Do I believe in miracles? For the purposes of this article, yes.

As my colleague Kenna said, the Iowa men’s wrestling team’s path to a 2023 NCAA team title this March in Tulsa is a narrow one — think a mountain biking trail where even the slightest mistake could be catastrophic.

But the Hawkeyes’ chances still exist, no matter how slim they may be.

First, as every Iowa wrestling fan knows, Spencer Lee has to earn his fourth 125-pound title for the Hawkeyes to have any shot at team glory, and he is a heavy — pun intended — favorite to do so.

Then, Northern Iowa transfer Brody Teske will have to attain All-American status at 133 pounds. He qualified for the NCAA championships twice at 125 pounds for UNI and is currently ranked 17th in the nation at 133. He has only wrestled in five matches this season at Iowa.

At 141 pounds, Stanford transfer Real Woods will likely have to win an individual title. He is currently No. 2 in the nation, at 11-0 on the year.

Max Murin will have to earn All-American status at 149 pounds, as he did in 2019-20. He is currently sixth in the country.

At 157 pounds, 15th-ranked Cobe Siebrecht will likely have to win two matches at the NCAA tournament. Siebrecht is 8-3 in his first year in the regular starting lineup.

Patrick Kennedy will need All-American honors at 165 pounds, too. The seventh-ranked sophomore is 13-2 this season.

At 174 and 184, No. 16 Nelson Brands and No. 12 Abe Assad will each have to reach the quarterfinals. Brands is 14-4 this season, and Assad is 14-2. Assad, however, has missed Iowa’s last two duals after being pinned by unranked Tyler Dow against Wisconsin on Jan. 22.

At the last two weights, to have any shot to dethrone defending national champions Penn State, Iowa will likely have to win two individual titles.

197-pounder Jacob Warner placed second at the 2022 NCAA championships, losing to the Nittany Lions’ Max Dean in the title bout. He will probably have to beat him on his way to a championship this year.

Warner is ranked seventh, and Dean is fourth this season, and Dean defeated Warner, 2-0, on Jan. 27.

At heavyweight, No. 3 Tony Cassioppi will have to beat out Michigan’s No. 2 Mason Parris and Penn State’s top-ranked Greg Kerkvliet for the individual championship.

Cassioppi lost to Kerkvliet, 4-1, on Jan. 27, and will face Parris when the Hawkeyes welcome the Wolverines to Iowa City on Feb. 10.

Cassioppi is 3-1 all-time against Kerkvliet and 0-3 against Parris.