The NCAA released the men’s and women’s team brackets on Tuesday and while many selections and top 16 seeds went as planned there were some adjustments made elsewhere in the bracket that at first seemed quite puzzling. The men’s bracket had three teams (Utah, Utah State, and UC Santa Barbara) with rankings strong enough to make them a No. 3 seed but in the end they were placed in the traditional No. 4 spot. There were three teams (North Florida, South Alabama, and VCU) with rankings that would normally have put them as a No. 4 seed but they were bumped up to the No. 3 slot. Plus there were other teams that normally would have been No. 2s (Harvard & Old Dominion) but ended up as No. 3s while there were teams (Virginia & Miami) that would have been No. 3s that ended up as No. 2s.
The women’s bracket didn’t have any of the same craziness with all the teams ranked No. 17 to 32 ending up in the normal No. 2 slot, the teams ranked No. 33 to No. 48ish ending up as No. 3s, and the rest as No. 4s. The biggest omission from the bracket was Arkansas with the now coachless Razorbacks turned away after the six-match fiasco against Tennessee State (which was challenged) while Kansas State (the challenger) was put in as the last at-large. I have reached out to John Bugner (NCAA Assistant Director, Championships and Alliances) for comment on Arkansas not getting in and will update this post if I get a response. (Quote from the NCAA’s Gail Dent: The NCAA Division I Tennis Committee reviewed a protest filed with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association regarding the University of Arkansas violation of ITA Rule I.E.4 (lineup changes in back-to-back dual matches) on three separate occasions during competition against Tennessee State University on April 22. The committee determined that the first violation warranted a warning and the two subsequent violations resulted in defaulting those two matches. For selection purposes, those two matches did not count, and Arkansas is 14-16.)
Up until this year the NCAA has filled each of the 16 regionals with a top 16 nationally ranked team, a No. 2 seed that was ranked No. 17-32, a No. 3 seed that was ranked No. 33-48, and a No. 4 seed that was ranked 49-64 (though typically the No. 4 seed was probably closer to 150). However late in 2016 a change was made by the NCAA Division I Tennis Committee, which went into effect this year, that permitted them to place unseeded teams (teams 17-64) geographically in the bracket instead of assigning them in pods (1 v 4; 2 v 3) as had been done in the past. If you look at each of the brackets you’ll notice that it just lists a seed by the host team but it does not show a designation for any of the other three, i.e. 17-32, 33-48, 49-64.
I remember reading this when it came out in 2016 but I had since forgotten about it and that’s why I was caught off guard as was everybody else. Hat tip to Slam.Tennis for bringing this up earlier today. Also make sure you fill out your bracket on Slam Tennis’s May Madness Bracket Challenge.
The brackets down below also have the final ITA rankings as projected by CollegeTennisRanks.
As you can see by looking at the rankings there are some inequities with doing the draw geographically. Columbia, which will host a regional for the first-time in school history, typically would have seen a No. 2 seed that was ranked in the No. 17 to No. 20 range like last year when No. 17 Michigan went to No. 16 Stanford. However the second highest ranked team coming to New York City will be No. 41 Virginia which should have been a low-end No. 3 seed since they barely squeaked in the field. As a side note to Columbia since they do not have outdoor courts on campus they will play these matches at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
The other side of the spectrum is No. 14 Oklahoma playing a first-round match against the last team to get in as an at-large, No. 43 Utah. The Utes finished the season on a seven-match losing streak and were lucky to make it but still in the past OU would have seen someone like Bryant or Monmouth but instead they get Utah since it’s a shorter flight from Salt Lake City to Oklahoma City.
USC, which is the No. 10 seed, will also have a more difficult first-round match than usual with No. 54 UC Santa Barbara coming to the Marks Tennis Stadium. In addition to UCSB coming to town, the Trojans also have the top No. 2 seed in Oklahoma State (though they aren’t the same team without Julian Cash who is done for the year) and the top No. 3 seed in Harvard.
TCU, seeded No. 9, had to be thinking oh no not again when they saw Mountain West Champion Utah State selected as its first-round opponent. The Aggies of course racked up their biggest win in school history when they stunned TCU a year ago in the second round of the ITA National Indoors.
The selection committee made three changes to the men’s top 16 versus where the teams finished in the final ITA rankings. Mississippi State was slotted ahead of North Carolina for the No. 6 spot, Illinois was slotted ahead of TCU for the No. 8 slot, and Texas was moved ahead of Florida State for the No. 11 slot. Of those three changes the only one of them where a head-to-head result came into play was Illinois and TCU with the lower ranked Illini winning the regular season meeting. There were four primary criteria (page 21) used by the selection committee to make its selections and they were head-to-head results, strength of schedule, results versus common opponents, and wins versus top 50 teams. If the primary criteria doesn’t produce a result then the tiebreaker is head-to-head competition and strength of schedule.
I crunched the numbers using that primary criteria and I could determine why Mississippi State moved up but not Texas (maybe I’m missing something). Below were my comparisons of each:
Mississippi State vs. North Carolina for the No. 6 overall seed
Head-To-Head: None
Strength of Schedule (ITA Ranking): UNC 63.59; MSU 63.57
Common Opponents (Different Result): Miss State split with Texas A&M; Texas A&M def. UNC
Wins Over Top 50 Teams: MSU (12), UNC 11
Result: MSU 2 to 1
Texas vs. Florida State for the No. 11 overall seed.
Head-To-Head: None
Strength of Schedule (ITA Ranking): FSU 53.67; Texas 53.63
Common Opponents (Different Result): Texas def. Baylor (2X), Baylor def. FSU; Texas def. UNC, UNC def. FSU (2X); FSU def. Texas Tech, Texas Tech def. Texas; FSU def. Notre Dame, Notre Dame def. Texas)
Wins Over Top 50 Teams: FSU (9); Texas (9)
Result: FSU 1-0
The committee made multiple top 16 changes on the women’s side with Vanderbilt jumping North Carolina for No. 1, Ole Miss jumping Texas for No. 6, Oklahoma State jumping Florida for No. 9, UCLA jumping Northwestern and Pepperdine for No. 14. Below are some of the numbers I crunched on a few of these changes and non-changes (Duke/Georgia Tech and Texas/Georgia).
Vanderbilt vs. North Carolina for the No. 1 overall seed
Head-To-Head: Vandy won 4-3
Strength of Schedule (ITA Ranking): UNC 78.57, Vandy 77.89
Common Opponents (Different Result): UNC def. Pepperdine; Pepperdine def. Vandy
Wins Over Top 50 Teams: Vandy (20), UNC (18)
Result: Tie – TB goes to Vandy due to H2H win
Duke vs. Georgia Tech for the No. 3 overall seed
Head-To-Head: Georgia Tech won 4-2
Strength of Schedule (ITA Ranking): Duke 70.84, Georgia Tech 66.28
Common Opponents (Different Result): Duke def. Syracuse; Syracuse def. GT; Duke def. Miami, Miami def. GT; Duke went 1-2 vs UNC; GT went 1-1 vs. UNC
Wins Over Top 50 Teams: Duke (15); GT (14)
Result: Duke wins 3 categories to 1
Ole Miss vs. Texas for the No. 5 overall seed
Head-To-Head: Ole Miss won 4-2
Strength of Schedule (ITA Ranking); Texas 65.60, Ole Miss 64.47
Common Opponents (Different Result): Texas def. Florida; Florida def. Ole Miss; Ole Miss def. Georgia (2X); Georgia def. Texas)
Wins Over Top 50 Teams: Ole Miss (13), Texas (13)
Result: Tie – TB goes to Ole Miss due to H2H win
Texas vs. Georgia for the No. 6 overall seeds
Head-To-Head: Georgia won 4-2
Strength of Schedule (ITA Ranking); Texas 65.60, Georgia 59.48
Common Opponents (Different Result): None
Wins Over Top 50 Teams: Texas (13), Georgia (11)
Result: Texas wins 2 categories to 1
Dates and times for all first and second round matches are being finalized and should be updated today. The lineups for each team are posted as well with all the men here and all the women here. The singles and doubles selections should be out later today (Wednesday) so I’ll have an update on those in my next post along with more information and details on the brackets.
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