WIN’s New Div. I Rankings released, sets up exciting postseason

NEWTON, Iowa — The regular season in NCAA Division I wrestling is complete and now those athletes will prepare for the postseason, including 200 wrestlers who are featured in WIN Magazine’s Feb. 26 rankings, presented by Cliff Keen Athletic.

There are seven conference tournaments that will take place in two weeks which will help determine the 330 wrestlers who will qualify for the NCAA Division I Championships that will be held in Kansas City, Mo, March 21-23.

Those NCAA-qualifying tournaments, including dates and locations, are:

• Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), March 10, Chapel Hill, N.C.
• Big Ten Conference, March 9-10, College Park, Md.
• Big 12 Conference, March 9-10, Tulsa, Okla.
• Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA), March 8-9, Lewisburg, Pa.
• Mid-American Conference (MAC), March 8-9, Kent, Ohio
• Pac-12 Conference, March 10, Corvallis, Ore.
• Southern Conference (SoCon), March 9, Boone, N.C.

Heading into the postseason, two-time national defending champ Penn State continues to be ranked No. 1 in both WIN’s final dual-team rankings with a 12-0 record and in WIN’s Tournament Power Index. The Nittany Lions feature 10 ranked wrestlers, including five No. 1-rated individuals, for 129 TPI points.

Iowa, coming off a 22-9 road victory over Oklahoma State, ended the dual season at No. 2 in WIN’s rankings; ahead of the Cowboys, Iowa State and Nebraska. OSU is still ranked No. 2 in WIN’s TPI, followed by Iowa, NC State, and Iowa State and Missouri, which are tied for fifth.

WIN’s TPI predicts how high a team would finish in this year’s NCAA Division I Championships based on a point total associated with individual placement and advancement points that could be scored at the 2024 NCAAs.

The following is a breakdown of those points: 20 for 1st place, 16 for 2nd, 13.5 for 3rd, 12.5 for 4th, 10 for 5th, 9 for 6th, 6.5 for 7th and 5.5 for 8th. Wrestlers ranked 9-12 earn two points each, followed by one and a half points for wrestlers ranked 13-16 and one point for those ranked 17-20.

Also, it should be noted that WIN’s individual rankings are not simply an update of recent wins and losses, but more of a prediction at this point in the season of where wrestlers would be seeded at the 2024 NCAAs if that event was held now.

WIN will produce its final TPI and individual rankings on March 11.

WIN Magazine’s Final 2023-24 Dual-Team Rankings

WIN Magazine’s Feb. 26 Tournament Power Index

WIN Magazine’s Feb. 26 Individual Rankings

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