by Craig Morgan, theSunDevils.com writer
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Zeke Jones has always viewed the rebuilding of Sun Devil wrestling as a series of incremental steps.
-- Return the program to national prominence.
-- Climb to the top of the Pac-12 Conference.
-- Cement ASU's place among the nation's top 10 programs.
-- Compete for a national title.
The Sun Devils have already achieved the first two goals with back-to-back Pac-12 titles, and they are ranked No. 8 in the nation heading into the NCAA Tournament from March 15-17 in Cleveland.
It may be too soon to climb the final step, but the Sun Devils are one of just 11 teams in the nation with eight or more individual qualifiers for the NCAA Tournament. That's a far cry from where the program was when Jones took over in April 2014.
"It's hard to score points when you don't have wrestlers at the NCAA Tournament," Jones said, laughing. "It usually takes eight to nine to win it. It's a trend in the right direction."
The NCAA released the brackets for the tournament to be held at Quicken Loans Arena. Undefeated at 174 pounds, Zahid Valencia earned a No. 1 seed and has some unfinished business to settle with Penn State's Mark Hall, who ended Valencia's unbeaten freshman season with a victory in the semifinals last season.
Josh Shields earned the No. 4 seed at 157 pounds; Tanner Hall is the No. 8 seed at heavyweight; Jason Tsirtsis earned the No. 10 seed at 149; Ryan Millhof (125), Ali Naser (133) and Anthony Valencia (165) are No. 15 seeds; and Kordell Norfleet (184) will face No. 8 seed Drew Foster of Northern Iowa in the first round.
Norfleet, one of six Sun Devil Pac-12 champs, took some lumps earlier in the season, including a stretch where he lost eight of 11 matches. Jones said the true freshman "wrestled like a fifth-year senior" at the Pac-12 Tournament. Norfleet said the knowledge gained from the early losses taught him to study his opponents' tendencies on film, more than he ever had before.
"This season was a little bit of what I expected and a lot of what I did not expect," Norfleet said. "Losses are something I didn't do too much of in high school so it took some getting used to, or really just learning how to deal with them and how to overcome them through preparation.
"I never wavered in my beliefs or ability so when I was getting thrown out there, my first two matches were Michigan and Ohio State, which is not exactly where you get your feet wet, but it taught me where you have to go to be successful."
Naser had great expectations and a powerful backstory of triumph over tragedy when he arrived at ASU as a lifetime freestyler. Jones said he feels like the senior is finally putting it all together.
"He's been a freestyler so he's never had to get off the bottom," Jones said. "Ali has a nice little system now where he says, OK, I can ride everybody as much as I need to, nobody can hold me down and I'm good on my feet' and now he's beaten nine ranked guys because he's got this all figured out."
Naser used the offseason to recover from surgery for a herniated disc that kept him sidelined for six months.
"Coming back from that, I was lot better than I thought I would be," he said. "I went on a diet that helped, did a lot of little things and when I got back into wrestling I felt really good."
Jones said it is clear last season's loss to Hall has fueled Zahid Valencia, who has wrestled a steady diet of top-10 competition all season.
"You're watching a guy in the making of greatness," Jones said. "He's competing at a world class level. His maturity on the mat has gotten better, but I still think we haven't seen his best wrestling which is kind of scary to say."
Valencia actually defeated Hall at the NWCA All-Star Classic in November but the match does not go on Hall's record, leaving him undefeated as well.
"The best thing people can say to Zahid is that his match against Hall this season didn't count because it was an All-Star match," Jones said. "I love that they say that because that just fires him up even more. He got the confidence of the win but the needling of people saying it doesn't count is driving him for the match that does count."
ASU got an extra week to prepare for the NCAA Tournament because the Pac-12, unlike other conferences, holds its conference meet three weeks before NCAA's instead of two weeks before.
"I feel really good about where our team is," Jones said. "We've got some guys really riding high, some that need a little more rest and recovery but overall the health is good and the energy is good and the focus is good. It's just about paying attention to the small details now and not making mistakes."
Here are the teams with the most NCAA Tournament qualifiers (number of seeded wrestlers in parentheses):
Ohio State: 10 (10)
Lehigh: 10 (6)
Penn State: 9 (8)
Oklahoma State: 9 (8)
North Carolina State: 9 (7)
Missouri: 9 (7)
Iowa: 9 (6)
Virginia Tech: 9 (5)
Arizona State: 8 (7)
Michigan: 8 (6)
North Carolina: 8 (2)
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Zeke Jones has always viewed the rebuilding of Sun Devil wrestling as a series of incremental steps.
-- Return the program to national prominence.
-- Climb to the top of the Pac-12 Conference.
-- Cement ASU's place among the nation's top 10 programs.
-- Compete for a national title.
The Sun Devils have already achieved the first two goals with back-to-back Pac-12 titles, and they are ranked No. 8 in the nation heading into the NCAA Tournament from March 15-17 in Cleveland.
It may be too soon to climb the final step, but the Sun Devils are one of just 11 teams in the nation with eight or more individual qualifiers for the NCAA Tournament. That's a far cry from where the program was when Jones took over in April 2014.
"It's hard to score points when you don't have wrestlers at the NCAA Tournament," Jones said, laughing. "It usually takes eight to nine to win it. It's a trend in the right direction."
The NCAA released the brackets for the tournament to be held at Quicken Loans Arena. Undefeated at 174 pounds, Zahid Valencia earned a No. 1 seed and has some unfinished business to settle with Penn State's Mark Hall, who ended Valencia's unbeaten freshman season with a victory in the semifinals last season.
Josh Shields earned the No. 4 seed at 157 pounds; Tanner Hall is the No. 8 seed at heavyweight; Jason Tsirtsis earned the No. 10 seed at 149; Ryan Millhof (125), Ali Naser (133) and Anthony Valencia (165) are No. 15 seeds; and Kordell Norfleet (184) will face No. 8 seed Drew Foster of Northern Iowa in the first round.
Norfleet, one of six Sun Devil Pac-12 champs, took some lumps earlier in the season, including a stretch where he lost eight of 11 matches. Jones said the true freshman "wrestled like a fifth-year senior" at the Pac-12 Tournament. Norfleet said the knowledge gained from the early losses taught him to study his opponents' tendencies on film, more than he ever had before.
"This season was a little bit of what I expected and a lot of what I did not expect," Norfleet said. "Losses are something I didn't do too much of in high school so it took some getting used to, or really just learning how to deal with them and how to overcome them through preparation.
"I never wavered in my beliefs or ability so when I was getting thrown out there, my first two matches were Michigan and Ohio State, which is not exactly where you get your feet wet, but it taught me where you have to go to be successful."
Naser had great expectations and a powerful backstory of triumph over tragedy when he arrived at ASU as a lifetime freestyler. Jones said he feels like the senior is finally putting it all together.
"He's been a freestyler so he's never had to get off the bottom," Jones said. "Ali has a nice little system now where he says, OK, I can ride everybody as much as I need to, nobody can hold me down and I'm good on my feet' and now he's beaten nine ranked guys because he's got this all figured out."
Naser used the offseason to recover from surgery for a herniated disc that kept him sidelined for six months.
"Coming back from that, I was lot better than I thought I would be," he said. "I went on a diet that helped, did a lot of little things and when I got back into wrestling I felt really good."
Jones said it is clear last season's loss to Hall has fueled Zahid Valencia, who has wrestled a steady diet of top-10 competition all season.
"You're watching a guy in the making of greatness," Jones said. "He's competing at a world class level. His maturity on the mat has gotten better, but I still think we haven't seen his best wrestling which is kind of scary to say."
Valencia actually defeated Hall at the NWCA All-Star Classic in November but the match does not go on Hall's record, leaving him undefeated as well.
"The best thing people can say to Zahid is that his match against Hall this season didn't count because it was an All-Star match," Jones said. "I love that they say that because that just fires him up even more. He got the confidence of the win but the needling of people saying it doesn't count is driving him for the match that does count."
ASU got an extra week to prepare for the NCAA Tournament because the Pac-12, unlike other conferences, holds its conference meet three weeks before NCAA's instead of two weeks before.
"I feel really good about where our team is," Jones said. "We've got some guys really riding high, some that need a little more rest and recovery but overall the health is good and the energy is good and the focus is good. It's just about paying attention to the small details now and not making mistakes."
Here are the teams with the most NCAA Tournament qualifiers (number of seeded wrestlers in parentheses):
Ohio State: 10 (10)
Lehigh: 10 (6)
Penn State: 9 (8)
Oklahoma State: 9 (8)
North Carolina State: 9 (7)
Missouri: 9 (7)
Iowa: 9 (6)
Virginia Tech: 9 (5)
Arizona State: 8 (7)
Michigan: 8 (6)
North Carolina: 8 (2)