The last time NCAAs were in St. Louis, Missouri wrestling was starting to experience an upswing, led by some sophomore from Wisconsin by the name of Ben Askren. This year, when we return to the Lou, the Tigers are looking to repeat their third place finish. They are coming off a season filled with adversity, but they managed to qualify seven wrestlers for the NCAA Championship. Tyler McCormick, Josh Wagner, Michael Chandler, Nick Marable, Ray Jordan, Max Askren and Mark Ellis will lead the Tigers into the Scottrade Center, hoping to improve on last year's third place finish.

The good news is that with the the exception of Marable, every Tiger has been at NCAAs before. The bad news is that we don't have a dominant guy who brings in bonus points with pins, technical falls, and major decisions, as we did last year with Pell and Askren. Team-wise, I expect the Tigers can make top ten, but we are capable of making top 5.

133 - Tyler McCormick
Mizzou's only returning All-American got off to a rough start at the beginning of the season. Early losses and injuries plagued him, but he has come on strong at the end of the season. McCormick is not seeded, and slated to face an early challenge against two seed Jimmy Kennedy of Illinois. If Tyler can beat Jimmy, he should AA.

149 - Josh Wagner
Wagner's weight class might be the toughest of them all. Minnesota, Iowa, NC State, Harvard, Michigan and Nebraska all will be sending fantastic wrestlers to represent at 149. Iowa's wrestler, Brent Metcalf, was named the Big Ten's Wrestler of the Year. Why do I mention this? It will take a Pell-like run for Wagner to win. He is a great wrestler, but the competition might be too tough for Josh.

157 - Michael Chandler
Chandler has a ten seed, and is slated to meet up with familiar foe Cyler Sanderson in the second round. Much like Tyler, Michael needs to win this match-up to have a fighting chance to AA. With Poeta (Illinois), returning champion Gregor Gillespie (Edinboro) and many other top wrestlers, Chandler has his work cut out for him. Chandler has beat Sanderson, and Brandon Becker from Indiana, who is seeded above him, so he is capable of becoming an All-American.

165 - Nick Marable
This year's delicious surprise has clearly been Nick Marable. As a Big 12 champion and third seed, Marable will have high expectations that he can definitely meet. His toughest competition will be the two guys who have already beat him, future med student Eric Tannenbaum (Michigan) and Mark Perry (Iowa.) Marable is out for blood and will have an early challenge in Iowa State's John Reader. I like Marable to become a finalist and avenge his loss to Tannenbaum.

184 - Raymond Jordan
As the Beef has mentioned, Ray Jordan did not look like himself at Big 12's. Something was just not right. Hopefully, that has been kicked out of his system. He pulled a six seed,  but that hardly makes the road to All-American easy, as he will have to get through UVA's Rocco Caponi and Michgan's Tyrel Todd to make it to the semifinals. If it's the Ray from most of the season, then he will make it. If it's Ray from the Big 12's, I'm afraid to see what will happen.

197 - Max Askren
I don't think that there is a Missouri fan whose heart didn't ache for Max last year. He dominated through the regular season, earned a 1 seed, and then lost his first two matches.  We knew that his experience would serve him well this year. Max flew under the radar this year, earning a 5 seed for NCAAs though he deserves much better than that. Max is in a very difficult weight class, with returning champion Josh Glenn (American) as the top seed, and other top veteran wrestlers, Mike Tamillow (Northwestern), Phil Davis (Penn State), Wynn Michalak (Central Michigan), all above Max. Max  has already beaten Tamillow, and can make it to the finals.  

285 - Mark Ellis
In the words of a wrestling fan who posts on another Web site: "Mark Ellis? MARK ELLIS????" That's right, Mark Ellis. He put together an impressive campaign at the Big 12s and earned a 12 seed. No one besides Dustin Fox (Northwestern) has been dominant at heavyweight, so truly anyone can win it. Ellis has improved on his size, and is peaking at the right time. He can make it to the medal stand.