STILLWATER – The NCAA came out on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021 with the annual number of pre-allocations for each major wrestling conference to the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in St. Louis, Missouri on March 18-20. The pre-allocation represent the number of wrestlers that will get into the NCAA Championships. The Big 12 is receiving 45 spots, which is down nine from the allocations last season for the 2020 NCAA Championships that were cancelled because of COVID-19. The 10 winners from the Big 12 Wrestling Championships on March 6 in Tulsa will fill 10 of those 45 positions while the other 35 will be decided by the panel of coaches following the Big 12 event.
In recent years, pre-allocations have been determined by a formula measuring Division I winning percentage, ratings percentage index and coaches’ ranking. A decrease in overall matches, and in particular non-conference matches, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, led the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee to transition to using the five-year historical average to determine pre-allocations for 2021. For any adjustments in conference alignment over the last five years, historical pre-allocations stayed with the conference where they were earned. The competition status of schools for 2021 also did not impact the calculation of pre-allocations.
For an up-to-date look at the strength of each conference at each weight the rankings could help, but in wrestling those are all over the place. Rankings are conducted by various sources including the American Wrestling Coaches Association, Intermat, and The Open Mat among others.The allocations by the NCAA are spread amongst all 10 weight classes, with the Big 12 having six classes earning five spots (125, 133, 149, 165, 197 and 285). The 141, 174 and 184 earned four allocations, while 157 collected three.
Oklahoma State head coach John Smith was contacted by Pokes Report and said he was very disappointed with the NCAA decision and the reduced number of allocatio ns. In fact, there was a call on Thursday night with the Big 12 coaches. The number at 157-pounds was really a travesty considering the number of Big 12 wrestlers ranked at that weight. Smith told us after more study that he would go on record with a comment.
Oklahoma State us scheduled to host a number of teams this Sunday for the Cowboy Challenge Tournament at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Here is the Big 12 Allocations by Weight for the 2021 NCAA Division I Wresting Championships
| Weight Class | Number of Allocations /Top OSU Wrestler, Ranking, (big 12 Rank) |
| 125 | 5 / Trevor Mastrogiovanni, 15 (3) |
| 133 | 5 / Daton Fix, 1 (1) |
| 141 | 4 / Dusty Hone, UR |
| 149 | 5 / Boo Lewallen, 4 (1) |
| 157 | 3 / Wyatt Sheets, 16 (3) |
| 165 | 5 / Travis Wittlake, 4 (1) |
| 174 | 4 / Dustin Plott, 12 (3) |
| 184 | 4 / Dakota Geer, 9 (3) |
| 197 | 5 / A.J. Ferrari, 10, (3) |
| HWT. | 5 / Austin Harris, UR |
Now, here is a comparison to how each conference fared in the allocations from 2020 to 2021.
| Conference | 2020 Allocations | 2021 Allocations | |
| ACC | 35 | 33 | |
| Big 12 | 54 | 45 | |
| Big Ten | 79 | 76 | |
| Eastern | 44 | 45 | |
| MAC | 41 | 35 | |
| Pac-12 | 16 | 19 | |
| Southern | 14 | 13 | |
| Total Allocations | 283 | 266 | |
| At-Large Spots | 47 | 64 | |
| Total | 330 | 330 |
It appears the NCAA really decreased the number of pre-allocations in order to increase the number of wildcard allocations for the Championships.
The Division I Wrestling Committee will meet to select the remaining at-large qualifiers to fill out the 33-man bracket in each weight class, which will be announced March 10, via NCAA livestream while brackets and seeding will be announced on NCAA.com at 4 p.m. March 11.
