Currently ranked 14th in the country Coach Bono and the Wisconsin Badgers will host #25 Purdue tonight in the field house! It’s freaking go time; the Badgers are now in the heart of their Big Ten season and although they have gotten off to a rocky start, I am confident the team will bounce back! Scared money don’t make money and nobody on this Badgers squad is afraid of a scrap.
Friday night the field house will be rocking and Coach Bono and Reader will be jumping out of their chairs as we watch some awesome matchups. Listed in the probables below, 11 of the 20 wrestlers are nationally ranked! Including a couple of head to head matchups and one Top 10 showdown!
In the marquee matchup of the night we have Wisconsin stud #8 Eric Barnett for the Badgers and for the Boilermakers, cadet world champ #10 Matt Ramos. Barnett is a 2x AA for the Badgers and he is a hammer. Last time we saw him he didn’t look his normal self, so let’s just chalk that up to an off night. Tonight I imagine we see what we have become accustomed to and that is an Eric Barnett who is dangerous, opportunistic, and elite. Badger fans get loud for Barnett because this is not only a huge match for Big Tens and Nationals, it’s a huge match to kick off the dual meet!
Purdue’s Matt Ramos is a gamer and unfazed by the lights. Ramos has shown his scoring abilities many times, recently and most notably when he jumped out to an early 8-0 lead over 3x National Champ Spencer Lee before ultimately falling in that match.
This match tonight I think will be decided on the feet. Barnett is as elite as they come on top and he will look to take full advantage of that against Ramos. If Ramos can hold his own on bottom and earn his escapes then I think we will have a tight match, but if Barnett keeps him down I think we have a decisive victory for Barnett.
In another ranked match of the night we have #22 Garrett Model vs #3 Kendall Coleman. Last year these two wrestled twice and model lost both times in close matches (3-5) & (5-7). This year Model will look to turn that result around and get a big upset over the 3rd ranked wrestler in the country. Model is all gas no breaks, literally, I don’t think he has an off switch when he wrestles and that pace can be used to wear down Coleman. The last two meetings have been close so my best guess is it will be something similar tomorrow.
Overall, this is a dual the Badgers can and should win, but Purdue won’t be backing down. They have some horses of their own and the Badgers will need to bring it tonight. The Big Ten is tough, but so are the Badgers. Their squad is filled with dangerous wrestlers who know how to put on a show, score points, and put people on their backs. So, head to the field house to see some awesome wrestling tonight and be loud!
Projected Starting Lineups
Wisconsin Badgers vs Purdue Boilermakers
125: #8 Eric Barnett (13-2) vs #10 Matt Ramos (20-3)
133: HM Taylor Lamont (7-9) vs Dustin Norris (8-10)
141: HM Zargo (8-4)/Lettini (2-6) vs #19 Parker Filius (13-5)
149: #2 Austin Gomez (9-1) vs Jaden Reynolds (3-9)
157: #22 Garrett Model (11-5) vs #3 Kendall Coleman (21-2)
165: #6 Dean Hamiti (12-4) vs Buell (7-10)/Noehre (8-7)
174: Rowley(2-5)/Otto (5-9) vs Baumann (11-4)/Parkinson (9-11)
184: Tyler Dow (4-9) vs Vanadia (9-10)/Hutmacher (6-9)
197: #17 Braxton Amos (11-4) vs Hayden Filipovich (5-14)HWT: #11 Trent Hilger (10-4) vs Ruhlman (11-7)/Copass (4-3)
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