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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN WRESTLING MEDIA CONFERENCE

February 29, 2016

Barry Davis

Madison, Wisconsin

THE MODERATOR: Men's Wrestling Head Coach, Barry Davis is here. We will have opening comments and take questions.

COACH DAVIS: It's the time of year that you've got to be wrestling your best right now, and I think right now our team is moving in that direction. So the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Championships, so it's that time of year where, again, we've got to be at our best.

Q. Can you talk about Ryan Taylor's progress through the year? He had a rough start but he has -- his only losses are to -- and he's picked it up later in the season.
COACH DAVIS: Actually Ryan got hurt last year at the Big Ten Championships, so he's had like seven, eight matches all year long, and pretty much out the first half of the season. Right now he's healthy, he's beat two ranked guys here and moving in the right direction, so he does some really good stuff right now, but, again, glad he's healthy and he's back 100% this time of the year.

Q. Isaac Jordan is most likely being to be the No. 1 seed at 165 pounds. Is there sort of a mental factor going in with that, as to what kind of kid he is?
COACH DAVIS: Yeah, he's undefeated this year, he's defending Big Ten champion. Again, he's healthy now as well, too. I think that match at Ohio State, when he wrestled his his cousin Beau there, the No. 2 ranked guy at the time, and taking him down three times to none, that's a big factor for him. So I think he's beaten -- in the rankings he's beaten 2, 3, 4, 5 and 9 so far, so beating tough guys like that, obviously gives him a lot of confidence, plus beating the defending NCAA Big Ten Champion, too, was big for him.

Q. Barry, why do you think your team is wrestling better than it has all season long?
COACH DAVIS: Right now we're healthy. Beginning of the year we weren't healthy. Crone is finally healthy now, he's in the lineup. Jimenez is healthy, same with Taylor. So it was a really rough first half, not getting everything in the lineup. Right now our lineup the last month has been healthy, guys back 100% now, we've been able to train right now and right at our best. It's a good time to be at our best, but it's nice to be healthy, too.

Q. Are you suggesting that maybe you could pull some surprises at the Big Ten?
COACH DAVIS: I think so, but we're at the point where we have to make our own breaks, though. We had a good first half, we got some guys banged up, took some chances and didn't get the wins, but right now we have to wrestle our style, be in our positions, and I think the way we've been training, it's been going well, and we've got to go in now and perform.

Q. You mentioned Andrew Crone and Johnny Jimenez. What -- obviously they're healthier now but what have they been doing extra to get this late surge at the end of the season?
COACH DAVIS: I think bringing those guys in, getting them extra workouts, individualwise as coaches. Johnny won his last seven out of eight, Crone has won his last five out of his last seven, against some ranked guys, so they're both wrestling really well right now, and it's good for us. I think the extra workouts have helped them, one-on-one, it's a lot of film watching, and obviously they're healthy, too.

Q. Is Isaac the type of kid who you think likes having the bull's eye on his back, heading into the Big Ten Championships?
COACH DAVIS: Yeah, I think he grew up with that, his dad being very successful here. He's been around successful people, and he's seen that. So I think he takes it one match at a time. He's very smart, understands his sport very well, condition he has to be in in order to be successful. Matches against multiple guys, you're going to make small changes, he's very good at doing that. I think he looks at it one match at a time, my goal is the Big Ten, after that get ready for the NCAA Championships, so the goal is one match at a time.

Q. Where do you stand individually as far as the NCAA Championships are concerned?
COACH DAVIS: As far as?

Q. As far as young men that have the chance are qualified, need to do something this weekend?
COACH DAVIS: We've got to do something this weekend, for sure. You look at it ten guys now, qualified, started right now, no matches, you look at guys like Johnny Jimenez, Christensen, Crone, I suppose the heavyweight, they got a great shot at getting in. They've just got to make their breaks. We can end up having a good NCAA Tournament, but we've got to perform in the Big Ten in order to get some guys there. So be ready Saturday and Sunday, make our breaks, and then after that we'll move on to the NCAAs, but let's get through the weekend, first.

Q. Big Ten has 71 allocations for the NCAA Tournament; they always have the most. What does that say about the conference and the importance and the toughness of this upcoming tournament?
COACH DAVIS: If you look at Ryan Taylor's weight, nine guys that qualify, nine guys in the top-25 in the country in his weight class. I think Jordan you've got 2, 3, 5, 6 and 9 in his weight class. So the depth is unbelievable. Again, it says a lot for the conference.

We have to make our own breaks coming up here, and we've been in a lot of those matches, losing 1 point here, 1 point there. We've got to turn those around. That's going to be the key.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Coach? Thanks, Barry.

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