[Tennisace]

Next year, the ITA Team Indoor Championships is moving from the old 16 team format to a 60 team tournament. It's going to be set up similarly to the NCAA team tournament where there are "regional sites" although for the Indoors the winner of these regional sites will earn the actual bid to Wisconsin, the Indoor tournament. This is unlike the NCAA regionals, where that is considered to be the NCAA tournament. Interestingly enough, the regional sites do not have to host on an indoor surface. Wisconsin has an automatic bid to the Indoors along with the 15 "regional winners," which is more like a play-in tournament.

Here are the rules/procedure on the draft and logistics, http://www.itatennis.com/Events/Draft.htm I find it very interesting that teams get to choose where they want to play, definitely a lot of strategy in that. Teams are definitely going to try and figure out which teams are going to get weaker/stronger to strategically place them with a chance to advancing to the Indoors.

The "draft/draw" is here http://www.itatennis.com/Events/Draft/D1WomenJune4.htm although we won't know the draw until after June 4th. It has the 15 "regional" hosts and the order from which the other teams will get to choose what "regional" to play-in.

[Tennisace]

If I were Texas, I would head to William and Mary. Despite the indoor surface, William and Mary is the weakest of the 15 regional hosts. I think there is a slight chance they'll head to Miami given that the surface is going to be outdoors.

I think Fresno State will head to California. They're starting four is intact and California might go through some growing pains as two of their top three players graduated this year.

I have no idea what North Carolina will do but I'm thinking Vanderbilt.

Florida State will probably go after Miami.

I think this process will be highly interesting as it will give us indirect insight into what the top 60 Divison I coaches think will be the best teams next year and which won't be as good.

[gouci]

Interesting to see Wisconsin listed as alternate #5?

I wonder if many of the teams #32 or lower in the selection order will just elect to pass. Having to play a top 15 team is just essentially adding another loss to your record and bringing your ranking down a little. That extra loss could make the difference between getting an at-large NCAA bid or just missing the cut.

I hope Princeton gets in and they get a chance to showcase their 4 blue chips against a top 15 team.

[Tennisace]

Originally Posted by gouci

Interesting to see Wisconsin listed as alternate #5?

I wonder if many of the teams #32 or lower in the selection order will just elect to pass. Having to play a top 15 team is just essentially adding another loss to your record and bringing your ranking down a little. That extra loss could make the difference between getting an at-large NCAA bid or just missing the cut.

I hope Princeton gets in and they get a chance to showcase their 4 blue chips against a top 15 team.

That makes no sense that Wisconsin is on the draft list since they are guaranteed a spot in the Indoors as hosts.

As for the teams #32 or lower, the losers of the first round play each other in a consolation match so having that win might be worth electing to play. But then again one team out of the four teams in the regional is going to go 0-2. Also, don't forget it allows each team's singles and doubles players to play against nationally ranked opponents they would not normally play. This expansion will definitely allow more players to play ranked opponents and improve their chances of getting to the NCAA individual tournament. That is of course if they can win.

[Tennisace]

Here is the order in which the regionals were filled. The parentheses indicates what team chose the regional. A star indicates when the regional was filled. Below this list is the "ranking" in which regionals were filled. It can be argued that the regionals to fill up first are the "weaker" ones although of course the counterargument is how far teams are willing to travel. (This will be updated as this is currently in process).

Round by Round Order of How Regionals Were Filled
1. William and Mary (Texas)
2. Vanderbilt (Fresno State)
3. William and Mary (North Carolina)
4. Georgia Tech (Florida State)
*5. William and Mary (Michigan)
6. Arkansas (Notre Dame)
7. Georgia Tech (Arizona State)
8. Miami (Tennesse)
9. Arkansas (Pepperdine)
*10. Georgia Tech (TCU)
11. UCLA (LSU)
12. Clemson (Auburn)
13. Vanderbilt (Denver)
14. USC (Texas A&M)
15. Duke (South Carolina)
16. Duke (Ohio State)
17. Northwestern (Tulsa)
*18. Duke (VCU)
19. Cal (NC State)
20. Stanford (Illinois)
21. Stanford (UNLV)
22. Clemson (Louisvile)
23. Cal (Washington)
*24. Vanderbilt (Wake Forest)
25. Northwestern (Washington State)
26. Miami (Virginia)
27. Georgia (Marshall)
*28. Clemson (Boise State)
29. Georgia (Florida International)
30. Florida (South Alabama)
*31. Cal (Long Beach State)
*32. Northwestern (New Mexico)
33. Baylor (Iowa)
34. Florida (Western Michigan)
*35. Miami (Utah)
*36. Arkansas (Oregon)
*37. Georgia (Mississippi)
*38. Stanford (Colorado)
39. USC (St. Mary's)
40. Baylor (Virginia Tech)
41. UCLA (DePaul)
*42. USC (Michigan State)
*43. UCLA (Western Michigan)
*44. Florida (Oklahoma State)
*45. Baylor (Princeton)

Schools that Passed: BYU, Sacramento State

First to Last Order in which Regionals Were Filled
1. William and Mary (1, 3, 5)
2. Georgia Tech (4, 7, 10)
3. Duke (15, 16, 18)
4. Vanderbilt (2, 13, 24)
5. Clemson (12, 22, 28)
6. Cal (19, 23, 31)
7. Northwestern (17, 25, 32)
8. Miami (8, 26, 35)
9. Arkansas (6, 9, 36)
10. Georgia (27, 29, 37)
11. Stanford (20, 21, 38)
12. USC (14, 39, 42)
13. UCLA (11, 41, 43)
14. Florida (30, 34, 44)
15. Baylor (33, 40, 45)

[gouci]

Princeton was listed as the 4th alternate. UCI and Penn both alternates ahead of Princeton must have also passed.

[Tennisace]

The line-ups for this weekend's Indoor "Qualifying" is up here,

http://www.itatennis.com/Assets/ita_...e-Up_Women.pdf

[form]

Interstingly, some coach complained to the ITA and they have taken that down... but you caught the pdf link before they took it off the web site.

I give this concept maybe one more year... hear word of numerous schools planning NOT to participate next year even if they qualify.

Expensive travel, fear of rain (some host schools not even lining up indoor courts in case) and then the big dogs are complaining they can't book flights until after the weekend so their costs are way up for the finals too.

What are the over and unders for the number of Top 15 schools that do not advance?

I say...

Arkansas... Notre Dame will advance
Georgia Tech .. this one is open due to turnover at GT
UCLA.... got a great draw though with on LSU good enough to knock off
Vanderbilt ... Fresno State is the higher seed so this does not count as a shock
Bill & Mary... again they are not the high seed ... UNC or Texas

So 3 of 15 have a chance for upset (Fresno will advance) while UNC/Texas and the GT site is a pick em

The rest will run true to form

MHO

[form]

Interstingly, some coach complained to the ITA and they have taken that down... but you caught the pdf link before they took it off the web site.

I give this concept maybe one more year... hear word of numerous schools planning NOT to participate next year even if they qualify.

Expensive travel, fear of rain (some host schools not even lining up indoor courts in case) and then the big dogs are complaining they can't book flights until after the weekend so their costs are way up for the finals too.

What are the over and unders for the number of Top 15 schools that do not advance?

I say...

Arkansas... Notre Dame will advance
Georgia Tech .. this one is open due to turnover at GT
UCLA.... got a great draw though with on LSU good enough to knock off
Vanderbilt ... Fresno State is the higher seed so this does not count as a shock
Bill & Mary... again they are not the high seed ... UNC or Texas

So 3 of 15 have a chance for upset (Fresno will advance) while UNC/Texas and the GT site is a pick em

The rest will run true to form

MHO

[gouci]

Why is walk-on Catie Visico EVEN listed on Cal's master line-up?

If Hannah Grady is injured does Cal plan on playing Visico against Long Beach State?
That would be a huge slap in the face to the 49ers.

[form]

Gouci... could you help me. I am trying to count your conference automatic berths into the NCAA but I can't find that information.

Better to play and get slapped than to have chickened out and chosen not to play at all.

But then again, that's the OC for you. All talk but the reality doesn't seem to match up.

[gouci]

Originally Posted by form

Better to play and get slapped than to have chickened out and chosen not to play at all.

We already had this conversation. If UCI accepted, the last spot was at Baylor. I asked you why did Long Beach choose to go to Cal instead of Baylor?

Form you gave me these great reasons below:
- Who the hell wants to go to Waco?
- Why pay to go to Waco when you can schedule a team ranked outside the top 50 to play at your home for free!

Your reasons above also apply to why UCI was smart not to play. So don't contradict yourself with this better to play than chicken out crap. UCI will be enjoying themselves at Hawaii instead of being at Waco.

I give this concept maybe one more year... hear word of numerous schools planning NOT to participate next year even if they qualify.

Expensive travel, fear of rain...

If this concept doesn't work out than maybe UCI was ahead of the curve in electing NOT to participate.

Gouci... could you help me. I am trying to count your conference automatic berths into the NCAA but I can't find that information.

I was questioning why Cal would even put a walk-on in their Master line-up. Playing a walk-on in this tourney would just be showing another team disrespect.

Are the injuries to Hannah Grady and Jessica Weeks making you cranky Form? I can tell your cranky when you change the subject just to take a cheap shot at UCI. Instead of venting at others you need to chill out!

[form]

I'm sure the those two matches in Hawaii will help the Eaters move up the rankings? And spending that money to play a team 75 minutes down the highway... that's smart too. Talk about not helping the BW conference out.

Cal: They only have 7 schol. players... so why not list the legacy and give her to opportunity. LB did it for a number of years with K. Katayama... who in fact became a very valuable doubles specialist... and was a walk on who developed.

[gouci]

And spending that money to play a team 75 minutes down the highway... that's smart too.

Are you trying to convince me or yourself? I have no problem with UCI's yearly trip to Hawaii, its becoming a tradition.

Talk about not helping the BW conference out.

I think you spoke again from memory without doing any homework on this season's Hawaii team. I think Hawaii has potential to be a good team.

- Hawaii returns #1 singles Kobuch who was nationally ranked last year.
- Hawaii returns top 3 singles Korec who was pretty good last year.
- Hawaii picked up Wong, a transfer from Washington huskies.
- Hawaii picked up 3 international freshmen, 2 Germans & 1 Belgian. Including Peter who defeated Stanford's Veronica Li in the fall.

I'm actually more concerned about UCI facing Hawaii than San Diego St.

[Tennisace]

The draw is out:

http://www.itatennis.com/Assets/ita_...mens_Draws.pdf