Hodge Award

B

bdhof

Well-known member
I, like every other rational person in the wrestling world, assume that Spencer Lee will win the Hodge Trophy in a runaway. Then I saw a pretty interesting discussion on it at themat.com. I think that many of the Lee doubters are probably guys who don't like IOWA (this is an open site for all college fans). But they make one valid argument. Spencer Lee ducked undefeated #2 Glory PRIN 2x this year, in the dual on 12/8, and at the Midlands on 12/29. The IOWA line on why he missed the dual was that Lee was going to pull a Snyder, wrestling mostly FS and a handful of duals as he prepared for the Olympic Team Trials. The problem w/ that argument is that the PRIN dual is the only dual he missed all year. He wrestled 3 duals leading up to PRIN and every one since. No, he wasn't pulling a Snyder. At Midlands, he beat up on the early round opponents before calling it a day when he was facing Glory. For the record, the US Open (the only FS he wrestled all season) was 2 weeks after the Princeton dual and one week before the Midlands. The Midlands duck is easier in my mind to rationalize. He wrestled a brutal lineup featuring 6 former NCAA champions at the Open. He was due a light schedule, or no schedule at all there. But 2 weeks to prepare for the US Open seems like enough time to squeeze in the PRIN dual. Maybe it's not enough time, but it does leave room for the argument.

Here's their stats going in to the voting:
Lee 18-0, 4 pins, 9 techs, 3 majors and 1 decision (89% bonus), Lee also had one forfeit when MN didn't wrestle him. And of course 2 ducks.
13-0 against NCAA qualifiers (5 technical falls, 4 falls, 3 major decisions, 1 decision.)

Moore 26-0, 3 pins, 6 techs, 10 majors and 4 decisions (74% bonus). And of course, no ducks.
16-0 record against NCAA qualifiers (7 major decisions, 6 decisions, 3 technical falls.)

Here's the Hodge criteria:
1. Record 2. Number of pins 3. Dominance 4. Past credentials 5. Quality of competition 6. Sportsmanship/citizenship 7. Heart

Moore wins on record & quality of competition.
Lee wins on pins, dominance & past credentials.

Tie on sportsmanship/citizenship & heart.

I still think Lee wins, but maybe Moore will get some votes. Previously, I thought it might be a runaway for Lee.

And for the sake of inclusion, Deakin and Steveson will probably be the other 2 finalists, but I don't see either of them garnering much support. And of course, there's Glory, #2 Adams WV 197 and a few other undefeated guys who could crack the finalist field instead of Deakin (unlikely) or Steveson (more likely).
 
 
Undefeated wrestlers who won conference titles:
Spencer Lee, Pat Glory, Chaz Tucker, Matt Kolodzik, Ryan Deakin, Shane Griffith, Kollin Moore, Noah Adams, Gable Steveson

I agree on the final five of Lee, Moore, Gable, Deakin, and Glory. I'd go Spencer because he bonuses everyone except one opponent (who he beat by 7), including majoring 2x AA Piccininni.

I think Gable and Kollin are pretty much even, maybe not by criteria, but in my eyes. Gable beat Hillger, Wood, Cassioppi twice, and Mason Parris. That's a quality resume for the year. Kollin is hurt by the fact that he only wrestled one former AA, which was Shakur two years ago.
 
I agree I think that Lee will win. However that is some very interesting information about Lee missing those two key matchups.
 
Yankeefan33 said:
Undefeated wrestlers who won conference titles:
Spencer Lee, Pat Glory, Chaz Tucker, Matt Kolodzik, Ryan Deakin, Shane Griffith, Kollin Moore, Noah Adams, Gable Steveson

I agree on the final five of Lee, Moore, Gable, Deakin, and Glory. I'd go Spencer because he bonuses everyone except one opponent (who he beat by 7), including majoring 2x AA Piccininni.

I think Gable and Kollin are pretty much even, maybe not by criteria, but in my eyes. Gable beat Hillger, Wood, Cassioppi twice, and Mason Parris. That's a quality resume for the year. Kollin is hurt by the fact that he only wrestled one former AA, which was Shakur two years ago.
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I think Gable v Moore goes to Moore because Gable only wrestled 15 matches and the off the mat stuff he dealt with leaves a perception, true or not, of questionable character.
 
bdhof said:
I think Gable v Moore goes to Moore because Gable only wrestled 15 matches and the off the mat stuff he dealt with leaves a perception, true or not, of questionable character.
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In an Olympic year I'm less interested in match #'s (Gable won the Farrell, he gets a pass for not wrestling many matches) but the suspension is a good point, and the other half of why he missed time.
 
MPhillips said:
Hasn't the hodge been pretty senior heavy over the years?
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Perhaps less so than people think. In the last 10 years its 8/10, but in the last 20 years its 13/20. Retherford, Taylor, Askren, and Cael won the award as underclassmen then won again later. Metcalf and Mocco won before their senior years, but couldn't replicate the feat.

The only winner in the last 15 years with only one title was Jayson Ness, who pinned 61% of his opponents in 2010. That's a bigger indicator to me how the Hodge vote goes.
 
Yankeefan33 said:
Perhaps less so than people think. In the last 10 years its 8/10, but in the last 20 years its 13/20. Retherford, Taylor, Askren, and Cael won the award as underclassmen then won again later. Metcalf and Mocco won before their senior years, but couldn't replicate the feat.

The only winner in the last 15 years with only one title was Jayson Ness, who pinned 61% of his opponents in 2010. That's a bigger indicator to me how the Hodge vote goes.
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Pretty special wrestlers, much like Spencer to be honest...
 
MPhillips said:
Pretty special wrestlers, much like Spencer to be honest...
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Kollin Moore had an amazing career, honestly much better than myself (or many people I would think) expected. There's a long list of guys who didn't win the Hodge and had great careers- Nolf, Snyder, and Cox in the last five years alone. There will undoubtedly be more too, with the exceptional talent shown by guys in their freshman/sophomore years. Spencer next year, Yianni after that, lots of guys being left out.
 
Woo said:
Yeah, because when you lose to someone the prior year you'll never beat them in the future. Solid logic.
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I believe that, 'sarcastic' Solid Logic was exactly Yanks point...
Meanwhile, Lee was not wrestling Glory he was beating the best FS wrestlers in the country... :censored:
 
MPhillips said:
I believe that, 'sarcastic' Solid Logic was exactly Yanks point...
Meanwhile, Lee was not wrestling Glory he was beating the best FS wrestlers in the country... :censored:
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Spencer Lee is a Cadet world champ, a 2x Junior world champ, and a 2x NCAA champ (including winning a title as a true freshman beating two NCAA champs back to back). Kid hasn't ducked anyone in his life ?
 
brianwr112 said:
And you get to be a Jeorady question for winning the Hodge but not a National Championship
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Nick Ackerman won the Hodge in 2001 (co-winner w/ Sanderson) and he was a DIII champ but not a DI champ. I think there might be another guy out there as well that didn't win a DI championship (not sure). Nick Ackerman was a double amputee (both legs).
 
bdhof said:
Nick Ackerman won the Hodge in 2001 (co-winner w/ Sanderson) and he was a DIII champ but not a DI champ. I think there might be another guy out there as well that didn't win a DI championship (not sure). Nick Ackerman was a double amputee (both legs).
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Here's the other one - Emmett Wilson NAIA champ in 2004. Unlike Ackerman, he had the resume to justify it, winning the CKLV, the Midlands, the All star Classic, and beat several DI AA's (#4, #6 & #7) and NQs. He also finished ahead of the DI champ and runnerup in Midlands.
 
bdhof said:
Here's the other one - Emmett Wilson NAIA champ in 2004. Unlike Ackerman, he had the resume to justify it, winning the CKLV, the Midlands, the All star Classic, and beat several DI AA's (#4, #6 & #7) and NQs. He also finished ahead of the DI champ and runnerup in Midlands.
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And the reason that I say "Unlike Ackerman" is b/c Sanderson was a returning Hodge winner, and had just won his 2nd NCAA title on his way to an undefeated career. Sanderson clearly had the better Hodge resume, but Ackerman was a great story of a young man who had a great career with enormous obstacles to overcome.
 
WIN threw a curveball by naming all 8 undefeated DI wrestlers as finalists this year. There hasn't been a set number of finalists, but there have been only 4 in each of the last 5 years. The previous high was 7 in 2008.

This year’s finalists are (alphabetically) West Virginia sophomore Noah Adams (197), Northwestern junior Ryan Deakin (157), Princeton sophomore Pat Glory (125), Stanford freshman Shane Griffith (165), Iowa junior Spencer Lee (125), Ohio State senior Kollin Moore (197), Minnesota sophomore Gable Steveson (Hwt) and Cornell senior Charles Tucker (133)
 
The number of undefeated wrestlers would have shrunk by at least 2 as Glory & Lee both were at 125 and Adams and Moore both at 197.
 
But I did vote for lee for the Sullivan Award (most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States). You can go here to vote, and vote 1x each day.

Finalist Voting

aausports.wyng.com aausports.wyng.com
 
I think you can only vote 1x per email for the Hodge. Clemson QB Lawrence looks to me as the favorite to win the Sullivan Award.
 
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