By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor
There is a method to Ben Askren’s madness.
“People see me and say, ‘He just scrambles and rolls around,’ ” said the Missouri senior, whose funky style has left him with many nicknames, including “Funk Master.” His style was a big part of winning his and the Tiger program’s first NCAA championship last March.
It’s not as if Askren creates it as it goes.
“That’s not it at all,” said the Hartland, Wisc., native, who was also presented the Hodge Trophy after winning the 174-pound championship in Oklahoma City, where he beat Northwestern’s Jake Herbert, 14-2, by putting the Wildcat on his back three different times following unorthodox scramble situations. “In some cases, it’s a high crotch to a crack down or to a change off. That’s what my scrambling is.
“I have three or four base positions but where everyone else has step A and step B, I have steps A,B,C,D, E, F and G.”
And Ben also has Max … his younger brother, currently a 197-pound Missouri redshirt freshman, whose mat creativity is second only to big brother.
“With him, I try step A and he counters with step B,” smiled Ben. “I don’t want my little brother beating me, so I come up with step C. A couple months later, he starts hitting me with step D and I have to counter his stuff with step E.
“You’ve seen me scrambling with matches in the Nationals and that’s the tip of the iceberg. No one forces me to use step E, F, G and H, except Max.”
The Askren brothers are doing the same thing they once did in their basement at home: experiment.
And many of those experiments have failed.
“There’s been too many to count,” Ben said. “Over 80 percent have gone in the garbage. I don’t want something that works 30 percent of the time. When I scramble, I want something that works 98 percent of the time. I’m not scrambling to scramble. I’m scrambling to put them on their back.”
That’s a big reason why the older Askren, who also won the 2006 Schalles Award, pinned 25 of 45 victims last season and 62 in his career; both Missouri records.
Ben Askren, who first earned a takedown reputation at Arrowhead High School where he set state records for takedowns in a season (401) and career (1,100) while winning a pair of state championships (2001-02), said he did not turn to funk until he came to Missouri in 2002.
“In high school, I didn’t need the funk,” Ben recalled. “I had it and was in the process of developing it.
“In college, I realized that I didn’t have the strength and speed necessary to hit those takedowns I did in high school.”
One of the first things Ben had to correct at Missouri were his stance and motion.
“That was a basic but it was my weakness and how people beat me,” said Ben, a three-time NCAA finalist who has only loss eight out of 119 career matches at Missouri. Four of those setbacks came against Oklahoma State’s former national champion Chris Pendleton in the finals of the 2004 and 2005 national tournaments.
“What Pendleton did to beat me was get in such good shots that I was too far behind him where I couldn’t funk,” Ben said. “Now I put myself in position where I’m able to funk right away. It gives me that extra split second of reaction time to help me out.”
Ben said those losses have helped him become the man he is.
“It added to my character and who I am,” said Ben, who was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, before his family moved to this Wisconsin community, a half-hour west of Milwaukee, when he was five-years old. “Maybe if I had those two years without him (Pendleon), I might not have worked as hard as I have.”
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