Real Woods Makes NCAA Final; Spencer Lee Stunned

Friday at the NCAA Wrestling Tournament is critical for two reasons. It's moving day in terms of the team title race -- most of the team points are awarded during the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds that take place on Friday morning and evening. And for individuals, Friday is about positioning yourself for a shot at championship glory on Saturday night. You have to navigate the quarterfinal round and the semifinal round in order to book a spot in that Saturday night championship match.

Iowa put three wrestlers into the Friday night semifinals: Spencer Lee at 125 lbs, Real Woods at 141 lbs, and Tony Cassioppi at 285 lbs. Unfortunately, only Woods was able to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament finals on Saturday night. In the upset of the year -- and one of the biggest NCAA Tournament upsets ever -- Spencer Lee was shocked in the semifinal by the 4-seed, Purdue's Matt Ramos.

Lee entered the match 18-0 in his previous NCAA Tournament matches and a three-time NCAA champion. He was two wins away from becoming the fifth-ever four-time national champion in college wrestling and being the first Iowa wrestler to do so. Wrestling immortality awaited -- and then Ramos yanked it away with a jaw-dropping upset, not only beating Lee, but pinning him (with a second remaining in the third period).

Lee and Ramos had wrestled earlier in the season, a match that Lee won with a first period pin. That result shouldn't suggest that it was an easy win for Lee, though -- far from it. Ramos took Lee to the mat with a lateral drop and scored several near fall points to open up a big lead. Lee got an escape in that match, then roared back with a takedown of his own, followed by near fall points and the eventual match-ending pin.

Ramos used his length to stymie Lee's shots in the first period, then used an explosive double leg attack to get a takedown and put Lee on his back briefly. That gave Ramos an early 4-0 lead. A Lee escape made it 4-1 heading into the second, which was itself unusual territory -- few Spencer Lee matches get to the second period to begin with; almost none do so with Lee trailing.

Lee chose the top position to start the second and, predictably, did well in his best position. He flattened Ramos out and was able to use his classic trapped arm tilt to get four near fall points near the edge of the match. Lee was able to ride Ramos for the entire period, but he wasn't able to get any other tilts. He took a 5-4 lead into the third period, plus over a minute of riding time.

Ramos chose neutral to start the third and for a while neither wrestler was able to get an advantage or penetrate the other's defense. Finally, Lee seemed to score a takedown on Ramos on the edge of the mat. The Purdue coaches challenged the call (they argued that Lee was out of bounds and thus couldn't have secured the takedown), but the call was upheld after a lengthy video review.

Lee took a 7-4 lead after the challenge and was seemingly in ideal position to see out the match: up 7-4 (with riding time) and in his preferred top position. But on the restart, Ramos exploded from bottom and got a fast escape, then immediately went into an attack of his own. He and Lee got into another scramble, which ended with Ramos locking his arms around Lee's chest and forcing him to the mat. He got the takedown (which tied the match at 7-7) and was in the process of getting near fall points as well. That would have won him the match anyway, but with a second remaining Ramos was able to pin Lee's shoulders to the mat for the fall.

Processing a loss of that magnitude will undoubtedly take a while -- for Iowa fans, as well as for the Iowa team and coaches and, most of all, for Spencer Lee himself. It's a loss that's not just about one match, or even the pursuit of one national title; it's a loss that ended a quest for a historic -- and rare -- accomplishment. It's a loss that will undoubtedly be painful for a long, long, long time.

In the aftermath of a loss like that, there are always things to second-guess. Maybe Lee shouldn't have pushed the Iowa coaches to challenge the takedown on the edge; that two minute video review break gave Ramos an opportunity to catch his breath and recharge, which he certainly used in that final push after the restart. Maybe Lee should have been more defensive after giving up that quick escape to Ramos at the end -- he still had a 7-5 lead at that point, as well as a riding time point. Maybe it was a bad idea for Lee to go to his back and try roll through with Ramos in the scramble near the end of the match -- though Lee has also had great success doing that same thing in other matches.

Ultimately, the maybes and what ifs are just attempts to process and rationalize the unthinkable: a Spencer Lee loss in the NCAA Tournament. And they shouldn't diminish the performance of Matt Ramos; he wrestled a superb match. It was clear that he prepared smartly and he executed that gameplan extremely well. He frustrated Lee well from neutral in the first, and even managed to score points of his own. He couldn't completely prevent Lee from scoring from the top position, but he was able to limited the damage from that position. And in the third period he used a a big move to perfection to win the match.

As shocking and heartbreaking as Lee's loss was, the truth is that Iowa also had some very good results on Friday night aside from that defeat (and Tony Cassioppi's loss at 285, which we'll discus later). Real Woods got an epic scare in his second round match at this NCAA Tournament, narrowly holding off Ohio State's Dylan D'Emilio, the 17-seed, for a 7-5 win. If that near-upset was what Woods needed to unlock a new level of performance, maybe it was worth it.

Woods was nothing short of phenomenal on Friday, blitzing Missouri's Allan Hart, the 8-seed, 9-0, in the quarterfinals and then rolling through Nebraska's Brock Hardy, the 4-seed, 11-1, in the semifinals. Two major decision wins and a combined 20-1 scoring margin -- some very impressive results. Woods' win over Hardy also secured one of Iowa wrestling's oldest and longest streaks -- putting at least one wrestler in the NCAA finals every year going back to 1990.

The semifinal win was especially impressive given how tight Woods' previous matches with Hardy were this season. Woods edged him 6-4 in the dual during the regular season, then hung on for an even tighter 2-1 win over Hardy in the Big Ten final. There was no hanging on or eking out a win here; Woods just flat-out dominated him.

Woods was able to apply what's been a successful formula for him all season in this match: an early takedown, some tilts for near fall points, and a mean ride to rack up riding time. Woods had a 6-0 lead early and never looked back. He held onto that lead well for the rest of the match, wisely chose neutral instead of down against Hardy (a tenacious rider from the top position), and picked up a match-icing takedown in the final seconds when Hardy went for a go-for-broke move.

This was just a dominant performance from Woods from start to finish and the capper to a hugely impressive day. Of course, his quest isn't finished -- he still has Saturday night's championship match to go. He'll face Northern Colorado's Andrew Alirez, the 2-seed, in that match. Alirez is 27-0 on the season and he and Woods have been on a collision course all year -- they've been ranked 1/2 in the nation since the season began. No better way to see who's better than in the NCAA finals.

Real Woods' win in the 141 lb semifinal was the most high-profile win of the Friday night session for Iowa, but it was not the only one. Iowa wrestlers also excelled in the consolation round, going a perfect 6-0 in wrestleback matches. The first round of wrestlebacks on Friday night always have heightened importance -- those matches are the Round of 12, or the bloodround. The winners there guarantee themselves a spot on the All-America podium and a finish no worse than eighth. The losers have their tournaments ended just shy of All-America status.

This was the fourth straight NCAA Tournament that Max Murin has wrestled in the bloodround on Friday night. The first three trips all ended in heartbreaking defeats, leaving him shy of earning All-America status. (Murin was awarded All-America status in 2020 because all wrestlers seeded in the Top 8 at their respective weights were given All-America status for the canceled NCAA Tournament, but he had never earned All-America honors on the mat.)

That painful streak ended on Friday night, as Murin earned a 3-2 win over Michigan's Chance Lamer. It wasn't easy, but a takedown and an escape provided the points Murin needed and he held off Lamer's attacks in the third period. Finally, Max Murin is an All-American. It's an accomplishment that he richly deserves, partly for his years of grinding away, but mostly because of the improvement he's shown, especially this season. Murin has wrestled very well, especially at this NCAA Tournament, and it's gratifying to see that effort rewarded with All-America honors.

Nelson Brands also become a first-time All-American for Iowa, thanks to a 4-1 win over Illinois' Edmond Ruth in the bloodround. Brands got an early takedown and put a tough ride on Ruth, which allowed him to rack up riding time as well. Those points, plus an escape and another hard ride on Ruth that put his riding time over a minute, gave him the points he needed to get the win.

Brands had some up-and-down results earlier in the season (health/fitness was likely a factor there, given the bevy of wraps and bandages he was sporting in several matches), but he's certainly wrestling his best at the ideal time of the season to do so. Can't complain about that.

Jacob Warner became Iowa's sixth All-American this season with his own win in the bloodround, knocking off Nebraska's Silas Allred. The match was a very classic Warner match: scoreless first period, Warner escape to go up 1-0, and then plenty of cagey defense in the third period. Allred chose neutral instead of down in the third period, which may have been his undoing as he failed to get through Warner's defense from his feet. That lone escape point stood up and Warner won the match 1-0.

The victory made Warner a five-time All-American, the third for Iowa (joining Michael Kemerer and Spencer Lee). Warner finished 7th in 2019, 4th in 2021, and 2nd last year. (Like Murin, Lee, and Kemerer, Warner was also acknowledged as an All-American in 2020.) His finish this year is still TBD, but it will be no worse than 6th, as he followed up that 1-0 win over Allred with a 4-2 win over Cornell's Jacob Cardenas.

Like Warner, Murin and Brands also won their second consolation matches of the night. Murin won a nervy 3-1 battle over Minnesota's Michael Blockhus in sudden victory. After trading escapes in regulation, Murin and Blockhus went to sudden victory, with Murin finally overpowering Blockhus and coming out on top in a scramble to score the winning takedown. Brands got his second win with a 6-1 victory over Missouri's Peyton Mocco, using a formula very similar to the one he used to beat Ruth in the bloodround: early takedown, hard ride, escape, stingy defense.

The semifinal round began with a stunning loss for Iowa. It ended with defeat as well, although the only thing stunning about Tony Cassioppi's loss to Michigan's top-ranked Mason Parris was the margin of defeat. Cassioppi entered Friday's match 0-4 lifetime against Parris, so he was a decided underdog. But he had at least managed to (seemingly) narrow the gap in those losses -- he went from getting pinned in their first two encounters to an 11-5 loss at last year's NCAA Tournament and a 9-7 defeat at this year's Iowa-Michigan dual. Cassioppi even briefly had the lead in that match.

Any hope that he might be able to build off that performance on Friday night was quickly extinguished by Parris' utter dominance. Parris took Cassioppi down within ten seconds, wrenched him to his back for a four-point near fall and very nearly pinned him. He was able to tilt Cassioppi for another four-point near fall a few moments later and ended the period with a 10-0 lead and a staggering 2:50 in riding time.

The match was academic after that, with Parris getting an escape and a few more takedowns to finish up a 16-1 technical fall win early in the third period. The comprehensiveness of this defeat was impressively thorough; Parris simply overpowered and outwrestled Cassioppi in every position.

Here's a full rundown of Iowa's Friday night results:

And here's a recap of the action earlier on Friday:

As far as the team race... Iowa still has a mathematical chance to catch Penn State for the national championship, but... it's over. Penn State is repeating as national champions.

Here's what's on tap for Iowa on Saturday.

Lee, Murin, Brands, Warner, and Cassioppi are all wrestling in the consolation semifinals. If they win those matches, they'll wrestle in the 3rd place match. If they lose the consolation semifinal, they'll wrestle in the 5th place match. None of them can finish any lower than 6th at their respective weights.

Woods is Iowa's lone finalist and will go for a national championship against Alirez on Saturday night.