As I forecasted on Monday, Virginia is your new No. 1 with its road win over Florida putting it over the top. TCU stays at No. 2, Ohio State comes up two spots to No. 3, UCLA stays at No. 4, and North Carolina, which was last week’s No. 1, falls to No. 5 after a stunning loss to Notre Dame.
Georgia moves up one spot to No. 6 after a win over Florida, Wake Forest drops one spot to No. 7, Oklahoma rises one spot to No. 8, USC falls one spot to No. 9, and Texas Tech rises one spot to No. 10.
This set of rankings used each team’s nine best wins and all losses as will each subsequent set of rankings until the selection of the NCAA field on May 3rd.
New Mexico, Lamar, Stanford, and Notre Dame were the biggest upward movers last week. New Mexico went from unranked to No. 60, Lamar came up 14 spots to No. 54, Stanford came up 13 spots to No. 29, and Notre Dame came up 12 spots to No. 43.
The following teams moved up at least 5 spots versus the last rankings – movement in ( ):
#29 Stanford (+13) – beat Oregon and Washington
#33 LSU (+6) – won at Kentucky and Tennessee
#37 Baylor (+8) – beat Texas
#43 Notre Dame (+12) – beat #1 North Carolina
#54 Lamar (+14) – beat Rice
#60 New Mexico (at least +16) – beat Tulsa
#65 Cal Poly (+8) – beat UC Irvine and UNLV
#70 Indiana (at least +6) – beat Penn State
The following teams dropped down at least 5 spots versus the last rankings (still ranked):
#24 Tulsa (-6) – lost to unranked New Mexico
#35 Washington (-5) – lost to Stanford and Cal
#39 Penn State (-6) – lost to unranked Indiana
#41 Oregon (-5) – lost to Stanford and Cal
#46 Princeton (-9) – lost to Dartmouth and Harvard
#66 Loyola Marymount (-8) – lost to UC Irvine and Portland
#71 Pacific (-5) – lost to Oregon
These 4 teams entered the rankings after being unranked and here is why they are now ranked
#60 New Mexico – beat then #18 Tulsa
#70 Indiana – beat then #33 Penn State
#74 Florida Gulf Coast – beat then #71 North Florida (road)
#75 UC Irvine – lost to Cal Poly but previous win over Loyola Marymount was upgraded when LMU rose 10 spots in the rankings
These 4 teams dropped out of the rankings with last week’s rankings in ( ):
William & Mary (70) – lost to VCU and Old Dominion
North Florida (71) – lost to Florida Gulf Coast
Middle Tennessee State (74) – lost to East Tennessee State
Miami FL (75) – lost to NC State
Here is the ITA’s release which breaks down the rankings by conference affiliation.
Below I’ll breakdown the team Top 9 looking at the 9 best wins that were used in the rankings this week along with other quality ranked wins. I also listed the point totals gained from the best wins and losses to come up with the computer score.
Virginia moves up to No. 1 after picking up road wins over Florida, Georgia Tech, and Clemson. Virginia would have moved up to No. 1 even if UNC hadn’t lost to Notre Dame.
- 9 Best Wins (686.4): #2 TCU, #4 UCLA, #6 Wake Forest, #9 Oklahoma, #14 Florida, #18 Tulsa, #20 Kentucky, #23 Florida State, at #31 Georgia Tech
- Other Quality Wins: #29 San Diego, #40 Virginia Tech, #41 NC State, #55 Notre Dame, #60 Duke
- Losses (9.5): #1 North Carolina (2X), #15 Illinois
- Computer Score: 686.4/9.5 = 72.25 (was 68.45)
- What’s Coming Up: Wake Forest (4/15), Miami (4/17), ACC Tournament (4/22-24)
- Comments: Virginia can win the ACC regular season title outright with a win on Friday over No. 7 Wake Forest though a loss would snap its 12-year streak of claiming at least a share of the conference title.
TCU stays at No. 2 after adding wins over No. 9 Oklahoma, No. 12 Oklahoma State and No. 25 SMU. The reason TCU didn’t move up to No. 1 was because Virginia’s top wins are slightly better than TCU’s (686.4 vs. 669.4) with each having identical losses in terms of points.
- 9 Best Wins (669.4): #8 USC, #9 Oklahoma, #10 Texas A&M, #12 Oklahoma State (2X), #13 Northwestern, #15 Illinois (2X +1 on road), at #22 South Florida
- Other Quality Wins: #18 Tulsa, #25 SMU, #26 Columbia, #28 Rice, #38 Dartmouth, #42 Stanford, at #44 Wisconsin,
- Losses (9.5): #3 Virginia, #19 California
- Computer Score: 669.4/9.5 = 70.46 (was 69.05)
- What’s Coming Up: at Texas (4/16), Baylor (4/20), at Texas Tech (4/24), Big 12 Tournament (4/30-5/1)
- Comments: TCU added some nice wins last week which was a good thing because several of its top wins fell in the rankings last week. TCU has a rough schedule down the stretch with three top 25 teams coming to Fort Worth this week with Oklahoma probably the biggest challenge of the three. TCU will be tested but it should win them all this week.
Ohio State moves up two spots to No. 3 after picking a big road win at No. 20 Kentucky along with road wins at Indiana and No. 57 Purdue.
UCLA stays at No. 4 after winning on the road at Arizona and Utah.
- 9 Best Wins (619.1): at #9 Oklahoma, #10 Texas A&M (2X), #14 Florida, #17 Texas, at #20 Kentucky, #21 Michigan, at #22 South Florida, #33 Penn State,
- Other Quality Wins: #40 Virginia Tech, #45 Baylor, #49 Denver, at #55 Notre Dame, #63 Iowa
- Losses (9.3): #1 North Carolina, at #7 Georgia
- Computer Score: 619.1/9.3 = 66.57 (was 65.41)
- What’s Coming Up: at Minnesota (4/15), at Wisconsin (4/17), Northwestern (4/22), Illinois (4/24), Big Ten Tournament (4/29-5/1)
- Comments: The Buckeyes should win both matches this weekend quite comfortably with the Wisconsin match being the more difficult of the two. The Big Ten title will be decided the following weekend when both Northwestern and Illinois coming to Columbus.
UCLA stays at No. 4 after winning on the road at Arizona and Utah.
- 9 Best Wins (610.2): #7 Georgia (2X), #8 USC, #10 Texas A&M, #19 Cal, #25 SMU, #29 San Diego, at #30 Washington, #31 Georgia Tech
- Other Quality Wins: #36 Oregon, #42 Stanford (2X + 1 on road), #65 BYU, at #72 Utah
- Losses (9.2): #1 North Carolina, #3 Virginia
- Computer Score: 610.2/9.2 = 66.33 (was 67.84)
- What’s Coming Up: UC San Diego (4/14), at USC 4/17), Pac 12 Tournament (4/22-23)
- Comments: The Bruins finish out the regular season on Sunday when they face USC at the newly refurbished Buntmann Tennis Center. A win over USC should push the Bruins back ahead of Ohio State for the No. 3 spot.
North Carolina drops four spots to No. 5 after a stunning loss at Notre Dame
- 9 Best Wins (698.9): #3 Virginia (2X + 1 on road), #4 UCLA, #5 Ohio State, #9 Oklahoma, #11 Texas Tech, #15 Illinois, #40 Virginia Tech, at #41 NC State
- Other Quality Wins: #41 NC State (2nd of 2 wins), #43 Vanderbilt, #75 Miami
- Losses (10.6): #6 Wake Forest, at #23 Florida State, at #55 Notre Dame
- Computer Score: 698.9/10.6 = 65.93 (was 73.43)
- What’s Coming Up: Georgia Tech (4/15), at Duke (4/17), ACC Tournament (4/22-24)
- Comments: I guess the bright side of losing the No. 1 spot to Virginia is the fact that the Tar Heels will gain a good chunk of points since it has the two wins over the Hoos. North Carolina still has the best overall resume when it comes to wins but unfortunately those losses to Florida State and Notre Dame are dragging them down. North Carolina should handle both Georgia Tech and Duke but I thought the same thing about the match with Notre Dame.
Georgia moves up one spot to No. 6 after picking up wins over Florida and Auburn.
- 9 Best Wins (569.7): #5 Ohio State, at #10 Texas A&M, #14 Florida, #20 Kentucky, #24 Mississippi State, #26 Columbia, #31 Georgia Tech, #32 Alabama, #34 Memphis
- Other Quality Wins: at #39 LSU, at #43 Vanderbilt, #47 UC Santa Barbara, #52 East Tennessee State, #59 Auburn, at #62 South Carolina
- Losses (9.5): #4 UCLA (2X), #11 Texas Tech
- Computer Score: 569.7/9.5 = 59.97 (was 58.07)
- What’s Coming Up: at Arkansas (4/15), at Ole Miss (4/17), SEC Tournament (4/22-24)
- Comments: The Bulldogs have already clinched a share of the regular season SEC title and can win it outright with a win this weekend over either Arkansas or Ole Miss (or another Florida loss). Both of those teams will give Georgia a run for its money with the Arkansas match the tougher of the two.
Wake Forest drops one spot to No. 7 despite winning its only match last Saturday against Duke. The reason Wake dropped is because Georgia picked a top 15 win over Florida.
- 9 Best Wins (632.6): at #1 North Carolina, #8 USC, #9 Oklahoma (2X + 1 on road), #11 Texas Tech, at #23 Florida State, #31 Georgia Tech, at #40 Virginia Tech, #52 East Tennessee State
- Other Quality Wins: #55 Notre Dame, #59 Auburn, #60 Duke, #62 South Carolina, #71 North Florida, at #75 Miami
- Losses (10.6): #3 Virginia, #12 Oklahoma State, #17 Texas, #41 NC State
- Computer Score: 632.6/10.6 = 59.68 (was 58.41)
- What’s Coming Up: at Virginia (4/15), at Louisville (4/17), ACC Tournament (4/22-24)
- Comments: Wake can win an outright ACC regular season championship if it wins on Friday at Virginia. The Deacs nearly beat Virginia the last time they met at the National Team Indoors and I think they’ve got a really good shot at pulling the upset in this one. My early observation is Wake needs to win at No. 2, No. 4, and No. 6 singles in addition to taking the doubles point.
Oklahoma rises one spot to No. 8 after a loss at TCU and a win at Texas.
- 9 Best Wins (558.8): at #17 Texas, at #18 Tulsa, #15 Illinois, #19 Cal, at #22 South Florida, at #23 Florida State, #29 San Diego, at #32 Alabama, #34 Memphis
- Other Quality Wins: #56 Utah State
- Losses (10.4): #1 North Carolina, #2 TCU, #3 Virginia, #5 Ohio State, #6 Wake Forest (2X), #8 USC, #16 Arkansas
- Computer Score: 558.8/10.4 = 53.73 (was 53.10)
- What’s Coming Up: Baylor (4/15), Texas Tech (4/17), at Oklahoma State (4/23), Big 12 Tournament (4/29-5/1)
- Comments: The return of Andrew Harris has revitalized this team and in the blink of an eye they are back in the national title hunt. OU won’t have any issues with Baylor but Texas Tech will be a stiff challenge. Last season OU got stunned in Lubbock so I have a feeling they’ll be more than ready for this one.
USC drops one spot to No. 9 despite sweeping both Utah and Arizona.
- 9 Best Wins (531): #9 Oklahoma, #14 Florida, at #18 Tulsa, #19 California, #22 South Florida, #27 Tulane, at #36 Oregon, #42 Stanford (2X + 1 on road)
- Other Quality Wins: #45 Baylor, #67 UC Davis, at #72 Utah
- Losses (10.0): #2 TCU, #4 UCLA, #6 Wake Forest, #30 Washington
- Computer Score: 531/10.0 = 53.10 (was 54.52)
- What’s Coming Up: UCLA (4/17), Pac 12 Tournament (4/22-23)
- Comments: The Trojans have a chance to avenge their loss to UCLA when the Bruins come across town on Sunday afternoon in a match that will be televised nationally on the Pac-12 Network. USC has been playing much better lately but it’ll need an A+ effort to beat the Bruins.
4/12 Oracle/ITA Men’s Rankings
| Rank | Avg | School | Previous Rank |
| 1 | 72.25 | University of Virginia | 3 |
| 2 | 70.46 | TCU | 2 |
| 3 | 66.57 | Ohio State University | 5 |
| 4 | 66.33 | UCLA | 4 |
| 5 | 65.93 | North Carolina | 1 |
| 6 | 59.97 | University of Georgia | 7 |
| 7 | 59.68 | Wake Forest University | 6 |
| 8 | 53.73 | University of Oklahoma | 9 |
| 9 | 53.1 | University of Southern California | 8 |
| 10 | 49.27 | Texas Tech University | 11 |
| 11 | 47.45 | Texas A&M University | 10 |
| 12 | 47.41 | University of Arkansas | 16 |
| 13 | 47.25 | University of Florida | 14 |
| 14 | 47 | Oklahoma State University | 12 |
| 15 | 46.09 | Northwestern University | 13 |
| 16 | 43.22 | California | 19 |
| 17 | 40.64 | University of Illinois | 15 |
| 18 | 40.52 | University of Texas | 17 |
| 19 | 39.95 | University of South Florida | 22 |
| 20 | 39.46 | University of Kentucky | 20 |
| 21 | 38.24 | University of Michigan | 21 |
| 22 | 37.37 | Florida State University | 23 |
| 23 | 33.45 | Mississippi State University | 24 |
| 24 | 32.59 | University of Tulsa | 18 |
| 25 | 29.13 | Columbia University | 26 |
| 26 | 27.66 | Rice University | 28 |
| 27 | 27.17 | SMU | 25 |
| 28 | 26.94 | Tulane University | 27 |
| 29 | 26.75 | Stanford University | 42 |
| 30 | 24.89 | Georgia Tech | 31 |
| 31 | 24.8 | University of San Diego | 29 |
| 32 | 23.99 | University of Mississippi | 35 |
| 33 | 23.67 | LSU | 39 |
| 34 | 22.18 | University of Alabama | 32 |
| 35 | 22.06 | University of Washington | 30 |
| 36 | 21.99 | Dartmouth College | 38 |
| 37 | 21.6 | Baylor University | 45 |
| 38 | 21.17 | University of Memphis | 34 |
| 39 | 20.92 | Penn State University | 33 |
| 40 | 20.29 | Virginia Tech | 40 |
| 41 | 19.57 | University of Oregon | 36 |
| 42 | 19.04 | North Carolina State | 41 |
| 43 | 18.61 | University of Notre Dame | 55 |
| 44 | 17.08 | Old Dominion University | 48 |
| 45 | 16.65 | Vanderbilt University | 43 |
| 46 | 16.61 | Princeton University | 37 |
| 47 | 15.94 | University of Wisconsin | 44 |
| 48 | 15.57 | Harvard University | 50 |
| 49 | 15.49 | Drake University | 46 |
| 50 | 14.62 | UC Santa Barbara | 47 |
| 51 | 13.98 | University of Denver | 49 |
| 52 | 12.72 | East Tennessee State University | 52 |
| 53 | 12.14 | Georgia State University | 51 |
| 54 | 11.98 | Lamar University | 68 |
| 55 | 11.47 | Cornell University | 54 |
| 56 | 11.45 | Pepperdine | 53 |
| 57 | 10.98 | Utah State University | 56 |
| 58 | 10.59 | University of South Carolina | 62 |
| 59 | 9.82 | Purdue University | 57 |
| 60 | 9.79 | University of New Mexico | NR |
| 61 | 9.7 | Brigham Young University | 65 |
| 62 | 9.67 | St. John’s University | 61 |
| 63 | 9.19 | Auburn University | 59 |
| 64 | 8.99 | Duke University | 60 |
| 65 | 8.99 | Cal Poly | 73 |
| 66 | 8.88 | Loyola Marymount University | 58 |
| 67 | 8.3 | University of Iowa | 63 |
| 68 | 8.15 | Boise State University | 64 |
| 69 | 7.95 | UC Davis | 67 |
| 70 | 7.82 | Indiana University-Bloomington | NR |
| 71 | 7.66 | University of the Pacific (California) | 66 |
| 72 | 7.38 | UNC Wilmington | 69 |
| 73 | 7.31 | University of Utah | 72 |
| 74 | 7.16 | Florida Gulf Coast University | NR |
| 75 | 6.69 | UC Irvine | NR |
The top two stayed the same but South Florida’s Roberto Cid moved up from No. 5 to No. 3 after handing Dominik Koepfer his first dual-match loss of the year. Georgia Tech’s Christopher Eubanks entered the top 10 at No 7 after defeating Ryan Shane.
| Rank | Avg | Player | School | Previous Rank |
| 1 | 61.2 | Dominik Koepfer | Tulane University | 1 |
| 2 | 59.01 | Mikael Torpegaard | Ohio State University | 2 |
| 3 | 58.17 | Roberto Cid | University of South Florida | 5 |
| 4 | 54.03 | Aleks Vukic | University of Illinois | 4 |
| 5 | 52.97 | Cameron Norrie | TCU | 3 |
| 6 | 45.96 | Thai-Son Kwiatkowski | University of Virginia | 6 |
| 7 | 43.93 | Christopher Eubanks | Georgia Tech | 12 |
| 8 | 43.33 | Mackenzie McDonald | UCLA | 9 |
| 9 | 41.64 | Ryan Shane | University of Virginia | 7 |
| 10 | 41.28 | Tom Fawcett | Stanford University | 8 |
| 11 | 40.88 | Benjamin Lock | Florida State University | 10 |
| 12 | 38.64 | Jared Hiltzik | University of Illinois | 11 |
| 13 | 35.88 | Diego Hidalgo | University of Florida | 17 |
| 14 | 34.91 | Skander Mansouri | Wake Forest University | 13 |
| 15 | 32.65 | Konrad Zieba | Northwestern University | 15 |
| 16 | 32.53 | Arthur Rinderknech | Texas A&M University | 21 |
| 17 | 30.84 | Julian Lenz | Baylor University | 14 |
| 18 | 29.23 | Felipe Soares | Texas Tech University | 20 |
| 19 | 28.66 | Max de Vroome | University of Southern California | 18 |
| 20 | 28.47 | Alex Rybakov | TCU | 16 |
| 21 | 26.22 | Petros Chrysochos | Wake Forest University | 24 |
| 22 | 26 | Nicolas Alvarez | Duke University | 26 |
| 23 | 25.65 | Axel Alvarez Llamas | University of Oklahoma | 36 |
| 24 | 25.54 | Austin Smith | University of Georgia | 22 |
| 25 | 24.79 | Joao Monteiro | Virginia Tech | 19 |
| 26 | 24.59 | Mike Redlicki | University of Arkansas | 28 |
| 27 | 23.23 | Andre Goransson | California | 23 |
| 28 | 22.83 | Ronnie Schneider | North Carolina | 27 |
| 29 | 22.24 | Brayden Schnur | North Carolina | 29 |
| 30 | 21.83 | Florian Lakat | California | 30 |
| 31 | 20.87 | William Bushamuka | University of Kentucky | 25 |
| 32 | 20.24 | Quentin Monaghan | University of Notre Dame | 31 |
| 33 | 17.81 | Mate Cutura | Mississippi State University | 41 |
| 34 | 17.28 | Wayne Montgomery | University of Georgia | 34 |
| 35 | 17.19 | Ryotaro Matsamura | University of Kentucky | 52 |
| 36 | 16.95 | Hugo Di Feo | Ohio State University | 35 |
| 37 | 16.81 | Piotr Lomacki | University of Miami (Florida) | 43 |
| 38 | 16.58 | Elliott Orkin | University of Florida | 33 |
| 39 | 16.07 | Collin Altamirano | University of Virginia | 38 |
| 40 | 15.39 | Daniel Valent | Vanderbilt University | 37 |
| 41 | 15.26 | Sam Shropshire | Northwestern University | 40 |
| 42 | 15.24 | Gergely Madarasz | Purdue University | 39 |
| 43 | 14.88 | Nick Crystal | University of Southern California | 32 |
| 44 | 14.16 | Dominic Cotrone | University of South Florida | 42 |
| 45 | 13.67 | Martin Redlicki | UCLA | 47 |
| 46 | 12.99 | Alexandru Ghilea |
15 Comments |
Thanks for letting me know – I copied the info from last year and forgot to update that part.
Bobby there's a slight mistake on the Tournament Central page, where you list UCLA as the defending champion. USC was last year's tournament champion, and it was regular season co-champion, along with Stanford.
I can tell you the Sun Belt first looks at Rankings and then committee decides seeding after ranked teams, usually find head to head and then common opponents. Sun Belt has several teams who play 0 or 1-2 matches against other conference mates. Southland plays Round Robin so they are easy
Concur the blurb about TCU mskes no sense. But if the point is that TCU be seeded #1 if the Wahoo's falter, be careful what you wish for. The #1 seed has not had much luck in winning the championship in recent years. Draw is much more important than seeding. Last.year #1 Oklahoma had to face a dangerous Ucla team in the round of 16 while other contenders had much easier matchups. Oklahoma escaped with a victory when the deciding match moved indoors because of the threatvof lightening. As I sat watching there was nary a cloud in the sky to warrant this change. But the point is that an unlikely draw almost derailed the #1 seed very early on. Seeding does have an impact but draw is more important.
If they picked the field today they would be – still lots of tennis to be played though. Lamar will need to win the conference tournament to qualify because they wouldn't make it as an at-large. <br /><br />Assuming Lamar qualifies these would be its competition with the 6 highest ranked getting a 3 seed and the rest getting a 4: <br />Old Dominion<br />Drake<br />Denver<br />UC Santa Barbara<br />East Tennessee State <br />Georgia State <br />Utah State<br /><br />
will Lamar be a 3 seed now?
what on earth are you talking about?
That'd be cool if that's the real intent, but it doesn't seem to be benefitting BYU, Pepperdine or Gonzaga, it instead seems to be advantageous to schools not named TCU. For the Frogs to have a chance, they have to find a needle in a giant haystack, thread it, while simultaneously dancing along with a multitude of angels on the head of the needle. At least in tennis, as opposed to the BCS or the CFP, the tourney will give the Frogs a chance (although last year we had to play on the Baylor courts, of all places).
Good question about the 9 wins – I'm guessing it's a way to try to level the playing field – if they counted all wins then the teams in the power 5 conference would dominate more than they already do since most of the conference matches would be against a ranked opponent whereas someone in say the West Coast Conference would only have so many ranked opportunities in conference.
Thanks! So it's just like football, huh? What is the rationale for only counting the top 9 W's as opposed to to an analysis of the entire schedule?
Here is the current top 10 as of this minute – UNC back up to #2 with its win over UVA now worth that many more points since UVA moved up to #1<br /><br />1. Virginia 71.26<br />2. North Carolina 69.01<br />3. TCU 68.87<br />4. UCLA 66.77<br />5. Ohio State 66.53<br />6. Georgia 62.06<br />7. Wake Forest 59.58<br />8. USC 55.07<br />9. Oklahoma 53.23<br />10. Texas Tech 50.05
There is a glitch within the comments widget that wipes out all the comments on the left side of the page if someone makes a comment on a page at the top so that's why I disabled them.<br /><br />Every conference has a different set of rules for seeding – conference that don't have all teams play each other usually use ITA rankings (I believe) and the ones that do play a round robin usually use conference record with a series of tiebreakers if teams are tied.
The only way TCU would jump to #1 would be if UVA lost to Wake, UNC lost to Georgia Tech or Duke, and UCLA lost to USC – so probably not going to happen though in this day in age we can't say never. <br /><br />
Since 2016 conference championships is closed to comments, I will post question here: how are conference championships seeded if all the teams do not play each other and if few if any teams in conference are ranked? Do most conferences require all teams to play each other? There is such a big difference in size for tennis conferences-some just have 6 teams, and then the ACC and SEC have 13 teams.
If Wake Forest beats Virginia, and TCU beats Texas, will the Frogs advance to #1?