Several schools are all but guaranteed to make the NCAA tournament but there are several others that need to kick it in gear down the stretch if they want to hear their name called on selection Tuesday.
There are FIVE top-25 matchups on Friday with two of them in the SEC, two in the Big 12, and the other involving a Big 12 school and a AAC school.
The host of this year’s NCAA Championships, No. 18 Tulsa, is trying its best to move into the top 16 which would all but guarantee it an opportunity to host a NCAA regional. Tulsa goes to Lubbock today to face No. 11 Texas Tech in an early afternoon match. Tulsa has more top 20 wins than Texas Tech (3 vs. 2) but the reason they’re ranked seven spots lower is due to the number of losses (9 vs. 3). Texas Tech is 10-0 at home but they haven’t faced a top 50 team while Tulsa is 1-5 in true road matches (excludes neutral site) though all five of the losses came to top 25 teams. I’m going to say that whoever wins the doubles point takes the match because I see the singles matches pretty evenly split – TT 4-3.
The SEC regular season title may be decided tonight in Athens when No. 7 Georgia hosts No. 14 Florida. Georgia is undefeated in conference play while Florida has just the one loss to Texas A&M with everyone else in the conference having at least three losses. Florida played well on Wednesday against Virginia and had its chances on several courts so I don’t expect them to be intimidated by Georgia. Florida freshman Alfredo Perez is going to play at No. 2 for the first time and he’ll meet a slumping Wayne Montgomery who has dropped five of his last eight matches. I think Florida needs to take the doubles point and win at least two of top three spots to have a chance because I expect Georgia to win at two of the bottom three spots and possibly sweep all three. Georgia hasn’t lost an SEC match at home since 3/30/12 (UK) and even though Florida is playing good I don’t think Georgia loses this match – UGA 4-3.
The other high profile match in the SEC will take place indoors (most likely) in Lexington as No. 20 Kentucky hosts No. 10 Texas A&M. Kentucky gave Ohio State all it wanted on Wednesday but came up just short while Texas A&M is coming off a weekend where it lost to Georgia but won a hard fought match against South Carolina. I like Texas A&M in doubles but I think Kentucky takes three of top four singles matches which means the last two matches to go on court (4 indoor courts) will decide it. Harrison Adams is scheduled to play at No. 5 but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jackson Withrow move up to No. 5 with Max Lunkin at No. 6. I’ll take both Withrow and Lunkin to win the final two matches to give A&M the 4-3 win.
The big match in the Big 12 is a rematch from last year’s NCAA semifinals as No. 2 TCU hosts No. 9 Oklahoma. TCU is riding a 13-match winning streak while OU has won its last four. OU is playing its best tennis of the season right now with Spencer Papa having won four of his last five and Andre Biro having won five straight and seven of eight. TCU also has several guys that are streaking with both Cameron Norrie and Trevor Johnson riding six-match winning streaks while Jerry Lopez has won eight of his last nine. Oklahoma has won the last nine matches in the series with TCU last striking pay dirt back in 2008. I think the streak comes to an end tonight but it won’t be easy – TCU wins a 4-3 thriller with Lopez getting the clincher.
Creighton at #63 Iowa – 12pm ET/11am CT – Live Scoring/Video
#40 Virginia Tech at Clemson – 2pm ET – Live Scoring
#39 LSU at Tennessee – 2pm ET – Live Scoring/Blog
#18 Tulsa at #11 Texas Tech – 2:30pm ET/1:30pm CT – Live Scoring
#41 NC State at #75 Miami FL – 2:30pm ET – Live Scoring
Oral Roberts at #49 Denver – 3pm ET/1pm MT – Live Scoring
#4 UCLA at Arizona – 3:30pm ET/1:30pm MT – Live Scoring
Gonzaga at #58 Loyola Marymount – 4pm ET/1pm PT – Live Scoring/Video
#73 Cal Poly at UC Riverside – 4pm ET/1pm PT – CP Twitter
#29 San Diego at San Francisco – 4pm ET/1pm PT – USF Twitter
#10 Texas A&M at #20 Kentucky – 5pm ET – Live Scoring
#13 Northwestern at Nebraska – 5pm ET/4pm CT – Live Scoring
#3 Virginia at #31 Georgia Tech – 5pm ET – Live Scoring/Video $
Louisville at #23 Florida State – 5pm ET – Live Scoring
#14 Florida at #7 Georgia – 5pm ET – Live Scoring/Video/Blog
#59 Auburn at #62 South Carolina – 5pm ET – Live Scoring
#16 Arkansas at #43 Vanderbilt – 6pm ET/5pm CT – Live Scoring
#8 USC at #72 Utah – 6pm ET/4pm MT – Live Scoring
#33 Penn State #57 Purdue – 6pm ET – Live Scoring/BTN2Go $
#5 Ohio State at Indiana – 6pm ET – Live Scoring
#9 Oklahoma at #2 TCU – 6:30pm ET/5:30pm CT – Live Scoring
#30 Washington at #19 Cal – 6:30pm ET/3:30pm PT – Video & Cal Twitter
#36 Oregon at #42 Stanford – 6:30pm ET/3:30pm PT – Live Scoring/Video/Broadcast
#1 North Carolina at #55 Notre Dame – 7pm ET – Live Scoring & Video
#12 Oklahoma State at #17 Texas – 7pm ET/6pm CT – Live Scoring
#21 Michigan at Minnesota – 7pm ET/6pm CT – Live Scoring/Video
Michigan State at #44 Wisconsin – 7pm ET/6pm CT – Live Scoring
#15 Illinois at #63 Iowa – 7pm ET/6pm CT – Live Scoring/Video
Fresno State at #64 Boise State – 8pm ET/6pm MT – Live Scoring
Saturday, April 9
Arkansas Pine-Bluff at #45 Baylor – 11am ET/10am CT – Live Scoring/Video/Blog
#28 Rice at #68 Lamar – 12pm ET/11am CT – Rice Twitter
#69 UNC Wilmington at VCU – 12pm ET – Live Scoring
Wichita State at #46 Drake – 1pm ET/12pm CT – Live Scoring
#74 Middle Tennessee State at UTSA – 1pm ET/12pm CT – UTSA Twitter
#26 Columbia at Yale – 1pm ET – Live Scoring/Video
#37 Princeton at #38 Dartmouth – 1pm ET – Dartmouth Twitter
Penn at #50 Harvard – 1pm ET – Harvard Twitter & Video $
#54 Cornell at Brown – 1pm ET – Cornell Twitter
Chattanooga at #52 East Tennessee State – 1:30pm ET – ETSU Twitter
#70 William & Mary at #48 Old Dominion – 2pm ET – ODU Twitter
Arkansas Pine-Bluff at #45 Baylor – 2pm ET/1pm CT – Live Scoring/Video/Blog
Gonzaga at #53 Pepperdine – 2pm ET/11am PT – Live Scoring
Portland at #58 Loyola Marymount – 3pm ET/12pm PT – Live Scoring/Video
#60 Duke at #6 Wake Forest – 3pm ET – Live Scoring/Video/Blog
#73 Cal Poly at UC Irvine – 4pm ET/1pm PT – UCI Twitter/CP Twitter
#65 BYU at San Francisco – 4pm ET/1pm PT – USF Twitter
#36 Oregon at #19 Cal – 4pm ET/1pm PT – Video & Cal Twitter
#30 Washington at #42 Stanford – 6:30pm ET/3:30pm PT – Live Scoring/Video/Broadcast
Sunday, April 10
#3 Virginia at Clemson – 11am ET – Live Scoring
#33 Penn State at Indiana – 11am ET – Live Scoring
#40 Virginia Tech at #31 Georgia Tech – 12pm ET – Live Scoring/Video $
Louisville at #75 Miami FL – 12pm ET – Live Scoring/ESPN3
#41 NC State at #23 Florida State – 12pm ET – Live Scoring
#10 Texas A&M at Tennessee – 12pm ET – Live Scoring/Blog (TBD)
#39 LSU at #20 Kentucky – 12pm ET – Live Scoring
#14 Florida at #62 South Carolina – 12pm ET – Live Scoring
#5 Ohio State at #57 Purdue – 12pm ET – Live Scoring
#13 Northwestern at #63 Iowa – 12pm ET/11am CT – Live Scoring/Video
#15 Illinois at Nebraska – 1pm ET/12pm CT – Live Scoring
Michigan State at Minnesota – 1pm ET/12pm CT – Live Scoring/Video
#21 Michigan at #44 Wisconsin – 1pm ET/12pm CT – Live Scoring
#1 North Carolina at Boston College – 1pm ET – UNC Twitter
#59 Auburn at #7 Georgia – 1pm ET – Live Scoring/Video/Blog
#25 SMU at #28 Rice – 1pm ET/12pm CT – Live Scoring/Video
Air Force at San Diego State – 1pm ET/10am PT – AFA Twitter
#54 Cornell at Yale – 1pm ET – Live Scoring/Video
#37 Princeton at #50 Harvard – 1pm ET – Harvard Twitter & Video $
Penn at #38 Dartmouth – 1pm ET – Dartmouth Twitter
#26 Columbia at Brown – 1pm ET – Columbia Twitter
Furman at Elon – 1pm ET – Live Scoring
Mercer at #52 East Tennessee State – 1:30pm ET – ETSU Twitter
#18 Tulsa at New Mexico – 2pm ET/12pm MT – Lobo Twitter
#35 Ole Miss at #43 Vanderbilt – 2pm ET/1pm CT – Live Scoring
#32 Alabama at #24 Mississippi State – 2pm ET/1pm CT – Live Scoring
#4 UCLA at #72 Utah – 2pm ET/12pm MT – Live Scoring
#8 USC at Arizona – 2pm ET/12pm MT – Live Scoring
#69 UNC Wilmington at #48 Old Dominion – 2pm ET – UNCW Twitter/ODU Twitter
#12 Oklahoma State at #2 TCU – 2:30pm ET/1:30pm CT – Live Scoring
#9 Oklahoma at #17 Texas – 2pm ET/1pm CT – Live Scoring (TBD)
#47 UC Santa Barbara at UC Riverside – 3pm ET/12pm PT – UCSB Twitter
Portland at #53 Pepperdine – 3pm ET/12pm PT – Live Scoring
#22 South Florida at #27 Tulane – 3pm ET/2pm CT – Tulane Twitter
Nevada at #64 Boise State – 4pm ET/2pm MT – Live Scoring
Butler at Indiana – 5pm ET – Live Scoring
South Carolina State at #62 South Carolina – 5pm ET – Live Scoring
Bethune-Cookman at #23 Florida State – 5pm ET – Live Scoring
Presbyterian at Clemson – 5pm ET – Live Scoring
How did that Indiana over osu prediction work out?
UNC is solid. The ITA coring system is schizophrenic. Tight matches are all coin flips.
I think bipolar implies that sometimes they play manic other times they play flat.
Bipolar team? What does that even mean? Every UNC Tar Heel has bipolar syndrome? That's not likely.
I think Oklahoma is a team nobody much wants a piece of when NCAAs come around. Whoever draws them will have the toughest round of 16 because their seed won't be very high.<br /><br />They appear to be getting closer to putting that talent together after a hugely disappointing early season. They lost but Harris gave Rybakov a match and he can't be match tough or in match shape.
Bipolar is a better choice of words. Schizophrenic implies they have audio or visual hallucinations. And while they very well may after tonight, I doubt that is their norm.
This is why UNC is not championship quality. Losses to FSU and ND? I would not be shocked if they lost in the sweet 16
Wow, UNC is a schizophrenic team.
In college tennis, it is rare for a #51 to beat #1. Indeed, I'm not sure it has ever happened. Well it just happened moments ago in South Bend.
He lost tonight and TCU wins 4-3 but I suspect Harris will be fine when tourney time comes around.
Harris will be just fine. Guru has spoken
Looks like they will probably need him. Alvarez manhandled Norrie but I can't imagine Harris is in shape to beat Rybakov in 3.
Seems like it's making a big difference tonight.
Andrew Harris is playing singles for Oklahoma. I am curious if that is the shot in the arm they need. TCU won the doubles point but this should make OU stronger down the roster.
Just have that feeling
Wait, so you seriously have Indiana beating Ohio State? I'd be surprised if they got a point against them.
They have a shot but it's probably a longer shot – I think Purdue would need doubles and the top 3 singles spots. Penn State should sweep them down low and probably wins at at least 1 up top. Penn St probably wins 5-2 or so.
Hey. Purdue tennis student club player fan here. Can you allow me see your thoughts if Purdue can beat the Lions today? I am enjoying college tennis in my first year in usa
Here are all my picks for your Friday live scoring link matches:<br />Iowa 7-0<br />VT 5-2<br />LSU 5-2<br />Tulsa 4-3<br />NC State 4-3<br />Denver 7-0<br />UCLA 4-0<br />LMU 6-1<br />Poly 4-0<br />SD 5-2<br />Kentucky 4-3<br />Northwestern 7-0<br />Virginia 6-1<br />FSU 6-1<br />Auburn 4-3<br />Vandy 5-2<br />Utah 4-3<br />Purdue 4-3<br />Indiana 4-3<br />Oklahoma 6-1<br />Cal 5-2<br />Oregon 4-1<br />North Carolina 4-3<br />Texas 5-2<br />Michigan 7-0<br />Michigan State 4-3<br />Iowa 4-3<br />Fresno State 5-2