NCAA Wrestling Championships 2015: Full Day 2 Brackets and Title Predictions

The first day of the 2015 NCAA wrestling championships featured its share of surprises, led by Ohio State taking an early lead with 23 points ahead of loaded teams in Missouri, Penn State and Iowa. 

However, the Buckeyes' quick start also speaks to the parity in college wrestling this season. Well, not so much parity as an unusually strong crop of top-tier programs all peaking at the same time. Ohio State is in that group, entering the championships ranked fourth in the nation. 

Missouri is looking at the biggest disappointment, currently sitting in seventh place and 7.5 points behind Ohio State. The Tigers have had a brilliant season, going 24-0 and receiving all 12 first-place votes in the last coaches poll. 

Yet this speaks to the nature of competition and sports. Just because there's a zero in the loss column during the regular season doesn't mean a championship is guaranteed. 

Here are updated predictions for the NCAA wrestling championships after the first full day of competition in St. Louis. 

Brackets

Full list of brackets for each weight class can be found at NCAA.com by clicking here.

Current Standings

Position	Team	Points
1	Ohio State	22.5
2	Penn State	18.5
3	Oklahoma State	18
T4	Iowa	17
T4	Nebraska	17
6	Cornell	15.5
7	Missouri	15
T8	Michigan	14.5
T8	Virginia Tech	14.5
10	Minnesota	14

Full standings from NCAA.com can be found by clicking here.

Championship Prediction

Jeff Roberson/Associated Press

Ohio State has built up a small cushion so far, with Penn State, Oklahoma State, Iowa and Nebraska all bunched together. 

Logan Stieber has been a star in Columbus basically since he arrived four years ago, having won three straight NCAA championships (two at 133 pounds, one at 141 pounds). He's on his way to becoming the fourth wrestler ever with four straight, as Nick Camino of WTAM in Cleveland noted the star already won his quarterfinal match:

For the record, Stieber beat Nebraska's Anthony Abidin to reach the semifinals. His incredible track record seems to guarantee the Buckeyes at least one reason to celebrate by the end of Saturday. 

Iowa started to fall off the pace on Friday. The Hawkeyes had six wrestlers make it through to the quarterfinals after Thursday, leading head coach Tom Brands to sound vaguely confident based on this quote following the opening day shows, per Andrew Kulha of 247Sports:

Brands has been in this position many times before, though it has been five years since he last led Iowa to a national title. Friday wasn't the start he needed, with Nathan Burak losing to Iowa State's Kyven Gadson and Sam Brooks being unable to upset Cornell's Gabe Dean. 

What started out looking like a potentially big day for the Hawkeyes is slowly turning into the team fading out of contention. 

Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press

On the other side, Penn State didn't seem to feel great about its standing after Thursday. Head coach Cael Sanderson laid it out there bluntly to Keith Schildroth of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

"

Let's not say we're happy, but our guys are wrestling fairly well. The overtime matches don't feel well, but our guys are right there. We just need to finish strong. The matches get bigger and bigger each day.I think we won 12 out of 14 matches today, and that's not bad. You have to finish strong, keep wrestling and get points. Today is already history, and you have to focus on tomorrow.

"

Sanderson was right to feel skittish, as the Nittany Lions wound up losing one of their big guns when Morgan McIntosh was knocked off by Duke's Conner Hartmann in a tight battle, via Penn State assistant communications director Tony Mancuso:

When you need to make up points with a limited number of matches to do so, losing two athletes, including one of the best on your roster, isn't going to help. 

As tempting as it would be to pick someone behind the pack, like Missouri, which still has Alan Waters rolling after his quarterfinal win over David Terao, Ohio State's lead keeps expanding.

The Buckeyes were always floating around the top of the polls this year, despite having the most losses of any team ranked in the top five (four), and this has been the best the team has looked as a cohesive unit all year. 

This is uncharted territory for Ohio State, which has never won an NCAA championship as a team. Stieber has been the stepping stone for this program, but Tom Ryan finally has a team capable of supporting the 141-pound star. 

Prediction: Buckeyes win national championship