Ohio State Can Make A Run!

Are you convinced the Buckeye’s will be crowned NCAA Champs this year? The upcoming dual with Iowa will be telling. If both line ups put out all their studs. With the final send off of Olympic Champ Kyle Snyder in his home state of Ohio for NCAA’s it only seems fitting for tOSU to take home the SHIP!

Fans in these parts won’t want to miss it March 15, 16 and 17 at Quicken Loans Arena, the site of this year’s Division I NCAA Championships.

The Buckeyes have been No. 1 all season, and will be a frontrunner for the NCAA team title. Still, their entire lineup was intact for a dual or tournament the first time this season Jan. 12 when the they hosted Minnesota. OSU won 8 of 10 matches, and rolled to a 31-7 win. That resembles a football score, and it’s only fitting.

Coach Ryan’s team has steam rolled its opponents all season with offensive talent that is scary good. Its defense is Great. In nine duals, and nine victories, it’s won by an average score of 35+ points. tOSU also won the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational team title by 15 points without the rockstar Snyder and national champion Nathan Tomasello who is back at 125 this year.

In the win over Minnesota, the Buckeyes welcomed back the 125-pound Tomasello — out three months recovering from a knee injury — for the first time, and he rolled past No. 4-ranked Ethan Lizak, 18-3. It was a huge return for Tomasello, as Lizak was an NCAA runner-up last season.

It’s an embarrassment of scarlet and gray riches. A look at OSU’s lineup vs. the Gophers:

• Snyder, Tomasello, and Kollin Moore (197) are ranked No. 1 nationally in their weight class.

• Myles Martin (184) and Luke Pletcher (133) are ranked No. 2 nationally.

• Bo Jordan (174) is No. 3, and Micah Jordan (157), Ke-Shawn Hayes (149) and Joey McKenna are each No. 6. A weak link in the lineup might be 165-pounder Te’Shan Campbell, but he’s still ranked No. 13.

• Most impressive is this: The collective record of that lineup this season is 114-10. OSU’s top five in Snyder, Tomasello, Moore, Martin and Pletcher are a combined 55-0.

“It was good to have a full lineup,” said Ryan after his team’s win over Minnesota. “When you have the leadership like we have, and they’re in the lineup it adds a lot of value to the team performance.”

In other words, this collection of Buckeyes wrestlers will only get better.

When they roll into The Q in mid-March this awesome collection of college wrestlers will really be rocking it to “Hang on Sloopy.” OSU’s remaining schedule includes six more duals, then the Big Ten Championships March 3 and 4 in East Lansing, Mich. Ryan said from now until then is critical, and while the Minnesota win offered promise, there’s much more out there.

“The score, as relevant as it is, it’s irrelevant because we’re looking for performances that will equate to the type of performances we’ll need in order to do the type of things we need to do in Cleveland,” said Ryan.

Next on the docket is the Buckeyes’ final home dual of the season. They welcome longtime college wrestling power Iowa to the Schottenstein Center Jan. 21.

“Any time you wrestle Iowa, there’s not much that needs to be said to jack you up,” Snyder told reporters Jan. 12. “It’s a team a lot of people want to crush, but not a lot of teams have the ability, but we do.”

Acquiring tickets to college wrestling’s premiere event isn’t easy. It plays out to capacity crowds, and is a tough ticket, no matter the host city. The timing of The Q playing as the host venue couldn’t be better.

These Buckeye will be must-watch come March.