If you watched the Big Ten Championships, you probably came away impressed by Nebraska’s runner-up finish — 25 points ahead of third-place Iowa — but the Huskers still aren’t satisfied because they know they left a lot of points on the table. 

“We perform so well, but then in the same way I feel like there’s always this level of ‘We could have done better.’” Brock Hardy said on Saturday afternoon after practice. “Caleb (Smith) can win it, and (Jacob) Van Dee can place higher and win it. I look at every single guy on our team and I go, ‘They have the capability of winning this dang tournament.’”

Despite a pair of conference champs in Ridge Lovett at 149 and Hardy at 141, as well as a number of other podium finishers, Nebraska saw tournaments cut short for two wrestlers before they had a chance to score meaningful points — Jacob Van Dee exited the tournament after he was knocked unconscious in the consolations when he was slammed on his head by Nic Bouzakis, and Christopher Minto forfeited out of the seventh-place match with an ankle injury.

“I was not surprised (by our finish) — I know a lot of people were surprised, but whatever,” Nebraska coach Mark Manning said. “I thought our guys performed really well, and we had to pull two guys from the tournament on Saturday — they had no ability to score points for us, so we could have put even more points on the board, but their health is more important. They’re back going again now.”

Lovett and Hardy both had similar routes to their titles — they were both the #3 seeds, had to beat someone they’d never beaten in the semis, and faced an unexpected opponent in the finals.

For Hardy, the big test was returning NCAA champion Jesse Mendez in the semis. Hardy went into the match 0-2 lifetime against the Buckeye, but he struck first in this one and did enough to get the 9-8 win. In the other semi, Vance Vombaur took out top-seeded Beau Bartlett, setting up a final between Hardy and Vombaur. Hardy pinned the Gopher in the first period to win his first Big Ten title.

“I feel like I had a great tournament. I feel like I had a fun little route that I had to wrestle a returning national champ,” Hardy said. “I was planning on someone else in the finals, and then I got someone I’ve wrestled before, so it was just going out there scoring points and having fun and not thinking too much about the result.”

Lovett’s semifinal opponent was Iowa’s Kyle Parco, who had a 3-0 record over Lovett coming into their match. All of their previous matches have been low-scoring, but you wouldn’t know it from watching their semifinal match. Lovett blew the match open with two takedowns in the first period, the second putting Parco to his back for four near-fall points. Lovett took his 10-1 lead to the second period, where he got an escape, takedown and a ride-out. Lovett cruised in the third to the 14-2 win by major decision. Lovett went on to beat Illinois’ Kannon Webster 1-0 in the final, giving him his second career Big Ten title.

“Getting the Parco win back, winning Big Tens and beating Iowa — it was sick,” Lovett said. “It was just being able to go out and produce the style of wrestling that I want to wrestle. In the finals, that’s more how I’ve wrestled Parco in the past — that product isn’t going to beat better guys. The way I wrestled in the semis and even the matches before that, that’s the wrestling that I want to try and replicate.”

Talking about his on-mat rivalry with Parco and previously Austin Gomez, Lovett says that a lot of the top guys are actually friends with each other. He said that he and Parco were in the back together talking while cutting weight after their match.

“It’s kind of funny because with the rivalry part of it — like, I’m friends with a lot of those kids. Me and Parco are homies, and I’m sure you and Mendez are cool,” Lovett said to Hardy with him confirming. “It’s kind of funny because once we go out there on the mat, there’s a little bit of bad blood because it’s competition, and we both want the same thing with the other person standing in our way.”

According to Hardy, the healthy competition between guys like him, Mendez and Bartlett is just that — healthy and fueled by mutual respect.

“For the most part, we knew that beating that person wasn’t necessarily a revenge thing or some sort of vendetta,” Hardy said. “At the end of the day, this is a sport where you gotta beat the best guy, so I had been thinking about wanting to beat Mendez and I wanted to beat him — not because of any sort of vendetta, but more because he’s one of the best.”

It’s those rivalries in college that help push guys like Lovett and Hardy to improve their craft. For Hardy, it was his series with Iowa’s Real Woods — the Hawkeye beat Hardy five times in a row before the Husker finally beat him for third place at last year’s NCAAs.

“I was good on bottom, but I had to get so much better because (Woods) was so good on top,” Hardy said. “Every single competitor we go against in these healthy rivalries — whether it’s Beau Bartlett, whether it’s Mendez, whether it’s Real Woods — they’re going to make you grow if you respect them. If you want to approach them in that way, they’re gonna make you a much better wrestler.”

“It gives you something to chase after,” Lovett said. “If you’re beating everybody, then it’s hard to pick something and say we need to get better here so we can go get that guy.”

For both guys, the mental aspect of things is what they’re focusing on sharpening the most going into the NCAA Tournament this week.

“Tervel (Dlagnev) talks about it, and Brock was talking about it in one of his interviews at Big Tens — there’s no good wrestlers, there’s just good wrestling, and can you produce good wrestling?” Lovett said. “If I can go out there and replicate what I did in the semis and those first two matches, I think I’ll have a good weekend.”

“I’m doing the same thing I was doing for Big Tens — preparing for every single opponent with the utmost respect,” Hardy said. “I know where I’m best, and I know how to win matches, so I have to have the mental fortitude to wrestle as such.”

More “Complete” Pinto A Big Ten Finalist

One of Nebraska’s four Big Ten finalists — along with Lovett, Hardy and Caleb Smith — Lenny Pinto had to dig deep to get there at 174 pounds. In his semifinal match against Dan Braunagel, Pinto used a last-second takedown that was called after an official review to win 9-8, sending him to the finals, where he fell to Levi Haines 12-1 by major decision.

“Lenny is a big piece of our team — he wrestles with a lot of good energy,” Manning said. “He’s a very outgoing and very gregarious guy, and people love him on our team, so when he does well it just brings another element to our team that’s been missing.”

According to Lovett and Hardy, they saw Pinto reach a new level in that match.

“I think Lenny took a big step forward running down and going through the adversity in the Braunagel match,” Lovett said. “He kind of grew up a little bit this season, figuring out how to really be a professional. (associate head coach Bryan) Snyder talks about that a lot about being a professional, and it starts with diet, nutrition, workouts, and we saw it translate to being in the Big Ten finals.” 

“He looked complete — that was the best I’ve ever seen him chase after someone for a full period instead of standing in front of them and trying one move,” Hardy said. “I feel like the weight cut for Len has been really good for increasing a mental focus. Weight-cutting overall is a bad thing — it’s hard on our bodies and it’s not fun, but it can make you a more disciplined person, a more mentally cognitive person. You can’t be as lackadaisical in your training, you can’t be as lackadaisical in your preparation, so I think that’s helped him grow. He has to make these decisions. Nobody can make weight for Lenny.”