3/17 ITA Rankings Have Been Released

Oklahoma stays at #1 in the ITA rankings for the 3rd week in a row and for the 4th time in the last 5 weeks.  OU's win last Tuesday over Virginia kept it atop the rankings because had they lost Illinois would have moved to #1.  Oklahoma's top 5 best wins are over #3 Baylor, #4 USC, #9 Virginia, #10 North Carolina, and at #11 Ohio State. The Sooners also own wins over #12 Wake Forest, #13 Ole Miss, #14 Northwestern, plus a 2nd win over #10 North Carolina so that means they have wins over everyone ranked from 9-14 which means they are positioned very well for the next several rankings where an additional best win is added each week starting next week. Oklahoma also gets an opportunity to pad its resume this weekend when they head to Indian Wells for the BNP Paribas Collegiate Challenge and it's likely that they'll face either #3 Baylor or #4 USC in the Championship on Sunday.

Illinois moves up 2 spots to #2 on the strength of a pair of Top 10 road wins last weekend over Texas and Texas A&M.  The Illini's best 5 wins for this week are the road wins at #3 Baylor, #8 Texas, and #7 Texas A&M along with home/neutral court wins over #10 North Carolina and #11 Ohio State. Illinois dropped its match yesterday to #18 TCU so that loss will count against them next week and with Illinois now idle until March 27th that means it's points average will probably drop slightly with its 6th best against #14 Northwestern.


Baylor drops 1 spot to #3 despite picking up a road win at Ole Miss last Tuesday.  BU's 5 best wins for these rankings are #6 Duke, #9 Virginia (2X), #19 UCLA, and the road win over #13 Ole Miss. Baylor is positioned fairly well for next week when the 6th best win is added because they currently have wins over #18 TCU and a road win at #20 Tulsa sitting in the bag plus the Bears could face #4 USC and potentially #1 Oklahoma this weekend in Indian Wells.

USC is up 1 spot to #4 after adding a win over then #14 UCLA to its resume.  The Trojans 4 other best wins are against #5 Georgia (2X +1 was at UGA), #11 Ohio State, and #15 Florida.  USC's 6th best win is over #30 San Diego so the Trojans need a good win or two this weekend to stay in the top 5. USC plays #20 Tulsa on Friday in Indian Wells and if they win that one they'll likely face #3 Baylor and a win over them would likely have the Trojans facing #1 Oklahoma in the final so this a big weekend of tennis for SC.

Georgia falls 2 spots to #5 even though they picked up a pair of road wins at Tennessee and Kentucky.  In years past those would have been a pair of Top 10 wins but both programs are down a little this year.  Georgia's 5 best wins are against #2 Illinois, #7 Texas A&M, #19 UCLA, #29 Columbia, and a road win at #15 Florida. Georgia's only ranked opponent this week is #47 South Carolina however the Bulldogs will add a previous win over #23 LSU to its list for next week's rankings.

Duke holds firm at #6 after playing just once last weekend against unranked Miami. The Blue Devils 5 best wins for these ranking are road wins over #2 Illinois and #14 Northwestern and home/neutral wins over #12 Wake Forest, #13 Ole Miss, and #18 TCU.  Duke hosts #37 NC State and #12 Wake Forest this weekend so they'll have a chance to possibly move up a spot if they can sweep both of those matches.

Texas A&M comes up to 2 spots to #7 after beating Vanderbilt before losing to Illinois. The Aggies 5 best wins are over #1 Oklahoma, #11 Ohio State,  #17 Vanderbilt, #30 San Diego, and at #47 South Carolina.  Texas A&M hits the road this weekend to face #35 Mississippi State and #60 Alabama so the Aggies need wins over both to help itself for next week.  With South Carolina and Vanderbilt both dropping this week, Texas A&M will likely fall a few spots next week because the Aggies 6th best win will at best be against somebody ranked outside the top 30.

Despite the loss to Illinois, Texas holds firm at #8 largely due to a few of its best wins making big rises from the previous week (MN+12, UNC+7).  The Longhorns 5 best wins are over #10 North Carolina, #12 Wake Forest, at #20 Tulsa, #25 Minnesota, and #29 Columbia.  Texas has a chance to add a big 6th best win when they host #11 Ohio State this afternoon.  Their current 6th best win is over #27 Florida State though since Columbia dropped down in the rankings they'd be the 6th best with FSU the 5th best.

Virginia drops 2 spots to #9 after coming up short in Norman against #1 Oklahoma. UVA's best 5 wins are #10 North Carolina, at #12 Wake Forest, #18 TCU, #26 Louisville, and at #37 NC State. Virginia won't get much of a chance to move up because the only ranked team it plays this week is #36 Notre Dame though at least its on the road.

North Carolina moves up 2 spots to #10 despite only picking up an unranked win over Miami last week.  UNC's bump is largely due to Virginia Tech making such a large rise from the previous week with the Hokies coming up 29 spots.  UNC's 5 best wins are over #16 Virginia Tech, #19 UCLA, #25 Minnesota, #27 Florida State, and #37 NC State.  UNC's only match this week is on the road at #26 Louisville so a win there would make that the 6th best win for next week.      

Men's National Team Rankings
Administered by the ITA
NCAA Division I Tennis
March 17, 2015
Rank	Avg	School	Previous Week
1	83.79	University of Oklahoma	1
2	82.89	University of Illinois	4
3	77.90	Baylor University	2
4	72.95	University of Southern California	5
5	71.42	University of Georgia	3
6	69.44	Duke University	6
7	63.82	Texas A&M University	9
8	59.11	University of Texas	8
9	58.64	University of Virginia	7
10	52.46	North Carolina	12
11	51.38	Ohio State University	10
12	48.32	Wake Forest University	19
13	44.75	University of Mississippi	13
14	43.37	Northwestern University	16
15	43.13	University of Florida	18
16	41.13	Virginia Tech	15
17	40.87	Vanderbilt University	11
18	40.84	TCU	17
19	40.48	UCLA	14
20	35.50	University of Tulsa	29
21	35.34	University of South Florida	20
22	34.60	Harvard University	21
23	31.94	Louisiana State University	33
24	31.38	Texas Tech University	34
25	30.95	University of Minnesota	22
26	28.86	University of Louisville	28
27	28.09	Florida State University	24
28	27.14	California	26
29	26.42	Columbia University	23
30	25.91	University of San Diego	31
31	25.45	Oklahoma State University	32
32	25.36	Princeton University	27
33	24.83	Drake University	25
34	23.82	SMU	47
35	22.97	Mississippi State University	42
36	22.84	University of Notre Dame	36
37	20.54	North Carolina State	37
38	20.24	San Diego State University	35
39	19.80	Indiana University-Bloomington	30
40	17.94	University of Tennessee	55
41	17.78	Stanford University	40
42	17.11	Penn State University	48
43	16.57	University of Denver	43
44	16.21	Wichita State University	46
45	15.62	University of Iowa	51
46	15.32	Dartmouth College	44
47	15.28	University of South Carolina	38
48	15.10	University of New Mexico	45
49	15.06	UNC Wilmington	NR
50	15.00	Pepperdine	49
51	14.44	Auburn University	39
52	14.35	Cornell University	50
53	14.11	University of Oregon	71
54	13.36	Brown University	57
55	12.68	Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	69
56	12.53	University of Arkansas	64
57	11.91	University of Washington	59
58	11.57	Old Dominion University	56
59	11.48	Univ. of San Francisco	53
60	11.43	University of Alabama	66
61	11.21	University of Pennsylvania	41
62	10.72	Troy University	58
63	10.51	University of Texas at Arlington	NR
64	10.41	Clemson University	62
65	9.94	Cal Poly	54
66	9.37	UC Santa Barbara	75
67	9.34	Tulane University	63
68	9.25	UC Davis	67
69	9.01	University of North Florida	52
70	8.98	Univ. of Texas at San Antonio	72
71	8.18	University of South Alabama	60
72	8.12	University of Utah	NR
73	7.84	University of Memphis	61
74	7.83	University of Nebraska	65
75	7.82	UC Irvine	NR

Women's National Team Rankings
Administered by the ITA
NCAA Division I Tennis
March 17, 2015
Rank	Avg.	School	Previous Rank
1	81.42	North Carolina	1
2	74.71	University of Florida	3
3	71.58	California	9
4	71.55	University of Georgia	7
5	70.43	UCLA	2
6	69.65	Baylor University	8
7	69.42	University of Southern California	4
8	64.04	University of Virginia	5
9	58.32	University of Alabama	6
10	57.25	Stanford	12
11	56.16	Oklahoma State University	10
12	53.33	Vanderbilt University	11
13	52.09	University of Michigan	13
14	45.62	University of Miami (Florida)	14
15	40.10	Clemson University	15
16	40.09	Pepperdine	21
17	39.11	University of Mississippi	16
18	38.62	Texas Tech University	17
19	34.36	Arizona State University	24
20	31.88	University of Kentucky	22
21	31.02	TCU	27
22	29.83	Ohio State University	19
23	29.56	Dartmouth College	18
24	29.09	Duke University	20
25	28.05	Wichita State University	26
26	26.11	Northwestern University	35
27	26.03	Mississippi State University	41
28	25.88	Purdue University	25
29	21.13	University of Oklahoma	23
30	21.08	Texas A&M University	46
31	20.45	Long Beach State University	30
32	20.44	University of Notre Dame	28
33	20.43	Fresno State	42
34	19.83	College of William and Mary	33
35	19.32	University of Arizona	50
36	17.42	University of Texas at Austin	54
37	16.19	Auburn University	31
38	15.75	University of Arkansas	44
39	15.71	DePaul University	37
40	15.45	Harvard University	38
41	15.22	University of New Mexico	48
42	15.17	Virginia Tech	29
43	15.09	University of South Carolina	36
44	14.54	Michigan State University	73
45	14.45	Saint Mary's College of California	40
46	14.38	University of Washington	49
47	14.21	University of Maryland, College Park	43
48	14.14	University of Houston	34
49	14.08	Louisiana State University	32
50	13.41	Brigham Young University	52
51	13.33	Univ. of San Francisco	39
52	13.00	Indiana University-Bloomington	45
53	12.53	San Jose State University	60
54	11.63	University of Illinois	56
55	11.13	Rice University	62
56	10.95	University of Colorado	47
57	10.90	Georgia Tech	51
58	10.56	Columbia University	58
59	10.09	UC Irvine	55
60	9.73	University of Oregon	67
61	9.63	Wake Forest University	63
62	9.58	Marshall University	74
63	9.53	University of Minnesota	59
64	9.49	University of Nebraska	61
65	8.46	University of Kansas	70
66	8.28	University of Denver	57
T-67	8.13	San Diego State University	65
T-67	8.13	Florida State University	72
69	8.11	Stony Brook University	53
70	7.54	UC Santa Barbara	NR
71	7.49	Univ. of Hawaii, Manoa	64
72	7.20	Sacramento State	75
73	7.08	Boston College	NR
74	7.03	SMU	NR
75	6.81	Gonzaga University	NR