March 1, 2010

Head Coach Brian Smith:
Opening Statement...
"I look at the season and I try not to look at the past. I get asked what I think of the season and I have to remind people that the season isn't over, it's living for today and looking at the end. The NCAA and Big 12 is what matters the most in a wrestling season in college. These guys right here know that, especially the three of them. It will be Brent's first time at Big 12s and NCAA's but the end is where it matters. I knew at the beginning of the year we were going to have a great tournament team, and out of our guys we have a good tournament team. If they believe in themselves those three days and wrestle to get the close wins, it's going to be an exceptional tournament team. The conference this weekend is a tough conference. Oklahoma State and Iowa State are definitely the front runners for the tournament, but there's going to be upsets, great matches, and overtimes, so I feel that we are prepared for it."

On Brent Haynes' mindset:
"Brent has wrestled at State tournaments, National tournaments coming through and has done well at every level. His approach is that this is just another wrestling tournament that he's entering. He's wrestled these guys, so it's not like he is going to see anybody different. He has wrestled all four opponents in the Big 12; he's been to the National level, so he'll be prepared. He has great workout partners; I think sometimes his workouts are tougher than his matches, so he will be ready."

On a tough Big 12 Conference:
"A tough league is tradition. When I got to Mizzou I would go visit schools with all of these National Championship banners, and wonder how much commitment they put into the programs. Now that Missouri has done that I think the Midwest has great wrestling, and it attracts great wrestlers from all over. Kids know that when they come here it's an elite conference; every kid is good now so it makes you raise your competitive level. I tell kids when they come here that they should know every year the conference tournament is going to be a battle. It makes kids work hard year round knowing that they are part of the toughest competition in America."

On improvements made in the past three weeks:
“We've had a lot of individual practices in the last couple weeks. Obviously we have to get better, and we know that as a team. We have to perform better, but I know as a tournament team we are a better team. Our kids like wrestling in tournaments. For instance when we went out to Midlands we were placed in front of a lot of teams ranked ahead of us right now, but a tournament is a different thing. The focus is not on one mat, but two mats at the Big 12 tournament, an intense competition in a small field house. Our kids our ready tournament wise because we're a better team.”

On Nick Marable's season:
“I think Nick learned how to hit a second take down. The practice room has made him push himself and score more. He'll get to the matches, up by two or three points saying, 'I have to get a major for the team', and I think he's taken on a leadership role in that. He knows that by doing this guys will follow him, and it's happened. At the first match of the year he was frustrated with himself for not scoring more points, so he made a point to score more at The Penn State Open. It just started happening that he would beat nationally ranked guys, which made it easier for Nick, and myself. He takes stress off of me by staying in great positions so that I never have to panic with him. I talked to the team about the Big 12 finals when he was wrestling Dwyer and he got a takedown that they didn't give him at the buzzer, and everyone was going crazy. I just told him to do it again, so he hit his duck, took Dwyer down to win the Big 12's. He stays really calm and composed on the mat, even when they seem crazy.”

 

On strategies for Marable vs. Reader:
“We just have to be ready from the whistle. Reader came out wrestling hard and we were just a little flat footed, so we have to get out from the bottom, but Nick knows that. We scored the only takedown in the match, but we have to do that in the first period.”

On Mark Ellis:
“We can't focus on his losses, but we're going to work on little things so he scores more to get the takedowns. I am not going to worry about the losses because we know he's good enough to be beating his opponents. It's a matter of putting everything together. He needs to score more points and the first takedown against Zabriskie. I see that happening in the first period, and he knows to be tactical. Zabriskie is all tactical, he can just take one shot, but we're going to take more than one while being smart about it too.”

On Max Askren:
“I think 184 is better for his weight. The training he's been doing is better for him, because his body is one of a great wrestler. He doesn't need to train with hard practices and learning, even though he still is. With his injuries, he just needed to get through the season, so that's where we're at right now. Mentally he is the happiest I have seen him this point in a season, and the most relaxed. We have shortened the season for him, Max likes the freestyle season, meaning maybe three or four events spread out over time. Max has really taken to the change and now he's ready. The end is what matters, and I have never seen Max more mentally and physically ready. He'll take care of business this weekend at Big 12's, and then we'll be ready for Nationals.”

Senior Mark Ellis (HWT)
On knowledge gained from previous matches:
"I just have to go score my takedowns and win. I've kind of noticed a few things that I need to work on, so I worked on them and I am going to go out there and perform to get it done this time. I've lost matches for different reasons, against Russell and Zabriskie I got taken down without getting any takedowns for myself so that's why I lost. I'm not sure what else to say other than the fact that I am better than both of them. I wrestle harder, and I bring it most of my matches so in the past I just didn't get it done. That's all going to change this weekend. I have yet to win a Big 12 title and I really want to get that done before I leave Mizzou, so this is my last chance."

On practices and preparation for the Big 12 Championships:
“I've been doing the same thing, changing a couple things after last season. I went out for football and tried playing that a little bit. I worked the same, did the same thing by going out to the training center and camps to work with good guys. I thought maybe football was something I wanted to do, but I wanted to wrestle at the same time. I realized it was going to be difficult to do both, so I turned to wrestling to win another national title. There's no reason why I shouldn't win another national title; I have gone out and worked hard.”

Senior Nick Marable (165)

On his time at Mizzou:
“When I look back on it, my first year I worked out with Ben and the coaches a lot. I had the mentality of winning, because I was the new guy coming in. That year I was focused on winning and not dominating people. Sophomore year I wanted to score a lot of points, but people figured out how to wrestle me so it was harder. I also was facing a concussion at Nationals, but this year the coaches worked on me a ton. I took away information on second and third attacks from the coaches, learning how to push the pace. I even worked with some guys on the team to take away some stuff that they do to see if that would help. Wrestling Max and Brent I got really tired, so I realized I couldn't get tired so why not go hard the whole time. The biggest part is knowing I can go hard the whole time without getting tired.”

On match vs. Reader:
“There were a couple things that went wrong; I just came out there not ready to wrestle. I was use to him not attacking me, so I figured it was going to be similar, but that mentality was not good preparation. I don't think he's better than me, and I think I am going to beat him next time we wrestle. I've put a lot of pressure on myself to stay undefeated against all the Big 12 opponents. I was not focused on the match and just wrestling so it affected me, but I won't let that happen again.”