• The KillerFrogs

TCU Men's Tennis 2021-2022

Jared7

Jared7

Active Member
Baylor barely got by Tech 4-3 and Texas beat Oklahoma State 5-2 yesterday, so the final standings are: TCU 5-0; Baylor 4-1; Texas 3-2, Tech 2-3, OU 1-4 and OSU 0-5. In the Big 12 tourney, TCU and Baylor will receive byes, and Tech and OU and Texas and OSU will play in the first round. It'll be in Ft. Worth, on our courts starting on Friday.

Elsewhere, Ohio State beat Michigan, Stanford over Cal, Tennessee over Alabama and USF beat UCF. The regular season completely wraps up today - among some matches are Ohio State v. Michigan State; A&M at Florida, Auburn at Tennessee and BC at Virginia.
 
Jared7

Jared7

Active Member
Longfrog said:
They drive me nuts. I try to see their side of it, and it's true that we had a couple of very unimpressive performances at home vs UM and Baylor. But we obviously have the best resume over the entire year, which ought to carry a ton of weight at this point in the season. They have us at 4 and Baylor at 5, and they were at pains to explain why they had us ranked ahead, even though our body of work is clearly better. I don't think they have a regional or conference bias, but It's pretty clear that they came into the season thinking Florida, Ohio State, and Baylor were the best teams on paper, and if it's at all close those teams will get the benefit of the doubt. (They also loved Tennessee, but when the Vols lost Bicknell for the season, I think that moved them off their radar a bit.)

My counter on Ohio State would be, yes, they are awesome at home like they always are. They have one (1) win away from home vs a top 10 team when they beat Wake at indoors. Florida is scary too, but the SEC is down this year, and they got to face Tennessee when Monday was out. The fact they've played two 4-3 matches vs UT, as badly as the Horns have struggled this year, says a lot.

But the men's game is super deep this year and I think they would acknowledge that it wouldn't be a shock to see any of 5 or 6 teams win the outdoor title.
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Yeah, I don't think it's a regional/conference bias; its more of a familiarity bias. They just know the teams they actually cover better than they know the Frogs. If anything, their bias is to cover everyone favorably because they're trying to grow the college game but they laud the teams they cover more. So, it's kind of damning with faint praise when it comes to the Frogs. They don't actually dis us; they just compliment the other contenders more. It was telling that in their discussion of the "most valuable player" that not a single Frog was mentioned. Normally, in other sports (say, football), the top player on the top team is an immediate favorite for the Heisman. But not with Cracked Racquets. When they discussed the rankings, it seemed to me that the elephant in the room was why the #1 ITA ranked team was dropped to 4th in their rankings, but they just avoided discussing it at all. And the dearth of someone on the show who just makes the Frogs' case is a real weakness of the broadcast.

As long as the NCAA selection committee doesn't vary the seedings much from the ITA rankings (both organizations are essentially college coaches but it's a different mix), then it doesn't matter what the CR guys say and think. But, like I said, it's not just them - CTR and the USTA poll both agree with them. There are lots of Frog doubters out there. Which, in a way, is normal because we've never won the NCAA's before.
 
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Jared7

Jared7

Active Member
Going into the conference tourneys, the major non-Frog issues are: (1) who gets into the NCAA's; (2) who gets a Top 16 seed and thus hosts a regional; and (3) who gets the Top 8 seeds and not only host a regional but would also host a super-regional, if they advance. From the Big12, TCU, Baylor and Texas are locks for the NCAA's, TCU and Baylor are locks for Top 8 seeds and Texas seems likely to host a regional as well. Tech and OU are both sort of on the bubble and the winner of that match will probably get in and the loser might not. OSU is probably out. The bubble teams really need to advance in their tournaments this weekend and, for some of them, they might need an automatic bid that winning their tourney guarantees. Kentucky has made a strong move to advance to the Top 8. Are Virginia and Michigan Top 8 teams? Are Harvard, Middle Tennessee State and (possibly) SMU going to host regionals? What about Stanford? This is really a crucial week for determining eligibility and positioning.
 
FrogUltimate

FrogUltimate

Active Member
Norrie is the #4 seed at Barcelona this week. He gets a first round bye again. I generally like his draw Ok. Potential quarters rematch with Ramos, and then likely Alcaraz or Tsitsips in semis (if Tsitsipas holds after winning MC).

Believe Gray is back in Nottingham for another go of it.
 
FrogUltimate

FrogUltimate

Active Member
Rybakov got a wildcard into Tallahassee challenger main draw this week. He plays Aussie Kubler who his ranked #178 in first round, tough test but a good opportunity.
 
Jared7

Jared7

Active Member
CTR's projections for the NCAA's have the cutoff line at #45 Penn getting the last at large slot, with UCF and UCLA ineligible due to sub-.500 records. But there are 31 conferences with automatic slots to punch tickets for. Pre-conference tourneys, the situation remains very fluid. Both Tech (38th) and Oklahoma (#40) are projected in the tourney as of now. Future Big 12 members UCF and BYU are out. Other TCU opponents like SMU (26), Mississippi (31), Mississippi State (33) and Tulsa (36) are in. The Top 8 are TCU, Ohio State, Florida, Baylor Tennessee, Virginia, Wake and Michigan but each of South Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia and maybe Texas could challenge for the last 2 slots with good conference tourney results. TCU is probably concerned about who gets #8 who form would say we would meet in the NCAA quarters. Do we want to avoid Michigan? That's who is 8th now. Stanford is projected to get the 16th regional hosting slot; North Carolina, Middle Tennessee State and San Diego are the closest chasers for that. SMU conceivably has a shot with an AAC title.
 
Jared7

Jared7

Active Member
On the Michigan question, I remember how it felt going into the Indoors when we wanted a shot at Ohio State, then-#1 and rolling. Now, I think that, similarly, I'd like a chance to avenge our earlier L against the Wolverines. We got revenge against both Tennessee and Baylor, it'd be nice to do it again. (And I'd also like to open up a can of whupass on Gruskin's team.)
 
Longfrog

Longfrog

Active Member
Jared7 said:
On the Michigan question, I remember how it felt going into the Indoors when we wanted a shot at Ohio State, then-#1 and rolling. Now, I think that, similarly, I'd like a chance to avenge our earlier L against the Wolverines. We got revenge against both Tennessee and Baylor, it'd be nice to do it again. (And I'd also like to open up a can of whupass on Gruskin's team.)
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I think Michigan is one of a handful of teams that could beat us. I also think we faced them under the absolute worst circumstances possible. Right after the first title in program history, at home, Norrie there with lots of fanfare, facing a very talented team which to that point had underperformed and had zero significant wins on its resume. The perfect storm for a subpar performance against a really dangerous opponent. I realize I'm making excuses, but as good as Michigan was on that afternoon and has proven to be since, I just don't think we played very well.

Going against every instinct I have, I will call out the team I'd like to draw, which is Wake. They're the only team in the top 8 that I don't think can beat us unless something goes really wrong. Not a great doubles team, nobody in their singles lineup that's close to a clinch. They kind of make up new ways to get to 4 points each week. That's somewhat like our team, but just not as good, imo. Second choice would be South Carolina.
 
Longfrog

Longfrog

Active Member
Even though Michigan is projected to hold the 8 spot, they have the most upside point-wise since their total is weighted so heavily toward their 3 wins vs top 5 teams. Their other wins are garbage. So if they can beat Northwestern in the Big 10 tournament, it would count as one of their best wins of the season and dramatically improve their overall point total. Assuming that happens (NW should get the 3 seed if form holds), and unless Wake upsets UVA in the ACC, it looks to me like UM will pass Wake. Of course, there are a ton of unknowns in the SEC and if you get chaos there then who knows.
 
Jared7

Jared7

Active Member
Another thing to look at is who is likely to be projected to be in our regional. In theory, if we're the top seed, we would host #'s 32, 33 and 64. It'd be just a guess as who'll be 64th - probably the upset winner of an automatic bid of a small conference with a not impressive/bad overall regular season record. Who knows? But the CTR current projected 32nd and 33rd teams are Utah and Mississippi State and the teams around them are VCU, Auburn, Miami, Mississippi, Notre Dame, Florida State and Tulsa. We've seen the Mississippi schools and Tulsa but not the others. The conference tourneys could shake all this up, but 1 or more of the above seem likely to come to Ft. Worth next weekend.
 
Jared7

Jared7

Active Member
FrogUltimate said:
Rybakov got a wildcard into Tallahassee challenger main draw this week. He plays Aussie Kubler who his ranked #178 in first round, tough test but a good opportunity.
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Reese Stalder is also in Tallahassee in doubles, teaming with Alex Lawson. They'll open up in the Round of 16 today against Hidalgo/Rodriguez. Last week, in Sarasota, Rybo actually made it into the Challenger main draw as a lucky loser but he fell 3 and 4 to Alejandro Tabilo.
 
FrogUltimate

FrogUltimate

Active Member
Norrie scuffling here in his first match (2nd round) against Gerasimov (#155 in world) a little bit. Down 5-6 in the first set

Rybakov lost yesterday in straight sets. I watched a chunk of it and same ole.
 
FrogUltimate

FrogUltimate

Active Member
And he loses the first set getting broken. Pretty poor play. I think Jared and my hesitations on Norrie's clay court abilities were warranted... what I've seen the past two tournaments is a guy who struggles to end a point on these super slow courts. He can certainly run all day, but at some point, you've got to inflict damage on clay whether it's via well placed ground strokes, drop shots or strategic net advances. The hard courts are the nice inbetween for him where it's not so fast that it removes his speed/athleticism like a grass or indoor court, but fast enough where his ground strokes can hurt.

Still a lot of clay tournaments left though for him to adjust. Just coming out of gate slowly
 
Jared7

Jared7

Active Member
Cam is up a break in the second set. I think what he needs is to get a victory or two on clay in order to build confidence and get multiple matches on the surface so that he can make the necessary adjustments.
 
FrogUltimate

FrogUltimate

Active Member
Jared7 said:
Cam is up a break in the second set. I think what he needs is to get a victory or two on clay in order to build confidence and get multiple matches on the surface so that he can make the necessary adjustments.
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His opponent is looking a little winded. Guessing it's nothing, but worth watching. Gerasimov had to come through qualies and then played a long, tough 3setter against Mannarino
 

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