What to watch for at Big 12 wrestling championships
TULSA — The Big 12 Conference is set to open its wrestling championships at 10 a.m. Saturday at the BOK Center, the seventh straight year it will be in the downtown facility.
And this year, it’s just an appetizer for a bigger event, with the NCAA Championships coming to the BOK Center March 16-18.
But for now, the focus is on the 13 teams competing for the Big 12 trophy. With this year’s addition of Cal Baptist, the league has more teams than ever, which means more action for wrestling fans.
Preliminary and quarterfinal rounds make up the first session, starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, with the second session set for 5 p.m.
On Sunday, the action begins at noon, with the championship round to kick off at 8 p.m.
The first three sessions will be broadcast on ESPN+ with ESPNU televising the finals.
Here’s a look at a few things to know about the event:
Can Missouri win Big 12 title again?
Missouri won the Big 12 title in its return to the league last March, and is back in line to chase another this week. Iowa State will be in close pursuit, and Oklahoma State is in the mix as well.
Individually, Missouri has two No. 1 seeds and two No. 2 seeds. No other program has two top seeds in the field. OSU and Iowa State each have one No. 1 and two No. 2s.
Missouri is led by Brock Mauller, the top seed at 149, and Peyton Mocco, the top seed at 174.
But it will be the Tigers’ depth that gives them the best shot at the title. No Missouri wrestler is seeded lower than sixth.
OU and OSU tied for the title in 2021 and Missouri won last year. But before that, OSU had taken the previous eight titles, dating back to Missouri winning in 2012, at which point it then left the conference for nearly a decade.
Weights to watch
WIth several highly ranked wrestlers in every weight class, the Big 12
Championships will have plenty of drama, whether it’s the pursuit of a title or an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
The Big 12 was awarded 65 total allocations to the NCAAs, with nine weight classes receiving at least six. Only the 184-pound class received fewer, getting just four. But at 165 and heavyweight, the Big 12 got eight allocations, meaning the top eight finishers in those classes get automatic bids.
At 165, the Big 12 has the top two wrestlers in the country with Iowa State’s David Carr and Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole. Overall, the class has five wrestlers ranked in the top 14 nationally.
The 141-pound bracket has six of the top 16, led by Northern Colorado’s Andrew Alirez, who is undefeated and ranked No. 1 nationally. OU’s Mosha Schwartz, the second seed in the bracket, is ranked eighth.
Sooners’ best shot
The seeding process wasn’t overly friendly to OU and OSU. While the Cowboys have three wrestlers seeded in the top two of their weight class, OU has just one.
Schwartz drew the No. 2 seed at 141 pounds, while no other Sooner is seeded higher than fifth.
Schwartz will have his hands full in pursuit of the 141-pound title, with Alirez atop the bracket. The two were teammates at Northern Colorado until Schwartz transferred last offseason.
Overall, the Sooners have a wrestler in the top eight seeds in seven of the 10 weight classes. At 165, Gerrit Nijenuis is the fifth seed, and Tate Picklo is in the same spot at 174 after a late-season surge.
OSU has nine seeded wrestlers, with Daton Fix No. 1 at 133. Kaden Gfeller has the No. 2 seed at 157 and Dustin Plott is No. 2 at 174.
Bedlam crossover?
The Big 12 Championships often bring some intriguing Bedlam matchups, but this year’s alignment suggests those meetings will most likely occur in the losers’ bracket.
There are no Bedlam pairings in the preliminary round and only one possible in the quarterfinals. At 184 pounds, OSU’s Travis Wittlake is the No. 3 seed and OU’s Keegan Moore — who began his career with the Cowboys — is the No. 6 seed, setting up a possible Bedlam quarterfinal.
In two other classes — 133 and 197 — OU and OSU are paired for potential semifinal meetings, but in the remaining seven weights, they’d have to reach the finals to meet up in the winners’ bracket.