Thursday, May 6, 2010

NCAA Fucks Bowdoin

NCAA shows that their competence in dealing with DIII tennis can only be surmounted by that of John Browning and his ability to get rankings out on time. Sad day in DIII tennis history.

What twisted logic makes it okay for the #14 team in the nation to be able to play for a national championship? Butler was #12 in the last rankings the NCAA DI Basketball Playoffs began, and they were a few points away from a National Championship.

If DI Basketball had the same rules as DIII tennis:
-Ohio State, New Mexico, Kansas State, Villanova, and Michigan State would all qualify through pool C
-Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Wisconsin, Maryland, Baylor, etc. would all not qualify


I apologize for my absence; life's been busy. Nothing much to be said that the other blogs haven't already covered.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Super Saturday

Big matches this weekend. We'll let the teams play, and follow with commentary/evaluation of other blogs' predictions.

Cheers

--The Expert

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Williams/ NESCAC

I know it looks like I've been giving Williams a lot of hate on this blog but they really are a pretty solid team. However, they have absolutely no resume this year. That becomes a problem when you aren't going to win your conference, as Williams is likely not going to. Right now, Williams' signature win is an 8-1 drubbing of Vassar. This--if you consider that Vassar only has two players on its team capable of producing points--is not Pool C worthy. Also hurting their case is a 5-4 loss to NC Wesleyan, and now a second loss against a mid-level top 10 team.

Next weekend they play Bowdoin. The loser of this match will get the #4 seed, and a matchup with Trinity (CT) in the NESCAC Quarters. That is a huge trap match for any team to be playing, especially one that will need another big win to shore up their postseason chances in the later rounds. 


Weekend Wrap-Up

Results:

Further commentary to come.

'Herst v. Williams + Update

Big match has just gotten underway in Williamstown. The Ephs really need a win here, because their resume is not looking terribly impressive right now. The Expert is calling a 5-4 win for Amherst. Look for it.

CNU goes down to NCW today in the USA South conference championship. After CNU won the doubles point, they got blasted in singles. This match could've been really close had Widing not disappeared from CNU's lineup. Go to TennisD3's blog for CNU's post match reaction.

No results in yet from the K-Zoo Gustavus match, but that'll probably end up 6-3 K-Zoo, unless the meltdown continues for the Hornets. On second thought, that's not going to happen. Gustavus is kind of terrible this year.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

4/13 ITA Rankings

It's 3pm, and we're still waiting for these rankings. Over/under Thursday at 5 pm, J. Browning?

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Top 15 Rankings

Here are how I think the new rankings should look, but I must add the disclaimer that it's very unlikely this will be what's put up on Tuesday. The last national rankings were a joke, and the future rankings will probably continue to be trash. I don't see Schwarz and Browning ridding themselves of their blatant bias anytime soon. These are not power rankings, so they rely purely on results and not gut feelings (sorry Williams).

1. Middlebury
2. CMS
3. Cal Lu
4. Cruz
5. Amherst
6. WashU 
7. Emory
8. Carnegie
9. Kenyon
10. Hopkins
11. NC Wesleyan
12. Chicago
13. Trinity (TX)
14. Bowdoin
15. Williams


These rankings were not easy, and a lot of head-to-head results conflict. For example: Bowdoin beat Salisbury, Salisbury beat Kalamazoo, and Kalamazoo beat Chicago, so Chicago should be behind Bowdoin, correct? Not exactly: Chicago beat DePauw who has both lost and won to Kalamazoo, and Chicago beat Mary Washington who beat Salisbury. To confuse the rankings even more: Bowdoin lost to Trinity (TX), who lost to Redlands, but Bowdoin beat Redlands head-to-head. Obviously, this is a pretty good example of how difficult creating these rankings can be. In cases like these, a judgment call had to be made that decided whether a team's solid wins outweighed their bad losses. Also, it's important to note that an emphasis was put on more recent results (fall results were very de-emphasized).