Five Things to know: Big Ten Championships

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East Lansing, Mich.

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Big Ten Championships

Photo by: Jack McLaughlin

Five Things to know: Big Ten Championships

March 01, 2018 | Wrestling

The Badgers head to East Lansing with NCAA qualifying hopes

Big Ten Release

MADISON, Wis.- After having two weeks off to prepare, the postseason is officially here for No. 21 Wisconsin wrestling as it heads to East Lansing, Michigan to compete in the Big Ten Championships. In arguably the most difficult of the conference tournament in the country, the Badgers will face off with the other 13 teams, 11 of which are nationally ranked. Pre-seeds were recently announced, with eight UW wrestlers receiving a seed. The tournament begins on Saturday with session one at 10 a.m. (ET) and will conclude with the championship round on Sunday at noon. The entirety of the weekend's competition will be available for stream on BTN Plus as well as Flowrestling.

Here are your pre-seeds looking towards this weekend. We currently have eight #Badgers set to compete!#OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/U1eoSVYCV8
— Wisconsin Wrestling (@BadgerWrestling) February 26, 2018

1. LAST TIME ON THE MAT: UW's last time out they finished out the regular season, dropping the finale to the No. 24 Purdue Boilermakers 25-15. In that bout, Ricky Robertson took a major decision in his final appearance in the UW Field House. In addition, Evan Wick picked up a pin against NCAA qualifier Jacob Morrissey and Cole Martin got a seven-minute tech fall against the Boilermakers' Austin Nash at 149 pounds.

2. WICK'S REDEMPTION ROAD: Looking ahead to the weekend, the 165-pound weight class is one of the deepest and most difficult. No. 11 Evan Wick received a five-seed in the pre-seedings release, with eight conference opponents ranked in the top 14 or higher, including ranks one through three. Wick is familiar with the Big Ten crowd at 165, having split meetings against Michigan's Logan Massa and a 10-4 decision over Minnesota's Nick Wanzek, and having tight matches against Nebraska's Isaiah White and Rutgers' Richie Lewis.

3. ROBERTSON'S CONFERENCE WAR AT 184: Similar to Evan Wick's situation at 165, senior Ricky Robertson has a tough slate approaching in the 184-pound weight class in the conference championships this weekend.Currently ranked 10th in the country in Intermat's most recent poll, the Tinley Park native received a seven-seed in the initial release. Robertson has already seen some of the best competition his class to offer, having two meetings each with No. 4 Dominic Abounader, No. 7 Emery Parker and No. 8 Taylor Venz.

4. MARTIN'S 149-POUND MASHUP: After moving up to the 149-pound weight class, Cole Martin will be preparing for his second Big Ten Championships being pre-seeded 10th. Going 9-6 at 141 pounds, Martin has gone 4-4 since moving up with all four wins being bonus-point victories against conference foes.

5. SCOUTING THE FIELD: With the Big Ten being arguably the most competitive conference in the country, the Badgers will likely see talent from the best in the country of every weight class. In Intermat's recent poll, five of the ten No. 1 wrestlers in the respective weight classes were represented by a Big Ten program. The Big Ten was also projected to have 80 qualifier allocations, with the PAC 12 next with 47. As it stands, the Badgers stand ninth in the conference.