Cowboys Have All Wrestlers Ranked on Last Coaches Poll, Big 12 Gets 61 for NCAA
STILLWATER – After Oklahoma State lost for the first time this season in a showdown last Sunday at Iowa, the expectation might have been doom and gloom, or at least some retreat in the Cowboys standings in the final coaches rankings. It wasn’t as Oklahoma State held firm in the final rankings by the coaches before the NCAA brackets are constructed after next weekend’s conference tournaments. The NCAA also announced the allotments for each conference. The number of wrestlers getting into the NCAA Championship in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center March 20-22.
Each qualifying tournament was awarded pre-allocations to the national tournament based on regular season performance by conference wrestlers through February 23. The pre-allocations were determined by using a sliding scale of the three standards, win percentage, coaches’ rank and RPI ranking; while never going below the base of .700 winning percentage, top 30 coaches’ ranking and top 30 RPI ranking until reaching the maximum of 29 wrestlers per weight class.
The Big 12 got the second highest number of pre allocations of any conference. The Big Ten with No. 1 Penn State and No. 3 Iowa had the highest number. The ACC was third and those were the only three conferences above 30.
| Conference | 125 | 133 | 141 | 149 | 157 | 165 | 174 | 194 | 197 | HWT. |
| Big Ten | 9 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10 |
| Big 12 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 4 |
| ACC | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
When you plot it out on paper by the rankings. Two-time defending national champion Penn State is projected to score 174 points with Oklahoma State second with 91 and Iowa third with 90. Penn State is projected to have eight NCAA finalists.
Oklahoma State is one of the schools to have a wrestler ranked at each weight.
| OSU Wrestler, Weight | Coaches Ranking | RPI |
| Troy Spratley, 125 | 3 | 6 |
| Reece Witcraft, 133 | 17 | UR |
| Tagen Jamison, 141 | 6 | 7 |
| Carter Young, 149 | 18 | 16 |
| Caleb Fish, 157 | 11 | 11 |
| Cameron Amine, 165 | 6 | 4 |
| Dean Hamiti Jr. | 2 | 1 |
| Dustin Plott, 184 | 3 | 1 |
| Luke Surber, 197 | 6 | 2 |
| Wyatt Hendrickson, Hwt. | 3 | 1 |
Oklahoma State will wrestle in the Big 12 Championships at The BOK Center in Tulsa next weekend on March 8-9. It is expected that Troy Spratley (125), Dean Hamiti Jr. (174), Luke Surber (197), and Wyatt Hendrickson (Hwt.) will all be top seeds in their bracket.