There were some teams that improved their chances of qualifying for the NCAAs while there were others that really hurt themselves with some untimely losses. It’s also going to be a battle to see who finishes in the top 16 and thus gets to host a NCAA regional.
Weekend Winners:
Cal – locked up a top 16 ranking by defeating USC in the Pac-12 semifinals; the Bears also were in a winning position on several courts against UCLA but came up just short in the Pac-12 finals.
South Florida – won the AAC Championship by beating a pair of top 35 teams in Tulane and Tulsa. As of this minute they are ranked No. 16 which puts them in position to host a NCAA regional.
Virginia Tech – took itself off the bubble with a big 4-3 win over Florida State in the ACC quarters
Penn State – took itself off the bubble by erasing the loss to Minnesota with a big win over Illinois
Dartmouth – picked up a huge road win at Harvard which has the Big Green sitting pretty good at No. 39.
Weekend Losers:
Illinois – rough weekend for the Illini with them falling at Penn State and Ohio State – the loss to the Buckeyes wasn’t a surprise but the one to Penn State definitely was. The Illini will have to avenge the loss to Penn State on Friday in the Big Ten Tournament and then will probably need to beat Northwestern to move back into the top 16.
Arkansas – any chance of climbing back into the top 16 was dashed when it lost to South Carolina for the second time in the last five days.
Wisconsin – any chances of making the NCAA (sans winning the B1G Tournament) went out the window with losses to Indiana and Purdue.
It looks like the men’s NCAA at-large cutoff will be 42 unless San Diego gets upset at the WCC Championships. Those teams sitting on the bubble definitely will be Toreros fans this week
This set of rankings used each team’s nine best wins as will next week’s unpublished rankings which will be used to determine the NCAA Tournament field. Next week’s rankings will actually be run twice so that way they’ll be as accurate as possible for Selection Tuesday. Schools that have an * beside the school name have less than nine ranked wins so I had to do some guesswork on where the unranked wins fall in the rankings.
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We have a new No. 1 on the women’s side with the SEC Champion Florida Gators dethroning Cal with the Bears dropping to No. 2. North Carolina drops one spot to No. 3 despite winning the ACC Championship – the drop was due to the fact that Florida shot up with wins over Auburn and Georgia at the SEC Tournament. Georgia stays at No. 4 after making it to the finals of the SEC Tournament while Ohio State moves up to No. 5.
Vanderbilt drops one spot to No. 6 after falling to Georgia in the SEC semifinals – the main reason for the drop was because Ohio State fell to No. 6 last week which meant Vandy’s two losses to the Buckeyes counted .2 against them instead of .1 from the previous week. That variance will correct itself this week though Ohio State has a chance to beat a ranked Michigan if they meet at the Big Ten Tournament.
It looks like the women’s NCAA at-large cutoff will be 44 unless Pepperdine gets upset at the WCC, and/or Wichita State gets upset at the MVC. If one of those teams lost it would drive the number down. Some of the teams in the bubble zone will have a chance to stamp their ticket this weekend in their respective conference tournaments (Denver/Fresno State).
Weekend Winners:
Stanford – guaranteed itself a spot as a regional host with a win over USC in Ojai.
Virginia – Cavs locked up a spot in the top 16 with its run to the ACC finals.
William & Mary – took itself off the bubble by winning its conference tournament
Rice – took itself off the bubble by winning its conference tournament
Georgia State – took itself off the bubble by winning its conference tournament
Baylor – picked up a huge road win at Texas which probably will put them
Notre Dame – wisely scheduled a match with Norfolk State which got them to .500 and then pulled off a mild upset at the ACC Tournament by beating Clemson. As of today the Irish would be the last team in but had they not beat Clemson they probably would be too far back.
Weekend Losers:
Florida International – lost to Rice in the finals of the CUSA Championship – will be sweating out the bubble now
South Florida – lost to Tulsa in the finals of the AAC Championship – winning the conference was the Bulls only way to get in.
| Rank | School | Points | Previous |
| 1 | Virginia | 77.36 | 1 |
| 2 | UCLA – IN | 71.87 | 2 |
| 3 | North Carolina | 70.06 | 3 |
| 4 | Ohio State | 68.86 | 5 |
| 5 | TCU | 68.72 | 4 |
| 6 | Wake Forest – IN | 66.00 | 7 |
| 7 | Georgia | 62.56 | 6 |
| 8 | Texas Tech | 59.86 | 9 |
| 9 | Florida – IN | 57.91 | 11 |
| 10 | Oklahoma | 55.31 | 10 |
| 11 | USC | 52.42 | 8 |
| 12 | California | 50.61 | 16 |
| 13 | Northwestern | 50.35 | 14 |
| 14 | Texas A&M | 48.51 | 13 |
| 15 | Oklahoma State | 48.48 | 12 |
| 16 | South Florida – IN | 45.86 | 17 |
| 17 | Illinois | 42.48 | 15 |
| 18 | Texas | 40.35 | 19 |
| 19 | Arkansas | 40.16 | 18 |
| 20 | Kentucky | 37.56 | 20 |
| 21 | Florida State | 34.86 | 21 |
| 22 | Mississippi State | 34.45 | 25 |
| 23 | Tulsa | 34.30 | 23 |
| 24 | Michigan | 33.19 | 22 |
| 25 | Columbia – IN | 32.61 | 24 |
| 26 | Rice* – IN | 31.89 | 26 |
| 27 | Stanford* | 28.12 | 32 |
| 28 | SMU* | 27.81 | 27 |
| 29 | Ole Miss* | 27.73 | 29 |
| 30 | San Diego | 27.30 | 28 |
| 31 | Tulane* | 26.94 | 31 |
| 32 | Virginia Tech* | 25.89 | 36 |
| 33 | Georgia Tech* | 25.59 | 30 |
| 34 | Vanderbilt* | 24.71 | 34 |
| 35 | Penn State | 23.89 | 39 |
| 36 | LSU* | 23.36 | 33 |
| 37 | Notre Dame* | 21.89 | 41 |
| 38 | Oregon | 21.73 | 35 |
| 39 | Dartmouth | 21.67 | 38 |
| 40 | Washington* | 21.57 | 37 |
| 41 | Baylor* | 19.84 | 43 |
| 42 | Memphis* | 19.77 | 42 |
| 43 | Alabama* | 19.75 | 40 |
| 44 | NC State* | 18.66 | 44 |
| 45 | South Carolina (14-15) | 18.19 | 50 |
| 46 | Old Dominion* | 16.08 | 45 |
| 47 | Denver* | 15.88 | 52 |
| 48 | UC Santa Barbara* | 15.85 | 47 |
| 49 | Harvard* | 14.39 | 49 |
| 50 | Cornell* | 13.99 | 51 |
| 51 | Drake* | 13.62 | 46 |
| 52 | Princeton* | 13.31 | 48 |
| 53 | East Tennessee St* – IN | 12.83 | 55 |
| 54 | Purdue* | 12.76 | 59 |
| 55 | Lamar* – IN | 12.42 | 54 |
| 56 | Utah State | 11.67 | 56 |
| 57 | Indiana* | 11.26 | 64 |
| 58 | Wisconsin* | 10.98 | 53 |
| 59 | Boise State* | 10.66 | 60 |
| 60 | BYU* | 10.61 | 57 |
* indicates at least one win over an opponent ranked outside the top 75
Rankings Chart That Excludes All Losses
| Rank | School | 9 Best Wins |
| 1 | Virginia | 750.40 |
| 2 | North Carolina | 742.60 |
| 3 | Wake Forest – IN | 706.20 |
| 4 | TCU | 666.60 |
| 5 | UCLA – IN | 661.20 |
Last year I watched pepperdine beat Florida in person. It was fun for a moment. Then you realized that neither team had a chance against Wake. The final 16 is neutral. Once again these arguments have nothing to do with the national champion. As much as you would like to believe that your school could win if they didn't have to play in Winston-Salem against Wake that it would have been different. If it could be different your team would have been a top 16 teams.
Excellent. Thanks a lot for the breakdown!
UVA probably would do Very well on the road. But if you look at how Florida Gators have done in the NCAA tournament on neutral courts it is an ENTIRELY different story. Last year Florida ended ranked 25 even though it lost FIRST ROUND to 52 Pepperdine. A few years back Gators were highly ranked and lost on neutral courts to DENVER! The year in between they lost a close match in Athens to Ohio State. So upsets do occur on neutral courts and people who know the format all agree getting to "host" is a big advantage. Hosting the final rounds is also a big recruiting tool. When NCAA was played at Athens in 2014 rain forced matches to ATLANTA, imagine that. Georgia has a total of four indoor courts available!!! Georgia will host the final rounds again soon despite not being as well prepared for rain as say holding the final rounds at Illinois where they have 12 outdoor courts in better condition and 12 indoor courts that could accomodate the tournament. So anyone who goes to the tournament or cares about making the NCAA tennis fan friendly probably wouldn't want to see Georgia holding the finals again. Politics plays a larger role in deciding where the matches are played than fans.
If Duke had home court advantage the whole tournament. Guess what… They still would not have won!! You could send UVA to any regional against non top 16 teams and guess what… They will destroy them!! The home court is a reward not a determinating factor in who wins the NCAA championship. Some of y'all have to wake up and realize that your non top 16 team has no chance no matter where you play. It's just when and where you get beat.
Let me know when they announce that Duke will "host" every round of the NCAA basketball tournament.
Here I thought the primeary role of a tournament was to be fair to the players, GOSH I totally forgot that the primary reason we have college tennis is to try to get thousands of FANS to come out for matches. Lots of colleges dropped tennis, was it because there weren't any fans??? I've been going to college matches since the 70s and there were ZERO fans then and more programs. Football and basketball are draining the budgets, if tennis wants to survive it needs to be economical, the present system doesn't encourage that. The present system encourages special interests.
Last year if adjacent teams inside the top 16 played whoever won the H2H got the bump but they did not follow that same criteria when looking at teams outside top 16. <br /><br />Example – last season Louisville was #32 in the last poll while Drake was #33 – Drake won the H2H but Louisville was still a #2 seed while Drake was a #3. They ended up playing in the first round and Drake won.<br /><br />For the 2012-13 NCAA's, Vanderbilt was ranked 16 in the final poll while South Carolina was 17. South Carolina won the H2H but Vandy still ended up as a #1 seed in a regional while South Carolina was a #2. <br /><br />So to be honest I just don't know which way they'll go but based off those two examples above they may keep as-is. Of course if Illinois beat Penn State and Northwestern they won't have to worry about it.
If Illinois stays at 17 do you think the committee will move them ahead of USF anyway due to H2H result?
Even in the ncaa basketball tournament they don't sell out the early rounds. Why do you think they play home games in the NIT. No chance to sell tickets until the final 4 if they didn't.<br />Home games for good teams creates interest in any sport. College tennis needs interest!!!
The crowds in Atlanta would pale in comparison to the crowds they get in Athens. Do you understand college sports?
No
I'll be able to tackle that later today – will be very interesting to see what changes.
Wondering what the rankings would look like for the top 16 if you just ran them again off this new list, taking into account the changes in best wins and losses
You are correct – I thought I listed NU up above but it appears I did not – that was the bigger win of the two.
Bobby you didn't mention Northwestern women's upset win over Michigan putting them clearly IN versus on the bubble??? NU was previously ranked 39 and Mich was 11 I think. I would say it was a bigger win for the NU women than ND getting by Clemson, though ND was on the bubble.
if a conference gets more than 8 teams into the tournament of course it would happen, but assume tournament committee would try to not have this happen if at all possible if a conference has 8 or less teams in the tournament
So what you are suggesting is that if Georgia Bulldogs had to play their first two rounds in Atlanta rather than Athens it would be better for tennis because the community of Athens gets to come out for the matches, right? Even though Atlanta has so many people and so many people who play tennis in leagues, the first two rounds should be played on home courts for Georgia… Gators couldn't play in Orlando, Northwestern couldn't play in Chicago, and on and on
I agree, Stanford though didn't play Carol Zhao all year.
Two years ago Georgia hosted men's and women's finals for the NCAA tournament. That effectively meant that Georgia men and women would both play EVERY match of the tournament on their home courts. IMAGINE what basketball fans would say if the same format were applied to the NCAA basketball tournament!!! <br /><br />The present system makes tennis look like they play favorites and have no idea how to create interest, a level playing field, or promote the game for lower ranked grass roots programs. A LOUSY FORMAT HURTS EVERYONE.
Can 2 teams from a single conference be placed in the same regional?
Stanford has no right to be a regional host. They lost every big match this year, albeit by mostly 4-3 scores. The farm fans need a reality check as they seem to be living on past success. It all makes sense when a "Tree" is your school mascot. Good luck to them in the Georgia regional.
Im not a Stanford fan, but I would agree they are a very dangerous team. You have to earn a top 15 ranking with wins, but they could very easily gave won a few they lost. If I am a top seed I don't want to see them in my regional. Oklahoma is better than 10th now that Harris is back. The ncaa tourney is more wide open than past years.
Boo freaking hoo guys…No one outside the top 16 is going to win the national title. This is tennis not basketball. Reward the teams that have earned a top 16 rankings.it is so hard to be a top16 team(just ask the crybaby from Stanford). It is great exposure for college tennis to get the spotlight in 16 different communitys.
Done with college tennis. Stanford being so low continues to be a joke. they are a top 15 team. Stupid rankings.
It's possible – those three and NC State will end up very close. Can't really say definitively at this point until I work on next week's rankings.<br /><br />Baylor really need to beat Okie State to lock up its spot because their best wins are likely to stay the same or possibly go down except for UC Irvine – UCI has their conference tournament this week so it'd be good for Baylor if UCI made a nice run.