I think six Iowa men’s wrestlers can win an individual Big Ten Championship in 2021: 133-pound Austin DeSanto, 141-pound Jaydin Eierman, 149-pound Max Murin, 165-pound Alex Marinelli, 174-pound Michael Kemerer, and 197-pound Jacob Warner.

In a perfect world for the Hawkeyes, all the aforementioned wrestlers would mow through their brackets and allow Iowa to cruise to a team conference title.

While that would be quite a fun spectacle for me to write about and report on, I don’t believe it’ll happen. Realistically, three Hawkeyes will win individual Big Ten titles in Lincoln, Nebraska: DeSanto, Eierman, and Marinelli.

Marinelli, Eierman, and DeSanto have two things in common: experience and win-loss records. All three wrestlers are seniors with one Big Ten regular season loss on their 2021-22 résumés.

DeSanto lost to Penn State’s Roman Bravo-Young, 3-2, and Eierman fell to Nittany Lion senior Nick Lee, 6-4. Marinelli’s lone loss of the year came against Ohio State’s Carson Kharchla, 3-2.

Murin, Kemerer, and Warner are also seniors, but they’ve all lost twice each.

Marinelli is most likely to exorcize his regular season demons because he had never faced Kharchla before this year. With one bout against Kharchla now under his belt, Marinelli seems primed to nip Ohio State’s breakout star.

“The Bull” also wrestles his best in Big Ten Championships. He’s won three consecutive league titles, and this season, he’ll get a fourth.

Eierman is 2-2 all-time against Lee. The pair’s last three meetings have been decided by two points or fewer. Count on Eierman to take a series lead on Lee and claim a Big Ten title this year.

DeSanto is 2-4 all-time versus Bravo-Young. DeSanto won the pair’s first two matchups, and he’s since surrendered the last four.

The last two bouts DeSanto and Bravo-Young have wrestled have been decided by three points or fewer. I think DeSanto will finally flip the script in Lincoln, get one match closer to evening his all-time series against Bravo-Young, and claim a third individual Big Ten Championship for the Hawkeyes.