The Brackets are out:

http://www.njcaa.org/Teams/wrestling/2008/2008NJCAABrackets.pdf

I can't stand the way they seed this tournament.

I'm ecstatic...first time I ever remember being happy with the Labette draw! Yust is the only bad draw...and he will be sitting nice if he wins. I think he had a one point match with the Harper guy.

Pratt got pretty crappy draws...Fairley is sitting pretty good though.

I agree, separating returning All-Americans and drawing the rest in is a pretty ridiculous way to seed the national tourney.

The Cards will be the 2008 National Champs! I know I say it every year but this is a legit team with a nice draw.

Look at the 157 bracket. #2 Cornejo wrestles #3 Banks second round, which is Cornejo's first match. #1 Perkins wrestles #4 Garcia second round, Perkins first match. Ridiculous.

Also 184, putting Kern and Winn on the same side? Those two have obviously seperated themselves from the rest.

Labette got some nice draws at 133, 141, 165, 184, 197, HWT.

You're right about Pratt getting some crappy draws.

Edgmon will have Terrance Young in the 2nd round. Should be a great match!

The 157 and 184 brackets definitely show the weakness of the system. I like the way it worked out though. Cornejo is the real deal and this gives us the opportunity to send one of Iowa Centrals best guys to the back door right away. Advancement points are huge in this tournament. I see Enyobi in the finals too...he has the ability to win it if he is on. Winn and Kearn would be opposite sides in any other bracket though.

Every bracket has at least one occurence of having two ranked wrestlers who could meet in the round of 16. But that's been as big a part of the outcome of this tournament as any other factor for years.

Tough draws are what you make of them. Win the key early matches you can win the title (unfavored Colby in 1999 won 17 of their first 18 matches and had some horrible draws). Lose the key early matches and lose the title (heavily favored Colby peed down their leg early in 2003 and let North Idaho take the title home).

I bet top ranked teams Meramec and Iowa Central aren't crazy about their draws (and I understand that rankings aren't all always accurate, but you have to start somewhere) -

125# #2 Young (IC) has a likely round of 16 bout w/ #5 Edgmon and R8 w/ # 4 Demison
#8 Bolin (Mer) has a likely R16 w/ #6 Adilov
133# unranked Hacchtel (Mer) R16 w/ #2 Mamalis & R8 w/ #3 Schunk or #5 Beeson
#6 Henslee (IC) R16 vs. #4 Mitchell & R8 w/ #1 Notte
141# #1 Greenwald (IC) R16 vs. #5 Kumbarov & R8 w/ #6 Lahman
#2 Senzee (Mer) R8 vs. #4 Moen
149# #2 Burns (IC) R8 vs #5 Debacco
unranked Foley (Mer) R8 vs #1 White
157# #2 Banks (IC) R16 vs #3 Cornejo & R8 #7 Giovanni
#6 Conn (Mer) has a great draw ranking wise - no ranked opponent until semis
165# #7 Woods (Mer) R16 vs #8 Palmore & R8 vs. #2 Lower
#2 Lower (IC) - see above
174 #2 Hurrin (Mer) has a great draw ranking wise - no ranked opponent until the semis
unranked Overton (IC) R32 vs. #1 Williams & R8 vs. #7 May
184# unranked Johnson (IC) R8 vs #1 Kern
#2 Winn (Mer) R16 vs. #7 Gandolfi
197# #1 Jones (Mer) R16 vs #8 Morales
unranked Kelley (IC) R8 vs. #1 Jones or #8 Morales
285# unranked Cason (IC) R32 vs unranked Parks (Mer) & R16 vs. #7 Anderson & R8 vs #2 Bates
unranked Parks (Mer) - see above

Not an ideal situation for either of those teams. Colby had some tough R16 draws. I believe Labette and North Idaho both have better placement than Meramec, IC, NIACC or Colby.

North Idaho has made a lot of success out of being in a relatively/comparatively easy regional, as they are able to bring in a lot of regional champs or runner-ups....and that can be a huge factor when the favored teams get difficult draws and those regional champs have smooth sailing until R8.

Compare that to our regional where you have 5 ranked wrestlers and two are drawn in as wild cards.....and on and on and on. Couple that with drawing the bracket pill that pairs the West Central region (us) w/ IC or Meramec early and it gets real interesting.

But if you take care of business in those matches, you can win the tournament pretty early on.....ought to be fun one!

You bring up a good point with the Regions. The West Central is the toughest year in and year out, and it really isn't based on geography all that much. We rarely have a team come through with 10. Nearly every year North Idaho and Iowa Central come through with 10. Any advantage that a team from our region has from the draws is usually offset by the fact that we don't bring our full teams to the big dance.

The Juco rankings are always pretty wishy-washy...with a lot of politics...this year is no exception.

Your right...If you want to win the tourney...you gotta win the key matches regardless of where they occur.

Rankings have been better in recent years, but ranking juco will never be easy or be an exact science.

How do you compare a good kid from Nassau vs. a good kid from and North Idaho? Pima & Mercyhurst? Labette and Spartanburg? Ridgewater and Clackamas? There will never be a regular season head-to-head meeting and probably no common opponents either.

You have to preduct how a kid from the west regional who has 5 juco losses in a weight like this year's 125 matches up with a kid from North Idaho who has none.

But an even tougher part is the perfomance inconsistency. Been a lot of freshman and sophomores (at all levels) come out on fire or flat in various matches, becuase they haven't adapted to college life, the rigors of a college season or acquired the mental maturity to compete at a consistent level all season......so you have to decide whether a wrestler's big upset is repeatable or was a fluke.

Pretty tough job. But at least it gives us something to talk about!

All good points...but I believe there could be a better system. The two weights Jobe pointed out have some pretty ridiculous early match ups.

We've beat this dead horse...it's time to wrestle it out.

There are some great early match-ups. Any predictions out there?

My brain says Meramac, my heart says Labette.

Edgemon upsets Young.

125 - Ensley - Northwest
133 - Mamlis - Western
141 - Greenwald - Iowa Central
149 - Hepburn - Colby
157 - Cornejo - Labette - Toughest Weight
165 - Moore - Gloucester
174 - Greene - Neosho
184 - Winn - Meramac
197 - Barzee - Northwest
HWT - Rupp - Western - Real Deal

Obviously I'm a little biased.

My brain and my heart say Labette. Meremac gets a lot of help in the rankings...I think Coach Merikatani (spelling off) is the one the runs the rankings. They have several decent/good guys with elevated rankings and a few studs at the heavier weights. They finish third...I'll bet on it...any takers?

I like your picks...here's mine

125-Ensley
133-Mamillis maims everyone
141-Carillo...well maybe Greenwald on second thought.
149- I'll go with the Hepburn prediction too...but White sounds like the real deal.
157- Cornejo stomps arse...MD over Banks...rolls on makin' heads roll
165- Morgan rips off Lowers arm in the finals and chokes him out with it (straight faced)...loses by DQ
174 - Hurrin beats Yust in the finals...tests positive for gunpowder after finals and Yust takes the gold home.
184 - Enyobi stuns Kearn with a blast double with 5 seconds left...long shot...but not that long if he believes it
197 - Barzeeeeeeeee
HWT - Rupp bloodies noses and splits lips every match to the finals with nasty crossfaces...makes at least one guy cry

Some may claim bias...but I won't admit it

And I thought I was biased.

I like the added dialogue. Crackin me up!

I live in Long Island right by Nassau and always follow them. Sorry to invade a Kansas forum but this is the only board I found nationwide that discusses the JUCO tourney at all!

Nassua is down I think a bit but Notte is tough at 133. I don't know the Wyoming kid but Notte has got to be in hunt to win it. Moore looked OK at the qualifier but was tested in his semi fimal by our guy (who took 4th at the region). The Spartanburg kid isn't bad there, either--not to win it but dangerous. I am not sure I see any other Eastern guys can win it. Spartanburg had tough 149 and 197 and HWT who look like they'll go far. Guys who can place for Nassau are Silas Murray at 25, Notte, Dadino at 174, Delagado at 157, and even Williamson at HWT. That's what I like about the JUCO tourney...we never see the western guys until the tournamnet so its very interesting and unprecictable. I wish there was a little more pubilicty about it so I could keep up better.

NY...no invasion there...thanks for the scouting report. Can you go through each one of those guys and tell us their go to moves?...that would really be helpful.

Seriously though...most of us Juco fans over this way don't know much about the east coast boys other than the previous years nationals (if sophomores). Notte has been given that ranking for some reason. Mamilis looked like an animal last weekend. He dominated some other good wrestlers.

What about the Gloucester guy Moore at 165? What does he win with?

Jobe...glad you enjoyed my extra dialogue...I've decided that Recountre wins at 197 now...

I would describe Moore as kind of am awkward style. Lanky. Scores in scrambles. I have only seen him a few times. I'm sure he'll be up there in top few placers. I think 165 looks like a pretty tough weight class overall.

Thanks...Gloucester always has some tough guys on their squad. 165 will have some great match-ups! Morgan lost to Dace like 8-4 earlier in the year...but he was hit with a five pointer to start the match...that dictated the rest of the match it sounded like. I don't see Morgan losing this time around...but that might be my bias. Morgan looked really tough at regionals. North Iowa and Iowa Central are both tough at this weight too.

Was Dadino at 165 last year?

hope Dace and morgan meet again that would be the semis and that means the both aa......lots of tough guys there....hope morgan keeps it clean.....lots of dq"s..

Dadino was at 197 last year and won matches at nationals--only place he found a spot in the lineup but he could have been 165. He wrestled 165 this year but moved up to 174 for the regional. I think the coach felt he could win the region at 174 but was probably 4th at 165. Moore was there and Murray from Spartanburg, plus a tough Middlesex kid.

You choke a couple of guys out and look what folks say about you on here. I have a feeling Mikey is going to be as aggressive as always, may give up a point or two for a little reminder that "lights out" could be in your future if you dont let him have his way. Good luck to the Cards. I just dont know how they can beat the regional coach of the year Lampe and the Colby Trojans.