2016 Fantasy Draft Team Recaps – D3Central + D3NE

Good evening, boys and girls, and welcome to round 2 of the 2016 Fantasy Draft team recaps! If you need a refresher, click the “2016 Fantasy Draft” menu tab at the top of the page. Tonight, The Blog brings you a celebrity-death-match between the two blog veterans. I was excited to be matched up with D3Central, because I just beat him in our fantasy football league over the weekend. I’m sure he’s primed to take some revenge, but I’ll do my best to go for the fantasy jugular. Both of our teams our listed below, followed by some analysis by both team owners. We will continue bringing you more 2016 Fantasy Draft Team Recaps throughout the week, and as D3AS has previously announced, he plans on posting full teams as well as projected starting lineups by the end of this week. Remember that today’s matchup features one writer that is an aging cynic and one writer who hit that stage about 20 years ago. Enjoy your #WallOfText

D3Central’s “Wootton’s Warriors”

Coach: Russell McMindes

Ast Coach: Chris Wooden

Projected Singles Lineup:

  1. Andrew Yaraghi, Amherst
  2. Adam Krull, Trinity
  3. Jake Roberts, Wesleyan
  4. Charlie Pei, Chicago
  5. Aaron Revzin, Amherst
  6. Konrad Kozlowski, Wash U

Projected Doubles Lineup:

  1. Adam Krull/Charlie Pei
  2. Andrew Yaraghi/Aaron Revzin
  3. Daniel Morkovine/Phillip Locklear or Alex Cuaneac/Konrad Kozlowski

Projected Backups:

  1. Alex Cauneac, MIT
  2. Phillip Locklear, Whitman
  3. Daniel Morkovine, CMS
  4. Andres Gomez, NC Wes (apparently now Transfer #1)
  5. Justin Kang, Hopkins
  6. Jesse Levitin, Amherst

Team Analysis: When I am constructing a team I always take the mindset of how do I get 5 points. 5 points is what it takes to win a match and that is all that matters in the grand scheme of things. Yes there are things like team chemistry, a nice balance of youth and experience, and coaching that are extremely important to success, but in the end, where am I going to get the 5 points necessary to win matches. With that in mind, you can’t look any further than doubles to get you started because it can make or break the momentum of the match. I am extremely happy with my doubles lineup as I think they would be able to compete with anyone at every position. At the top spot, Adam Krull is only the defending fall national champion. I had to think to myself how could I partner him with someone talented enough to compete, but also someone who could use the senior leadership. Pei is the perfect marriage. He’s got more game than Jesus Shuttlesworth and would feed off Krull’s experience. At #2, the talent continues. Putting the two Jeffs together seemed obvious with Revzin being a doubles All-American and 5th place finisher this fall along with the steady Yaraghi who rarely lost a match last season at #2 doubles. At #3, I have two teams that both could be fantastic. I think I am leaning towards the Morkovine/Locklear tandem because they would be doubles “specialists” not being in my singles lineup. Morkovine was nasty at #2 last season winning 8-1 in the nationals championship finals over a Hansen led Middlebury. That’s nothing to ignore. Locklear is another All-American doubles player that has ridiculous returns that would feature well at the third spot. If these two guys don’t mesh well, the two freshman Cauneac and Kozlowski would be great fill ins. I expect both to play #1 doubles for their teams this spring. Three of my six doubles players are All-Americans from the fall. I would expect to be up 2-1 if not 3-0 against any lineup.

In singles, I have a couple of absolute locks at their positions, three likely winners, and one weak spot. My first round pick in the draft was Adam Krull at #2 singles. This guy is a #1 player that happened to have lost to Deull so we slotted him at #2. He will be a sure win if he plays behind Paxton all season. Charlie Pei at #4 is about as big of a lock as you get. I fully believe that Pei is the second best player on the Chicago roster which is saying alot considering how talented they are. I see him starting the season at #4, but likely moving up as the year goes along. He only lost to Krimbill from Case in three close sets this fall and considering Krimbill is a Top 4 player in the country, having Pei at #4 should be illegal. My likely winners are slotted at #1, #5, and #6. Yaraghi is Mr. Consistency in that he is almost always in the top 8 nationally at year end. Does he have the firepower to take out the big guns like Butts? Probably not, but I would put him against the likes of everyone else without question. Revzin is going to be one of the best at #5. There are many teams that have the depth that Amherst does this season outside of Chicago putting him close to a lock. At #6, I actually picked Kozlowski over Levitin to start even though Levitin was the higher draft choice. I have a gut feeling that Kozlowski is going to be an anchor for Wash U this year at the 6 spot. Wash U is weak at the top, but dirty at the bottom with Kozlowski slotting at #6. If he doesn’t perform, Levitin could step in and compete with anyone. My weakest spot is probably at three singles, but I have two guys that are both very capable on winning. Both Roberts and Morkovine have the talent, but I chose Roberts to start so Mork can focus on doubles. One big thing I wanted to point out. I have no players from teams that are not national powerhouses (outside of maybe Roberts). I think this is extremely important because week in and week out they are facing the best of the best and are proven winners. Talent is one thing, but knowing how to win is understated.

Finally, you have to talk about the coaches. I’ve got two of the best from the big state of Texas. McMindes has shown that he can coach them up with an Indoor National Title to his name which is saying something since they don’t play much indoors down south. Mr. Wootton would take the duties of getting the guys pumped up for each match as well as help in doubles. I know I would want Wootton on my side and he would be an awesome assistant!

D3Northeast’s Take:

I’m going to spend a little more time on D3Central’s lineup than my own, because if you all read the round-by-round analysis you know what I think of my crew. First thing’s first, the McMindes/Wootton combination is Texas-sized genius. But D3Central’s lineup seems to be banking an awful lot on unproven talent. I understand that Pei should be filthy, but as of now he’s still a risk. Koz at 6 could be really good, but we don’t even know that he’ll start. In fact both of D3Central’s #6 players are nowhere close to guaranteed a lineup sot. I love Krull at #2, honestly that could be the best pick of the entire draft, but other than that I actually like how my guys match up. Yaraghi is a very solid #1, but Butts would be favored there. I’ll give D3Central Krull over Budd, but he did say that Budd is a streaky player. That bodes well in a matchup where my guy is the underdog. At #3 Raventos owns Roberts. Roberts is great player with a huge forehand, but Raventos took him to town at the ITA this fall (2&2 i think) and Raventos also beat Liu (Wesleyan #1) last year who is playing 2 spots ahead of Jake. #4 is a BATTLE of unproven players, but Benny-Boy has the experience edge over Pei even if Charlie has the talent edge. I don’t think this a forgone conclusion, but for the sake of argument I’m willing to give D3Central this point. At #5 we get an NE battle between Grodecki and Revzin. Last year these two split matches, with Revzin winning 10-8 in a super and Grodecki taking the 2nd match 6-4 in the 3rd set. Revzin has the experience edge, but it’s mitigated by Grodecki’s higher talent ceiling, and the fact that Revzin is playing doubles while Brian stays fresh for singles. Tough to pick a winner here, I like my guy but I bet D3Central likes his. #6 is another spot where I feel like I have an advantage. Roddy was incredible last year, winning 17/20 singles matches, and after winning the C-Draw of the Bates Tournament seems primed to take on another dominating year at #6. I see the singles tally as 3 wins for D3NE, 2 for D3Central, and one push.

I’ll admit, I had a hard time determining my doubles teams. I’d like to say that I didn’t look at Central’s lineup before I made mine, but that would be a lie. His #1 team of Krull and Pei (really could be Krull and Revzin too) should be pretty damn good. But his #2 teams struggles because he holds Mork to the #3 spot. I like Central at #1, my guys at #2, and give him an edge (albeit smaller than the first two matchups) at #3. So that makes a 4-4 match with everything coming down to Grodecki and Revzin. I’m sure some of you might think that Central’s team is slightly better than mine, but I think (and so do others–shoutout to the Guru) that he made a mistake by leaving Mork on his bench for singles, and it might just cost him the matchup. PLUS, while I do love Old Man Wootton, and have nothing but respect for Coach McMindes, nobody beats Hansen.

D3NE’s D3NorthBeastMode

Team Motto: We’re just here so we don’t get fined  

Coach: Robert “Bob-O” Hansen (Middlebury)

Ast Coach: Conrad “Andrew” Olson (Tufts)

D3NE Note: My original pick, Bryan “Captain Clutch” Chow has left Williams for greener pastures. No disrespect to Conrad

Projected Singles Lineup:

  1. Skyler Butts, CMS
  2. Daniel Budd, UT-Tyler
  3. Jose Raventos, Williams
  4. Ben Battle, Tufts
  5. Brian Grodecki, Williams
  6. Gil Roddy, Bowdoin

Projected Doubles Lineup:

  1. Humphreys/Gupte
  2. Butts/Raventos
  3. Ellis/Budd

Projected Backups:

  1. Jake Humphreys, Whitewater
  2. Rohan Gupte, Tufts
  3. Chris Ellis, Bates
  4. David Zakhodin, Case Western
  5. Joachim Samson, Wesleyan
  6. Kyle Schlanger, Middlebury

Team Analysis:

Coaches first because that’s a fun part. Hansen is a legend and there’s no coach I’d rather have for my fantasy squad. I went with Olson because he was an absolute stud and I know just how highly the Tufts guys speak about him. Seems like it’d be a good marriage of coaching philosophies as well.

Ok, let’s go to my singles lineup. We’ve already said a lot about our picks, so I’m going to attack this from a different angle. In order, I believe my strongest positions are #1, #3, #6, #5, #2, #4, but what i love about Budd and Battle (my #2 and #4) is that they can go out and beat absolutely anybody. Streaky, but that’s what I want in a wild card position. Plus, Budd is an All-American so he’s been there before, and Battle was beating guys in the A-Flight at the Bates Tournament this fall (including an All-American in Leung). I also love having Gupte and Samson on my bench. If Bad Budd (clearly not #UpForWhatever) turns up this year or Gupte continues his rapid pace of development, that’s an easy switch. Same goes for Samson who is full of unbridled potential. Now, some of you might be getting a little testy about my clear NE bias. I’m not going to try and hide it, I think one region is clearly deeper than the rest, so why wouldn’t I pick from that talent pool. Notice that both my #1’s and one of my #2’s aren’t NE players, but ⅞ of my depth are NE guys? Yeah, that was done for a reason, big whoop, wanna fight about it? Plus Raventos, Battle, Grodecki, and Roddy are all guys who saw big improvements between either juniors and college, or in between years at college. Raventos moved from #5 to #1 seamlessly, Battle went from out of the lineup to a very solid middle of the lineup guy, and Grodecki and Roddy had outstanding first years which got progressively better as they went along. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the ceiling for my team might be higher than any other team here. That being said, I will need at least one or two of them to reach their ceiling if my team is to actually be the best.  

Finally, my doubles teams. This is probably the toughest part of being the team owner, and therefore is the most interesting. Who do you pair up? Do you go regionally, or avoid rivalries? Do you match like or compensate for experience? I decided to give my high ceiling guys a shot at #1. Humphreys is an All-American doubles player, and multiple times at that Gupte is a big dude with a big serve and they should be able to feed off each other. Humphreys should also be able to provide the required leadership for the younger and more impressionable Gupte. While I think they are a significantly better team than D3Central is giving me credit for, they’re still probably underdogs against his Krull/Pei pairing. Butts at #2 doubles just made sense. He’s been playing there for years now, and has been as close to unstoppable as anybody. Raventos also has the doubles experience, and his style of game should provide a nice counter to Butts’ uber-stability. I like this team against any other #2 team out there. My #3 is an interesting group. Neither Budd nor Ellis is THAT big of a dude, and they might lack a little bit of firepower, but they will scrap for every damn point and that’s what I want out of a #3 dubs team. Ellis is a doubles All-American, but he’s been gone for a semester. I’ve heard about his work ethic, but a semester abroad can derail even the best of intentions. Budd’s leadership should be a good match for Ellis’ spark-plug personality. That is a team that can beat the best team in the country, but also might lose a couple head scratchers. Not necessarily ideal, but against all-star teams like this I thought it would be my best shot. Now let’s go see just how cynical and downtrodden D3Central can be. Let me remind you, I’m the one in the fantasy football playoffs and he was nowhere close.

D3Central’s Take: How boring is it for a guy who represents the NE region and picked 8 of his 12 picks from his region?!? I am all for picking who you know, but I personally would get tired of talking about the same players all the time. I am sure he can discuss how he believes his region is the best, blah, blah, blah. Ok, I will get off my soap box and actually talk about the team he constructed. Starting with doubles, I understand what he was trying to do in that he put an absolute stud at each spot and paired them with a lesser known doubles entity. I think he had the right idea, but the wrong execution. His top dubs team is weak, but that made his #2 and #3 absolute beasts. I guess he wouldn’t be the only team in the country to sacrifice at 1 to win the other two, but that’s not my style. In fact, two of his backups are playing the top doubles spot. Both are great players in their own right, but I don’t think they would be considered the best of the best. Having Butts at 2 with anyone is crazy good and Ellis being at 3 puts a lot of big match experience at that spot. Overall, he has two great teams and one average team.

In singles, having Butts at the top no one can argue. He is and will be the national title favorite this year even though he didn’t take the title this fall. He is just that good. After that is where I think a lot of weakness creeps in. Daniel Budd at 2 is risky only because you never know which Budd you will get. If it’s the one that realed off a long string of wins at the end of last season then great. If it’s the one who struggled, then not so good. The bottom 4 spots are all NE guys which should be good, but they aren’t the guys I would want out of the NE. They are from teams not named Amherst or Middlebury. Yes Williams and Bowdoin are good and I could have campaigned to take Jose’s sister Julie for my #6 spot, but I just don’t see any of the bottom 4 effective enough match in and match out. They are all good players, don’t get me wrong, but I want guys who I can rely on to win the majority of their matches. I don’t see that out of anyone except for Butts in this lineup when compared to others (mine included). Just for fun, I would predict a 7-2 victory by Wootton’s Warriors.

2 thoughts on “2016 Fantasy Draft Team Recaps – D3Central + D3NE

  1. D3 rocks

    WoW! poor D3Central team but stunning D3NE team! Picking Grodecki, Roddy, Ellis, Gupte who all stepped up their game this year.

    1. D3 Northeast

      Wow. Central’s squad did have a tough year

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