2024 Blue/Gray Classic

Starts tomorrow in Montgomery. This is always a good event. I remember having fun at it with Clemson a decade ago now.

The men's draw is pretty solid this year. All 8 teams are ranked in the top 60. Will Michigan State take it and get some needed ranking wins in the process? Can Alabama take it down for the first time since 2016? Also interested to see what type of damage Princeton and Old Dominion can do.

Live scoreboard
 

andfor

Legend
Middle Tennessee has an underrated team. Middle vs. Michigan State could be a very nice match in the semis.
MTSU has Auburn first round. Didn't Auburn beat them this year? This should be a good match. ODU is also pretty good, should they get past Princeton their semi against Bama will be interesting. Solid draw!
 

Sureshot

Hall of Fame
MTSU hasn't been as solid this year as last. Something's not right there. I like Bama after their Nat Indoors run. MSU should win the whole thing
 
ahh throwback to the good ole days with this live scoring scoreboard where you can't trust the scores to be at the correct court or with the right players.
 
Michigan State beats Boise State 4-1 but Baris with a surprising loss at #2 to Jip Van Assendelft which should zoom him into the next ITA singles rankings.
 

jcgatennismom

Hall of Fame
Starts tomorrow in Montgomery. This is always a good event. I remember having fun at it with Clemson a decade ago now.

The men's draw is pretty solid this year. All 8 teams are ranked in the top 60. Will Michigan State take it and get some needed ranking wins in the process? Can Alabama take it down for the first time since 2016? Also interested to see what type of damage Princeton and Old Dominion can do.

Live scoreboard
I checked out the tourney website. Sounds like a great tourney with events for kids and community too. Does the community still host any of the tennis teams? Do any other ITA tourneys host players? I think I remember the Milwaukee fall classic did. It’s great to have some tourneys with decades of history. The state of Alabama catches a lot of flack; hopefully teams like Princeton will return home with a more nuanced view. There is usually a junior USTA tourney a week or two after the college one-think my son played one year-don’t remember much about Montgomery. I read that the ITA blue gray will play half matches at new site with 12 tennis courts and 12 pickleball. I wonder if the pickleball courts will be shut down during the tourney or if there is enough distance so they are not a distraction
 
The year I went with Clemson, the tournament had players stay with host families in nice neighborhoods in the area instead of hotels. Not sure if they still do that but I would hope so. Always a good experience for the international players for sure.

I remember Yannick and Dom Maden talking about how they were not biggest fans of dogs and sure enough the instant they got out of the bus at their host families’ house , two massive dogs came bounding across the yard toward them lol.

Nice banquet and social for all men’s and women’s teams the night before the tournament as well.
 
They did doubles for round 2 last night and will go straight into singles today. This tournament does some interesting wrinkles like that sometimes. They've done some matches with doubles second and only played if it's 3-3 in the past.
 

Rattler

Hall of Fame
Starts tomorrow in Montgomery. This is always a good event. I remember having fun at it with Clemson a decade ago now.

The men's draw is pretty solid this year. All 8 teams are ranked in the top 60. Will Michigan State take it and get some needed ranking wins in the process? Can Alabama take it down for the first time since 2016? Also interested to see what type of damage Princeton and Old Dominion can do.

Live scoreboard

I remember that tournament. Clemson had a French speaking player that got coded for a verbal obscenity on court…the look on the players face when the chair responded to him in French that he more than understood what he said….priceless
 
I remember that tournament. Clemson had a French speaking player that got coded for a verbal obscenity on court…the look on the players face when the chair responded to him in French that he more than understood what he said….priceless
Which year? There were no French speakers the years I was there. But there has been at least one from like 2015-2020. Favrot, Sanon, Baudry etc. I don’t recall which years after 2012 that Clemson went to Blue/Gray.
 
es
What happened to Baris for MSU? That hurts their chances.
Not sure. He lost unexpectedly to Boise State’s #2 yesterday 6-4 6-4 but did play doubles vs Auburn later in the day.

Looks like the live scores have Boise State’s lineup listed under MSU’s logo except for Hohmann for some reason. So Baris could be playing, MSU tennis Twitter hasn’t posted a lineup.
 

Rattler

Hall of Fame
Which year? There were no French speakers the years I was there. But there has been at least one from like 2015-2020. Favrot, Sanon, Baudry etc. I don’t recall which years after 2012 that Clemson went to Blue/Gray.

I only worked it from 2013 to 2016
 

jcgatennismom

Hall of Fame
MTSU hasn't been as solid this year as last. Something's not right there. I like Bama after their Nat Indoors run. MSU should win the whole thing
Do you think MTSU is having trouble recruiting as most of Conf USA has moved to AAC? Will conf USA even get a NCAA auto bid this year-only 4 teams for ‘24-think they will have 6 for ‘25? MTSU can get an at large bid if they win enough. @andfor will all the AAC teams play each other this year or will some just meet in conf championship. Wonder too if the SEC next year will have all teams play prior to conference championships. Will limit the non conference matches like when OSU would go to GA or Tex A&M etc in early March to get outdoor play prior to conf play. Sure OSU can play Cali big 10 teams outdoors but that is no substitute for May humidity. When is the next time AZ or Cali hosts NCAAs or another dry site?
 

tennisfan17

Professional
Looking back at these results today now that national indoors is done. Fun results! Met Top "Fnu" from Princeton when I was at IMG. Great kid. Glad to see him doing well! Princeton is a sneaky good this season. Should have some quality matches!

MSU losing is a bit surprising but it is their first loss of the season. Bound to have a bad match here or there.

Auburn also had a solid tournament
 

andfor

Legend
Do you think MTSU is having trouble recruiting as most of Conf USA has moved to AAC? Will conf USA even get a NCAA auto bid this year-only 4 teams for ‘24-think they will have 6 for ‘25? MTSU can get an at large bid if they win enough. @andfor will all the AAC teams play each other this year or will some just meet in conf championship. Wonder too if the SEC next year will have all teams play prior to conference championships. Will limit the non conference matches like when OSU would go to GA or Tex A&M etc in early March to get outdoor play prior to conf play. Sure OSU can play Cali big 10 teams outdoors but that is no substitute for May humidity. When is the next time AZ or Cali hosts NCAAs or another dry site?
My opinion is that MTSU being a non-P5 school for ever and having had successful tennis teams for decades doesn't relay on their conference strength for recruiting. They play a good regular season schedule year in and year out. Coach B may say otherwise HAHA. MTSU has had a strong history of very good recruiting. Also they have a band new 10 or 12 court outdoor on campus facility, and down the street a indoor facility that is only a few years old. Good question about the auto bid, not sure on that. From what I know the AAC teams do not play everyone, I believe they do not have a rule requiring conference play.

I've said for about a year or so that the new ACC will likely regionalize conference play requirements, or unrestrict them altogether. Requiring a full conference regular season and that much travel doesn't make sense to me.
 

bluetrain4

G.O.A.T.
Michigan State up to 15 after the Blue-Gray, and Princeton up to 21. I know Princeton beat MSU 4-0, but I assume the ITA rankings use some RPI-like formula, so direct head-to-head results may not always be reflected in the rankings. That's MSU's only loss and they have a lot of wins over solid teams, if not a win over an absolute top-tier team. Kudos to both teams.
 
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Michigan State will get more chances at the Sun Devil tournament this weekend. Playing Liberty first and then likely Arizona State in the 2nd round for a good ranking match between teams with similar strengths. And they’ll want to win that one cause then they would likely get a shot at Arizona in the final.
 
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