Bassett still ranked No. 2, gets No. 1 Stanich this weekend
A senior World champion opens his college career against the only man ranked above him.
Bo Bassett is ranked No. 2 in the NCAA, and his first college match is against the No. 1 wrestler in front of him. FloWrestling posted the matchup this week, pointing out that a senior World title did not move Bassett to the top of the rankings, with Luke Stanich still holding the spot. The two meet this weekend, live on Flo.
That is the same bout we flagged earlier, now with the ranking wrinkle attached. Bassett won 65kg gold in Astana, beating Tevanyan 9-1 in the final after a 14-13 comeback on Magomedov in the semis. None of that was enough to pass Stanich on paper.
Stanich arrives hot
Stanich already has a result on the board this season. He beat No. 8 Consiglio 20-3, a scoreline Christian Pyles called very impressive. A 17-point win over a top-ten opponent is the kind of opener that explains why the No. 1 ranking has not moved.
So the weekend gives the weight its answer immediately instead of in March. A World champion debuting against the top ranked wrestler in the country is not a tune up for either man, and whoever loses it loses it in the first week of the season with the whole year left to respond. For Bassett, it is a chance to settle the ranking argument on the mat rather than in a poll.
Our take, the No. 2 ranking says more about how rankers treat freestyle credentials than about the gap between these two. Bassett has not wrestled a college match. Stanich has, and he scored 20 points in it.
What to watch
The match is this weekend on Flo, per FloWrestling's post.
Whether a Bassett win flips the ranking immediately, or whether rankers wait for a larger folkstyle body of work before moving a World champion to No. 1.
Bo Bassett may have won a world title, but he’s still ranked #2 in the NCAA!
Luke Stanich with a 20-3 win over #8 Consiglio is very impressive.
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