As the season draws closer and closer to the historic Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia I decided to dust off the keyboard and update you all on this year’s Championships.
This year’s draw can be found here:
The following are the 16 Seeds and Host sites for this years Championships as per the NCAA committee:
- USC
- Oklahoma
- Ohio State
- Virginia
- Baylor
- UCLA
- North Carolina
- Texas A&M
- Texas
- Georgia
- Duke
- Illinois
- Notre Dame
- Florida
- Kentucky
- Columbia
The Following were the Automatic Conference Bids:
- South Florida (American Athletic)
- George Washington (Atlantic 10)
- Virginia (ACC)
- East Tennessee State (Atlantic Sun)
- St John’s (Big East)
- Montana (Big Sky)
- Winthrop (Big South)
- Ohio State (B10)
- Baylor (Big 12)
- Cal Poly (Big West)
- UNC-Wilmington (Colonial)
- Tulsa (Conference USA)
- Green Bay (Horizon)
- Columbia (Ivy)
- Marist (MAAC)
- Ball State (Mid-American)
- South Carolina State (Mid-Easter)
- Drake (Missouri Valley)
- Boise State (Mountain West)
- Bryant (Northeast)
- Jacksonville State (Ohio Valley)
- UCLA (PAC-12)
- Army (Patriot)
- Texas A&M (SEC)
- Elon (Southern)
- Texas A&M-CC (Southland)
- Alcorn State (SWAC)
- Denver (Summit)
- Louisiana-Lafayette (Sun Belt)
- San Diego (WCC)
- Idaho (WAC)
Maybe the most surprising win here is the San Diego over Pepperdine. Pepperdine has haunted San Diego for some time but San Diego was finally able to take home the WCC Conference title this year from Steinberg.
The at large bids as determined by the NCAA:
- USC
- Oklahoma State
- Michigan
- Vanderbilt
- Virginia Tech
- Texas
- Mississippi
- Illinois
- Notre Dame
- Northwestern
- Ole Miss
- Penn State
- Wake Forest
- Louisville
- Florida
- Florida St.
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- North Carolina State
- Oregon
- Georgia
- Stanford
- Kentucky
- Clemson
- Purdue
- Harvard
- Auburn
- Oklahoma
Great to see other Pac-12 schools (Oregon and Stanford) getting at large bids into this year’s tournament.
Also nice to see Penn State, a school flying under the radar but receiving an at large bid due to ranking.
Number of Schools By Conference:
- American Athletic – 3
- Atlantic 10 – 1
- Atlantic Coast – 9
- Atlantic Sun – 1
- Big East -1
- Big Sky -1
- Big South – 1
- Big 10 – 6
- Big 12 – 5
- Big West – 1
- Colonial 1
- Conference USA – 1
- Horizon – 1
- Ivy – 2
- MAAC – 1
- Mid American – 1
- Mid-Eastern – 1
- Missouri Valley – 1
- Mountain West – 1
- Northeast – 1
- Ohio Valley – 1
- Pac-12 – 5
- Patriot – 1
- SEC – 10
- Southern – 1
- Southland – 1
- SWAC – 1
- Summit -1
- Sun Belt – 1
- WCC – 1
- WAC – 1
It did not occur to me how strong the SEC conference was with 10 schools represented in this year’s championships. The ACC is not too far behind with 9 teams.
Now that you have all that information digested, lets talk regionals:
USC: Idaho, Oklahoma State, Michigan
I don’t see USC having much trouble in their regional. Hanfmann and Sarmiento have been playing great tennis. Also, don’t count out Quiroz who has been a rock for them at three all season. I think the biggest challenge in their regional would be against Oklahoma State, the second highest ranked team in their regional. Look for this year’s number one overall seed to get by their regional.
Vanderbilt: Virginia Tech, East Tennessee State, Columbia
If all goes well for the top two highest ranked teams in this regional, it should be a fun one against Columbia and Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt received the at large bid and Columbia is coming into the tournament by way of the Ivy League conference. Columbia has had a solid season with only one loss at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs back in January.
Texas: Marist, Mississippi State, Lousiana-Lafayette
I’m predicting to see Texas take on Mississippi State here. Mississippi State (being not as big of a powerhouse as they were last year when they had top ranked freshman Romain Bogaerts) should still put up a good fight against the Longhorns.
Texas A&M: Alcorn, Texas Tech, Cal
By far one of the trickiest regionals of the tournament. Cal is a solid team with notable wins over TCU and Tulsa. I got to see Texas Tech earlier this year and they are a team full of great competitors. This first round match would be the one I would like to go out and watch. Texas A&M is certainly the favorite here but I see Cal and Texas Tech in the mix for this regional.
Baylor: Texas A&M-CC, Stanford, Tulsa
The first round match of Stanford and Tulsa could be an interesting one. With Stanford’s early loss in this year’s Pac-12 tournament to Oregon I’m sure those guys are hungry to end their season on a better note. I do not see Baylor getting challenged too much in this regional, they are a top 5 team that is deserving of their seeding, especially with their win over the Bruins earlier this year.
Illinois: Ball State, Drake, Memphis
Memphis was a strong team that made it to the Sweet 16 last year. I’m surprised that they have not had as great a year though (especially with all the upperclass men they have). Coach Davidson and his bulldogs had their regional at UCLA last year and he is no doubt building a great program over there. Last time Memphis and Drake met this year the Bulldogs ousted them 4-3. I like the Bulldogs in that first round match. The fighting Illini are coming off a 2-4 loss to Ohio State. Not all was lost though, their 1 and 2 players (Hiltzik and Gosea) both took down Kobelt and Pollanen respectively to earn the only 2 points for the Illini . Both were really great wins for them. I like Illinois in this regional.
Notre Dame: Green Bay, Northwestern, Ole Miss
I have not seen Ole Miss or Northwestern play this year but I do know that this is a streaky Ole Miss team that could win or lose depending on the day. But this year’s team does have a 4-3 victory over 8th seed Texas A&M so they could cause some trouble with Notre Dame in their regional.
UVA: Army, UNC-Wilmington, Army, Penn State
The defending champions are clearly still in great form this year with a 23-2 record. Their only losses coming to them by way of Ohio State and UCLA in 4-3 clinchers. Honestly do not see UVA having much trouble getting out of this regional. The singles results of their top 3 this year are almost spotless: Domijan is on a 14 match win streak, Frank is on an 8 match win streak, and Freshman Thai-Son Kwiatkoswki is on a 15 match win streak. Definitely don’t bet against UVA in this regional.
Ohio State: Bryant, Wake Forest, Louisville
The Indoors National Champions were given an ‘okay’ regional. Wake Forest would be the team to watch out for here. Headlined by sophomore Romain Bogearts. The Deacons defeated their first round matchup Louisville earlier this year 5-2. They also have notable close losses to top 15 teams: Texas, Notre Dame, and Duke. Wake Forest could definitely make this an interesting regional.
Florida: St. John’s, Florida State, South Florida
Florida did not make it out of their regional last year when they were defeated by Denver. I don’t see Coach Shelton wanting to repeat that this year. The Gators have a 4-2 over rival Florida State earlier this year. I like Florida here as long as they don’t repeat what happened last year.
Duke: Winthrop, Tennessee, Elon
I see Duke and Tennessee making their way to their first round match-ups. The second round could be interesting. Duke and Tennesse met earlier in February and Tennessee took them out 4-2. It definitely doesn’t help that Duke’s Michael Redlicki isn’t playing either. Tennessee has had some bad losses as of late with 0-4 losses to UGA, Florida, and Texas A&M. They are also coming off of a first round loss to Ole Miss in the SEC conference tournament.
UCLA: Cal Poly, San Diego, Boise State
I definitely don’t want to say much here. But, all four teams here got into the tournament by way of their automatic conference bids, so they are all coming off of wins. I want to make a note that Pepperdine is no where to be found in this year’s tournament after Brett Massi and his Torreros took them out in the West Coast Conference Tournament.
North Carolina: South Carolina State, South Carolina, George Washington
I can’t say I have seen much of any of these teams play this season. George Washington is coming in by way off the auto bid from the Atlantic 10 conference and have their biggest win this season against #50 VCU. They also have a 4-0 loss to Wake Forest. South Carolina is definitely overshadowed by all the other schools in the SEC. This is a great team with good victories over Harvard (4-0), USD (4-3), Ole Miss (4-2), and Vandy (4-1). I see South Carolina and North Carolina fighting here to make their way to Athens.
Georgia: Oregon, North Carolina State, Jacksonville State
I have to say its great to see another PAC-12 team in the mix here. Oregon is coming off a good win over Stanford in the PAC-12 tournament where they eventually lost to the Bruins in the semifinals. UNC State is definitely a great team with wins over Notre Dame and Wake Forest. A win over UGA though could be tough against the Athens’ crowd.
Kentucky: Denver, Clemson, Purdue
I guess I would not count out Denver in this regional because of what they did to Florida last year. Kentucky has had a great season with wins over Ohio State, Texas A&M, and Ole Miss. I would not be surprised to see them in Georgia.
Oklahoma: Harvard, Montana, Auburn
The overall #2 seeded Oklahoma has been a great team all season behind their 1 and 2 players Alcorta and Alvarez. Coach Roddick has built a solid program this season and are definitely one of the favorites to go deep into the tournament this year.
Hopefully I was able to give you some insight on this year’s tournament. It’s definitely going to be a fun one (like always).
Until Regionals!
GO BRUINS!
-Raymond
Raymond Ajoc
UCLA Men's Tennis Blog 