INSIDE WRESTLING
BY RYAN EVANS
@Badger_Wrestle
SCHEDULE (3-2, 0-0)
Last Week
Nov. 30 Cliff Keen Invite
Dec. 1 Cliff Keen Invite 14th Place
This Week
Friday
Michigan State
Sunday at #9 Nebraska
7 p.m.
1 p.m.
Coming Up
Dec. 29 Midlands Championships
Dec. 30 Midlands Championships
Badgers prepping for
rigors of Big Ten season
Wisconsin opens with Michigan St., Nebraska
I
n collegiate wrestling,
there is arguably no
tougher conference in the
country than the Big Ten,
especially this season as it
boasts a host of NCAA title
contenders.
This season, six of the
top 10 teams in the NWCA/
USA Today Division I Wrestling Team Coaches Poll hail
62 �� VARSITY
D EC E M B E R 6, 2012
from the Big Ten, including
top-ranked and two-time
defending national champion Penn State, No. 3 Minnesota, No. 4 Ohio State
��� which is coming off its second-straight team title at the
Cliff Keen Invite���and No. 5
Iowa, which is just two years
removed from an NCAA
three-peat.
���Year-in and year-out it is the
toughest conference in the country,���
Wisconsin coach Barry Davis said.
The Badgers open Big Ten season
this weekend with a pair of duals.
Wisconsin takes on Michigan State
on Friday at the UW Field House before heading on the road to face No. 9
Nebraska in Lincoln. Davis said that
his team knows the level of competition will be high, but that they���ll be
ready.
���Our guys know what they���re up
against,��� Davis said. ���When you
come to a Big Ten school you know
what the competition is going to be.
You need to make sure you���re prepared mentally, physically and skillwise and go from there.
���From here on out, aside from the
Midlands Championships, it���s all Big
Ten competition that���s left, so you
have to be ready to go.���
Davis also said that the opportunity to face a gauntlet of some of the
best teams the NCAA has to offer is
something that excites his team.
���They know it���s going to be a little
bit tougher and a little more intense,���
Davis said. ���So, there is a little more
fire and intensity there.���
