bbtennis7168
New User
What teams are set to make a run for the title this spring?
Teams that have best chance of winning NCAA 2015
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Grinding10s
New User
My top 5 would be: Virginia, USC, Baylor, Oklahoma, UCLA.
Chance to make a big splash: Georgia, Wake Forest, Texas, Texas A&M
Chance to make a big splash: Georgia, Wake Forest, Texas, Texas A&M
bbtennis7168
New User
Yea, I agree. Ill be surprised how USC holds up this year without sarmiento.
Also Wake Forest already has two players that are top 50 at least and then adding Noah Rubin will be huge.
Also Wake Forest already has two players that are top 50 at least and then adding Noah Rubin will be huge.
George Opelka
New User
Those are the obvious picks. There will be a surprise team or two come May. TCU is bound to make a splash. Keep an eye on a couple of teams from Florida too.
bbtennis7168
New User
whats teams from Florida? I think gators look good...FSU is just okay.
I like the sleeper team of Texas A&M
I like the sleeper team of Texas A&M
I think your top 4 is right. UNC is another likely big splash potential team with Schnur and Schneider at the top.
I am a big UVA fan, but I would bet that UVA is the only team whose top six singles players all have ATP rankings.
The UVA guys in the order of where I think they will play are:
# 579 (#503 on 10/27/14) Mitchell Frank and two time AA winner
# 1040 Ryan Shane 2014 ITA National Indoor semifinalist
# 1042 Thai Son Kwiatkowski 2014 ITA All America semifinalist
# 744 Collin Altamirano and 2013 USTA 18's champion
# 1563 Alexander Ritschard but was #648 in Nov. 2013 & could play higher
# 2030 Mac Styslinger who has played as high as #3 for UVA
Some other notables are:
# 505 Roberto Quiroz (USC)
# 598 Noah Rubin (WF)
# 613 Brayden Schnur (UNC)
# 637 MacKenzie McDonald (UCLA)
# 737 Julian Lenz (Baylor)
# 852 Yannick Hanfmann (USC)
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Grinding10s
New User
Yes, UNC completely slipped my mind. I imagine they will be a solid top 10 team this year.
Probably talking about UofF and FSU. But for sleepers in FL I like North Florida and South Florida. The both have essentially the same teams back this year. Both have excellent underrated coaching staffs. Watch for both to do some damage a get to the NCAA's.
B1G Tennis
New User
Tier 1: Virginia, USC
Tier 2: UCLA, Oklahoma, Baylor
Tier 3: Georgia, Illinois
Tier 4: Ohio State, TAMU, Duke, North Carolina, Texas
Tier 5: Stanford, Wake, Cal, Florida, Kentucky
These 16 seem to be a cut above the rest, and there is a big gap between Tiers 4 and 5. I'd be pretty surprised if the champion wasn't in the top two tiers.
Tier 2: UCLA, Oklahoma, Baylor
Tier 3: Georgia, Illinois
Tier 4: Ohio State, TAMU, Duke, North Carolina, Texas
Tier 5: Stanford, Wake, Cal, Florida, Kentucky
These 16 seem to be a cut above the rest, and there is a big gap between Tiers 4 and 5. I'd be pretty surprised if the champion wasn't in the top two tiers.
GRANITECHIEF
Hall of Fame
Something about this order looks a little "out of order". Will be interesting to see how it ends up, esp since the new guy has never lost to the #1.
Also, if i was on the fence about hitting the tour or joining the team, assurance that i would get the absolute top flight competition would be important.
I think the way the roster starts out in January looks about right. How it lines up in May is the big question.
Southerncharm
Rookie
Oklahoma and Virginia
CaliDawg
Rookie
Which new guy?
justinmadison
Semi-Pro
It's a pretty stacked team when a guy like Henrik Wiersholm joins the team and can't even make the lineup.
George Opelka
New User
Collin should be 1 with UVA with that line-up, can't see him losing to Frank or Mac.
rastapasta
New User
Illinois, Virginia, USC, UCLA, Oklahoma, Baylor, OSU, NCU, Georgia, and TAMU (in no particular order) would be in my top 10 with Florida, Wake, and Texas just outside of that. In terms of teams who I feel have a legitimate shot of winning, the ones people have mentioned (i.e. Virginia, USC, Oklahoma, Baylor) and, contrary to most people's lists, Illinois, OSU, and Georgia.
The addition of the 3 mentioned teams is largely due to last year results as well as new roster changes.
Illinois' roster remains the same as last year, with the addition of some very promising freshman like little Hiltzik, Matsuya, and Vukic who have already yielded good results during the preseason. Their top 3 (Gosea, Hiltzik, and Kopinski), will be competitive with any other team's top three. I felt that the lower half in their lineup last year was weaker, as I would consider that to be one of the main reason why OSU beat them relatively soundly both times. Bumping down some of that half and adding some of the freshman would make for a dangerous team.
OSU's roster remains largely unchanged except for the loss of Kobelt which is huge. Last year, nobody thought of them as a serious contender and though of it more as a rebuilding phase, but they did win Indoors (completely deserved), were ranked 1 for a period of time, and lost a tough match vs. UCLA at the Championships. The reason for this despite consisting of a team of lower ranked players? Kobelt won most of the time at 1, their doubles almost always won, and the lower end of the lineup picked up wins. Although losing Kobelt will leave an impact, the addition of Freshmen Torpegaard (won ******* regionals, took USC's Hanfmann to a close straight sets) and Di Feo (for obvious reasons) will fill that void. If both are put in the lineup, OSU's bottom lineup becomes stronger and, if Di Feo is as good as expected, he could actually be a good replacement for Peter at #1. It also helps that Diaz seems to regain the magic that he had two years ago based off of results at the ITA championships.
I honestly felt that Georgia had a very good team last year and certain circumstances hindered them from posting great results. Their roster maintains a lot of last years members and the addition of Montgomery will be huge. If Wagland can play as well as he did Freshmen year, expect
Georgia to make a statement this year.
The addition of the 3 mentioned teams is largely due to last year results as well as new roster changes.
Illinois' roster remains the same as last year, with the addition of some very promising freshman like little Hiltzik, Matsuya, and Vukic who have already yielded good results during the preseason. Their top 3 (Gosea, Hiltzik, and Kopinski), will be competitive with any other team's top three. I felt that the lower half in their lineup last year was weaker, as I would consider that to be one of the main reason why OSU beat them relatively soundly both times. Bumping down some of that half and adding some of the freshman would make for a dangerous team.
OSU's roster remains largely unchanged except for the loss of Kobelt which is huge. Last year, nobody thought of them as a serious contender and though of it more as a rebuilding phase, but they did win Indoors (completely deserved), were ranked 1 for a period of time, and lost a tough match vs. UCLA at the Championships. The reason for this despite consisting of a team of lower ranked players? Kobelt won most of the time at 1, their doubles almost always won, and the lower end of the lineup picked up wins. Although losing Kobelt will leave an impact, the addition of Freshmen Torpegaard (won ******* regionals, took USC's Hanfmann to a close straight sets) and Di Feo (for obvious reasons) will fill that void. If both are put in the lineup, OSU's bottom lineup becomes stronger and, if Di Feo is as good as expected, he could actually be a good replacement for Peter at #1. It also helps that Diaz seems to regain the magic that he had two years ago based off of results at the ITA championships.
I honestly felt that Georgia had a very good team last year and certain circumstances hindered them from posting great results. Their roster maintains a lot of last years members and the addition of Montgomery will be huge. If Wagland can play as well as he did Freshmen year, expect
Georgia to make a statement this year.
rastapasta
New User
Forgot to mention UCLA as having a legitimate shot of course
TopDawg
G.O.A.T.
Seems like many are putting a lot of stock in them hosting and while it's nice to be the host it hasn't helped anyone since Georgia won in 2007. Baylor lost Pradella, Dornbusch, and Krickovic transferred to Auburn and as of this minute they have only brought in one newcomer, William Little, who at best will play 6 though probably will be out of the top 6 at the start of the year. Lenz is a stud at 1 and if Galeano plays like last year he'll be good at 2 but not a lock against any of the top 10. After those 2 spots in my opinion they'd be underdogs at 3-6 against UVA, OU, UGA, USC, UCLA, Ohio State, Illinois, and possibly Texas, aTm, UNC, and Duke.
Now if they can add someone else that can come in an have an impact like Pradella then that could change everything.
My top 16 as of today would be: Virginia, Oklahoma, Georgia, USC, UCLA, Ohio State, Texas, Illinois, UNC, Baylor, Wake Forest, Texas A&M, Duke, Florida, USF, and Cal. TCU in the 16-20 range.
B1G Tennis
New User
Baylor has some serious issues after their top 5 (Lenz, Galeano, Lupieri, Zsiga, and Rios), but all five of those guys can play. Lenz is a top three #1, and I feel like whoever they are putting out at 4 and 5 should be very competitive. There is only a tiny margin of error (similar to OSU last year), but I think home-court advantage is enough to favor them over Georgia. One injury and they are done, though.
I completely forgot about TCU. They absolutely belong in the conversation, probably right above Stanford but below Texas. That might even be underrating them. They have 3 great Freshmen who should immediately be ready to win in the top 4 along with Chappell. Dachs was a solid #2, so if he can keep up that level, he should be a great 5. If someone can step up at 6 (Daniel, maybe), everyone should fear them.
I completely forgot about TCU. They absolutely belong in the conversation, probably right above Stanford but below Texas. That might even be underrating them. They have 3 great Freshmen who should immediately be ready to win in the top 4 along with Chappell. Dachs was a solid #2, so if he can keep up that level, he should be a great 5. If someone can step up at 6 (Daniel, maybe), everyone should fear them.
Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
LOL Baylor doesn't have a chance. and their webcam better be fixed. it keeps on freezing when live
jaggy
Talk Tennis Guru
Great catch, very important
bbtennis7168
New User
Im gonna throw Tennessee out there too as a sleeper team. Im a vols fan but I really think if Mikaelis and Reece are playing well in singles then TN will be tough to beat overall cause we have the #1 team in the nation in dubs....new recruits that have been added are good. Asst coaches at TN expect a possible top 10 ranking....
TopDawg
G.O.A.T.
I'd agree with Tennessee being a potential sleeper - a lot of unknowns with them this year with 4 newcomers that could all possibly play in the top 6. They need Libietis to play like he did 2 years ago and hold down the #1 spot because Reese is better suited for #2 IMO. Fickey seems like he's never healthy and if he is he should probably be playing down around 4 or 5.
Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
Agree, I like to see it in full smooth LIVE coverage when Cardinal takes the NCAA tournament and moves thru the draw.
At least you got your Standford prediction now out of the way and we can all move on. Way to keep that 14 year streak alive.
Joeyg
Semi-Pro
As if on cue.....
jaggy
Talk Tennis Guru
Nice to get it in before the season starts
cali_tennis_machine
New User
He will play #4 at best. No way they put him above frank, Shane, or Thai-son
Gotta love Nostradamus. Cardinal to take it all.
GRANITECHIEF
Hall of Fame
You mean first match or whole season? I'd be willing to bet.
illinoisportsfan
Rookie
Illinois sort of does:
Farris Gosea #582
Jared Hiltzik #1065
Alex Vukic #1328
Aron Hiltzik #1705
Tim Kopinski Previous #1940, Doubles #613
Ross Guignon (Doubles) #611
I wouldn't bet against you. But there are a few factors that if they play out could keep him there. If Frank, Shane, and Thai-son win the vast majority of their matches they will likely stay in that order. Assuming Boland lines them up like that. If CA loses matches he could drop. Between the two scenarios the second is the least likely. If coach likes him as a lockdown win at 4 that could factor in. I could see him playing in the 1 and 2 slot against teams they would beat sitting one or any of the 3 above him. It's going to be interesting to watch. Heck who really knows their lineup but Boland until they run out there for the first dual or two. Good luck to CA this spring I'm sure he and UVA will have a great year no matter where he plays in the lineup.
George Opelka
New User
Lotsa IF's in that equation and that's what makes college tennis great. CA is a gamer and I think he'll move. On paper, this lineup looks extremely strong.
Of course there are of ifs and that's because he is showing up in January and only Boland will have the final say on the line up. Just pointing out possible factors. On a great team it's not unusual for a freshman even if he can beat everyone on the team to play behind an upperclassman. For the most part everyone on the UVA team is a gamer, I'm sure that's why he's going there with them.
Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
Coach Goldstein will be that difference to take the Cards over the top.
I hope you're right ... Pac 12 needs more excitement
Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
bbtennis7168
New User
Cant wait for the team indoor championships. We will have a better look at who's the best and what teams out their could be a sleeper in the spring ncaa's
I like Texas A&M to surprise some people this year.
I like Texas A&M to surprise some people this year.
I've been saying that for 3 years now and they always disappoint
What news was that?
Tenniaggie
New User
A&M really need to bring it this year as Efferding, Szabo and Withrow are all seniors.
Clemson_tennis
Legend
The problem is they probably aren't any better than they were last year. Catanzariti looks to be a good addition but how much will he really help the Aggies?