NCAA Tournament Previews: 285 Pounds

John Fuller TheMat.com
03/16/2005

The finals matchup at 285 lbs. is one that everyone in the wrestling world is predicting. Many times when that situation arises, at least one of those two wrestlers gets upset. However, in this case, it may be safe to not bet against 2003 NCAA champion Steve Mocco of Oklahoma State and All-American Cole Konrad of Minnesota. Mocco transferred to Oklahoma State this year after winning his title at Iowa in 2003. He was also an NCAA runner-up in 2002. Last year, Mocco took an Olympic Redshirt, and while facing such talents as Kerry McCoy and Tolly Thompson, it was shown that Mocco struggles to score on big men, no matter how aggressive he is. For someone who weighs right around 285, he is very short, and that has even posed some problems in his two wins over Konrad so far this year. Compared to Mocco, Konrad is like Kamala the Ugandan Giant. He is big and tall. However, he struggles in many areas of his wrestling. At the National Duals, he had trouble getting out of the bottom position, even against much smaller wrestlers. On his feet, he opened up much more at the Big Ten Championships, but he still does not create much action. The others in this category really are the others. It would take a gigantic upset for Cain Velasquez of Arizona State, Pat DeGain of Indiana or Greg Wagner of Michigan to earn trips to the finals. DeGain is one of the best stories of the year. He moved up in weight this year from 197 and while he weighs only around 230 lbs., he placed second in the Big Ten and won the Midlands earlier this year. Wagner is one of those wrestlers that should be thrown in the title mix. He is as good as any heavyweight in the nation, but then he has slight lapses, such as getting pinned by DeGain in the Big Ten semifinals. Velasquez has only lost three times this year – to Mocco, Wagner and Iowa freshman Matt Fields. As the third seed, he is in a decent spot, but will still have to go through Pennsylvania All-American Matt Feast, the sixth seed to get into the semifinals. Top 4 Seeds: 1. Steve Mocco (Oklahoma State), 2. Cole Konrad (Minnesota), 3. Cain Velasquez (Arizona State), 4. Pat DeGain (Indiana) Top Contenders: Konrad, Mocco The Others: Matt Feast (Pennsylvania), Greg Wagner (Michigan) Darkhorse: Bode Ogunwole (Harvard) Top Freshmen: Matt Fields (Iowa), Dustin Fox (Northwestern) Finals Prediction: Mocco defeats Konrad 34 Qualifiers 1st ACC - Mike Faust (Virginia Tech) 1st Big Ten - Cole Konrad (Minnesota) 2nd Big Ten - Pat DeGain (Indiana) 3rd Big Ten - Greg Wagner (Michigan) 4th Big Ten - Dustin Fox (Northwestern) 5th Big Ten - Matt Fields (Iowa) 6th Big Ten - Mike Behnke (Illinois) 7th Big Ten - Joel Edwards (Penn State) 8th Big Ten - Kirk Nail (Ohio State) 1st Big XII - Steve Mocco (Oklahoma State) 2nd Big XII - Scott Coleman (Iowa State) 3rd Big XII - Jake Hager (Oklahoma) 1st CAA - Chris Cowen (Drexel) 2nd CAA - Courtney Howard (Boston University) 3rd CAA - Payam Zarrinpour (Sacred Heart) 1st East Region - Marc Allemang (Duquesne) 1st EIWA - Matt Feast (Pennsylvania) 2nd EIWA - Tanner Garrett (Navy) 3rd EIWA - Adam LoPiccolo (American) 4th EIWA - Tyler Shovin (Cornell) 5th EIWA - Bode Ogunwole (Harvard) 1st EWL - Zack Sheaffer (Pittsburgh) 2nd EWL - Joe Dennis (Cleveland State) 3rd EWL - Joe Hennis (Edinboro) 1st MAC - Bill Stouffer (Central Michigan) 1st PAC-10 - Cain Velasquez (Arizona State) 2nd PAC-10 - Allen Kennett (Portland State) 3rd PAC-10 - Eric Smith (Boise State) 4th PAC-10 - Ty Watterson (Oregon State) 5th PAC-10 - Cody Parker (Oregon) 1st Southern Conference - Ruebon Daniels (Appalachian State) 1st West Region - Clint Walbeck (Fresno State) 2nd West Region - Peter Ziminski (Eastern Illinois) 3rd West Region - Dusty Hoffschneider (Wyoming)