:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/10306175/20120811_lbm_sx1_8523.0.jpg)
College basketball? Bah! Saturday night, two Northwestern wrestlers will have an opportunity to wrestle for national championships, as Jason Welch and Michael McMullen try to become the first wrestlers to win a national title for Northwestern since Jake Herbert graduated in 2009.
Welch is the best in the country at the 157-pound position. l covered him way back when - he redshirted his sophomore year - and he's really blossomed. He's 32-1 on the year and won the Big Ten title last week, which isn't exactly easy. But he didn't have to go up against Iowa's Derek St. John, as Nebraska's James Green knocked him out in the semifinals. He faces St. John, the No. 2 seed in the weight class, in the finals tonight, having lost all five career matchups against the Hawkeye.
McMullen, a sophomore heavyweight, has gone on a nice run from the No. 5 seed to make the finals, knocking off top seed Dom Bradley of Missouri 3-1 in the semifinals. He isn't favored to win against Minnesota's Anthony Nelson, who went 32-1 on the year and beat McMullen just last week in the Big Ten championship.
It's on ESPN! I might be watching - I watched Herbert win when I was covering the wrestling team as a freshman, but haven't watched any since. It's interesting, even if you have no idea what's happening. Anyway, talk about it in the comments if you're watching too.