Wrestling: The Huskers’ NCAA Tournament Seeds are Out

The NCAA announced its seeds for this year’s NCAA Championships that start next Thursday, so we have some Husker seeds to look into.

I’ll have a more in-depth breakdown of the seeds, the season that was, and a preview of NCAAs early next week, but here are Nebraska’s seeds and some initial thoughts after looking at the potential matchups.

Nebraska’s 2024 NCAA Seeds

125 pounds – 15-seed Caleb Smith (Jr.)

133 pounds – 14-seed Jacob Van Dee (R-Fr.)

141 pounds – 9-seed Brock Hardy (So.)

149 pounds – 1-seed Ridge Lovett (Jr.)

157 pounds – 8-seed Peyton Robb (Sr.)

165 pounds – 8-seed Antrell Taylor (R-Fr.)

184 pounds – 5-seed Lenny Pinto (So.)

197 pounds – 10-seed Silas Allred (So.)

285 pounds – 29-seed Nash Hutmacher (Jr.)

My Initial Thoughts…

• With six top-10 seeds, the Huskers should have a number of All-Americans (top-8 finish)
• Nebraska will be one of a slew of teams competing for 2nd place (Penn State is going to run away with the team title yet again). It’s going to be a razor-thin margin who takes home team trophies for 2nd and 3rd.
• Top-seeded Ridge Lovett is obviously Nebraska’s best chance at a national champion, and he’d be the first to do so since Jordan Burroughs did it in 2011. He’s certainly the favorite to win it going in.
• The 8-seed Peyton Robb will again face Michigan’s Will Lewan (9-seed) in the second round. It’ll be their third meeting this year with Robb winning both so far. With a win, a fourth match against Penn State’s 1-seed Levi Haines awaits in the quarters — Robb is 0-3 against him.
• Six of the nine Huskers will be making return trips to nationals. Robb has now qualified for five tournaments but this will be his fourth tournament he’s competed at (2020 was cancelled). This is Lovett’s fourth NCAA qualification (3rd tournament) and Caleb Smith’s third (first with Nebraska). Sophomores Brock Hardy, Lenny Pinto and Silas Allred are all returning after making the big dance as redshirt freshmen a year ago.
• Nebraska has a trio of wrestlers looking to earn multiple All-American status. Robb is already there with his 4th and 6th-place finishes the last two years, while both Lovett and Hardy are looking to earn AA status for a second time. Lovett was an NCAA finalist in 2022, finishing 2nd before redshirting last season, while Hardy finished 6th last season at 141 pounds.
• Nebraska has three guys making their first trip to nationals in redshirt freshman Jacob Van Dee and Antrell Taylor, and football star Nash Hutmacher. Making the national tournament as a freshman at a school like Nebraska in the Big Ten conference is no small feat. Van Dee and Taylor should feel pride in that accomplishment alone, though I do think they’ll both do some serious damage in Kansas City.
• Speaking of Taylor, he’ll have to get through a tough 9-seed Peyton Hall from West Virginia in the second round before a possible quarterfinal matchup against 1-seed Keegan O’Toole of Missouri, the two-time defending NCAA champ at 165 pounds. That’s an impossible task for nearly everybody in the country — the junior is 83-3 on his career with two championships and a 3rd-place finish as a true freshman.
• For 5-seed Lenny Pinto, he’ll have two winnable matches before a tough quarter against Pac-12 Champion 4-seed Trey Munoz of Oregon State. Then possibly a really tough matchup against undefeated 1-seed Parker Keckeisen of UNI in the semis, who has two career wins over Pinto, one this season. I like Pinto to find the podium though in his second shot at it.
• Nebraska’s 10-seed Silas Allred has a tough draw here. He’ll see Iowa’s 7-seed Zach Glazier in the second round, an opponent that beat him via major decision this year. If he wins that, he’ll face 2-seed Trent Hidlay of NC State, the undefeated dynamo that is the only hope to knock off Penn State’s 1-seed Aaron Brooks. With this draw, I’m afraid Allred may need to do some work on the back side to All-American.
• As for 29-seed Nash Hutmacher, making it to the NCAA tournament after joining the team in December is absolutely amazing. He will start his tournament against former NCAA finalist and Greco-Roman specialist 4-seed Cohlton Schultz of Arizona State. One heavyweight that likely won’t be smaller than Hutmacher, Schultz will be a tough out. I expect Hutmacher can do some work on the back side though.
• Lastly, #18-ranked Bubba Wilson did not receive an at-large bid at 174 pounds. He finished 9th at Big Tens when the conference auto-qualified the top 8. Two guys he beat this season both qualified in 21-seed Tyler Eischens of North Carolina and 28-seed Jared Simma of UNI. Wilson went 16-12 on the year with most of his losses close decisions against some of the top guys in the country in the Big Ten. He beat Eischens 5-2 and Simma 3-1 this season. Him not getting an at-large bid was absolutely a snub.