Dec. 27, 2011
TEMPE - The Arizona State University wrestling team will welcome conference rival Boise State and perennial powerhouse Nebraska to Wells Fargo Arena on Thursday afternoon as the team hosts the annual Sun Devil Duals. Events are set to get underway at 11 a.m. MST on Thursday, Dec. 29, as Boise State will face Nebraska in the first of three duals scheduled for the afternoon. Following that match, Arizona State will take to the mat against the Broncos a 1 p.m. MST and turn around and square off with the Cornhuskers at 3 p.m. MST. You can view a live video stream of the event at www.foxsportsarizona.com or follow along with a live play-by-play at trackwrestling.com.
OPENING WHISTLE
• ASU remains unranked on the season
• ASU will face off against Boise State in a dual format for the first time since 2003
• ASU has not beat Nebraska since 2002
• Levi Cooper upset the top-ranked returning NCAA Champion in Zach Rey of Lehigh at the Northeast Duals
• Head Coach Shawn Charles is in his third season as head coach
• Redshirt freshman Nathan Hoffer has posted three of his 10 victories this year by pin and is on a six-dual winning streak
• The Sun Devils return one All-American this season in heavyweight Levi Cooper
• Cooper (HWT) is the only Sun Devil ranked by all of the major ranking services
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• Fourteen Sun Devils have experienced their first collegiate action this season, representing the mass majority of competitors thus far.
GETTING BOWLED OVER
Thursday's event was originally slated to get underway as a primtime function, but due to the Insight Bowl being hosted at Sun Devil Stadium the following day and the need to use the facilities at Wells Fargo Arena for the Bowl preperation, adjustments were made to have the event start at an earlier time.
IN THE RANKINGS - TEAM
The Sun Devils entered the season unranked for the first time since the 2008-09 season. This comes despite finishing sixth at the NCAA Championships last year, though the loss of national champions Anthony Robles and Bubba Jenkins and the very young team the Sun Devils will be fielding are likely to blame for their omittance. The team did not receive any votes in the most recent NWCA/USA Today Coaches Poll.
FOLLOW LIVE!
ou can view a live video stream of the event at www.foxsportsarizona.com or follow along with a live play-by-play at trackwrestling.com. Please note that only the ASU duals will be streamed live and not the Nebraska-Boise State dual that will kick off the event.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
Seven opponents on ASU's 2011-12 schedule can be found within the NWCA/USA Today Coaches Poll that was released earlier this week, including No. 2 Oklahoma State, who the Sun Devils are set to face in Stillwater on Jan. 20. Other top 25 teams on this year's slate include No. 9 Oklahoma, No. 16 Oregon State, and No. 14 Nebraska. Arizona State fell to #12 Lehigh and #25 Binghamtom earlier this season, though they did beat Penn who, while unranked now, was #20 at the time.
IN THE RANKINGS - INDIVIDUAL
Returning All-American Levi Cooper is the only Sun Devils consistently ranked by all of the major ranking services, and did himself a huge favor in upsetting former No. 1 Zach Rey at the Northeast Duals. The victory rocketed Cooper from the mid-teens in post rankings to the top-10 across the board, peaking at No. 4 bu The Open Mat. However, his sixth-place finish and injury hurt him in this weeks polls as he dropped to No. 14 in the Amateur Wrestling News Rankings and out of the top-10 in all other ranking systems. However, he remains a sold top-15 wrestler and has shown he can go with the big dogs at any point.
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION: Boise State
Despite competing in the same conference as the Broncos, the two teams have not squared off in a dual since 2003. Arizona State is perfect in the series and brings an 8-0-0 record against Boise State to the table on Thursday in the early afternoon match. This isn't the Boise State of year's past though as the Broncos have risen to becoming on of the conference elite, winning their sixth Pac-10 title last season en route to a top-25 finish at the NCAA Championships. This year's team is a bit younger though but will give an equally young ASU team a run. Twelvth-ranked George Ivanov (157) and #11 Jake Swartz (184) will be the two to watch when these teams face off, especially as they are both slated to face redshirt freshmen in Derek Felton and Kevin Radford, respectively. This will be the first Pac-12 match of the season for the Sun Devils.
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION: Nebraska
Two of the nation's most storied wrestling programs will face off for the 16th time in the afternoon cap as Arizona welcome #14 Nebraska to Wells Fargo Arena following the Boise State matchup. The Cornhuskers have historically been one of the top teams in the nation and have won four straight against the Sun Devils, dating back to 2002. Nerbraska leads the series between the two teams, 14-4-1. Nebraska enters the competition with five student-athletes currently ranked in Amateur Wrestling News' top-10. That list includes No. 10 heavyweight Tucker Lane, who defeated ASU's returning All-American, Levi Cooper, at the Las Vegas Invitational earlier this season.
A LOOK BACK: Reno Tournament Of Champions
The Sun Devils took 13th overall at the Reno Tournament of Champions in their last outing, led by Levi Cooper's fourth-place finish. Victor De Jesus should flashes of the two-time NJCAA champion that he began at ASU as in finishing fourth overall. Kalin Goodsite, not competing as part of the Sun Devil starting lineup, also scored a sixth place finish as did Jake Meredith, who returned to the mat for the first time this season as an unattached competitor.
