There were seasons in the past where the Big 12 tournament finals felt like an OSU vs. Big 12 All-Stars event. Based on seedings, that could be the case this weekend in Tulsa.
On Monday, the Big 12 released its brackets for this weekend’s Big 12 Championships, which take place Friday and Saturday at the BOK Center. The Cowboys have six 1 seeds, three 2 seeds and a 3 seed. Here’s a look at the seeds before we break down each of the Cowboys’ paths to a Big 12 title.
Seeds
125 — No. 1 Troy Spratley
133 — No. 1 Jax Forrest
141 — No. 1 Sergio Vega
149 — No. 1 Casey Swiderski
157 — No. 2 Landon Robideau
165 — No. 1 LaDarion Lockett
174 — No. 1 Alex Facundo
184 — No. 2 Zack Ryder
197 — No. 3 Cody Merrill
HWT — No. 2 Konner Doucet
125: No. 1 Troy Spratley
Overall Season Record: 12-3
Season Record vs. Big 12 Field: 5-0
Other Contenders: 2 Stevo Poulin (Iowa State), 3 Jett Strickenberger (West Virginia)
NCAA Pre-Allocations: 5
Overview: Spratley has already avenged his second-place finish at the last Big 12 Championships by beating Strickenberger earlier this season, but now the Cowboy will want to stand atop the Big 12 podium for the first time.
Spratley’s performances against Strickenberger and Poulin during the regular season were big, as now those two would have to go through each other to get to Spratley.
Spratley beat Poulin at the start of February 3-1 after beating Strickenberger 6-2 back in December. Poulin beat Strickenberger via a 14-4 major decision on Feb. 13, so he’d be the favorite in that could-be semifinal.
133: No. 1 Jax Forrest
Overall Season Record: 9-0
Season Record vs. Big 12 Field: 3-0
Other Contenders: 2 Evan Frost (Iowa State), 3 Kyler Larkin (Arizona State), 4 Dominick Serrano (Northern Colorado)
NCAA Pre-Allocations: 8
Overview: Forrest didn’t even need a full season under his belt to capture the top seed at his first Big 12 Tournament.
This bracket is top heavy. In the latest national rankings, Intermat listed Frost ahead of Forrest. The pair didn’t meet in the teams’ February dual, as Forrest instead thrashed Cyclone backup Osmany Diversent 16-0.
Forrest also didn’t wrestle Larkin (ranked sixth nationally) in the regular season, as Forrest wasn’t on the team yet. Larkin instead beat Richard Figueroa 10-5 in Tempe.
Either of those matchups would be big for Forrest, but if things go chalk, he’d only wrestle one of those guys. Larkin and Frost were supposed to wrestle in the Cliff Keen final back in December, but Larkin medically forfeited.
Serrano could be a landmine on Forrest’s side of the bracket. Serrano is ranked 11th nationally and his only loss this season came to Frost. Serrano won this bracket last season.
141: No. 1 Sergio Vega
Overall Season Record: 15-0
Season Record vs. Big 12 Field: 6-0
Other Contenders: 2 Anthony Echemendia (Iowa State)
NCAA Pre-Allocations: 7
Overview: Upsets can happen, but this bracket seems destined to produce a rematch between Sunnyside High (AZ) alums Vega and Echemendia.
The two wrestled an epic bout last month that Vega took 4-2. Vega looked dead to rights on a few occasions before managing to wiggle his way back to safety. He enters his first Big 12 Tournament still without giving up a takedown this season.
Echemendia’s only losses this year are that one to Vega and a 5-1 decision to two-time national champ Jesse Mendez (Ohio State).
Should Mendez storm through the Big Ten tournament, this Big 12 final would likely be for the 2 seed at nationals.
149: No. 1 Casey Swiderski
Overall Season Record: 10-5
Season Record vs. Big 12 Field: 3-0
Other Contenders: 2 Jacob Frost (Iowa State), 3 David Evans (Utah Valley)
NCAA Pre-Allocations: 5
Overview: After an 0-4 start to the season, Swiderski has battled his way to the top seed of the Big 12’s 149-pound bracket.
He secured that seed with his 4-2 win against Frost at the start of last month. Swiderski picked up an injury in that bout and hasn’t wrestled since, though.
Swiderski hasn’t wrestled much of the field this season, but given he transferred from Iowa State, he has wrestled some of these guys in previous seasons.
Intermat has 3 seed David Evans one spot behind Swiderski in the national rankings. Evans and Frost were supposed to meet at Cliff Keen, but Evans medically forfeited the contest.
I’d expect this final is a Swiderski-Frost rematch, which ought to be pretty intense given their last encounter.
157: No. 2 Landon Robideau
Overall Season Record: 14-1
Season Record vs. Big 12 Field: 4-0
Other Contenders: 1 Kaleb Larkin (Arizona State), 3 Vinny Zerban (Iowa State), 4 Ty Watters (West Virginia)
NCAA Pre-Allocations: 5
Overview: This bracket will be fun. At one point this season, Big 12 4 seed Ty Watters was listed atop the national rankings.
Entering the weekend, Intermat has the Big 12’s top 4 seeds at No. 5 (Robideau), No. 6 (Larkin), No. 7 (Zerban) and No. 8 (Watters) nationally, so it’s anyone’s tournament.
Despite OSU having wrestled Arizona State, Iowa State and West Virginia this season, the only of the other top 4 seeds Robideau has wrestled this season was Zerban, who the OSU freshman beat 4-1 on Feb. 1.
Larkin has beaten Zerban and Watters, while Watters beat Zerban — thus setting the order.
Robideau could have a tough opening match against former Cowboy Teague Travis. Robideau beat Travis 4-0 back in January.
165: No. 1 LaDarion Lockett
Overall Season Record: 13-1
Season Record vs. Big 12 Field: 2-0
Other Contenders: 2 Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa), 3 Nicco Ruiz (Arizona State)
NCAA Pre-Allocations: 4
Overview: Lockett has only wrestled two guys in this field, but that was good enough to get the top seed.
He’s coming off his first career loss, a 4-2 defeat to Iowa’s Mikey Caliendo, so we’ll get to see how Lockett responds.
Again, upsets happen, but this weight seems like a three-horse race, meaning Lockett getting the 1 seed was of note. Lockett and Downey are ranked fourth and sixth nationally, respectively, while Intermat has Ruiz at No. 12.
Lockett beat 2 seed Ryder Downey with a miraculous last-second takedown and back points at the end of January.
Downey picked up a 4-2 win against Ruiz just before his match with Lockett.
174: No. 1 Alex Facundo
Overall Season Record: 14-5
Season Record vs. Big 12 Field: 7-0
Other Contenders: 2 Carter Schubert (Oklahoma), 3 Cam Steed (Missouri), 4 MJ Gaitan (Iowa State), 5 Jared Simma (Northern Iowa)
NCAA Pre-Allocations: 7
Overview: Facundo has wrestled a ton of tough competition this year, and he enters the postseason without a Big 12 loss.
Because of his unbeaten record against the field, it made sense for Facundo to get the top seed, but this is a bracket that could take a few different shapes.
OU’s Schubert won the Cliff Keen this season, showing his capabilities in a tournament setting. Facundo beat Schubert 7-2 in the Bedlam dual. Facundo also beat 3 seed Steed 2-1 on Jan. 23. Schubert beat Steed 6-5 way back in early November.
A potential Gaitan-Simma quarterfinal ought to be a fun match. Gaitan beat Simma in sudden victory on Feb. 15. Facundo beat Gaitan 4-2 at the beginning of February and technically has two wins over Simma — a medical forfeit at the Cougar Clash and a 5-1 win in the dual.
184: No. 2 Zack Ryder
Overall Season Record: 10-6
Season Record vs. Big 12 Field: 3-2
Other Contenders: 1 Aeoden Sinclair (Missouri), 3 Eddie Neitenbach (Wyoming), 4 Ian Bush (West Virginia), 6 Brian Soldano (Oklahoma), 7 Isaac Dean (Iowa State)
NCAA Pre-Allocations: 8
Overview: Missouri’s Aeoden Sinclair is probably considered the heavy favorite in this bracket, but what happens elsewhere might be anyone’s guess.
Ryder lost to Sinclair (ranked third nationally) 4-1 in the Cowboys’ dual against Missouri. However, Ryder has wins against Bush and Soldano. Ryder also has a loss to 5 seed Nick Fox (Northern Iowa) in a match Ryder got hurt in and missed some time after.
It looks to be a competitive bracket throughout, as Ryder’s would-be quarterfinal would be against Dean. Ryder and Dean didn’t wrestle because Ryder got hurt in that UNI match.
197: No. 3 Cody Merrill
Overall Season Record: 13-3
Season Record vs. Big 12 Field: 4-1
Other Contenders: 1 Rocky Elam (Iowa State), 2 Joey Novak (Wyoming), 4 Bennett Berge (South Dakota State)
NCAA Pre-Allocations: 8
Overview: This is probably the most fun bracket of the event, as the top 4 seeds are all in the Top 7 of the national rankings.
Of that group, Merrill has only wrestled Elam this year, a match this OSU redshirt freshman dropped in tiebreakers.
Elam has beaten all of the other top 4 seeds with his match against Merrill being the closest on the scoreboard. Berge and Novak haven’t wrestled this season.
While it would be surprising if one of the top 4 seeds didn’t win this bracket, there are also a few landmines out there in 5 seed DJ Parker (Oklahoma) and 6 seed Evan Bates (Missouri).
HWT: No. 2 Konner Doucet
Overall Season Record: 14-2
Season Record vs. Big 12 Field: 4-1
Other Contenders: 1 Yonger Bastida (Iowa State), 3 Christian Carroll (Wyoming)
NCAA Pre-Allocations: 6
Overview: Everyone in this bracket will be in pursuit of Bastida, who will look to lock up the top national seed with a win in Tulsa.
Doucet lost to Bastida 6-2 on Feb. 1. The Cowboy senior could see a former protege in the semis in Christian Carroll. Carroll started his college career at OSU before transferring to Iowa State and has now found a home at Wyoming.
This marks Doucet’s third Big 12 Championships. He placed fifth at the event in 2023 and 2024.
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.
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