3/15 Oracle/ITA Men's Rankings Release - Top 5 Profiles

The new rankings are out and as expected we have a new No. 1 with Virginia sliding ahead of North Carolina. TCU holds firm at No. 3, Ohio State slides down to No. 4 and UCLA comes up to No. 5 just a .03 ahead of Oklahoma State. Further down below I have a more in depth breakdown of the top 5 and how the points were calculated.

Northwestern moved back into the top 10 at No. 7 after its first win over Illinois since 1997 while Texas Tech, who was idle, slid up No. 10 to No. 8. Texas A&M dropped from No. 7 to No. 9 after losing at Arkansas while Wake Forest dropped one spot from No. 9 to No. 10 despite a 7-0 win over Notre Dame.

Arkansas, Florida State, Mississippi State, and Wisconsin were the big movers this week. Arkansas rose 19 spots from No. 32 to No. 13 after taking out both Texas A&M and LSU. Florida State rose 28 spots from No. 51 to No. 23 after the Noles stunned North Carolina on Friday night. Mississippi State rose 19 spots from No. 44 to No. 25 after beating Kentucky and Tennessee. Wisconsin rose 18 spots from No. 49 to No. 31 after winning at Drake plus it benefited from Princeton moving up eight spots.

Despite shutting out Fresno State 7-0, Oregon fell 10 spots from No. 20 to No. 30. Four of the Ducks five best wins fell in the rankings last week which therefore impacts the rankings this week. Indiana fell from No. 58 to unranked, Boise State fell from No. 71 to unranked, UC Santa Barbara fell from No. 46 to No. 52, and Old Dominion fell from No. 28 to No. 40.

I didn't see any keying errors in the system this week so that's a good things moving forward.

The following teams made double-digit increases versus the last rankings - movement in ( ):
#13 Arkansas (+19)
#23 Florida State (+28)
#25 Mississippi State (+19)
#31 Wisconsin (+18)
#32 Georgia Tech (+10)
#55 East Tennessee State (+12)
#58 Utah State (+13)
#63 UC Davis (+10)

The following teams made double-digit decreases versus the last rankings (still ranked):
#30 Oregon (-10)
#45 Washington (-10)
#51 Notre Dame (-13)
#68 Vanderbilt (-12)
#72 UC Irvine (-15)
#74 Utah (-13)

These 4 teams entered the rankings after being unranked and here is why they are now ranked
#61 Lamar - beat then #47 Iowa
#71 Pepperdine - previous wins over Loyola Marymount and San Diego State improved with both rising from the previous week
#73 Cal Poly - SMU loss was lessened after they went from unranked to #37
#75 San Diego State - beat then #70 Penn and Arizona

These 4 teams dropped out of the rankings with last week's rankings in ( ):
Auburn (64) - lost 4 of last 5
Tennessee (72) - lost 8 in a row
Miami FL (74) - lost to Middle Tennessee State, Duke, and UNC last week
Florida Gulf Coast (75) - lost to Troy and Penn State last weekend in Tampa

Here is the ITA's release which breaks it down by conference affiliation.


Below I'll breakdown the Top 5 looking at the 5 best wins that were used in the rankings this week along with other quality ranked wins. I also listed the point totals gained from the best wins and losses to come up with the computer score.  

Virginia is the new No. 1 after defeating Tulsa and Oklahoma last week.  

• 5 Best Wins (409): #3 TCU, #5 UCLA, #10 Wake Forest, #15 Oklahoma, #17 Kentucky
• Other Quality Wins: #29 Tulsa, #34 San Diego, #40 Virginia Tech
• Losses (5.3): #2 North Carolina, #11 Illinois
• Computer Score:  409/5.3 = 77.17 (was 70.74)
• What's Coming Up: NC State (3/18), Florida State (3/20), Notre Dame (3/25), Boston College (3/26)
• Comments:  Florida State could give the Hoos a decent match on Sunday but the real tests will come in April when UVA goes to North Carolina and Florida while hosting Wake Forest on April 15. 

North Carolina falls one spot to No. 2 after its loss at Florida State last Friday. Barring another slip up I'd expect UNC will probably retake the No. 1 spot next week since it'll have six top 15 wins counted plus its loss to FSU won't count as much with FSU jumping into the top 25. 

• 5 Best Wins (452.4): at #1 Virginia, #4 Ohio State, #5 UCLA, #8 Texas Tech,  #11 Illinois
• Other Quality Wins: #15 Oklahoma, #33 NC State, #68 Vanderbilt
• Losses (5.9): at #23 Florida State
• Computer Score:  452.4/5.9 = 76.68 (was 89.24)
• What's Coming Up: Louisville (3/18), at NC State (3/20), Clemson (3/25), Virginia Tech (3/27)
• Comments: The ACC regular season title will likely be decided the weekend of April 1-3 with UNC hosting both Virginia and Wake Forest - win both and UNC will be the regular season champion.

TCU holds firm at No. 3 after sitting out last week. 

• 5 Best Wins (402.8): #6 Oklahoma State, #11 Illinois (2X +1 on the road), #12 USC, at #16 South Florida
• Other Quality Wins: at #31 Wisconsin, #42 Stanford
• Losses (5.4): #1 Virginia, #14 California
• Computer Score:  402.8/5.4 = 74.59 (was 71.45)
• What's Coming Up: Tulsa (3/15), Columbia (3/19), Dartmouth (3/20), Northwestern (3/22), at Texas A&M (3/28)
• Comments: The match at Texas A&M on 3/28 will be a big one as will be all five conference matches.The weekend of April 8-10 TCU hosts both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

Ohio State drops two spots to No. 4 despite not playing last week. The reason for the drop was because Baylor and Texas dropped four spots each while some TCU's best wins improved.

• 5 Best Wins (375.1): #9 Texas A&M (2X), at #15 Oklahoma, #18 Texas, #21 Baylor 
• Other Quality Wins: #24 Florida, #27 Penn State, #40 Virginia Tech, at #51 Notre Dame
• Losses (5.1): #2 North Carolina
• Computer Score:  375.1/5.1 = 73.55 (was 74.14)
• What's Coming Up: at South Florida (3/17), at Georgia (3/20), at Michigan State (3/25), Michigan (3/27)
• Comments: The Buckeyes have three big matches coming up in the next week and a half. Ohio State's depth down low will pull it through against South Florida but it'll face a stiff test on Sunday in Athens. 

UCLA moves up to No. 5 just .03 ahead of Oklahoma State after picking up a win over BYU last week. UCLA's point total actually went down but Oklahoma State's dropped just a little more due to Memphis, Arkansas, and Wake Forest each dropping several spots. Oklahoma State will likely move back up next week with Arkansas making a big jump.

• 5 Best Wins (335): #9 Texas A&M, #12 USC, #19 Georgia (2X), #34 San Diego 
• Other Quality Wins: #32 Georgia Tech, at #42 Stanford, #44 SMU
• Losses (5.2): #1 Virginia, #2 North Carolina
• Computer Score:  335/5.2 = 64.42 (was 65.00)
• What's Coming Up: at UNLV (3/22), at Oregon (3/25), at Washington (3/27)
• Comments: UCLA's biggest tests will come on April 1 and 2 when Cal and Stanford come to the LA Tennis Center and then on April 15 the Bruins make the 14-mile trek to USC. 

3/15 Oracle/ITA Men's Rankings

Rank	Avg	School	Previous Rank
1	77.17	University of Virginia	4
2	76.68	North Carolina	1
3	74.59	TCU	3
4	73.55	Ohio State University	2
5	64.42	UCLA	6
6	64.39	Oklahoma State University	5
7	60.58	Northwestern University	11
8	57.83	Texas Tech University	10
9	57.31	Texas A&M University	7
10	54.37	Wake Forest University	9
11	52.95	University of Illinois	8
12	51.45	University of Southern California	15
13	45.78	University of Arkansas	32
14	44.86	California	14
15	44.66	University of Oklahoma	13
16	44.41	University of South Florida	16
17	40.58	University of Kentucky	12
18	39.17	University of Texas	19
19	38.39	University of Georgia	17
20	37.19	University of Michigan	24
21	35	Baylor University	18
22	33.3	University of Mississippi	22
23	30.99	Florida State University	51
24	29.86	University of Florida	25
25	29.77	Mississippi State University	44
26	29.76	University of Memphis	28
27	28.98	Penn State University	23
28	28.62	Tulane University	21
29	28	University of Tulsa	26
30	27.33	University of Oregon	20
31	26.78	University of Wisconsin	49
32	24.4	Georgia Tech	42
33	24.03	North Carolina State	27
34	23	University of San Diego	29
35	22.44	Dartmouth College	34
36	22.33	Princeton University	30
37	22.1	Old Dominion University	40
38	21.85	Rice University	33
39	21.68	Columbia University	31
40	19.43	Virginia Tech	39
41	18.15	Drake University	36
42	17.86	Stanford University	48
43	17.84	University of Alabama	50
44	17.68	SMU	37
45	17.16	University of Washington	35
T46	17.09	University of Denver	41
T46	17.09	Purdue University	45
48	16.99	LSU	43
49	16.4	Harvard University	46
50	15.42	UC Santa Barbara	52
51	14.49	University of Notre Dame	38
52	13.79	University of Iowa	47
53	12.17	St. John's University	60
54	11.5	Middle Tennessee State University	54
55	11.28	East Tennessee State University	67
56	10.63	University of New Mexico	63
57	10.25	UNC Wilmington	65
58	9.57	Utah State University	71
59	9	Brigham Young University	55
60	8.98	Cornell University	53
61	8.71	Lamar University	NR
62	8.54	University of South Carolina	69
63	8.44	UC Davis	73
64	8.39	Georgia State University	59
65	8.2	University of Pennsylvania	70
66	8.16	University of the Pacific (California)	58
67	8.13	Western Michigan University	68
68	8.07	Vanderbilt University	56
69	7.69	Duke University	66
70	7.35	College of William and Mary	62
71	7.19	Pepperdine	NR
72	7.12	UC Irvine	57
73	7.04	Cal Poly	NR
74	6.89	University of Utah	61
75	6.84	San Diego State University	NR

I'll have another release later this evening about the women's rankings.