NortheastTennis
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I thought there should be an update on some of the conferences in the northeast, although besides the ivys none can really compete with the big time southern and western schools at least some of the NCAA locks can be identified.
American East: Does not get an automatic bid to the NCAA. Only 4 teams in the conference.
1. Binghamton: One of the better teams in the northeast always competes with the lower ranked Ivy schools, broke into the top 75 for a week. Unfortunate that this conference cannot give a bid as they are consistently a strong team who used to have a national rank every year.
2. UMBC: Decent Strength at the top of their lineup yet falls everytime to Binghamton, competes more with mid-Atlantic teams then northeast schools.
3. Stony Brook: Used to be stronger when they had GWU Nikita Fomin but since have fallen off the map.
4. Hartford: Weakest team in the conference although they are picking up stronger recruiting classes every year
Ivy League: No conference tournament so team with the best record gets the automatic bid
1. Columbia: One team in the northeast the rest of the nation should fear, especially if they happen to play an indoor match in the NCAA tournament. Winston Lin at 1 is one of the most clean and consistent players in the country, and on a given day doubles can beat any team. Only will get better as they lose none of their starters from this year and pick up a solid recruiting class. Currently 19 in ITA rankings should be hosting but won't get any more quality wins to boost their rank. Could make it to the round of 16
2. Harvard: Strong team, can win their first round NCAA match but not much to be afraid of unless the match goes indoors. Lots of big hitters who serve and attack well but have issues outdoors against grinding teams. 34 in the country right now but have been in the top 30. Will get in and depending on the draw can win their first round but will struggle after that
3. Dartmouth: Underrated, have a strong group of players top to bottom and could take Harvard on a given day. One of the few ivies that can compete well outdoors and indoors. Will be getting stronger next year and be a team to be feared. 41 in the country right now should get into the tournament unless they suffer a bad loss to a low ivy.
4. Cornell: Have had injury issues most of their season with their number 1 player which led to some poor matches early on. Issues also arise at the bottom part of their lineup with inconsistent play. Ranked 52 and no chance of rising and making the NCAAs will be better next year as they have a lot of young talent on the team and more coming.
5. Princeton: Lacking one or two players to make themselves a great team, have a lot of depth but not enough strength at the top of their lineup to compete against top teams. 61 in the nation right now and not going to make the tournament unless they somehow upset Columbia.
6. Yale: Fell of the bus this year with only one good recruit and a lot of leftovers from a team that always used to rely on its top 3 to win matches. Strong indoors, decent outdoors will be getting better next year as it still is a fairly young team and talent is coming in. Not ranked but probably deserves to be around 75.
7. Brown: Although they lost to Penn, their body of work is more impressive. Have decent results against Elon and a win over buffalo but cant seem to win a 4-3 match (5 of their 10 loses are 4-3). Were ranked and still are around 75 could be better next year only lose 1 starter.
8. Penn: Plagued by injuries, could be much better then their record indicates but have some strange losses and wins. If all their players were healthy they could be 2 or 3 spots higher in this conference and have a national ranking.
MAAC: Only 4 teams make the conference championship and they are the only ones worth mentioning. Automatic NCAA Bid
1. Marist: Consistently a solid team in the northeast, would compete with the 7 and 8 Ivies. Wins this conference almost every year and has the most depth but not as deep as past year, could be upset as their doubles is weak. Unless recruiting steps up could be their last year of dominance.
2. Monmouth: Brand new team under their new head coach, very up and down results but at certain spots are very strong #1, #5, #6. Also is weak in doubles. Could pull upset of Marist but could just as easily be upset by Niagara. Watch out for them next year.
3. Niagara: 2-5 are very solid players and could win on any day in this conference but those are the only spots they have a chance. On the right day can beat both teams ahead of them and has the best doubles in the conference.
4. Fairfield: Down year as they have been missing some key players, does not have the depth to compete with the teams ahead of them but still ends up 4 over the extremely weak teams in the conference below them.
NEC: 8 teams make the conference tournament but arguably the weakest overall conference in the country, only top 3 teams worth mentioning. Automatic NCAA Bid
1. Bryant: Recent move up from D2 has improved rapidly since its upgrade. Can compete with low Ivies. Should win the conference easily although FDU has typically been dominant team. Strong recruiting class and on the rise
2. FDU: Won conference past 2 years yet only returned one starter from last year. Top singles player was the only player in the NCAA team tournament to take a set off Jarmere Jenkins. Rest of team is freshman and got smoked by Bryant earlier in the season. Will be better next year
3. Saint Francis Pa: New head coach has turned the team into a decent northeast program with a solid group of freshman. Could upset FDU but a team to watch in the future.
Patriot League: All the teams make the conference tournament but only 4 worth talking about. Automatic NCAA Bid
1. Army: Consistently gets one of the nations best recruiting classes but the players focus is obviously elsewhere. Should run away with the conference but just had a close match with Navy. Always a team that seems worth watching but remains below the Ivies.
2. Lehigh: Surprise winner of the conference last year also brings in good recruiting classes regularly. Season has been hit with injuries but at full strength can give all but the Ivies a run in the northeast.
3. Navy: Another school that brings in good recruits and seems to fall off the map after that. Can give any team a run but also has unbelievable losses including lowly Colgate.
4. Boston University: New addition to the conference and following the theme has good players yet struggles with most teams in the northeast. Has won all the matches they are supposed to but dont see any big upset coming from them.
Honorable Northeast mentions
Saint Johns: Has turned their season into a very good one considering last years fall from grace, has 6 very solid players. Beats the low Ivies but loses to the top 5. Can win the big east only team to worry about is Marquette. Ranked 70 in the country.
Buffalo: Is a great indoor team, although they got lucky beating Cornell early on as Cornell had to default a match it was winning easily. Seems to win every match 4-3. Currently ranked 73 and in contention to win the Mid-American Conference every year.
NJIT: If they could join a conference in the northeast they would be strong but still seems destined to never find its fit.
Boston College: Destined to forever be the worst ACC team and cant seem to get any better since they lost Muppidi. Still a solid team in the Northeast
UConn: Unless they get scholarships tennis will always be worst in AAC
NCAA Bids: Columbia, Harvard, Dartmouth, Marist, Bryant, Army, Saint Johns, Buffalo
Hope this helps figure out some of the lesser known automatic bids
American East: Does not get an automatic bid to the NCAA. Only 4 teams in the conference.
1. Binghamton: One of the better teams in the northeast always competes with the lower ranked Ivy schools, broke into the top 75 for a week. Unfortunate that this conference cannot give a bid as they are consistently a strong team who used to have a national rank every year.
2. UMBC: Decent Strength at the top of their lineup yet falls everytime to Binghamton, competes more with mid-Atlantic teams then northeast schools.
3. Stony Brook: Used to be stronger when they had GWU Nikita Fomin but since have fallen off the map.
4. Hartford: Weakest team in the conference although they are picking up stronger recruiting classes every year
Ivy League: No conference tournament so team with the best record gets the automatic bid
1. Columbia: One team in the northeast the rest of the nation should fear, especially if they happen to play an indoor match in the NCAA tournament. Winston Lin at 1 is one of the most clean and consistent players in the country, and on a given day doubles can beat any team. Only will get better as they lose none of their starters from this year and pick up a solid recruiting class. Currently 19 in ITA rankings should be hosting but won't get any more quality wins to boost their rank. Could make it to the round of 16
2. Harvard: Strong team, can win their first round NCAA match but not much to be afraid of unless the match goes indoors. Lots of big hitters who serve and attack well but have issues outdoors against grinding teams. 34 in the country right now but have been in the top 30. Will get in and depending on the draw can win their first round but will struggle after that
3. Dartmouth: Underrated, have a strong group of players top to bottom and could take Harvard on a given day. One of the few ivies that can compete well outdoors and indoors. Will be getting stronger next year and be a team to be feared. 41 in the country right now should get into the tournament unless they suffer a bad loss to a low ivy.
4. Cornell: Have had injury issues most of their season with their number 1 player which led to some poor matches early on. Issues also arise at the bottom part of their lineup with inconsistent play. Ranked 52 and no chance of rising and making the NCAAs will be better next year as they have a lot of young talent on the team and more coming.
5. Princeton: Lacking one or two players to make themselves a great team, have a lot of depth but not enough strength at the top of their lineup to compete against top teams. 61 in the nation right now and not going to make the tournament unless they somehow upset Columbia.
6. Yale: Fell of the bus this year with only one good recruit and a lot of leftovers from a team that always used to rely on its top 3 to win matches. Strong indoors, decent outdoors will be getting better next year as it still is a fairly young team and talent is coming in. Not ranked but probably deserves to be around 75.
7. Brown: Although they lost to Penn, their body of work is more impressive. Have decent results against Elon and a win over buffalo but cant seem to win a 4-3 match (5 of their 10 loses are 4-3). Were ranked and still are around 75 could be better next year only lose 1 starter.
8. Penn: Plagued by injuries, could be much better then their record indicates but have some strange losses and wins. If all their players were healthy they could be 2 or 3 spots higher in this conference and have a national ranking.
MAAC: Only 4 teams make the conference championship and they are the only ones worth mentioning. Automatic NCAA Bid
1. Marist: Consistently a solid team in the northeast, would compete with the 7 and 8 Ivies. Wins this conference almost every year and has the most depth but not as deep as past year, could be upset as their doubles is weak. Unless recruiting steps up could be their last year of dominance.
2. Monmouth: Brand new team under their new head coach, very up and down results but at certain spots are very strong #1, #5, #6. Also is weak in doubles. Could pull upset of Marist but could just as easily be upset by Niagara. Watch out for them next year.
3. Niagara: 2-5 are very solid players and could win on any day in this conference but those are the only spots they have a chance. On the right day can beat both teams ahead of them and has the best doubles in the conference.
4. Fairfield: Down year as they have been missing some key players, does not have the depth to compete with the teams ahead of them but still ends up 4 over the extremely weak teams in the conference below them.
NEC: 8 teams make the conference tournament but arguably the weakest overall conference in the country, only top 3 teams worth mentioning. Automatic NCAA Bid
1. Bryant: Recent move up from D2 has improved rapidly since its upgrade. Can compete with low Ivies. Should win the conference easily although FDU has typically been dominant team. Strong recruiting class and on the rise
2. FDU: Won conference past 2 years yet only returned one starter from last year. Top singles player was the only player in the NCAA team tournament to take a set off Jarmere Jenkins. Rest of team is freshman and got smoked by Bryant earlier in the season. Will be better next year
3. Saint Francis Pa: New head coach has turned the team into a decent northeast program with a solid group of freshman. Could upset FDU but a team to watch in the future.
Patriot League: All the teams make the conference tournament but only 4 worth talking about. Automatic NCAA Bid
1. Army: Consistently gets one of the nations best recruiting classes but the players focus is obviously elsewhere. Should run away with the conference but just had a close match with Navy. Always a team that seems worth watching but remains below the Ivies.
2. Lehigh: Surprise winner of the conference last year also brings in good recruiting classes regularly. Season has been hit with injuries but at full strength can give all but the Ivies a run in the northeast.
3. Navy: Another school that brings in good recruits and seems to fall off the map after that. Can give any team a run but also has unbelievable losses including lowly Colgate.
4. Boston University: New addition to the conference and following the theme has good players yet struggles with most teams in the northeast. Has won all the matches they are supposed to but dont see any big upset coming from them.
Honorable Northeast mentions
Saint Johns: Has turned their season into a very good one considering last years fall from grace, has 6 very solid players. Beats the low Ivies but loses to the top 5. Can win the big east only team to worry about is Marquette. Ranked 70 in the country.
Buffalo: Is a great indoor team, although they got lucky beating Cornell early on as Cornell had to default a match it was winning easily. Seems to win every match 4-3. Currently ranked 73 and in contention to win the Mid-American Conference every year.
NJIT: If they could join a conference in the northeast they would be strong but still seems destined to never find its fit.
Boston College: Destined to forever be the worst ACC team and cant seem to get any better since they lost Muppidi. Still a solid team in the Northeast
UConn: Unless they get scholarships tennis will always be worst in AAC
NCAA Bids: Columbia, Harvard, Dartmouth, Marist, Bryant, Army, Saint Johns, Buffalo
Hope this helps figure out some of the lesser known automatic bids
