Editor’s Note: Dan Gable, the legendary wrestler and coach, reflected on this year’s NCAA with WIN editor Mike Finn.

            WIN: At this year’s NCAA tournament, six No. 1 seeds lost, including four who did not reach the finals. Was it too much pressure on them or what?

            Gable: If I was going to talk specifics, I would have to look at each one and analyze each one, I probably wouldn’t be able to give you the right answer. But when six No. 1 seeds go down, and just the number of seeds who got knocked off, that shows a pattern of difficulty in picking a winner. That means there really wasn’t a clear-cut favorite.

            WIN: Are you saying it’s not so much that those guys lost, but the lower-seeded guys won?

            Gable: That’s it in a generality. Obviously, the No. 1 seeds had put together the best seasons in people’s minds. If they weren’t able to keep up with their No. 1 seeds, that meant there were a lot of good guys out there. It’s difficult to say this one guy is the solid No. 1.

            People use the world parity. I don’t know that because when I’m a coach I look how I can get the most out my guy. If I’m getting the most out of him, that’s all I can ask and if he gets beat, I feel OK. I don’t like getting beat, but I want to get the most out of my wrestler. Did those six number one seeds represent themselves? If you have two good guys going after it, who really is the better guy?

            WIN: Did Iowa’s Brent Metcalf compete up to his ability?

            Gable: Tom Brands or Metcalf’s dad could answer that better, but from my opinion, he was pretty much under his ability. From what I’ve seen in the past, I felt that Metcalf was not at the high end of what he could do. Did it have something to do with his opponent? Absolutely. It just wasn’t the same Brent Metcalf that I had watched before.

            WIN: Metcalf wasn’t the only wrestler on his team who struggled during the NCAAs. In fact, there were other teams that  struggled like Cornell. Why do some teams struggle and why do teams like Ohio State get stronger at the NCAAs?

            Gable: It was just the matter of being able to put it together at the right time. Ohio State was a good team going into the season and always had the potential. It wasn’t like it was a huge surprise to people inside that program. They just hadn’t put it together yet this year. That was there best performance of the year. A lot of the other teams had the capability of doing something like that. It’s like being a number one seed. It’s a little more difficult to put it together as good as you can because there were other good teams out there. It looked like Iowa, Iowa State and Cornell could come in there and be great teams and Ohio State was able to keep its forces together … while other people were knocking each other off.

            WIN: Is there anything to the thought that college wrestling has such a major dual season in January and February, then has just one tournament experience before the NCAAs. Is there a different mentality for a tournament setting that these guys just aren’t adjusting to?

            Gable: I don’t see that. You do get a lot of tournaments early in the season and you have the national duals in the middle of the season, which is similar. Late-season tournaments could keep some people out of the NCAA tournament. Wrestling several times in a day could make the chances for injuries also go up. Dual meets keep you intact a little and the recovery time is better.

            The keys to winning tournaments at the end of the year is having a healthy team. If you go to a tournament before a major tournament, there is a great chance of not being healthy.

            WIN: When you talk about teams being healthy at the end of the year, how psychologically healthy are these teams?

            Gable: That the real key and part of that is feeling really good. Normally, you have to feel good about yourself to be an automatic winner. If you are squeaking by, you could get upset. Or for some reason you can turn it on because you know you are good. (J) Jaggers of Ohio State seems to be one of those guys who can do that. (NC State’s Darrion) Caldwell is a similar situation, based on their tournament performances.  They were getting better as the tournament moved on. You have to have belief in yourself to overcome getting dominated like Caldwell was against Metcalf early in the season. Had Caldwell be squeaking through the tournament, he wouldn’t have been able to handle the pressure of his championship match.

            WIN: When someone gets beat badly — like Caldwell did against Metcalf in November — how does he forget that loss?

            Gable: You don’t forget the loss. You use it to build yourself up to another chance when you are better prepared. Within a week of that loss, Caldwell said, “I have to get to work now.”

            WIN: There was a buzz from that match that lasted probably through two more championship matches. But except for the 149-pound title match, there really wasn’t anything else memorable about that night and was somewhat boring. Do you agree?

            Gable: I know at 125, there was a lot of dancing. I thought 133 was a pretty good match. It was a battle of tactics and strategy and there was good wrestling going on. I thought (Michigan State’s Franklin) Gomez hit some of the more perfect skills and techniques that I saw in St. Louis. His ability to set things up and finish was good. He hit some really good stuff. That was more of a finesse match.

            The heavyweight was a good match for heavyweights where there was a flurry to keep the other guy from scoring. They were doing more than hanging on. Both were countering and fighting and moving.

            How many matches can you take out a national tournament and make them memorable? People will forever remember  the Metcalf-Caldwell match, but how many times do you  have matches like in the finals of a national tournament? There were a few finals that I can remember where people walked away saying, “those were good finals.” The upsets on Thursday may have created such a buzz and Friday was another buzz that we had greater expectations going into the third day.

            WIN: What can be done to get rid of stalling?

            Gable: It’s a matter of being able to understand stalling. If you’re not wrestling, you are stalling. There are tactics in blocking. Also everybody’s styles are different. Just because you are blocking, does that mean that you are not trying to score. Maybe your scoring is off blocking moves. We are at a fine line in our sport where wrestlers are technically sound.

            The most important people who can create more memorable moments are coaches who create a style and make things more attractive. Officials can call it, but if coaches are more proactive to scoring more, then it doesn’t come down to a referee’s decision.