Friday
night, the UW wrestling team will conclude the regular season as they welcome
10th-ranked Northwestern to the Field House.
The
Badgers are coming into the weekend after moving up five spots to eighth place in
the latest USA Today InterMat/NWCA wrestling polls. After defeating two top 10
teams last weekend in Michigan and Minnesota, the Badgers are peaking right at
the time head coach Barry Davis was hoping they would.
?The guys
did a good job (last weekend),? Davis said. ?I think we?re starting to come
around right now, at the right time. If we continue to do the little things
right, I think we?ll be all right.?
After
Friday?s match, the grapplers will get a little bit of a break before the Big
Ten Championships March 8-9 in Minneapolis. Davis knows that this is the time
of year when his guys could use a day or two off.
?I think
we all need a break,? Davis said. ?The coaches need a mental break too to get
away and re-charge a bit. It?s a nice break to watch some great high school
wrestling [and to] watch some of the recruits compete at the Kohl Center. We
let the guys get away for a bit too. So it?s good for both of us.?
But before
the Badgers can rest, they need to take care of the Wildcats.
Northwestern
comes to Madison after going 2-0 last weekend, defeating Purdue and Illinois.
Currently 8-7 overall and 3-3 in the Big Ten, the Wildcats come in with three
returning All-Americans.
The top
two weight-classes Friday night will feature four of the top wrestlers in the
nation. At 197, junior Dallas Herbst, coming off back-to-back wins via pin,
will face off against reigning Big Ten champion Mike Tamillow. Herbst is
currently ranked 8th in the nation with an overall record of 25-2, while
Tamillow is 2nd with a record of 23-2. At heavyweight, junior Kyle Massey,
coming in with a 10-match win streak, will take on top-ranked Dustin Fox.
?They?ve
talked about it quite a bit,? Davis said. ?I know they?ve been thinking about
it. (Assistant coach) Bart (Chelesvig) has been working a lot with them, Bart?s
preparing them, and I?m sure they?ll be ready for it.?
Once past
Friday, Wisconsin has two weeks to prepare for the Big Ten conference
tournament. With seedings for the tournament not out until the week of the
tournament, Davis will use next week to keep up on workouts and training.
Sophomore
Trevor Brandvold believes that while the break will be nice, he and his
teammates will be ready to go all-out once practice starts up again.
?It?s
amazing how two or three days off the mat,? Brandvold said. ?You miss
wrestling. You?re itching to get back to the mat. That will help us get some
real intense workouts.?
After the
seedings come out, his grapplers will watch video of their first round
opponents and prepare for their opening round matches. Senior Craig Henning
knows he, along with the rest of the team, will be ready to go on that first
whistle in Minneapolis.
?Now that we?ve seen most of the Big Ten guys that we?ll
be facing,? Henning said. ?We still have to focus on some of the other people.
We?ll watch some tape, worry about what we?ll have to do for each individual
matchup and figure out what we need to do to come into each match with.?
