Pairings for National Duals are Released

There really weren't any surprises with the National Duals pairings that were released Tuesday morning. Missouri's win over Ohio State back before the New Year along with their undefeated record gives them the #2 seed. Ohio State's recent victory gives them #3 which bumps Minnesota to #4.

Quarterfinals (12pm Central)

#1 Iowa vs. Chattanooga
#4 Minnesota vs. #5 Cornell
#3 Ohio State vs. #11 Lehigh
#2 Missouri vs. #12 Illinois

These semi-final matches are really exciting to think about. A rematch of Iowa & Minnesota seems like a second Christmas while Missouri has to face an Ohio State team they defeated by the tiebreaker point. Both Missouri and Ohio State will have a different lineup and it should be an amazing dual. 

Before we even get to the quarterfinals some odd stuff could happen. Illinois is a much improved dual team with Delgado in the lineup. Him and Waters is obviously the match of the opening round and if it goes Illinois' way the Tigers could be in risk of an upset. Let's not automatically assume Minnesota defeats Cornell as well. Cornell is favored in 4 of the matches so with an upset or two the Big Red could send the Gophers home early. 

This weekend at Carver-Hawkeye (land of Gable) is essentially "who can knock off Iowa in their own nest". However, don't expect it to be easy with the other top teams in the land. For the first time we truly have a National Dual Championship with the top teams. Hopefully it's not the only time in history this happens, because it is pretty cool.