NCAA Breakthrough Wrestler: Ian Parker
Photo courtesy of Iowa State Athletics
Ian Parker has been a solid if unspectacular wrestler for Iowa State over his four year career. He’s steadily improved from a guy who narrowly missed out on qualifying for NCAAs as a freshman to the upper levels of the rankings as a senior. In this article I’ll look at his game and assess his chances of placing at the national tournament.
Parker is very solid and straightforward. He keeps a good stance, usually a right leg lead but will sometimes shift his left leg forward. One interesting thing he does is he will change his lead leg while handfighting to make sure that his lead hand is down; he’ll reach first with his left hand, and if he decides to put his right hand on the head, he’ll put his left leg forward to make sure his lead hand is in better defensive position. He usually works off of collar ties and inside ties, and his offense is fairly standard stuff. He can take single legs to either side, and occasionally high crotches as well (though his lefty high crotch is rare and probably still a work in progress).
A few things make his offense effective. For one, he’s a good finisher, always making progress toward a takedown once he gets to the leg. He does well to get the leg up high and up quickly.
When he’s forced to finish on the mat, he does a good job of elevating the leg, shelving it, and reaching the far leg to beat the opponent’s whizzer.
He has struggled a bit against some of the best defensive wrestlers. In particular, he has had issues with guys with good hips, like Oklahoma’s Dom Demas, and guys who create scrambles, like Missouri’s Alan Hart—not to mention Jaydin Eierman, who fits in both categories.
His offense being so meat-and-potatoes means it can sometimes be predictable. Parker can take advantage of this, though, by taking the “wrong” shot. His set up and penetration step are that of one attack, but when the opponent steps the leg back that they think he’s attacking, he simply grabs the other one for an easy takedown. Mike Malinconico of Flowrestling pointed this out in his match against Kaid Brock a couple years ago, and he actually does it a fair amount, especially a fake righty high crotch.
Parker does a pretty good job protecting his legs with his stance and positioning. He stays low, and as mentioned above he makes sure to keep his lead hand home. That habit also speaks to a commitment to keeping his legs defended even as he looks for his shots. He does sometimes get extended or walk into shots when he’s looking for his own offense, but he’s gotten a bit better with that as his career has gone on. He’s very good at reattacking off of his opponents’ shots. In particular, he has a good right handed single leg as they try to circle after he sprawls on them.
He sometimes holds a tie for too long (something that I’ll say more about later), which can give his opponent chances. When they get to his leg he usually tries to get their head down and square his hips, the textbook response. As with other areas of his game, he’s not elite, but he’s no slouch either.
On the mat, it’s the same story. He gets good forward pressure on top and stays behind the arms, and can put in a good thirty-second ride (see his win over Dom Demas in January). He’s started to turn lesser opponents this year, but hasn’t shown the ability to score from top against anyone at his own level. On bottom, he generally gets out, but he took too long to escape against Demas in tiebreakers last week and it cost him a Big 12 title.
A year or two ago, Parker’s biggest weakness was offensive limitations due to what I call Kanen Storr Syndrome. Some wrestlers, including Michigan 149-lber Kanen Storr, are good handfighters and seem to be trying to be offensive, but their output is just terrible. Some lack of speed, strength, motion, imagination, and decisiveness prevent them from really piling up the points against opponents they’re better than. They might get to good ties but not get enough of a reaction from their opponent to get to a leg, or they don’t want to risk losing the position so they don’t do anything with it, or they seize on one advantage and can’t convert it into another, or a hundred other things. Part of what makes it so frustrating for me to watch is I can’t quite tell what the solution is.
Parker has improved, though. He started to look more fluid last season, and did especially well in the fall freestyle season at Senior and U23 Nationals. One thing he’s done well is changing direction and beating his opponent’s head and hands by going around the side rather than through the middle. After falling into an early hole because he shot straight on and got head pinched, he hit some nice takedowns and nearly came back to win against Mitch McKee.
2021 NCAA Championships
He was given the 7 seed this year, which I think is fair. In the first round he’ll take on the 26 seed, Colin Valdiviez of Northwestern. Validiviez is scrambly, but he’s just not as good as Parker, and I think the Cyclone takes care of business. Where things get interesting is Thursday night’s second round, where if seeds hold he’ll have 10 seed Zach Sherman from North Carolina. Sherman has a fairly similar resume to Parker, but slightly weaker. He likes to shoot from space, which I think Parker can deal with well and could give him reattack opportunities. He’s more dynamic than Parker, but the flip side is that he gets a bit loose and will allow a couple chances in on his legs. Sherman is a bit better on top than Parker, and would probably have the advantage if the match went to tiebreakers, but Parker can probably choose bottom and get his point in regulation. Not an easy match, but I like his chances.
In the quarterfinals, I expect Nick Lee to beat him handily. This would put him in the round of 12, the notorious “blood round”, where a win would make him an All-American. It can be tough to project all the scenarios this deep into the tournament, but some of his more likely opponents would be 12 seed Grant Willits of Oregon State, 21 seed Real Woods of Stanford, or 13 seed DJ Loren from Fresno State. The only one of those guys I see being a problem is Woods. He was highly ranked going into the season but sat out as he raced to graduate early to earn a Stanford degree and then transfer next year when that school’s program will sadly be discontinued. When he finally returned to the mat, he looked rusty and was upset by Willits in the Pac-12 final. I don’t really know what to make of his level right now, but I have a hard time seeing him return to his previous highs in just two weeks.
A loss to Sherman would be a blow to his chances to finish in the top eight, but not the end of them. I’m confident he can battle through the likes of Connor McGonagle and Clay Carlson to reach the round of 12. In this scenario, he would wrestle the loser of the 4-5 quarterfinal, which is probably Tariq Wilson of NC State or his rival Demas from Oklahoma. He would be an underdog against either guy, but he would have chances because both guys are inconsistent and because he’s shown he can get to legs on just about anyone.
On the whole, I’d put his chances at being an All-American this year at just over 50-50. I don’t know if he plans to take the extra year of eligibility or if this will be his final tournament, but I’ve enjoyed watching his clean technique, his competitiveness, and his progression over the past few years. I hope he gets it done.