One of the more unknown phenomenons takes place this coming Thursday and 95% of even the biggest college tennis fans probably has never heard of it – it’s the ITA National Team Indoor Kickoff Weekend Draft. The draft gets started Thursday morning at 11am eastern and lasts until 2pm.
Below are the full procedures and policies but in a nutshell you have the top 15 teams from the final ITA rankings set up as regional hosts. Since Virginia is the host of next year’s National Team Indoors they get a bye and thus the #16 team (South Florida) will be able to host a regional.
All the teams ranked from #17 through #62 has the opportunity to participate and the way it works is #17 is up first and they get to choose which of the 15 regional sites they’d like to play at. After they make their selection then #18 gets to choose and so forth.
If a team doesn’t want to participate they can opt-out and usually a few do pass largely because the only remaining options by the time their turn comes up are to go across the country to play a highly ranked team that they know they have no chance to beat. It’s one thing to make an inexpensive bus ride to play #1 but its another to make a cross-country flight and then have to pay for ground transportation on top of that to face a quick 4-0 thrashing that takes less than 2 hours (or 1 1/2 hours if no-ad is used). If a team passes then #63 would get a chance and so-forth. Last year there were 2 teams that passed – Dartmouth and Cornell.
Here are the 15 regional hosts and even though it’s an INDOOR tournament many of the regionals will be played outdoors.
1. Oklahoma
2. Baylor (outdoors)
3. TCU (outdoors)
4. Texas A&M (outdoors)
5. Illinois
6. USC (outdoors)
7. Georgia
8. Texas
9. Duke
10. North Carolina
11. Ohio State
12. Wake Forest
13. Columbia
14. UCLA (outdoors)
15. South Florida (outdoors)
#17 Ole Miss will have the first choice so what they have to do is look at each of the hosts and make its decision based off these factors:
- What will the hosts rosters look like next season (who is coming back/who is departing)?
- 4 teams lose 4 singles starters (TCU, USC, Texas, Duke)
- 3 teams lose 3 singles starters (Baylor, Illinois, Columbia)
- Its strengths/weaknesses versus others hosts – i.e if we have a strong 1 and 2 can we find a team that doesn’t have as strong a 1 and 2 so we can at least count on those 2 courts and like wise if we have a weak bottom 2 can we find a team that also has a weaker bottom 2.
- Indoor or outdoor – if we don’t like indoor tennis then we pick an outdoor site and vice-versa.
- Travel expenses – probably not an issue for the Power 5 schools but something that an Ivy or mid-major would look at.
Ole Miss probably prefers an outdoors destination but they most likely wouldn’t want to play Baylor, Texas A&M, USC, UCLA or South Florida so that only leaves TCU. Even though TCU has to replace 4 starters it should have a high-end 1-2 combo in Guillermo Nunez and Cameron Norrie so it’s likely that TCU wins both those courts. So Ole Miss might have to scrap the outdoor strategy and look at the indoor sites with the teams that have the most rebuilding to do which would be Texas and Duke. Duke returns Nicolas Alvarez at #1 but has to replace 2 through 5 though they have a strong recruiting class coming in. Texas only returns its #4 and #5 though they have a nice recruiting class coming in too. Columbia only has 3 starters coming back but Ole Miss probably doesn’t want to see them anytime soon after the Lions ended their season a few weeks ago. If I were Ole Miss I’d probably go to Austin to potentially play Texas in the 2nd round. If they pass on Texas then I think they’d pick Duke. We’ll find out on Thursday.
Virginia Tech would be up next and you’d think they would definitely prefer to play indoors so Columbia or Duke would be likely choices.
Here is the order from #17 down and my best guess at where they’ll go:
# | School | Possible Choice |
17 | Ole Miss | #9 Texas |
18 | Virginia Tech | #14 Columbia |
19 | Texas Tech | #4 TCU |
20 | Stanford | #16 South Florida |
21 | Minnesota | #10 Duke |
22 | San Diego | #5 Texas A&M |
23 | Mississippi State | #15 UCLA |
24 | Vanderbilt | #10 Duke |
25 | Florida | #4 TCU |
26 | California | #3 Baylor |
27 | Northwestern | #9 Texas |
28 | Tulsa | #14 Columbia |
29 | Oklahoma State | #6 Illinois |
30 | LSU | #4 TCU |
31 | Florida State | #5 Texas A&M |
32 | Drake | #6 Illinois |
33 | Louisville | #12 Ohio State |
34 | Harvard | #14 Columbia |
35 | Princeton | #13 Wake Forest |
36 | Pepperdine | #15 UCLA |
37 | Notre Dame | #11 North Carolina |
38 | San Diego State | #7 USC |
39 | North Carolina State | #13 Wake Forest |
40 | New Mexico | #2 Oklahoma |
41 | Tulane | #3 Baylor |
42 | Dartmouth | #12 Ohio State |
43 | Tennessee | #10 Duke |
44 | Georgia Tech | #8 Georgia |
45 | Memphis | #9 Texas |
46 | Indiana | #8 Georgia |
47 | SMU | #2 Oklahoma |
48 | Cornell | #11 North Carolina |
49 | Oregon | #6 Illinois |
50 | South Carolina | #16 South Florida |
51 | San Francisco | #7 USC |
52 | Cal Poly | #15 UCLA |
53 | Denver | #2 Oklahoma |
54 | UC Santa Barbara | #7 USC |
55 | Penn State | #11 North Carolina |
56 | Texas A&M-Corpus Christi | #5 Texas A&M |
57 | Old Dominion | #13 Wake Forest |
58 | UC Davis | pass |
59 | Boise State | #8 Georgia |
60 | Rice | #3 Baylor |
61 | Auburn | #16 South Florida |
62 | Texas at San Antonio | #2 Oklahoma |
63 | Troy | #12 Ohio State |
1. Oklahoma | 1. Baylor | 1. TCU |
2. New Mexico | 2. California | 2. Texas Tech |
3. SMU | 3. Tulane | 3. Florida |
4. UT San Antonio | 4. Rice | 4. LSU |
1. Texas A&M | 1. Illinois | 1. USC |
2. San Diego | 2. Oklahoma St | 2. San Diego St |
3. Florida State | 3. Drake | 3. San Francisco |
4. Texas A&M CC | 4. Oregon | 4. UCSB |
1. Georgia | 1. Texas | 1. Duke |
2. Georgia Tech | 2. Ole Miss | 2. Minnesota |
3. Indiana | 3. Northwestern | 3. Vanderbilt |
4. Boise State | 4. Memphis | 4. Tennessee |
1. North Carolina | 1. Ohio State | 1. Wake Forest |
2. Notre Dame | 2. Louisville | 2. Princeton |
3. Cornell | 3. Dartmouth | 3. NC State |
4. Penn State | 4. Troy | 4. Old Dominion |
1. Columbia | 1. UCLA | 1. South Florida |
2. Virginia Tech | 2. Mississippi St | 2. Stanford |
3. Tulsa | 3. Pepperdine | 3. South Carolina |
4. Harvard | 4. Cal Poly | 4. Auburn |
It’d be cool if the ITA put together a Draft Broadcast and hyped the event and had the coaches available to talk on FaceTime/Skype after making the pick to find out why they selected who they did. Since there is a 10 minute window for each coach to make its selection they could also spend the other time talking about the team and what’s coming up. I’d watch it and I’m sure there are some others that would watch as well.
Below is how last year’s draft went:
Below is where the results from this year’s draft will go:
Participating Teams (60)
- The top 3 teams per region (36 teams) according to the final ITA Division I national team rankings (if ranked in Top 75).
- Remaining 24 teams in order based on the final ITA national rankings.
- Participation is not mandatory.
- Information/Entry forms will be sent by e-mail to the Top 75 schools in the final year-end
rankings. The Information/Entry form must be submitted to the ITA by May 22. The form requests 5 phone numbers for the school’s coaching staff and administration that will be used to make contact with each institution during the draft. It is not a commitment to play. - ITA National Team Indoor Championship host schools receive automatic invitation to final 16. (Women: University of Wisconsin; Men: University of Virginia)
Procedures
- 15 host teams are displayed on ITA website. A link to each site’s schedule of play and whether it is an indoor or outdoor site will also be displayed. The web page will be instantly updated each time a school selects a site. Teams will be expected to follow the draft’s progress on the website prior to their call time.
- The ITA will call out to each school, in rank order, at predetermined times. The order and call out times will be sent out on June 1st. If the ITA cannot reach anyone at the 5 phone numbers (or total number of those) provided the call administrator will REMOVE THE TEAM FROM THE DRAFT. Coaches will have a maximum of 10 minutes to select what site they would like to play at.
- Highest ranked team not a host/on the board selects which of the 15 sites they want to go to. When called they will choose where they want to play, then the next highest team is called and chooses, and so on.
- A team is allowed to choose wherever it wants to go until a site is filled with 4 teams. The only exception, in order to maintain the integrity of the final 16 draw, will be if a top 8 seeded team(s) select(s) not to host and is/are first in the draft order they cannot choose a site that has a top 7 seed in it, it must select sites with the No. 8-15 seeds.
- The draft will be complete when all 60 places in the draw are occupied.
- Pairings will be determined as the draft progresses. For example: If No. 1 Georgia is a host and the three teams that choose to go there are No. 20 NC State, No. 25 Michigan and No. 41 Wisconsin, the first round match-ups would be: No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 4 Wisconsin and No. 2
NC State vs. No. 3 Michigan. - A team can decide not to participate during the draft. For example a coach can elect not to
participate based on the sites/matches available at his/her team’s time in the Draft. - A list of alternate teams will be notified that while they are not in the original 60 selected for the draft, invitations could be sent to them if teams elect to “pass during their draft turn. A ranking list to No. 125 will be used (in order) for this. If it is necessary to go beyond No. 125, invitations will be sent based on the geography of the remaining sites and selected
by committee. - Teams are responsible for all travel costs to the 15 opening round sites.
- All participating teams (including host sites) must pay a $100 entry fee to the ITA.
- If a team participates in the draft, then later elects to withdraw from the event it will receive
2 unranked losses in the ITA Rankings for the duration of the season as penalty. An alternate will be selected in order of final national ranking (using the same method as in No. 8). If this team is a host site, the invitations to host will be extended to the next highest seed at that site. The seeding match-ups will also be changed at that site.
- Top 15 teams according to the final ITA national rankings;
- Hosting is not mandatory. If a team declines the opportunity to host, it may still participate and the next highest ranked site will be invited to host.
Host Site Requirements
- Host Sites (HS) will be required to distinguish themselves as indoor or outdoor sites prior to the draft, i.e. matches at a site that submits itself as an indoor site prior to the draft will be played indoors regardless of the weather during that event. An outdoor site may play indoors in case of inclement weather per ITA Rule II.B.13.
- HS will turn in proposed schedule of play (included practice court schedule) by May 22 for Operating Committee review. Once the schedule has been approved, the dates of play may not be changed. The times may only be changed if agreed upon by all 4 participating coaches and the head referee.
- HS agrees to chair every match in all 4 team dual matches.
- HS is responsible with all costs associated with hosting the 4 matches (balls, trainers, officials, promotions, etc.).
- Sites that do not have indoor backup are required to have access to 12 outdoor courts in the event of inclement weather.
- HS is required to designate a hotel(s) within 15 miles of site where matches are played.
- For dual gender sites that require play to start on Friday, January 22, the women will play first in 2016 (on a rotational basis that will mirror the rotation for the round of 16 at NCAA tournament the same year)
- Practice courts will be made available at the event site for all participating teams the day prior to the event for a minimum of 3 courts for 90 minutes per team. At dual gender sites, the HS can request permission for warm-up courts for all teams playing on day 2 to be at an alternate site with a similar surface.
- All participating teams (including host sites) must pay a $100 entry fee to the ITA.
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