General
1) DONATE TO THE SERTC. Enough said.
2) Hokie crowd represented very well. Props to the Hokie who kept starting the 'Let's Go!' 'HOKIES' cheer from the predominantly NCS/UNC fan section.
3) I was disappointed to see the ACC hasn't improved fan experience with regards to the production. The Jumbotron was used only for team point scores in the non-final sessions. No brackets. No real-time match scores. No replay. The finals session showed the match live on the jumbotron, but the score was too small. One of these days I will print out the brackets, because the ACC didn't provide them. Plus side, I got to check Carmichael off the ACC venue bucket list.
4) Why wasn't Swofford there? Was he at another ACC tournament or the Duke-UNC game?

Hokie Thoughts
1) Gus' reaps the rewards of his renewed commitment over the past two years. Dresser mentioned how Gus re-committed himself in the summer of 2016. Robie reiterated earlier this season how he lives for wrestling. So happy for Gus to cap his ACC career with bookend titles. His near fall of Mueller halted Wolfpack momentum in the arena. My #2 moment of the night.
2) Brent Moore has exploded onto the scene over the past month. From #1, Robie's comment about Gus' commitment was actually in response to a question about Moore's shaky results to start the season. Robie at the time used Gus as a reference point to where Moore needs to go. Robie questioned Moore's commitment. Maybe it's greater focus. Maybe experience but Moore's performances have improved dramatically since January. Takedown of Jack was easily the highlight of the tournament.
3) How did Haught pull that final out? We talk about his physical strength, but the final displayed his mental toughness. Haught was gassed by the end of the 3rd, and Machiavello clearly had more in the tank. He had little left in SV. I kept thinking it was a matter of time before MM got the TD or a stall point. Sheer will by Haught.
4) Haught's victory is huge for NCAA seeding, because his road should be far easier. He's looking at a 2/3 seed and avoid the dreaded 4/5. State's Machiavello gets 4 or 5 and has a probable PSU 197 quarter match and then most likely Moore in the semis.
5) Blees and Bolen may have lost, but it wasn't for a lack of effort. Both showed a lot of heart in the finals. Very pleased with the progress of both this year.
6) Dunn gets an honorary 4th best moment for his 'pin'. Dunn looked over at Walz/Molinaro before the restart leading to the overturned pin and couldn't believe how the match was going. The remainder of the round after the overturn was the most aggressive I've seen Dunn this year. Hopefully, Dunn has an injury-free offseason and 18/19 season.
7) Ty and Frank each worked refs separately after Dunn lost to Solomon. Nothing angry, very calm, but they spent a couple minutes with them.
8) Moore and McFadden have the highest confidence levels on the team. Moore wears it on his sleeve and isn't afraid to show it. David's confidence draws you in. He also has a methodical approach to find an internal zone like his pre-match routine staying warm jogging up/down and side-to-side. It appears he doesn't waste a step pre-match. It's part of his process. The coaches trust David and try to avoid interrupting his pre-match routine. Moore won most outstanding wrestler, but McFadden was clearly the best wrestler at the ACCs.
9) Possible Joseph-McFadden semis based on the IMar's win today.
10) ZZ will probably draw in the Nickal or Martin quarter. Tough road to AA a 184 this year, but he can do it.
11) We will be stacked 141-184/197 if ZZ bumps up or Borst can make a r-fr jump. Confident we can find a top 20 option at 157 in Laprade or Chishko. Norstrem and Dunn have the talent to join that group at 125 and HWT.
12) Seeing Chishko smiling and cheering on his teammates was great.

Opponent Thoughts
1) In terms of cheering favorites, 1-10: VT wrestlers, 11: whoever wrestled State, 12 - Ethan Ramos. While I wanted to Hunter to take 174, Ramos is a deserving, gracious champ. Happy for his success.
2) You can't let Renda get the first TD. He is a beast on top, and the match was over after the first TD.
3) Duke's Kasper courted controversy. The OOB takedown of Pitt's Solomon and UNC's HWT pushing of him at the end of the match let to immediate apologies from Kasper. I didn't get a good view of the Solomon accident but there were several vocal non-Pitt fans highly critical of Kasper.
4) Boykin deserves a lot of credit for winning the 3rd place match 45 minutes after his SV with Dunn. He was gutting his way through that last match.
5) State's wrestlers overall couldn't match our energy. We grabbed the team race by the throat in the semis and didn't look back. I wonder if Pop changes dual strategy next year after another sluggish tournament from many of his wrestlers.