The brackets to the 2022 NCAA National Tournament have been released. If this does not get you excited as a wrestling fan then nothing will. As always there are a few head scratchers for the seeds but that is to be expected. Overall I like the draws for the Hawks. After competing in the Big Ten all season and at the brutal Big Tens last weekend us Hawks fans should be accustomed to the tough competition.
125 – #13 seed for Drake Ayala. I believe that is what was expected. Ayala will face #20 seed Fabian Gutierrez of Chattanooga in the first round. Gutierrez has a 20-5 record. The winner will face the winner of #4 Brandon Courtney of Arizona State and #29 Joe Manchio of Columbia. Courtney placed second to Spencer Lee last year at 125.
133 – #5 seed for Austin DeSanto. I have no idea where this seed came from at all. I must admit though, I do like it. DeSanto will face #28 Sydney Flores of Air Force in the first round. The next opponent would be the winner of #21 Cody Russell of Appalachia St and #12 Micky Phillippi of Pitt in the Round of 16. Philippi is a dangerous wrestler. As a wrestling fan a DeSanto-RBY semifinals match would be tough to beat for entertainment with the team race on the line.
141 – #2 seed for Jaydin Eierman. First round match against #31 Wilfredo Gil of F&M. Possible semifinals match with #3 Sebastian Rivera of Rutgers. That would be a prime time match between two tough wrestlers that are both injured. Lots of wrestling to be done before but I believe we will see that match happen.
149 – #8 for Max Murin which is what I thought he would get. First round match with #25 Corbyn Munson of Central Michigan. Potential Round of 16 match with #9 Kaden Gfeller of Oklahoma State would be a really big match. I do believe Murin is wrestling the best of his career right now and is going to have a real good tournament for the Hawks.
157 – #9 seed Kaleb Young will face #24 Doug Zapf of Penn in the first round. The depth at this weight looks much tougher now that I see the bracket. When a defending national champion (Austin O’Connor at 149) is the #11 seed you have a real tough weight. It is going to take a top performance for Young to find his way on the stand as an All American.
165 – #3 for Alex Marinelli. This is the last go for Bull to win a title. He will face #30 Evan Barczak of Drexel in the first round. I am only looking at one match at a time for Bull. I like his chances to win it all.
174 – #5 Michael Kemerer will face #28 Benjamin Pasiuk of Army in the first round. Neither Pasiuk of Kemerer competed in the Iowa-Army dual meet on November 28 in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Kemerer is just like Marinelli for me. One match at a time in yet another loaded and tough bracket.
184 – #18 seed for Abe Assad who will face #15 Hunter Bolen of Virginia Tech in the first round. Assad had his best match of the season last weekend at Big Tens. We sure need him now.
197 – #6 Jacob Warner will face #17 Alan Clothier of Northern Colorado in the first round. I still say Warner can beat anyone in the country at 197 lbs. He has all of the potential.
Hwt. – #3 for Tony Cassioppi which I believe is a great draw. Cass will face #30 Josh Heindselman of Oklahoma in the first round. I could not have asked for more with this draw for Cassioppi.
As you can tell I stopped looking ahead to possible matchups as I went along. This is such a tough and loaded tournament I believe that old saying is in order. Just take it one match at a time. This may be the toughest NCAA National Tournament I have ever seen. We have seven years of recruits competing in this tournament. Add in all of the wrestlers that took an Olympic or Covid redshirt last year along with the Ivy League back in there and we are in for one heck of a great tournament.
This tournament is so tough that everyone in the team race is going to have one or maybe even two wrestlers that they were counting on for big points that will not even place. I also suspect that there will not be as many bonus points as we are used to seeing at Nationals.
The team title of the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships will be won by attrition. This will be one tough and entertaining tournament to watch.
I have been saying for quite some time that this NCAA’s will be tougher than last year and that the tougher the competition the better it is for Hawks. We will soon find out.
Action begins Thursday, March 17 with Round 1 at 11 AM CST where we will take it one match at a time.
Let’s get ‘em in the middle.
For all of the NCAA brackets on TrackWrestling:
It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.
Go Hawks!
