Every year during the draft there are always a few surprises and this year it was everybody jumping on the Columbia regional. The other surprise was #49 Oregon, #51 San Francisco, and #62 UTSA being #2 seeds. Usually the #2 seeds are top 30 teams but this year it didn’t work out that way. Many of the higher ranked teams decided to be a #3 or #4 seed in what they considered to be a more winnable regional
3 of the first 5 picks picked Columbia with Virginia Tech, Stanford, and Minnesota all jumping at the chance to head to the NYC to face a Columbia team that will be doing some rebuilding though not as much as others. Virginia Tech wasn’t a surprise though I was surprised that Stanford chose to play indoors instead of going outdoors. Minnesota choosing to be a #4 seed was strange when they could have been #2 anywhere else; it was also strange because Minnesota has to replace 3 starters including its #1 Leandro Toledo. I would have thought a better pick would have been to go somewhere where you get at least a guaranteed win and then have a chance of winning against the host. The rosters won’t be set for a few months but I think Columbia still has more in the bullpen than Minnesota. I’d consider Stanford the favorite in this regional based off who they have coming back and who they having coming in.
I’d say at the moment Texas Tech and Florida, which are the #3 and #4 seeds in Austin, have the inside track to meeting in the regional finals. Texas loses everyone except George Goldhoff and Nick Naumann while Ole Miss loses its #1 Nik Scholtz and #4 William Kallberg and depth was an issue for the Rebels last year.
The Duke regional is wide open with all 4 teams capable of winning it. San Diego is probably a slight favorite at the moment with 5 of 6 starters coming back while Vanderbilt has to replace its #1 Gonzales Austin and #5 Suresh Eswaran. I think Danny Valent will be ready to play #1 for the Dores after a tremendous freshman year at #3/#4 and I’d expect at least 2 of the incoming freshman to fill in nicely at the 4 through 6 spots with Cameron Klinger and Dan Stefan both highly touted blue chippers. Duke and Cal is a matchup that you’d normally see in the National Indoors Round of 16 but we get it in the 1st round this time. Duke replaces 4 starters though Nicolas Alvarez will be back while Cal has 5 of its 6 starters coming back with just Greg Bayane departing. Cal will likely be the favorite in this one unless Duke’s incoming freshman really light it up in the fall.
TCU also replaces 4 starters but it seems like the 2 starters coming back (Guillermo Nunez/Cameron Norrie) must have scared some teams off – that or the threat of a large TCU crowd making it difficult to focus. The TCU regional did fill up the 4th quickest but I thought some teams in the first 10 picks might choose to go there and see if they could test TCU’s new talent. Even though TCU’s roster isn’t set I don’t see them losing to San Diego State and either Oklahoma State or Harvard – not as long as Nunez and Norrie are playing up top.
South Florida will be joined by an instate ACC team and a pair from the SEC though I still like The American’s (AAC) finest to win this regional.
Texas A&M’s fans better fill up the seats at the Mitchell Tennis Center because I wouldn’t count on too many making the trip from Fresno, Boise, and San Francisco.
Nobody wanted to go to Norman to play Oklahoma with the 3 other teams being #62 UTSA, #63 Troy, and #68 Utah State.
Baylor was the 3rd to last regional to fill up with #49 Oregon, #57 Old Dominion, and #67 UC Irvine picking Waco.
Illinois will have its hands full against Notre Dame in the 1 vs. 4 matchup in Champaign. Notre Dame returns 5 of 6 starters while Illinois has to replace Gosea, Kopinski, and Guignon. Northwestern and Tulsa are also strong #2 and #3 seeds too.
USC’s revamped lineup will be on display with the Trojans replacing Hanfmann, Quiroz, Johnson, and Wang but I don’t see USC getting tripped up. Pepperdine and Tulane should be a very good 2 vs. 3 match.
Georgia welcomes in UC Santa Barbara, Memphis, and Louisville. The Memphis/Louisville match should be good and then whoever loses that match should get a stiff test from UCSB. I don’t see Georgia losing a point.
I like North Carolina in its regional with the Tar Heels returning its top 5 while both Drake and NC State have some big holes to replace with Drake losing Salibasic, Frost, Patel, and Mullis while the Pack loses Mudge, Bond, and Powell. Indiana returns 5 of its top 6 with Sven Lalic the only one departing.
Ohio State will be favored in its regional despite losing Callahan and Metka because South Carolina has to replace its top 3 (Adams, Koch, Pinheiro) and Wichita State has to replace 3 of its top 4 (Cuic, Gregurovic, G. de Vilchez). Denver returns all 6 starters but still has to be considered a fairly longshot. South Carolina could be a potential darkhorse if Gabriel Friedrich can play at #1 and recent transferee Alex Fennell can play at #3 or #4.
Wake Forest should take care of business in its regional with Tennessee the likely final round opponent. The Vols have to replace both Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese and I have yet to see any names floating around that can come in and take over those top 2 spots.
UCLA should be fine in its regional too though I’d expect Georgia Tech will be its toughest competition.
What does everyone else think about the draft – what stands out and which regionals would you want to see?
looks like 2 big signings for Ole Miss Men:<br />http://www.wtva.com/content/news/sports/story/Ole-Miss-mens-tennis-inks-top-Croatian-junior/dPkxvbBPHEu98ux3gYCI-w.cspx Croatian and a German http://www.tennisrecruiting.net/player.asp?id=808834