Postseason possibility excites Bison wrestling team
Wrestlers will likely be first NDSU team to qualify for Division I playoffs
Bucky Maughan’s 43rd year as the NDSU head wrestling coach won’t be quite the same as the first 42.
This will be the first season the team will compete in a Divisioin I wrestling league, the Western Wrestling Conference, and will be eligible for postseason competition.
In September 2004, the NCAA ruled that NDSU could have two teams, as long as they weren’t basketball or football, be eligible for postseason play after three years instead of the standard five.
Because of the ruling, the Bison will travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa, for NCAA West regional, where they hope to qualify for the Division I Championships in Detroit.
“ We’re excited about having something to do at the end (of the season),” Maughan said of the postseason. “Wrestling just sucks if you don’t have a tournament to go to at the end.”
As dreadful as it is to wrestle without a postseason, NDSU has not shown that on the mat.
During the years without a postseason, Maughan’s crew had a 16-10 record and a 5-1 record against teams now in the WWC.
The WWC has eight teams, including the Bison.
The teams are NDSU, the United States Air Force Academy, Fresno State University, University of Northern Colorado, University of Northern Iowa, SDSU, Utah Valley State and Wyoming.
“ We are very excited to finalize this conference for our wrestling program,” NDSU Athletic Director Gene Taylor said. “It will be very beneficial to our wrestlers for individual recognition and the opportunity to qualify for the NCAA Championships.”
For this season, each team in the WWC participates in the NCAA West Regional.
The goal of the WWC is to replace the West Regional with a conference tournament at the end of the season.
The conference tournament would then be the NCAA qualifier, instead of the West Regional.
“ Last year we wrestled everybody in the conference and had we been eligible to go, we would have had three or four guys make it to the nationals,” Maughan said of last year’s team. “Now whether we will this year or not, I don’t know.”
One thing that Maughan does know is that he will have all of last year’s starters returning.
With only one senior last year, many wrestlers got the opportunity to compete last season.
Team captains Matt Herman — the lone senior this season — and Matt Wetterling will lead the way for the young wrestlers.
Although the wrestling team is filled with youth, Maughan has confidence in the team.
NDSU will start the season with the 37th annual Bison Open Saturday at the Bison Sports Arena.
The tournament will host the 2006 NCAA Division I National Champions, the University of Minnesota.
After the Bison Open, the team leaves for tournaments in Omaha, Neb., and Cedar Falls, Iowa.
They will return home and start conference play against SDSU.