Pat Popolizio and the NC State wrestling team had a magical season that included a sweep of the ACC Dual & Tournament titles and a top-10 ranking throughout the campaign. But when they hit Detroit, results just didn’t come in the same fashion we had seen all year, which goes to show how brutal and unforgiving this sport can be. Based on seeds we were poised to take 5th place, and with some bonus points or an overperformance or two, sliding up into a team trophy spot would have surprised no one.
The tournament started off okay, we advanced all ten guys to Day 2 and had the third most bonus points (9.