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3/24 ITA Rankings Have Been Released – Top 10 Breakdown

by | Mar 24, 2015 | Blog

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Oklahoma stays at #1 in the ITA Men’s rankings for the 4th week in a row and for the 5th time in the last 6 weeks.   The USC women are the new #1 in the Women’s rankings for the 1st time since 2003 after defeating both Cal and Stanford last weekend.   

Below I’ll breakdown the Top 10 on the men’s side looking at the 6 best wins that were used in the rankings this week along with other quality ranked wins that could potentially fit in down the road.  You’ll notice some of the quality wins are ranked higher than a top 6 win and that is because I used the new ranking so that you can see what changes will be made next week.  

Oklahoma retained its #1 ranking after beating Columbia and Baylor last weekend at the BNP Paribas Collegiate Challenge in Indian Wells.  

  • 6 Best Wins: #2 Baylor (2x), #6 USC, #8 Virginia, at #11 Ohio State, at #12 Wake Forest
  • Other Quality Wins: #13 Ole Miss, #14 North Carolina (2X), #18 South Florida, #19 Northwestern
  • Losses: #9 Texas A&M
  • What’s Coming Up: #10 TCU (3/27), #7 Texas (3/29), #27 Tulsa (4/1)
  • Comments:  Well positioned to stay at #1 for some time with a great resume plus they get a chance to add not 1 but 2 more top 10 wins this weekend.   

Baylor moves up 1 spot from 3 to 2 on the strength of a win last weekend over USC. 

  • 6 Best Wins: #4 Duke, #6 USC, #8 Virginia (2X), at #13 Ole Miss, at #27 Tulsa
  • Other Quality Wins: #10 TCU, #15 UCLA, #29 Drake
  • Losses: #1 Oklahoma (2X), #3 Illinois
  • What’s Coming Up:  No ranked opponents for next 2 weeks.
  • Comments:  The TCU and UCLA wins will bump the Tulsa win next win. 

Illinois drops 1 spot from 2 to 3 after losing to TCU a week ago on Monday and then sitting idle the rest of the week.
  • 6 Best Wins: at #2 Baylor, at #7 Texas, at #9 Texas A&M, #11 Ohio State, #14 North Carolina, #19 Northwestern
  • Other Quality Wins: #30 California, at #37 Notre Dame, #39 Indiana
  • Losses: #4 Duke, #5 Georgia, #10 TCU
  • What’s Coming Up: #50 Penn State (3/27), #11 Ohio State (3/29)
  • Comments:  Big match on Sunday with Ohio State because a loss would mean their 7th best win for next week would be over #30 Cal.

Duke comes up 2 spots from 6 to 4 off the strength of a win last Sunday over Wake Forest.

  • 6 Best Wins: at #3 Illinois, #10 TCU, #12 Wake Forest (2X), #13 Ole Miss, at #19 Northwestern
  • Other Quality Wins: #38 NC State, #52 Tennessee, #59 Memphis
  • Losses: #2 Baylor, #16 Virginia Tech
  • What’s Coming Up: at #63 Clemson (3/27), at #8 Virginia (3/29)
  • Comments:  Really big match on Sunday at Virginia.  A win would keep Duke in the top 5 but a loss would make #38 NC State the 7th best win next week.

Georgia holds firm at #5 this week after beating East Tennessee State and South Carolina last week.

  • 6 Best Wins: #3 Illinois, #9 Texas A&M, #15 UCLA, at #20 Florida, #24 LSU, #26 Columbia
  • Other Quality Wins: at #45 Auburn, at #52 Tennessee
  • Losses: #6 USC (2X)
  • What’s Coming Up: #17 Vanderbilt (3/27)
  • Comments:  4 of UGA’s 6 best wins dropped in the rankings this week so a win over Vanderbilt on Friday would help offset the points drop.

USC falls 2 spots from 4 to 6 after coming up short against Baylor last Saturday.  
  • 6 Best Wins: #5 Georgia (2X+1 was at UGA), #11 Ohio State, #15 UCLA, #20 Florida, #27 Tulsa
  • Other Quality Wins: #21 San Diego, #26 Columbia, #43 Stanford
  • Losses: #1 Oklahoma, #2 Baylor, #27 Tulsa
  • What’s Coming Up: #56 Washington (3/27), #51 Oregon (3/28)
  • Comments:  USC won’t face a top 50 opponent until they go to Cal on 4/10 but they’ll have both the San Diego and Columbia wins jump into their top 7 best wins next week so they’re still fairly well positioned.

Texas rises 1 spot from 8 to 7 coming off the win last week over Ohio State.  
  • 6 Best Wins: #11 Ohio State, #12 Wake Forest, #14 North Carolina, at #27 Tulsa, #31 Minnesota, #32 Florida State
  • Other Quality Wins: #26 Columbia, at #36 SMU, #50 Penn State
  • Losses: #3 Illinois, #11 Ohio State
  • What’s Coming Up: at #22 Oklahoma State (3/27), at #1 Oklahoma (3/29)
  • Comments: Texas has a chance to pick up 2 big road wins this weekend with the Oklahoma swing but they’ll mostly likely get a split at best.  The Columbia win will move into its best 7 next week.

Virginia comes up 1 spot from 9 to 8 after picking up a road win last week over Notre Dame.
  • 6 Best Wins: #10 TCU, at #12 Wake Forest, #14 North Carolina, #23 Louisville, at #37 NC State, at #38 Notre Dame
  • Other Quality Wins: #63 Clemson
  • Losses: #1 Oklahoma, #2 Baylor (2X)
  • What’s Coming Up: #14 North Carolina (3/27), #4 Duke (3/29)
  • Comments:  Huge weekend coming up for Virginia with UNC and Duke coming to town.  Unlike in years past Virginia’s resume is a little light this year so beating UNC and Duke would be a big step in the right direction.

Texas A&M drops 2 spots from 7 to 9 despite winning at Alabama and Mississippi State last week.  A&M dropping had more to do with Texas and Virginia improving their resumes last week while Texas A&M’s stayed as-is. 
  • 6 Best Wins: #1 Oklahoma, #11 Ohio State, #17 Vanderbilt, #21 San Diego, at #34 Mississippi State, #52 Tennessee
  • Other Quality Wins: at #42 South Carolina, at #62 Alabama
  • Losses: #3 Illinois, #5 Georgia, #10 TCU
  • What’s Coming Up:  #53 Arkansas (3/27), #13 Ole Miss (3/29)
  • Comments:  Big match on Sunday against #13 Ole Miss plus the Aggies will get a points boost next week with San Diego coming up 9 spots.  The road win at South Carolina will bump the Tennessee win as the 7th best win.  

Welcome to the Top 10 TCU as the Horned Frogs made the big jump from 18 to 10 off the strength of a win over Illinois last Monday plus they picked up wins over the weekend against Dartmouth and UT Arlington.

  • 6 Best Wins: #3 Illinois, at #9 Texas A&M, #24 LSU, at #27 Tulsa, #44 New Mexico, #60 Dartmouth
  • Other Quality Wins: #66 UC Santa Barbara, #70 UT Arlington
  • Losses: #2 Baylor, #4 Duke, #8 Virginia, #12 Wake Forest, #15 UCLA
  • What’s Coming Up: at #1 Oklahoma (3/27), at #22 Oklahoma State (3/29)
  • Comments: TCU needs a win over #22 Oklahoma State this weekend otherwise they’ll see a pretty big tumble next week because their 7th best win would be over #66 UC Santa Barbara plus 5 of their 6 best wins dropped this week.

Other Comments: 
  • Portland moves into the rankings for the 1st time this year after picking up a big win last weekend over Pepperdine so congrats to the Pilots.  
  • The Big 12 has a stranglehold on the top 3 in the singles rankings with Soren Hess-Olesen the new #1, Axel Alvarez #2, and Julian Lenz #3.  
  • Georgia’s Austin Smith and Ben Wagland take over #1 in the doubles rankings – not bad for a team that had played together just once back in 2012 before being paired up on February 13th. 
  • Nice to see USC’s Eric Johnson finally enter the singles rankings at #114 after the strong year he’s had. The win over Baylor Max Tchoutakian is what pushed him over the top.  
  • Teams with the most # of singles starters ranked:  USC (6), Illinois (5), Baylor (5), Oklahoma (4), Ohio State (4), Texas A&M (4), Virginia (4)
Men’s National Team Rankings 
Administered by the ITA
NCAA Division I Tennis
March 24, 2015
Rank Avg School Previous Week
1 85.77 University of Oklahoma 1
2 77.19 Baylor University 3
3 76.49 University of Illinois 2
4 72.17 Duke University 6
5 70.27 University of Georgia 5
6 69.41 University of Southern California 4
7 63.31 University of Texas 8
8 59.90 University of Virginia 9
9 59.35 Texas A&M University 7
10 54.54 TCU 18
11 51.93 Ohio State University 11
12 48.41 Wake Forest University 12
13 45.99 University of Mississippi 13
14 43.42 North Carolina 10
15 42.39 UCLA 19
16 42.38 Virginia Tech 16
17 39.36 Vanderbilt University 17
18 38.23 University of South Florida 21
19 37.81 Northwestern University 14
20 37.12 University of Florida 15
21 35.48 University of San Diego 30
22 33.84 Oklahoma State University 31
23 33.65 University of Louisville 26
24 31.33 Louisiana State University