The 2017 NCAA Tournament field was announced earlier today and there really weren’t any surprises compared to what I was expecting. ACC regular season champion Wake Forest was named as the top seed with the Demon Deacon’s half of the draw having all four Pac-12 hosts, both SEC hosts, and fellow ACC member North Carolina. Virginia, which is the two-time defending NCAA champion, drew the No. 2 seed and in their side of the draw they have all five Big 12 hosts, the lone midwest host (Ohio State), and Florida. Even though TCU is the No. 6 seed I think most would agree they are one of the best four teams in the country so in essence Virginia’s side of the draw has three of the top four teams in the country.
Stanford edged out Michigan as the final regional host but Michigan got sent to Stanford as the No. 2 seed so they’ll have a chance to decide it on the court in two weeks (that’s assuming Michigan defeats Valparaiso which isn’t a given).
The selection committee followed the final ITA rankings in all but two instances. Oklahoma State finished ranked No. 10 and Texas No. 11 but the Horns got seeded higher. The teams split two meetings during the season but Texas had one more win against a top 50 opponent and also had three wins over teams that Oklahoma State lost to while Oklahoma State had two wins over teams Texas lost to. The other change came at No. 12 and No. 13 where Texas A&M jumped Georgia due to the regular season head-to-head win in College Station.
The final spot in the field went to Washington despite the Huskies finishing with a 1-7 record down the stretch. Washington was actually ranked one spot behind Portland but Washington got the nod due to an early season 6-1 win over Portland in a match that was much closer than the final score.
Jackson State, which went 8-20 on the season, got the SWAC’s automatic berth despite not winning the conference. Jackson State lost to Alabama State 4-0 in the SWAC Finals however Alabama State was not eligible due to a poor Academic Progress Rate (APR). Alabama State was the only men’s program in the country that wasn’t eligible due to its APR.
Teams with the most consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances dating back to the start of the dual-match format in 1977: UCLA (41), Georgia (34), Florida (27), Texas (26), Ole Miss (24), Illinois (22), Texas A&M (22), Baylor (20), California (18), Ohio State (18), Florida State (15), Virginia (14), East Tennessee State (11), Michigan (11), USC (11), and Stanford (10)
There will be three first round rematches (Oklahoma State/UMKC, Baylor/Lamar, Wisconsin/San Diego) with OSU, BU, and UW winning the first meetings.
Almost all of the 2 vs. 3 matches will be competitive with Kentucky, Northwestern, Columbia, Tulane, and Georgia Tech probably the biggest favorites.
None of the regionals will have four conference champions although there will be three conference champions at the Virginia, USC, and Georgia regionals.
If each regional winner were to advance to Athens, which history tells us won’t happen, the Sweet 16 pairings would be:
- #1 Wake Forest has Borna Gojo at No. 2 and Skander Mansouri at No. 3 which is the way they’ve had it for the ACC Tournament.
- #2 Virginia will have the same starting six as it did in the conference tournament
- #5 UCLA has Maxime Cressy slotted at No. 5 after playing all but one match at No. 6. Austin Rapp, which has played at both 5 and 6, is slotted at No. 6
- #6 TCU has Reese Stalder at No. 5 and Trevor Johnson at No. 6. In the conference tournament it was reversed.
- #7 Baylor has Bjoern Petersen listed at No. 4 though he hasn’t played since getting injured back on February 3rd.
- #11 Texas has Yuya Ito listed at No. 3 with George Goldhoff at No. 4. Ito hasn’t played since April 12 due to an injury.
- #14 Oklahoma has Spencer Papa at No. 1 and Andrew Harris at No. 2. Papa played at No. 1 in Harris’s absence though Harris hasn’t played anywhere but No. 1 this year
- #16 Stanford has Sameer Kumar at No. 2 and David Wilczynski at No. 3. That’s where they’ve played most of the year though in the conference tournament it was reversed.
- Ole Miss has both Gustav Hansson and Zvonimir Babic listed after neither made the trip to Knoxville for the SEC Tournament
- South Carolina moved Gabriel Friedrich back up to No. 1 and dropped Harrison O’Keefe down to No. 2 – O’Keefe played at #1 the last month of the season except for one match (won that one 1 & 1).
I’ll have regional breakdowns starting later in the week and running all the way up until first serve a week from Friday.
Don’t forget to fill out a bracket in the Slam.Tennis May Madness Bracket Challenge. Among the prizes that can be won are some free subscriptions to College Tennis Today.
Do you think there will be lineup challenges among the top teams and what will be the results? When are the challenges due? Is there a link to the lineups
The lineups were posted briefly yesterday at this link (http://www.ncaa.org/championships/division-i-mens-and-womens-tennis) for the coaches to review and then came down and won't be back up for public consumption until 5 p.m. next Monday. Challenges are due by 5 p.m today and teams have until Sunday evening to respond.
I wouldn't think there'd be too many successful challenges because most teams submit a fair lineup because if their lineup is overturned the school gets a small fine. The only places where I see the potential for a challenge are Oklahoma with Harris at 1 and TCU with Johnson at 6. Both guys missed a big portion of the season with injuries so that's a factor too. I wouldn't be surprised if one or both of those were overturned – Harris more likely than Johnson.
You missed a team. Texas has made 26 consecutive NCAA appearances. I keep that updated, because of where Ole Miss stands.
Thanks – I had them on my handwritten list but when I typed them in I skipped right over them.
Your analysis of the biggest 2 vs 3 favorites looks way off. I don't see Tulane, GT, Columbia or Kentucky as big favorites at all. All of those could lose. And yet you didn't mention the huge huge 2/3 favorites. Michigan, South Carolina, and Ole Miss. All of them are playing weak 3 seeds.
another men's lineup note. South Carolina has moved O'Keefe back to 2
Johnny, I guess we'll how it shakes down in a few weeks. Don't forget to fill that bracket out too!
Good catch Rex – I saw that and forgot to mention it.
Any chance UVA will get hit with having Ritschard at 1 despite an ITA ranking in the 90s with two teammates in the top 50?
Jim, I wouldn't think so since Ritschard has played at No. 1 for the last seven matches – if he had been at No. 3 or No. 4 all year and then been moved up to No. 1 just for the tournament that would have been flagged. He's actually tied for the team lead in dual-match wins but his ranking is lower because he didn't play in the fall plus he only played seven ranked opponents all year (2-4 with 1 unfinished). If he had started off the spring at No. 1 I suspect he'd be ranked right around where Altamirano is.
Bobby, do you recall that person last year who was nearly 100% accurate in predicting the tournament? He was so far ahead in point total, it was absurd. If he competes this year you may as well give him the prize now.
Bill ran laps around us all last year – beat the next closest by 10 points with most 15 to 20 points back.
Bobby, have you heard confirmation that Alexander Ritschard is leaving/returning for his 4th year of competition?
I have not heard a definitive answer on Ritschard but all signs seem to point towards him leaving after this season.