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UW resumes Big Ten schedule at Indiana

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Also by Cassie Paulsen:

UW faces early test in Big Ten (December 10, 2007)
UW grapples NIU in Big Ten tune-up (December 7, 2007)
Herbst learns from best, takes down competition (December 6, 2007)
UW grapples in Las Vegas (November 29, 2007)
Wisconsin wrestles season's 1st big test (November 16, 2007)

by Cassie Paulsen

Friday, January 25, 2008

Friday night, the 13th-ranked Wisconsin wrestling team starts off the Big Ten season in full swing. After an uncharacteristic mid-December match with Ohio State, the Badgers start on the road tonight with Indiana. Indiana, currently ranked 17th in the USA Today/InterMat/NWCA coaches’ poll, brings plenty of competition to the mat for the Badgers, and head coach Barry Davis knows that rankings don’t matter once it comes time to grapple.

“If you look at the matchups right now, on paper they’re probably favored,” Davis said.

The Hoosiers return eight starters from last year’s 13-5 team. Of those eight, four earned All-American status, led by sophomore and currently undefeated 125-pounder Angel Escobedo. Last year, Escobedo beat current senior Collin Cudd 2-0, and Cudd knows he will have to wrestle his style to end Escobedo’s streak.

“He’s a real technical wrestler,” Cudd said. “He stays in good position the whole time. So I think my strategy is to stay in good position as well but to wrestle at my pace and at a higher pace than what he’s normal to. Take him out of his positions, wear him down and make him tired and wrestle my match and not at his level.”

While 125 pounds will be a key matchup, perhaps the most interesting comes at the 157-pound weight class. The Badgers will send NCAA runner-up Craig Henning to the mat to take on Hoosier All-American Brandon Becker. Henning is currently 16-1 and ranked second behind Illinois’ Mike Poeta, the man who handed Henning his only loss this season. Becker is ranked ninth and sitting on a 12-2 record. But these two are no strangers to each other.

Henning lost just three matches last season, and all three came at the hands of Becker. In fact, Henning is 0-5 lifetime against the Hoosier senior. Davis knows that now would be a good time for Henning to change his ways.

“I see Craig now, he’s starting to really step up and really pick up his intensity,” Davis said. “He’s got a little extra edge to him and that’s good. That means he’s getting himself ready for not this match, but the matches to come. But I can see him more focused, a little more edge when he competes, which is good. I told him the other day, off the mat, ‘You’ve got to be disciplined.’ If he does that part, and we coaches do our part, it should work out. But this is an important match to him. He’s never beaten the kid. It’d be nice to get that first win against him. I think he pays attention to detail, we get some different results.”

Henning, along with the rest of the Badgers, had a busy Christmas break. While most students had the chance to sit back and relax over break, the cardinal and white were on the road, recording a 5-1 record over break with four duals in Texas, one in Iowa State and one in Oklahoma. The lone loss came at then-8th-ranked Iowa State, a team that had been the top-ranked team in the nation earlier in the season.

“I thought we wrestled well in those duals, had some big wins in those duals,” Davis said. “At Iowa State we looked a little flat. We came out strong at the first two weights, but that might have hurt us in the dual. I told the guys, ‘Hey, you’re a match away from beating one of the best teams.’ And they responded pretty well with Oklahoma. Now it’s Big Ten time, and that’s a whole different ballgame.”

Indeed, the time is now. Last season the Badgers finished 5-3 in the Big Ten and are currently off to a 0-1 start after a loss at Ohio State last month. The Badgers know that now is the time to get the ball rolling and to put the pieces of their puzzle together.

“This is the time of year when we’ve really got to buckle down and focus,” Cudd said. “[Davis] is kind of walking us through that. He’s been preparing for this the whole season, kind of getting everything right — eating habits, sleeping habits — now we’ve really got to put that in practice and make sure it’s perfect.”

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