The 2012 NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals Presented by Hibiclens and The Marines is an event that is by no doubt overflowing with individual and team talent. The twenty-four teams, who will be traveling to compete at the four regional locations, have both strength and depth. The Regional Tournament and Championship Final Round of this event has been dubbed Mat Mayhem.
Wrestling has two important aspects. It is both a team sport and an individual sport. What the Mat Mayhem is looking to showcase is the extraordinary individual talent that makes up twenty-four of nation’s strongest teams.
Below takes a look at the individual, team and historical numbers of the 2012 NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals and see what is making up this February’s Mat Mayhem.
From the NCAA Coaches Poll rankings that were released on January 19th, there are 158 athletes from the twenty-four competing teams ranked in the Top 33. The next coaches poll will be released during the week of February 6th. A breakdown of the Coaches Rankings:
- Six No. 1 ranked wrestlers (125, 133, 141, 157, 184, and 285)
- 33 Top 5 ranked wrestlers
- 65 Top 10 ranked wrestlers
- 157 pounds at the Cornell Regional has each athlete ranked
- 157 pounds at the Oklahoma State Regional has each athlete ranked
- 141 and 197 pounds at the Rutgers Regional has each athlete ranked
The individual NCAA Coaches Poll rankings show that these twenty-four teams comprise almost half of what could be the 330 NCAA Qualifier Spots, for the Division I Championships in March.
The NWCA/USA Today Division I Coaches Poll, which will also serve as a means to seed the regional and championship tournament, highlights the following:
- 15 of the Top 25 Teams competing
- Eight of the Top 10 Teams competing
- Two undefeated teams in No. 1 Oklahoma State (11-0) and No. 3 Cornell (8-0)
- 17 of these teams were ranked Top 25 in the Pre-Season Poll
- Each Region plays host to one Top 5 team (Oklahoma State, Cornell, Minnesota and Iowa)
The National Duals was established in 1989 and during the first 12 years, it was primarily a Division I event. Occasionally, the national championship team in Division II, III, and NAIA rounded out the field of 16 teams. Here is a breakdown of the D-I tournament history:
- Oklahoma State has the most championship appearances with eleven, eight of those appearances ended in a championship.
- The University of Iowa has eight finals appearances, six of them resulting in a championship.
- Nebraska is the only other team with three finals appearances.
- There have been thirteen teams who have made it to the finals of the National Duals since its inception. Eleven of those teams will be competing this year: Cornell, Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech.
Below is the breakdown of the twenty-four teams broken down into four regionals (the first team listed is the host team):
- Iowa State, Iowa, Oregon State, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin and Northern Iowa.
- Cornell, Central Michigan, Oklahoma, Purdue, Illinois, and American.
- Rutgers, Minnesota, Kent State, Michigan, Missouri, and Cal Poly.
- Oklahoma State, Boise State, Ohio State, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Chattanooga.
Rutgers will host their regional on February 11th, while the other three regional tournaments will take place at Cornell, Iowa State and Oklahoma State on February 12th.
Information about Mat Mayhem is listed on the www.nwconline.com homepage, along with the NWCA You Tube, Facebook and Twitter accounts. This will allow all information to easily be shared by one small click of a button.
Ticket and more specific event information are available at http://www.nwcaonline.com/NWCAWebSite/Events/nwcanationalduals/mat-mayhem under the events section.
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