NEWTON, Iowa — Three-time NCAA champion Penn State remained the No. 1-ranked Division I program, but No. 2 Minnesota is predicted to garner more 2014 All-American honors based on WIN’s Jan. 13 Division I rankings, presented by Flips Wrestling.
The Nittany Lions, which lead all teams with 104.5 points in WIN’s Tournament Power Index, have seven wrestlers ranked in the top eight in while the Gophers (with 97 TPI points) are picked to earn eight All-American honors this March. Meanwhile, Iowa, fresh off a dual meet win over Oklahoma State, is rated No. 3 in WIN’s TPI with 92 points and seven All-American predictions.
For example, five current No. 1-rated wrestlers — Illinois’ Jesse Delgado at 125, Ohio State’s Logan Stieber at 141, Oklahoma’s Kendric Maple at 149, Penn State’s Ed Ruth at 184 and Minnesota heavyweight Anthony Nelson — have suffered losses to lower-ranked wrestlers, but remain No. 1 as WIN is still projecting those defending champs to win the weight at the NCAA tournament. And, at the point in the season in which they were beaten, there were extenuating circumstances in each situation where there wasn’t rationale to move the No. 2- or No. 3-ranked into the top spot simply by default of No. 1 dropping a match.
TPI points will not match the final NCAA tournament points because it does not include bonus points for pins, technical falls, major decisions and forfeits/defaults.
Rank College Top 8 TPI Pts.
8 Nestor Talfur (9th) Sr. Boston U.
18 Spartak Chino (18th) So. Ohio U.
11 Dan Mitchell (11th) Sr. American U.