The Wisconsin Badgers are back in action this weekend at the Knockout Christmas Classic. After taking the last couple of weeks off the Badgers should be fresh and well prepared for their 3 duals this weekend in Florida. The Badges have not wrestle since their 3 dual stint on the east coast where we saw them go 2-1.
This year the Badgers are currently sitting at 2-3 in dual play but have a nice opportunity to pick up a couple of wins this weekend. They will face North Dakota State University (NDSU) #33 Campbell and #14 West Virginia. If the duals are in order like the Badgers schedule on their website then they will be wrestling Campbell first. That’s a good time to wrestle them when we are still fresh and full of energy. Even though they are the ranked team I believe this is a dual ready for us to take. We matchup well against Campbell.
Kicking things off at 125 pounds we will see a nationally ranked matchup with #24 Rivera and #26 Molton. This will be a swing match but I’m expecting the unorthodox style Nicoalr presents will get the job done! Both teams will be expecting to win this one and to get the upset we will need it. At 133 we will see another ranked match between #22 Zan Fugitt and # 30 Domenic Zaccone. Again this is a great example of when I say we matchup well. Where Campbell is good we look to be slightly better. As long as Fugitt takes care of business we will continue on in good shape. Then at 174 we will have another swing match! Luke Condon who is right on the fringe of being ranked (Flow rankings) will be taking on #31 Baker who has barely squeaked into the rankings. This is the perfect opportunity for Condon to get a solid win and find himself in the rankings along with a big time win for his team in what I anticipate to be a close dual to this point.
Campbell has an additional 4 ranked wrestlers, but they are anchored by their HWT Taye Ghadiali who is #7. A tough test for Rosenfeld, let’s see how much better he has gotten from this year to last. The dual could come down to him not giving up bonus points. Campbell’s other ranked wrestlers are not to scary; #33 at 141, #21 at 149 and #24 at 197. I do not anticipate us to win any of these matches but I would be pleasantly surprised if we did. It would obviously be good signs for the team if we are able to steal any of these matches. If we lose these matches from a team score perspective bonus points will be huge for us to take this upset. Are we favored to win this dual, no. But that’s why it’s called an upset and I believe the Badgers are sitting in a good position to do so.
Next on the docket for Wisconsin would be NDSU. Another dual I expect the Badgers to win, hopefully riding some momentum from the last one. This dual could be close, but the storyline in this one for me is a few of the individual matchups. At 133 Fugitt will face Kyle Burwick who was a 2x national qualifier as a freshman/sophomore for Wisconsin a few season ago before he transferred out to Nebraska and now NDSU. The next one is at 149 where we could see two Wisconsin natives battle it out. Royce Nilo (Milton) for the Badgers and Gavin Drexler (Stratford) for NDSU. Drexler is a redshirt sophomore making the jump up from 141 pounds that last two seasons. Nilo is a redshirt freshman. As a Badger fan and state of Wisconsin wrestling fan I want to see how this one shakes out. Then finally at 174 pounds a matchup of Luke Condon for the Badgers and Devin Wasley for NDSU. Wasley graduated from St. Croix Central high school in Wisconsin before going to Minnesota for college. He then transferred to NDSU where he is in the lineup now. Condon will be favored in this matchup but with a Wisconsin native competing it is certainly one I will keep an eye on.
The final dual will be against #14 West Virginia. As you can imagine with the 14th ranking in the country they have a solid squad. They are headlined by #3 Ty Watters at 149 and #3 Peyton Hall at 165. Both Nilo and Anderson will have their work cut out for them. On the flip side we could potentially see some solid individual victories here. #22 Fugitt could see #18 Titus. A big opportunity for him this weekend to get 3 solid wins and help his RPI. Just like Fugitt, Luke Condon at 174 has an opportunity for several ranked wins this weekend. He will likely face #29 Brody Conely from WVU. A couple ranked wins for Condon this weekend would surely put himself in all the published rankings. Finally at 197 is WVU final ranked wrestler with #31 Austin Cooley. A nice little opportunity for Niccolo Colucci to test himself once again against a quality opponent.
Every dual this weekend will be a fight for the Badgers but chances like this are what we get to see what the team is made out of. The Knockout Christmas Classic is a one day even for the Badgers where we will see them get three duals in. Follow along with the Badgers on Saturday by checking out their social media for all times and results!