John Smith rivaled comedian Rodney Dangerfield when talking about the NCAA wrestling championships starting Thursday in Cleveland, Ohio.
In the mind of the Oklahoma State coach, his wrestlers have been shown no respect, no respect at all.
“Some of the seeds I was a little surprised with – not a lot of respect, I don’t know why,” Smith said. “Maybe we need to revisit the way we seed. We haven’t revisited that in a long time, maybe need to see if there is a better way of doing it.
“I was a little surprised they didn’t give any credit to some returning All-Americans, and moving someone down for losing to the champ or the No. 1-ranked guy. It’s kind of funny.”
Near the top of that list would have to be two-time defending national champion Dean Heil.
The Cowboy senior is the No. 6 seed at 141 pounds, but he did lose to three of the five wrestlers seeded ahead of him – No. 1 Bryce Meredith of Wyoming, No. 2 Jaydin Eierman of Missouri and No. 5 Kevin Jack of N.C. State. In his two losses to Meredith and his one to Jack, Dean was downed by just one point – with his loss to Eierman being by fall after trying a move that put him in position to be pinned.
He is one of seven Cowboys that received seeding that doesn’t expect them to reach the semifinals – as Kaid Brock is the only top-four seed for OSU at 133 pounds.
Smith was most animated about Boo Lewallen’s draw at 149 pounds.
Lewallen is the No. 8 seed and will face Oklahoma’s Davion Jeffries – who Lewallen has beaten twice this year, including in the semifinals of the Big 12 championships – and if the seeding holds true, Lewallen’s second-round match would be against Northern Iowa’s Max Thomsen – who the Cowboy redshirt sophomore beat in the conference championship match. So in eyes of the seeding committee, he’s must beat the same two wrestlers he just beat in his past two matches on the mat.
“I’d be almost pissed off and almost be violent because I had to do that again,” Smith said. “You better be pretty angry because it kind of sets you up for something maybe you don’t want having to wrestle them that many times. So I’d get angry and do my thing.”
It’s not that much of a concern for Lewallen, however.
In fact, Lewallen, who has only been a full-time starter for the Cowboys for just a semester before winning a conference crown, gives credit to Jeffries – a longtime rival going back to their youth wrestling days in Oklahoma – for brings the best out of him.
“He’s a great competitor and I have to raise my level whenever I wrestle him,” Lewallen said. “It’s going to be a good match.”
Fortunately for the Yukon native, he – along with three other OSU wrestlers – has several Cowboys on the roster who know just what it will be like to wrestle on the big stage.
Lewallen, along with Jacobe Smith (No. 13 seed at 174), Keegan Moore (unseeded at 184) and Derek White (No. 9 at heavyweight), will be making their first trip to the national tournament and will rely on those five returning All-Americans to prepare them for what is to come.
“I take their advice to heart,” Lewallen said. “Nick Piccininni (the No. 6 seed at 125 pounds) is a really good friend of mine off the mat and he helps me a lot with that aspect of it.”
The first session is slated to start at 11 a.m. Thursday with the night session kicking off at 6 p.m. The finals for the national tournament will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Every match of the NCAA Championships will be broadcast on ESPN3. Fans can watch the morning sessions live on ESPNU, while Thursday and Friday’s primetime sessions will be broadcast on ESPN, and Saturday’s will be on ESPN2.