Aaron Brooks wins Olympic bronze! / Kyle Dake drops semifinals match [Penn State wrestling]

Aaron Brooks has taken home a bronze medal in the 86 kgr weight class and proved once again that he definitely belonged at the Paris Olympics you are locked on nney lions your daily podcast on the Penn State nitty Lions part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day it was all Aaron Brooks in that bronze medal match Kyle Dake surrendered 20 points in his latest bout and Kyle Snider and zaye retherford still have a chance to get a medal for the US this is locked on nney lions I'm your host Zach Seiko and thanks so much for making us your first listen and watch every single day we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts including YouTube as we're talking more Olympic wrestling and wrestlers that are related to Penn State wrestling and the nitty lion wrestling club and who better to help me talk about that than Joe Smeltzer of nitty Sports now beat reporter for Penn State football men's basketball and wrestling Aaron Brooks wins 5 to nothing against shpv of usbekistan in the bronze medal match and I I didn't see any signs of weakness from Aaron Brooks Joe and he proved that he belonged there because there were actually people when we talked about what we said yesterday and how oh well David Taylor would have won and David Taylor would have been able to take on yzon and Aaron Brooks doesn't belong there he just knew how to be beat David Taylor I it Brooks's performance speaks for itself and it was that close again if he had five more seconds he would have been in that gold medal match Joe but he wins 5 to nothing against one of the best and the best in the world in shpv and brings home a bronze medal yeah and shapf Wrestled a good match too um I I thought so and Jordan burough even mentioned it during the match at one point um there were two big moments I felt and uh one of them was kind of a bang bang type of deal where it looked like shapov might have forced Aaron Brooks out that would have given them a point to make it two one I've I haven't seen that since it happened in real time so I don't know if it was a force out or if it wasn't Jordan Burrow's thought it was a force out and then uh there was that passivity warning where Aaron Brooks needed 30 seconds to score or else he would have conceded a point and with I think 10 seconds left on that clock he ends up getting a taked down to make it for nothing and that that more or less ended the match he ended up adding another point to make it five nothing but he beat as you mentioned Zach one of the best wrestlers in the world at that weight class and beat him while the guy was wrestling pretty well I don't think he caught shpv on an off day going back to when he lost that Heartbreaker to ramazon of th ending his gold medal dreams uh we wondered uh going forward um a uh if Brooks would have been physically 100% because uh he was in some pain in that match up so we were wondering how he' respond to that and we wondered uh what the mental end of that game would have been for Aon Brooks too would he have been able to shake off narrowly missing out on the chance to wrestle for a gold medal um physically he looked uh pretty darn good I would say if he was hurt it didn't really show and mentally uh he was strong too really from the get-go Aaron Brooks was Aaron Brooks and the mental games Z I think is even more impressive given what happened earlier in the day with Kyle Dake being upset Spencer Lee being upset in their matches so I don't know obviously Brooks had to lock in and think about his own bout so I don't know how much he would have focused on the matches beforehand but I'm assuming he at the very least knew what was going back of his head saying okay I need to win a medal now not just for Aaron Brooks but Team USA really needs it because it's been a pretty disappointing tournament so far uh on really all angles so uh there was some pressure on Brooks they get to the podium not just for himself not just for Penn State nlwc his family friends Etc but also Team USA really needed that boost and Aaron Brooks brought his a game and um it doesn't really make up for Kyle D and Spencer Lee missing out um on gold medal opportunities uh but it was definitely something that Aaron Brooks and Team USA needed uh he delivered and being a gold medalist at the age of 24 uh that's that's a pretty good place to be and he'll have at least one more opportunity I'm sure uh to win Olympic gold Joe I think you bring up a lot of great points him being 24 years old so mature mentally sound because his demeanor never really changed it was consistent the whole time he's always smiling when he's walking out of the tunnel right if we had seen a different Brooks uh show up today and wrestle against chipev just kind of a stoic demeanor and it's like Brook you know Brooks is seems to be a happy guy when he's when he's wrestling and that and that's my point is that he doesn't change things up he still goes about his business and again for 24 years old that's really impressive and again he's 20 he's 24 he could probably wrestle for the next at least at the you know at the least two Olympic Cycles being 36 is going to be a stretch only Jordan Burrows uh is somebody that can can at least compete in that space so that's hard to project further out but there's always going to be that crowd that just believes for whatever reason that Aaron Brooks doesn't belong here that he got in the Olympics by luck look I get it zahed Valencia that was a close match David Taylor even though Brooks seemed to be in control that was a more or less a close match it wasn't a dominant Victory by any stretch of the imagin imagination but you don't get to the Olympics by accident David Taylor's not not there zahed Valencia is not there and there's a reason for that I also want to point something else out with with the age thing Aaron Brooks being 24 uh did David Taylor win any Olympic medals at the age of 24 right Kyle D had his number a long time ago it wasn't until things changed so Brooks's timeline right now projects very nicely if he's taking third place in the world let me let me say that again for people that don't get it you were the third best wrestler in the world at the age of 24 so what does that look like when you're 28 and and for the and then for and then the next three years in between that at 25 26 27 so his timeline is setting up very nicely for him to dominate this weight class and be at the top of it for the foreseeable future yeah Zack and I'm glad he brought up David Taylor Not only was he not winning Olympic medals at 24 he never won a world champion ship until he was 28 and I think when a lot of people think of David Taylor they think okay uh this guy was a four time state champ in high school one of the best college wrestlers ever an Olympic gold medalist fre time World Champ four time world medalist they kind of just think that he just kept dominating and dominating from high school all the way uh through his freestyle career and that really wasn't the case there was a bit of a gap uh the somewhat significant Gap uh between the time Taylor left St and until the time he won his first world championship and Brooks has a chance to win a world championship this fall um it it seems he's already won one he won one in 23 yeah and that's that's an under 23 World Championship but now it's he's going against the very right the very best of the best and it's easy to forget that this is Aaron Brooks's first senior wrestling tournament at any level and it just happens to be uh the Olympics so uh this guy uh got a lot to go for uh obviously he has almost a four-year head start on David Taylor because he's one uh a big time medal um at freestyle David Taylor didn't do that until a little later in his career uh but obviously uh Aaron Brooks isn't looking to beat the next David Taylor he's looking to beat a first Aaron Brooks he's doing a pretty good job of that so far and something I want your opinion on I think that you'd be hard pressed to find a Penn State athlete in any sport that's had a better year than Aaron Brooks has had in 2024 you think he wins his fourth National Title only seven guys have done that wins s Dan Hodge trophy go not only qualifies for the Olympics but does so in his home arena beating a wrestling Legend twice to do so now he wins an Olympic medal and he still has a chance to win a world medal or a world championship so I know there's a lot of pen fans that um and I say this respectfully that only really followed the football program CL closely and therefore they'll hear a statement like that and think it's almost Blasphemous and say well what about John capetti Todd blackl Etc but I I'd have to really dig into it but as far as just thinking off to top of my head I can't think of another athlete in any sport that has had a more successful season in their sport than Aaron Brooks has had in 2024 it's just been win after win for him that's well said Joe and I don't think that's a hot take either I think that's just the fact of the matter and you mention Aaron Brooks's Collegiate resume he's what how many months removed from wrestling folk style fulltime so that's that's the even more impressive part of all of this Joe is that he becomes the third best in the world on the senior circuit as you've mentioned on top of just what okay so we're in August right he finishes the NCAA championships in March and he's got to immediately pivot to focus on freestyle and I know more yes there the same techniques can apply over to Freestyle I understand that but when you're focusing on folk style for a majority of your you know the past four years here five years and then you go against the best of the best on the freestyle circuit and you take third in the world at the age of 24 you this is not by luck this is not by accident and and it's really it's really frustrating that people are trying to make that argument that oh David Taylor Father Time undefeated okay there's a reason David Taylor retired and decided to go into coaching he knew that his days of wrestling like this was going to be it for him and ride off into the sunset as hopefully a winner at the Olympics but it didn't turn out that way because somebody named Aaron Brooks showed up and took that spot still to come on this edition of locked on nitty Lions Joe and react to Kyle Dake losing to takatani of Japan by a score of 20-2 what that means for dake's legacy that's coming up next here unlocked on nney lions and today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel I love sports and I love them so much that I never want them to stop but as the playoffs come to an end we get fewer games and the sports aren't exactly sportsing like I want them to but FanDuel lets me keep the sports going whenever I want all I have to do is open up the app dream up and dream up some bets anytime that I'm in the mood and this summer FanDuel is hooking up all of its customers with a boost or a bonus daily that's right there's something for everyone every day all summer long so head over to fanduel.com and start making the most out of your summer and if you look over at fanduel.com right now you can see the lines for Penn State versus West Virginia Penn State is currently a 10 and a half Point favorite minus 360 on the money line with a total set at 505 if you like those lines you can bet them all right now over at fanduel.com you can also bet on WNBA the Olympics Major League Baseball and so much more again that's fanduel.com FanDuel an official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball yeah absolutely and you got to think um I I don't want to speculate too much on Kyle Dake he just uh's he's still wrestling for a bronze medal he just lost his chance for a gold medal a few hours ago but it definitely seems uh based on uh reports that were out there leading into these Olympics that whenever Kyle Dake hangs up the boots which He's 33 years old same age as David Taylor that might not be too far off but he's gonna end up going in the coaching as well uh but but yeah it's uh you never want to assume too much um with a guy that's 24 because look we watched Jane Cox retire he was only 29 Mark Hall retired at 27 all it's it's really a young young man sport um but uh Brooks uh you made a great Point sack with going from F style to Freestyle uh at the end of the day it's still wrestling but uh one of the beauties of this sport is that um you're wrestling not only a different style but you go you know at one month you're clearly the best at the college level and now you got to wrestle guys that have been wrestling uh in wrestling doesn't technically have the pros but at the top of wrestling um guys that have been at that stage for years and you got to go wrestle them right after you're wrestling in college that's not something we see in the NFL in MLB uh you have the minor leagues for a reason that NBA uh you don't really see it too much too much too much there's at least like a five six month gap before guys have to make that transition uh so yeah what Aaron Brooks has done this year has been uh absolutely remarkable and I'm very excited for the world team trials and if he makes it there the world championships see if he can um add uh some more Hardware before 2024 gets out okay Joe you mentioned Kyle D so let's now pivot because as amazing as Brooks's bounceback victory was for bronze Kyle Dake comes up short I think he was minus 900 in the betting odds to win gold and takatani takes him out uh in that semi-finals matchup and what what's surpris it's it's not that oh takatani was so far behind Dake should have won what surprised me the most Joe was the score this was a 20 to2 final most most of these matches again around six to four you know Spencer Lee's was fairly low scoring for his gold medal bout and you know congrats hats off to Spencer Lee for taking silver but Kyle Dake is going to once again wrestle for a bronze medal at the Olympics so he probably feels like he didn't live up to his own personal expectations but just seeing somebody like Dake and if you watch some of our you know older convers ations from the Olympic uh the Olympic trials that were held at the Bryce Jordan Center it is just so tough to score on Dake he's a defensive tactician and he gives up 20 points in one match yeah absolutely crazy uh and hats off to takatani I didn't really know too much about him going in um I wish I would have known more but he was just uh he just could do no wrong uh it was his day and Kyle D didn't have an off I you go back um I I got up I don't know if you did but I was up bright and early to watch Kyle dak's first two matches the first one he wins in about a minute 20 seconds the second one he gets a pin and ends up winning I think it was 111 so we're thinking okay this guy uh probably was the best bet USA had the win a gold medal coming in anyway and now he's just clearly looking at his best and this is just a bulldozer and nobody's gonna stop but uh takatani um had a plan he executed it very well and the score 20 on a guy like Kyle Dake is absolutely crazy and Dig's 33 years old he's going to be 37 by the time the next games roll around um it's definitely fair to speculate if not predict that these are Kyle dake's last Olympic Games and um it kind of begs the question uh will Kyle Dake go down as the greatest American wrestler to never win a gold medal here's a guy that uh is a four-time world champion I think he's a five-time world medalist he's an Olympic medalist likely to be a two-time Olympic medalist but uh no gold medal and it it's a shame for all that Kyle Dake did he's one of the greatest College wrestlers uh to ever live too for all he's done in wrestling uh people are still going to say you know uh it's a shame he couldn't win that gold medal uh but that's just the way it goes sometimes and had Kyle D won a gold medal I think he would have been firmly in the conversation for at the very least being on that wrestling Mount Rushmore free and fol style combined if not and I think uh he would have he could have in a lot of people's minds put himself into the greatest of all time debate when you looked at um what he did had he had won a gold medal nobody in history would have won four national titles plus an Olympic gold medal except for Kyle D and Penn State fans should know the first guy to do it but in case they don't I'll say the first guy and only guy is kill Sanderson so he would have been firmly in that greatest of all time debate uh in my opinion at least but without that go medal I don't think he's in that conversation Joe I want to bring up a point about how a lot of this everyone talks about this for football and basketball baseball I understand it just how matchup dependent when especially when the talent level is you know like this clo like it's razor thin there on any given day I feel like anybody can win at the Olympics so yeah you're going to have your favorites you're going to have your projections you're going to say oh this guy's the best of the best well look at this Aaron Brooks in the prelims knocks out the top seed at his respective weight class then wins the following match by techall and then loses by one point to the eventual gold medalist who probably not a lot of people were picking from Bulgaria to win the gold medal with h hana's Donnie there and I know watching that match yes Donnie was definitely not 100% and I hate it it it pained me to watch that match because we're like okay do we know it's it's not that Yani is being defeated it's that he isn't putting up a winning fight because he can't besides the point but just look at how the different David Taylor is better than yazdani and a head-to-head matchup but Aaron Brooks can beat David Taylor and who knows if he would have beaten yazdani right so it's all like matchup dependent then you compare Kyle Dake and David Taylor Dake got the best of David Taylor countless times times so it's like all these things are almost you just wrestle against better against certain competition and what you need to judge people by is the total overall accolades at the end of the day because sometimes you're just better against a specific wrestler but you're not better than the rest of the field and and that's and that's understandable I I don't know I think I think that the the overall accolades like you mentioned Kyle Dake falling short it's going to be tough to put him into that conversation but but again head-to-head against David Taylor he's he wins yeah it it's pretty similar I think to you know NCA tournament season I remember uh talking uh with the high school basketball coach at myma M West salagan um I was a satis for the basketball team and uh I would ask him uh probably mid late February I would say who who do you think's winning the national championship and he he simply said I got to wait to see what the matchups are and what they look like and um obviously in March Madness you know a lot of these upsets are a lot of them are luck but a lot of them are just a very good team running into a team that isn't as talented but is built to beat uh that team and um another example is uh Aaron Brooks beating David Taylor which we've mentioned throughout the past two days but uh that was a good matchup for Aon Brooks uh because of obviously the famili familiarity factor with David Taylor uh being in nlwc and with kale Sanderson being both of their college head coaches and with kale Sanderson being the guy at David Taylor uh and Aaron Brooks both frankly looked up to growing up and try to pattern on themselves after so so does David Taylor beat ramazanov uh possibly does that make David better than Aaron Brooks not necessarily the trans transitive property doesn't really apply I don't think uh in sports and I think this uh these Olympics uh and the trials are at matter we're a great um example of that it's it really is all about the matchups still on the way zaye retherford and Kyle Snider have an opportunity to wrestle for gold themselves but how difficult are their individual paths we'll discuss that and more coming up next year on locked on nitty Lions today's episode is also brought to you by game time you get to download the game time app because buying tickets to your favorite events should not be stressful it's still summertime and that means it's a great time to get tickets to Major League Baseball games I for one use the game time app myself when I am buying major league baseball tickets because it is the fastest and easiest way to get tickets for MLB games and get this prices will actually go down on the app as it gets closer to first pitch for those baseball games you get last minute deals so you can save up to 60% on those last minute tickets for Major League Baseball but Sports in general music concerts comedy theater and so much more you also have exclusive inapp deals Zone deals and Flash Deals that can give get you even more discounts and probably my favorite feature is the panoramic view of the seat that you get before you buy your tickets so if you've never been to a venue or a stadium you get a preview of what you're what it's going to look like from those seats take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game time all you got to do is download the game time app create an account and use promo code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create that account and use promo code lock on college for $20 off your first purchase download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed let's finish with Kyle Snider and Zane retherford who have opportunities to win gold even though I Kyle Snider I don't think is an overwhelming favorite in this case even though I like I'd like to believe so I the competition at 97 kilos again it there's limited margin for air here anybody can win on any any given day any given match but Kyle Snider is up there to win 97 kilos Zay retherford's got a really tough matchup Joe I I mean this is probably one amuad uh is one of the one of the best wrestlers that he if not the best wrestler that he could face out of Iran I mean Iran is to speak for the country just they know how to produce wrestlers left and right there's always somebody that that was contending for a medal at each of these six weight class so and it doesn't it doesn't get easier for retherford somebody who was on what looked to be a dark horse path to potentially get a gold medal but I I don't like his odds at this point to say the least yeah it's tough uh and for whatever reason you know maybe it was just a random work of the draw maybe it's uh some uh anti-American bias which I'm not making that accusation but plenty of other certainly have been on on social media and May maybe it's the fact that uh Redford's uh path to the Olympics was a little different than most people he didn't dominate that last chance qualifier away Spencer Lee did he did lose a match had to have a little help but just to get back in position to qualify and he ended up getting that help and then helping himself too by winning I think think it was three matches maybe four matches on the final day but yeah it's going to be tough for Zan weord going to be tough for Kyle Snider and um I'm glad you brought up sack to K Snider is almost an afterthought in these Olympics because this is a guy that won a gold medal after a sophomore year of college and you you would that it would be just all uphill from there but winning a gold medal is really really hard and Snider didn't win gold uh in Tokyo uh isn't looking like a favorite to win gold now and that's just uh that just shows a really um how tough it is and this is a very wrestling is a very difficult thing to bet because you never know when a guy's going to run into a matchup that just doesn't work for him and you never know when a guy's simply just going to get hurt within the first 30 seconds of the match which unfortunately happened with assani Yani uh but but yeah a lot is gonna uh be told I think in saying wef for's first match uh one of the bright spots to being in that situation is that if he wins that first match um he gets probably his stiffest competition out of the way right away absolutely yeah so Zane Rutherford and Kyle Snider have an opportunity to win gold even though the odds aren't exactly in their favor it'll be nice to see an American and a NY nitty line wrestling club member bring home some more medals to go along with what Aaron Brooks did at bronze and then again kudos to Spencer Lee again we're all on the same team here as Americans it doesn't matter that he's with the Iowa wrestling club at this point in time we're all on the American wrestling club here and Spencer Lee to win silver I mean that's just as darn they're impressive as well again people forget just because they come up short you only wrestle three to four matches in this case right so it it seems like it goes by quickly it goes by fast but these are the best of the best in the world and that's what I want to remind people is that on any given day anybody can win so the fact that you do advance that far I think is even more so impressive because it is the best of the best and anything can happen and if you you are one of the best in the world in the world if you medal so I I don't think enough people remember that when they react and say oh it's disappointing they didn't get gold it's disappointing that they didn't even medal and it's like these are the best 8 to 10 wrestlers in the entire planet the fact that you even make it out to Paris uh is is impressive yeah for sure and um obviously uh you'd like to have as many medals as possible as many gold medals as possible but of course um just simply being there uh you know these are some of the best Really Ever uh that we're watching um obviously Hanan yaani his uh tournament didn't go the way a lot of people expected it to uh but still he's free Olympic medals and fre appearances in the final match that's uh that's pretty historic stuff and Kyle Snider he's going for a chance to win two Olympic gold medals which I think only three Americans have ever done uh John Smith being the most recent one legendary became legendary coach Oklahoma State uh and then we've also got to watch Kyle deu obviously it didn't go according to plan for him but that's still one of the best um American wrestlers um of all time and we're also seeing a guy that could be building um a pretty legendary uh freestyle career to go with his legendary full style career in Aon Brooks so yeah there there's a lot to be said uh for all these guys um so far we would have lik to have seen more medals and also I should mention the guts of Spencer Le going back to when the NCA title championships ended in 2023 um with the health issues that Spencer Lee dealt with uh there were people speculating whether he would even try to make the Olympic team because of how beat up he was but not only does he make the team uh he darer wins a gold medal um at at 57 kg uh so yeah it's just um there's something to be said for all these guys and honestly it's it's been a joy to watch it's things said it only lasts for a few days and that'll do it for this edition of locked on nitty lions that is Joe Smeltzer on the other side you can check out Joe's work over at nyports now.com you can follow him on X all of his platforms and socials will be linked down in the description Joe thanks for the time as always and another great conversation around Penn State Affiliated wrestling likewise thanks again Zack and as always thanks so much for making lock on nney lions your first listen and watch every single day be a part of the discussion down in the comments section about Aaron Brooks and what you thought of his performance and if you're not already be coming everyday or subscribe to the YouTube channel and wherever you get your podcast now for your 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