We’re now a couple of weeks into the dual-match season but we’re still another 3 weeks away from the first computer rankings. Since the voters don’t vary much from the previous week I thought I’d rank them based off what I’ve seen so far. The teams with some injuries are lower than they would be if playing at full strength (Oklahoma, Georgia, Stanford).
I also listed notable wins/losses up until this point.
1. Virginia (2-0) – win over Kentucky – the defending NCAA Champions will stay at #1 until they get beat. Ryan Shane didn’t exactly have a great opening weekend with loses in singles versus Kentucky and doubles versus Eastern Kentucky but the rest of the team rolled.
2. TCU (2-0) – wins over San Diego State & Oklahoma State – the 4-3 win over Oklahoma State during the Kickoff Weekend looks a lot better after what the Pokes did to Wake on Friday night. TCU has big weekend coming up as they’ll face both Stanford and Cal down in Austin.
3. Ohio State (7-0) – wins over Texas, Denver, Wichita State – all 7 matches have been shutouts – Buckeyes will face its biggest test this Sunday when Virginia Tech comes to Columbus.
4. UCLA (4-0) – wins over Georgia, Georgia Tech, SMU. Bruins are strong at all 6 singles spots with everyone playing well right now. San Diego comes in on Friday and next Tuesday UCLA plays at Virginia
5. Texas A&M (4-0) – wins over Boise State, Fresno State, UTSA. Lineup is strong top to bottom – big week coming up for A&M as it goes to Waco to play Baylor on Wednesday then gets Florida State and South Florida in College Station on Friday and Sunday.
6. North Carolina (5-0) – wins over Illinois, NC State, & Drake. Schnur (tendinitis) and Schneider (ankle) haven’t hit their stride yet due to some minor injuries but the Heels are solid at 3, 4, and 5. Big match on Sunday against a vulnerable Oklahoma team that’s down a guy.
7. Oklahoma State (5-1) – wins over Wake Forest, Minnesota, at Memphis; 4-3 loss at TCU – right now I’d consider them the second best team in the conference behind TCU. Solid but not overpowering lineup that will give a lot of teams problems. Pokes have a pair of tricky ones this week with an improving NC State coming in on Tuesday while they hit the road on Sunday to face an upstart Arkansas.
8. Wake Forest (6-1) – wins over Oklahoma, Tennessee, Auburn; 4-2 loss at Oklahoma State. Wake will be at its best when it goes outdoors – needs to tighten up doubles and Bogaerts needs to play like he did on Sunday versus Oklahoma and not like he did on Friday against Oklahoma State.
9. Oklahoma (2-1) – 5-2 loss to Wake Forest – OU needs to get Andrew Harris healthy (knee tendinitis) and back in the lineup because without him they become vulnerable at one too many spots. They also need Axel Alvarez to return to his junior season form when he was mowing guys down and they’ll need to find someone who can consistently contribute at #6. Oklahoma is going to have a tough one on Sunday when they go to North Carolina.
10. Georgia (2-1) – wins over UCSB & Memphis; 6-1 loss at UCLA – Dawgs are down a couple of starters with Walker Duncan (foot) and Nick Wood (wrist) recovering from injuries which will make the match on Saturday against Georgia Tech tougher than normal.
11. Baylor (5-0) – wins over Oregon & UC Irvine – #6 singles is a huge liability right now without Vince Schneider in the lineup – Bears need to find a way to plug the hole and quickly or the losses will start racking up. Big match on Wednesday night against Texas A&M and then Ole Miss comes in on Saturday.
12. Illinois (4-1) – wins at Duke, Northwestern, Notre Dame; 4-0 loss at North Carolina – the Illini has one of the best top 3 in the country but they need more consistency down low to avoid having to win the doubles point every match.
13. USC (3-0) – wins over Florida & Tulane – USC hasn’t lost yet but they’re playing with fire after winning a pair of squeakers. USC’s strongest spots are at 3, 4, and 5 but they are going to be underdogs against a lot of teams in the other spots. It will be very interesting to see how USC does this year at the National Indoors.
14. Texas Tech (9-0) – wins over New Mexico, Ole Miss, Florida, Arizona – Tech hasn’t faced a top 15 team yet but they’ll see a bunch of them in two weeks at the National Team Indoors. This is a dangerous team that will go toe-to-tie with just about anyone so if they get the right matchup in Charlottesville I could see them taking out a top 5 team.
15. Columbia (3-0) – wins over Stanford, Minnesota, North Florida – Lions have been unbeatable at home with its come from behind win over Stanford possibly the match of the year so far. It’s amazing that Columbia is still unbeaten after replacing four starters, three of which played in the top three spots. It’ll be interesting to see how Columbia does away from home
16. South Florida (2-0) – wins over Florida State & LSU – Bulls leave home for the first time this coming weekend when they play at Minnesota and at Texas A&M. They should win comfortably in Minneapolis but the match in College Station will tell us if they are ready to take the next step and move in to the top 10.
17. Stanford (4-1) – wins over Virginia Tech & San Diego State; 4-3 loss at Columbia. Stanford can make up for the loss to Columbia when it plays Texas and TCU this weekend in Austin. The singles and doubles lineups will be stronger once David Hsu returns to the lineup
18. San Diego (4-0) – wins over UC Irvine, Vanderbilt, at Duke – Toreros looked very good during the Kick-Off Weekend but they did benefit by not having to see Cal in the regional finals. San Diego has a nice “warmup” for the National Indoors when they go to LA on Friday to play UCLA. I’m not expecting to see them win but I’d be a little surprised if they get shutout.
19. Virginia Tech (2-1) – wins over Alabama & Boise State; 4-0 loss to Stanford. The Hokies had to be disappointed after getting shutout indoors by Stanford but they have a chance to make up for it when they go to Ohio State on Sunday. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Virginia Tech take two of the top three against the Buckeyes but winning any of the courts down low will be a challenge.
20. Northwestern (5-1) – wins at Duke, at Louisville, Notre Dame, Tulsa; 4-0 loss at Illinois – NU has been one the early season surprises with Konrad Zieba playing at #1 and playing well which has let Shropshire and Kirchheimer slide down to #2 and #3. They already have some good wins on the resume and the loss to Illinois wasn’t as bad as the score shows. NU should beat both Cornell and Rice this weekend but these are the types of matches that have tripped them up in the past.
21. Florida (3-2) – win at Texas; 4-3 losses to Texas Tech and USC – close but no cigar in the two losses. Florida is pretty solid throughout its lineup but they aren’t going to overpower a lot of teams. Just about every court will be a toss-up against the top 15-20 teams so while they’ll beat some guys they’ll get beat some too. Having a healthy Gordon Watson in the singles lineup is a must. Watson should be able to play at #3 or #4 which will push some guys down in the lineup resulting in some better matchups. Florida doesn’t play again until Feb 21st when it goes to Ohio State.
22. Florida State (6-1) – wins over Mississippi State & Alabama; 4-3 loss at South Florida – the Seminoles have looked good in all their matches and they had South Florida on the ropes but couldn’t finish. They are undefeated in doubles so far but will face a huge test on Friday at Texas A&M. A shutout loss would be a disappointment so we’ll see if they can grab a few courts.
23. Cal (2-1) – win over San Francisco; 4-3 loss at Tulsa – I’m still high on Cal despite the loss to Tulsa but the Bears really, really got hurt by not being able to make it the Duke Regional during the Kick-Off Weekend. They missed out a chance to pick up a couple of ranked wins in Durham plus had they qualified, which I predicted they would, they would have got to play three more ranked teams at the National Team Indoors. That’s a lot of missed opportunity but Cal can make up for it this weekend whey they play Texas and TCU.
24. Ole Miss (2-1) – win at Texas; 4-0 loss to Texas Tech – the top of the lineup will keep the Rebels in a lot of matches but they need more production from the bottom three to win. Doubles has been okay but it looks like there will be a lot of doubles points decided in a tiebreak. Ole Miss has only played three matches so far and after Saturday’s match at Baylor they won’t play again for two more weeks after that.
25. Oregon (6-1) – wins over UCSB, Old Dominion, Denver, at Nebraska; 4-2 loss at Baylor – Ducks keep plugging along and are coming off a successful weekend with wins over Nebraska and Denver – they had Baylor on the ropes during the Kick-Off weekend with the final two matches going to third set tiebreaks.
Just on the outside looking in: NC State, Washington, Vanderbilt,
Who do you think should be higher or lower and why?
Here was everybody’s vote for the preseason top 4
Must not have been too serious because he's playing today.
Any new on Jon Ho injury for Wake? Heard he might possibly sit out against South Carolina.
That's interesting – I hadn't noticed that he wasn't on the roster until you mentioned it. I'm pretty sure he's still at school there but not sure why he isn't on the roster.
Bobby, Morgan Stone from Georgia committed to Santa Clara for the 2015-16 season, but is not listed on the roster. Is he playing this year? Did he attend another university?
I have been a little sleep deprived lately – there is a good chance they'll be 14-1 when UCLA comes to town in late March with the way they have the schedule laid out.
Oregon? Bobby are you feeling ok? They are a 40-50 team at best