prima donnas, they have the formula down. Get alpha males, train them right, kick ass. It's amazing to witness.
October 18th, 2019 at 11:22 AM ^
Bruno likes this idea.
October 18th, 2019 at 11:32 AM ^
I love this. College wrestling is my second favorite college sport behind football. Basketball is right there too of course. Wrestling is not a money sport and doesn't generate the eyeballs that football and basketball do, but it's a great watch. The kids all seem to be pretty top notch and there are always 2 bad ass dudes just grinding. I love this.
October 18th, 2019 at 12:29 PM ^
I think for myself and a lot of others its knowing the rules and in and outs of scoring and stuff. I only wrestled for three years and almost twenty years later I can't remember all of it! I think it is hard for a new person to watch and understand it.
October 18th, 2019 at 11:34 AM ^
Interested to see how Michigan handles their lineup this winter being that two of the starters have qualified for the Summer Olympics
October 18th, 2019 at 12:09 PM ^
We'll see a lot of young guys in action. Micic, Amine and Massa are all taking an Olympic redshirt and as a result are sitting out this college season. Both Micic and Amine have already qualified for the Olympics next summer (for Serbia and San Marino, respectively, even though both guys were born and raised in the USA).
October 18th, 2019 at 12:54 PM ^
I believe Kanen Storr is taking an Olympic redshirt as well. Our lineup is gonna have a bunch of young guys in it. Will be interesting to see how it plays out
October 18th, 2019 at 2:11 PM ^
I’m not sure what Massa is doing. He has zero chance of making the Olympic team for the United States.
October 18th, 2019 at 3:44 PM ^
Agree on Massa. I figured he's doing it to keep a year of eligibility and set up a really good team next season when they all come back. Although by that point Cam Amine might beat him out anyway.
October 18th, 2019 at 11:57 AM ^
I WANT MOAR HOCKEY!!!!
October 18th, 2019 at 12:01 PM ^
Nothing against volleyball and wrestling but I would watch college hockey on btn even when Michigan is not playing.
October 18th, 2019 at 12:10 PM ^
It's a trap. We were supposed to get more college hockey. But it's all behind a paywall.
The B1G ruined college hockey. Completely.
#GreedIsBad
October 18th, 2019 at 1:11 PM ^
I would rather they show more hockey or more of anything else honestly but this is cool for people who like wrestling so that's good.
October 18th, 2019 at 3:32 PM ^
While the increased coverage by BTN is great, Michigan Wrestling is probably in for a tough season. As noted above, Micic (2X All American), Amine (2X All American), Storr (NCAA qualifier), and Massa (3X NCAA qualifier; All American as a freshman) are all taking Olympic redshirts. Micic and Amine are already in the Olympics for other countries but Storr and Massa have little chance of making the US team. They are redshirting to line-up all four to be back in the line-up for next season. Without those four redshirting, Michigan is now out of the top 25 in the latest Trackwrestling pre-season rankings. Considering that the Big 10 has six teams ranked in the top 10 (PSU-1, Iowa-2, Nebraska-3, OSU-6, Wisconsin-7, Minnesota-8), its going to be a bumpy season. Time to look forward to 2020-21.
October 18th, 2019 at 3:49 PM ^
Yep, probably going to be a tough season. It will be interesting to see Lewan and Silva compete. Mason is fun, too. Just hope he's put on some weight and figured out how to wrestle folkstyle against the bigger guys a little more effectively since last season. Maybe we see Cam Amine wrestle at 165 with Massa out? Drew Mattin is listed at 133 on the roster. Does that mean we see McHenry this season or is he still too small?
October 18th, 2019 at 4:11 PM ^
Mason Parris has put on weight. He is up to about 250. Silva is a bit of a question mark right now. He had some academic struggles last year and I know the coaching staff was concerned about what this meant going forward. I have no idea what the immediate plans for Cam Amine are but with Massa out, he may see the line-up right away.
The plan was for Mattin to redshirt and grow into 133. Making 125 was really a struggle last year. With Micic out, I'm not sure if they are still planning to redshirt him. Obviously, Silva's situation factors into this. McHenry is still pretty small as far as college 125's go but he will still wrestle off Assad for the 125 spot.
October 18th, 2019 at 6:44 PM ^
Great post!
October 18th, 2019 at 4:19 PM ^
Yeeeeaaaaah buddy!
October 18th, 2019 at 8:37 PM ^
Hope the BTN ups their lax coverage too since the league has a bunch of good teams, including Johns Hopkins. You know JH plays in the B1G, correct?