NCAA Quarterfinals: Big 12 Flexes Its Muscle & Virginia Hammers A&M

I was expecting 4 knock down drag em out fights but in the end there were 2 good matches and 2 that weren't as close as I anticipated.

It was expected to be another wet day with the chance of rain around 50% but the showers stayed away and for the most part is was a very pleasant day (for the spectators). It was overcast, humid, and windy for the first 2 matches and then the sun came out for the last 2 but the wind and humidity stayed around all day.

In the opening match of the day on the main Grandstand Courts it was #1 Oklahoma pushing past #7 Georgia 4-2.  This will be Oklahoma's second ever NCAA semifinal appearance with the first time coming last year.

Quarterfinal Previews - OU/UGA, TCU/UNC, UVA/aTm, BU/USC

The stage is set for Quarterfinal Saturday and it should be a good one with 7 of the top 8 seeds still alive. It wouldn't surprise me to see all 4 matches finish with a 4-3 score and I'd actually be pretty surprised if at least 1 higher seed didn't go down.

For those that didn't see the notice tomorrow's matches have been moved up 2 hours to try and stay ahead of the rain so tune in at 11am eastern for 1st serve.

Let's dive in and get started:

[1] Oklahoma (27-2) vs. [8] Georgia (24-4) - Saturday 11am est.- Oklahoma is coming off a 4-3 win over #16 UCLA in a match that saw the Sooners win the doubles point and sweep the bottom 3 while Georgia beat #9 Texas 4-1 in a match where the Bulldogs took the doubles point and won at 2, 3, and 5. These teams are very familiar with each other because Oklahoma came to Georgia 3 times in a 4 month period to play in the Southern Intercollegiates, the Bulldog Scramble, and the MLK Invitational in Atlanta. In case you didn't know, OU Head Coach John Roddick is a Georgia graduate (98) and was also an assistant there from 2000 to 2002. OU's Assistant Coach Bo Hodge is also a Georgia graduate (04) and was part of the 2001 National Championship Team. This will be the 3rd time in 6 years that these two have met in the NCAA Tournament with Georgia beating OU in the 2010 Quarterfinals and the 2013 Round of 16.  

Schedule Update for Saturday

Times have been adjusted for Saturday’s NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championships Quarterfinal matches at Baylor’s Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas.

The matches between Oklahoma-Georgia and TCU-North Carolina will begin at 10 a.m. central while the other quarterfinal matches between Virginia-Texas A&M and Baylor-USC will begin at 2 p.m. central - original match times were noon central and 4 p.m central 

In addition, due to expected congestion around the Ferrell Center/Turner Riverfront Complex on Saturday due to the NCAA Tennis Championships (10 am and 2 pm), Baylor commencement (2:30 pm) and Baylor baseball vs. Texas (3 pm) a shuttle system has been initiated. Shuttles will run from 8:30 am – 7 pm from the East Campus garage to Ferrell Center/Turner Riverfront Complex.

NCAA Round of 16: High Drama Early and Calm Waters Later

It was a wild and crazy Thursday with it taking 6+ hours to complete the opening matches due to a series of rain/lightning delays. Both the Oklahoma/UCLA and Georgia/Texas matches started outdoors and were finished indoors due to 3 rain delays and lastly a lightning delay.

Before I go through the matches I wanted to thank you guys on twitter for Periscoping some of the key points in the indoor matches where there wasn't streaming video available.  Big shout out to Jeff McMillan and Drew Mastin who both did a great job letting me and many others follow the end of the Oklahoma/UCLA and Georgia/Texas matches. Jeff also had footage of many of the key moments in the Virginia/Columbia match as well. They say a picture is worth a thousand words - well if that's the case then a video is worth a million words. It's so much better to be able to watch and experience these matches on some kind of video because words can only tell you so much.  Thanks again guys!!

The unpredictable Oklahoma doubles pairings surprised many of us by taking the doubles point with ease over UCLA.  Both Harris/Ghilea and Webb/Papa won 8-4 at #1 and #2 doubles.

Round of 16 Preview - Baylor/South Florida & USC/Duke

[2] Baylor (23-5) vs. [17-32] #18 South Florida (21-6) - Thursday 8pm - Baylor is coming off shutout wins over Bryant and #29 LSU while South Florida blanked #63 Boise State and #15 Virginia Tech. This is South Florida's first ever trip to the Round of 16 while Baylor is back for the 14th consecutive year. 

Doubles Records: Baylor 25-2, South Florida 22-5

UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Baylor 86, South Florida 82

Round of 16 Preview - Virginia/Columbia & Texas A&M/Ohio State

[3] Virginia (25-3) vs. [17-32] Columbia (16-5) - Thursday 5pm - Virginia is coming off shutouts over St. John's and Minnesota while Columbia beat both Georgia Tech and Ole Miss by the same 4-1 score. Columbia went 0-4 this year against top 10 opponents though they were respectable in each loss (UGA 3-4, Texas 1-4, Oklahoma 2-4, USC 0-4). 

Doubles Records: Virginia 25-3, Columbia 15-6

UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Virginia 87, Columbia 82

Round of 16 Preview: Illinois/North Carolina & TCU/Wake Forest

[4] Illinois (27-4) vs. [13] North Carolina (23-10) - Thursday 1pm - Illinois is coming off a 4-0 win over Green Bay and a 4-2 squeaker over #33 Drake while North Carolina blanked William & Mary and then won fairly comfortably over #20 Mississippi State 4-1. North Carolina welcomed Esben Hess-Olesen back to the singles lineup at #6 after he missed all but a handful of matches with injury troubles. Illinois won the regular season meeting 4-3 in a match that North Carolina played without its #2 Ronnie Schneider though Hess-Olesen was in at #3 so the bottom half of the lineup stayed the same.  The only singles rematches will come at #1 and #5. Below is the box score from that first meeting and here are a few video highlights that I shot when I was in attendance.  

Round of 16 Preview - Oklahoma/UCLA, Georgia/Texas

We are just a few days away from the start of the Round of 16 in hopefully sunny Waco so let's start peeling the layers away and breaking down each match.

[1] Oklahoma (26-2) vs. [16] UCLA (17-9) - 10am est - Oklahoma is coming off a 4-0 win over New Mexico State and a 4-1 win over Northwestern while UCLA steamrolled both Florida Gulf Coast and Texas Tech 4-0. Even though Oklahoma won both matches comfortably the one area they didn't look as good in was doubles. OU dropped the point to Northwestern for the 2nd time this year and even New Mexico State challenged OU by winning at #2 doubles before OU clinched at #3 by a tight 8-6 score.  UCLA's strength all year has been its top 3 but against Texas Tech on Saturday the Bruins swept the bottom 3 and that was with Gage Brymer still on the sidelines. 

National Title Contenders

I've previewed all the 1st and 2nd round matches for this coming weekend; now I'll take a more in-depth look at the top 8 seeds in the men's field.  I'll list what I think are each team's positives, negatives/concerns, and reasonable expectations along with potential roadblocks.

I put this out last Thursday but have updated the records and #s - everything else is still the same.

#1 Oklahoma (26-2)

Likely Road To National Championship - #16 UCLA, Georgia/Texas, Illinois/TCU/Wake Forest, Baylor/Virginia/USC.

Positives:

• Axel Alvarez & Andrew Harris - best 1-2 punch in the game with #1 Axel Alvarez and #7 Andrew Harris a combined 42-4 in dual match play.  Alvarez is undefeated and Harris's 4 losses came at #1. Knowing you have an almost guaranteed 2 points at 1 and 2 is huge.
• Florin Bragusi - been Mr. Clutch this season winning the deciding match against the former Mr. Clutch Ohio State's Kevin Metka, Virginia's J.C. Aragone, and Baylor's Felipe Rios. He also clinched against Rios in another match that was still tight and did the same against North Carolina's Oystein Steiro. 
• Alex Ghilea - has been Mr. Clutch #2 winning the deciding match against Texas's George Goldhoff and Baylor's Mate Zsiga. Ghilea also clinched against TCU's Arnau Dachs and USC's Max De Vroome in matches that were coming down the wire.
• Confidence - this team knows how to win when it counts. 

NCAA 2nd Round - South Florida & Columbia Pull Off Upsets - Other Seeds Advance

After a wild and crazy first round of the NCAA Tournament, we had a more tame second round with 9 of the 16 matches being shutouts. 14 of the top 16 seeds advanced with Columbia and South Florida pulling off the mild upsets.

#17 Columbia punched its second ever ticket to the Round of 16 with a 4-1 win over #14 Ole Miss. Columbia took the doubles point with wins at 2 and 3 but Ole Miss would take four opening sets in singles. Ole Miss's Nik Scholtz would even the match at 1-1 with a straight set win over Winston Lin at #1 but Columbia's Ashok Narayana and Shawn Hadavi would close out their respective matches in straight sets at 3 and 5 to put Columbia up 3-1. Columbia's Dragos Ignat, Mike Vermeer, and Bert Vancura would each take the 2nd sets after dropping the first and in a race to the finish line it'd be Vancura that would provide the clincher with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win at #6.

The Madness Has BEGUN!!

The 1st round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament is in the books and while there were plenty of 4-0 blowouts (20) there were several nail-biters with 5 matches finishing with a 4-3 score and 2 of those 5 finishing in a 3rd set tiebreak.  The weather played a big role on Day 1 with several regionals experiencing delays and some having to move indoors.

Quick Summary:

• #1 seeds went 16-0 versus #4 seeds with 15 of 16 being a 4-0 final.  Va Tech/ETSU 4-1 was the exception.
• #2 seeds were 13-3 versus #3 seeds 
• Drake, Pepperdine, and San Diego State were the #3 seeds to crash the party. 
• 20 matches finished with a 4-0 final
• 4 matches finished with a 4-1 final
• 3 matches finished with a 4-2 final
• 5 matches finished with a 4-3 finals (2 were 7-6 in 3rd)  
• Teams winning the doubles point went 24-7
• San Diego State, Pepperdine, Stanford, Minnesota, Columbia, Northwestern, and Drake were the 7 teams to lose the doubles point but yet win the match.  
• Regionals delayed by weather: USC, UCLA, Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M, Illinois, Oklahoma

2nd Round Preview

I'm obviously making the assumption that my first round picks will be correct so based off those picks this is how I have the 2nd round playing out.  The doubles records and stats are as of Thursday so if the guys win or lose a match on Friday the numbers would change.

Oklahoma  Regional

Headington Family Tennis Center - Norman, OK

[1] Oklahoma (25-2) vs. [17-32] Northwestern (21-9) - 2pm est - This will be the second time this season that these two have met with Oklahoma winning 4-1 during the Kickoff Weekend in a match that was surprisingly close.  

Full Bracket Predictions

I've gone through and done my predictions on all the 1st round matches and now I'll put down how I see it going the rest of the way as of this moment.

1st/2nd Rounds

Norman Regional
[1] Oklahoma def. [49-64] New Mexico State 4-0 (OU won 4-0)
[17-32] Northwestern def. [33-48] Harvard 4-2 (NW won 4-3)
[1] Oklahoma def. [17-32] Northwestern 4-0 (Oklahoma won 4-1)

NCAA 1st Round Previews: Virginia Tech & Baylor Regionals

Virginia Tech Regional
Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center - Blacksburg, VA

[15] Virginia Tech (19-4) vs. [49-64] East Tennessee State (17-7) - Friday 2pm - #15 Virginia Tech got an at-large bid after getting upset 4-3 in the ACC quarterfinals by #42 Georgia Tech while ETSU punched its ticket for the 9th year in a row after shutting out Furman in the Southern Conference Championship. ETSU went 2-6 against ranked opponents with the wins over #56 Texas A&M Corpus Christi and #73 UNC Wilmington. ETSU finished the season by winning 13 in a row and 16 of its last 17 with the Bucs only yielding 11 points in the 16 wins. 

Doubles Records: Virginia Tech 13-10, ETSU 17-7

UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Virginia Tech 83, ETSU 79

NCAA 1st Round Previews: USC & Duke Regionals

USC Regional
Marks Stadium - Los Angeles, CA

[7] USC (22-4) vs. [49-64] Idaho (16-11) - Friday 4pm - The Vandals are in the NCAAs for the 2nd year in a row after beating Northern Arizona 4-2 in the Big Sky Championship. #8 USC got the Pac 12's automatic bid after beating #23 Stanford 4-3 in the Pac 12 Championship.

Doubles Records: USC 15-11, Idaho 15-12

UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: USC 86, Idaho 71

NCAA 1st Round Previews: Ohio State & Texas A&M Regionals

Ohio State Regional
OSU Varsity Tennis Center - Columbus, OH

[11] Ohio State (25-8) vs. [49-64] Buffalo (12-10) - Friday 1pm - #11 Ohio State got an at-large bid after losing to Illinois 4-0 in the Big 10 Championship Finals while Buffalo earned its first ever NCAA bid after beating Binghamton 4-2 in the MAC Championship. Buffalo went 0-4 on the year against ranked opponents. 

Doubles Records: Ohio State 26-7, Buffalo 11-11

UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Ohio State 84, Buffalo 74

NCAA 1st Round Previews: Virginia & Ole Miss Regionals

Virginia Regional
Snyder Tennis Center - Charlottesville, VA

[3] Virginia (23-3) vs. [49-64] St. John's (15-8) - Friday  1pm - #3 Virginia received the ACC's automatic bid after beating #12 Wake Forest 4-2 in the ACC Championship while St. John's got the Big East's automatic bid after defeating Marquette 4-2 in the Big East Championship. St. John's finished the year on a 6-match winning streak and won 11 of its final 12.  The Red Storm went 0-6 against ranked teams on the year.

Doubles Records: Virginia 23-3, St. John's 11-11

UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Virginia 87, St. John's 78

NCAA 1st Round Previews: North Carolina & Illinois Regionals

North Carolina Regional
Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center - Chapel Hill, NC

[13] North Carolina (21-10) vs. [49-64] William & Mary (16-12) - Friday 1pm - William & Mary got the automatic bid by beating the College of Charleston 4-1 in the Colonial Championship while North Carolina got an at-large bid after falling to #3 Virginia 4-0 in the ACC semifinals. William & Mary went 0-7 against ranked opponents with the closest loss being 4-3 to Old Dominion.

The UTR Power 6 is the combined UTRs of the starting 6 (rounded to a whole #).  An individual win/loss to anyone with a UTR difference of 1.0 or greater would be considered an upset.   

Doubles Records: UNC 22-9, W&M 20-8

UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: UNC 84, W&M 75

NCAA 1st Round Previews: TCU & Wake Forest Regionals

TCU Regional
Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center - Fort Worth, TX

[5] TCU (21-7) vs. [49-64] Marist (15-7) - Friday 6pm - #6 TCU got in as an at-large after falling to #2 Baylor 4-3 in the Big 12 Semifinals while Marist is back in the NCAAs for the 3rd year in a row after beating Monmouth 4-2 in the MAAC Championship. 

Doubles Records: TCU 14-11, Marist 13-6

UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: TCU 84, Marist 71

NCAA 1st Round Previews: Texas & Georgia Regionals

Texas Regional
Caswell Tennis Center - Austin, TX 

[9] Texas (19-6) vs. [49-64] Navy (20-10) - Friday 2pm - Navy got the automatic bid with a 4-1 win over Army in the Patriot League Championship while Texas got an at-large after losing a 4-3 nail-biter to #1 Oklahoma in the Big 12 semifinals. Navy faced 4 ranked opponents during the regular season going 0-4 (Fresno St 0-5, San Francisco 2-5, UNC Wilmington 0-7, Old Dominion 1-6)

Doubles Records:  Texas 11-13, Navy 18-12

UTR Starting 6 Power Rating:  Texas 84, Navy 72

NCAA 1st Round Previews: Oklahoma & UCLA Regionals

NCAA Interactive Bracket & Printable Bracket - all times EST.

Oklahoma Regional

Headington Family Tennis Center - Norman, OK

[1] Oklahoma (24-2) vs. [49-64] New Mexico State (11-13) - Friday 5pm - Not a whole lot of analysis needed for this one with the #1 team in the country playing the WAC champs who come in with a losing record.  This will be Oklahoma's 27th match this year but only the 2nd against an unranked opponent - Purdue was the other.

NCAA Singles & Doubles Selections

Here is who was chosen for NCAA Singles Tournament along with what their current ITA ranking and current Universal Tennis ranking.

The Atlantic 10, Big South, and Colonial lost its automatic bid due to not having any players ranked inside the top 125 while the Sunbelt gained a spot with South Alabama's Daniel Leitner ranked inside the top 100.  

There is also a list below of alternates below - last year 4 alternates made it into the field due to withdraws.  1 of the automatic qualifiers, North Florida's Jack Findel-Hawkins, hasn't played since March 13th so if he can't go that would open up a spot for Florida Gulf Coast's Jordi Vives if he stays inside the top 125 - he was 123 last week.

It looks like the cut-off to make the field as an at-large was an ITA ranking of #58

The guys with the highest UTR to miss out are Virginia's Collin Altamirano #7, Illinois's Aleks Vukic #24, USC's Eric Johnson #25, Texas A&M's Arthur Rinderknech #28, UCLA's Martin Redlicki #30, Texas A&M's AJ Catanzariti #32, Oklahoma's Alex Ghilea #33, Illinois's Tim Kopinski #40, Ole Miss's Stefan Lindmark #41, and Old Dominion's Carlos Lopez Villa #43, Illinois's Aron Hiltzik #47, and Virginia Tech's Amerigo Contini #48. 

What's Coming Up & Interesting NCAA Facts & Notes

Between now and the start of the 1st round on May 8th I'll preview 2 regionals per day. I'll start off with the Oklahoma and UCLA regionals and finish with the Virginia Tech and Baylor regionals.  I'll list the projected starting lineups with current player rankings and current Universal Tennis Rankings and I'll also make my predictions on each.

Some interesting facts and stats:

The doubles point plays a large roll between winning and losing and it seems to mean that much more when tournament time rolls around.  It's interesting to see a pair of top 20 teams in the bottom 4 in winning percentage. 

NCAA Tournament Men's Field

Master Lineups (pre-challenge)

All Times Eastern:

Norman Regional
[1] Oklahoma* vs. [49-64] New Mexico State - Friday 5pm
[17-32] Northwestern vs. [33-48] Harvard - Friday 2pm

UCLA Regional
[17-32] Texas Tech vs. [33-48] UC Santa Barbara - Friday 1pm
[49-64] FGCU vs. [16] UCLA* - Friday 4pm

Austin Regional
[9] Texas* vs. [49-64] Navy - Friday 2pm
[17-32] California vs. [33-48] Texas A&M Corpus Christi - Friday 11am

Athens Regional
[17-32] Florida State vs. [33-48] Troy - Friday 11am
[49-64] Winthrop vs. [8] Georgia* - Friday 2pm

NCAA Tournament Women's Field

Master Lineups (pre-challenge)

USC Regional
[1] USC* vs. [49-64] Youngstown State
[17-32] Virginia Tech vs. [33-48] Long Beach State

Lubbock Regional
[17-32] LSU vs. [33-48] New Mexico
[49-64] New Mexico State vs. [16] Texas Tech*

Charlotteville Regional
[9] Virginia* vs. [49-64] VCU
[17-32] South Carolina vs. [33-48] Princeton

Waco Regional
[17-32] Rice vs. [33-48] Tulsa
[49-64] Northwestern State vs. [8] Baylor*