The 2017 Fantasy Draft – Rounds 1-3

Now that you have all made your rounds through the Fantasy Draft, it’s time for us to give you the reasoning behind our picks.  I’ve been pleased with the amount of comments we’ve gotten, so please keep on giving your feedback and asking questions.  Also, now that practice has started, PLEASE SEND SUBMISSIONS TO “THIS WEEK IN HIGHLIGHTS!” As a reminder, we will be posting videos from practices, matches, and other things every week to get more activity from the DIII world.  You can be the first on this great weekly article.  Okay, down to business.  Start us off Midwest, with your round one pick of the best sophomore, and it’s not even close.  By the way, shoutout to D3Tree for some amazing paragraphs below.

ROUND 1

1) D3Midwest: Jonathan Jemison (Emory #2)

When I found out I had the coveted first pick, I narrowed down the field to three potential players: Gabe Owens (Amherst #5), Peter Leung (Chicago #6), and of course, Jonathan Jemison. But, there were uncertainties with the two guys I didn’t end up taking. Gabe Owens is a freshman, has been battling injury in the past year, and saw limited fall action. Meanwhile, given Chicago’s depth, Leung might not even end up starting. With the first pick, I knew I had to take a player that would certainly be a star. So, I chose the Emory sophomore, who proved to be the top #2 singles player in the country last year, going 18-2 and qualifying for NCAAs. Just as impressively, he went 20-4 with Rafe Mosetick in doubles, and this past fall, Jonathan won the ITA Oracle Cup with David Omsky. So, it was too hard to pass up an almost guaranteed two points every match. As a side note, I’m not entirely convinced that Jemison will not be playing #1 singles for Emory this year. If he does, drafting him as a #2 will be that much sweeter.

2) D3AS: Daniel Morkovine (CMS #3)

I’m actually really surprised that D3Midwest didn’t have Morkovine on his list of players to choose from.  Jemison would have been the pick had he taken Mork, but I was absolutely stoked to see Morkovine slip to me.  Is Morkovine the best player in the draft? No way. But I think he provides the best value, mostly because I don’t agree with D3West slotting him at #3 singles behind Parodi and Hull for CMS.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Morkovine is playing #1 singles and #1 doubles for CMS by the end of the year.  To get that talent at a #3 singles spot is actually downright ridiculous, so thank you D3West! Not to mention this is his senior year, he has national championship experience, and is pretty well known to be a solid team guy.  This was my easiest pick of the draft and it wasn’t even close.

3) D3NE: Gabe Owens (Amherst #5)

To be honest, the two guys at the top of my board were taken with the first two picks (as it should be), so I was left with the decision between Owens and Leung. I went with Owens for a couple reasons. 1) Unbridled potential. I’ve heard from a couple people that Owens is the best of Amherst’s vaunted freshman class, and him down at #5 could be a total steal. He is recovering from injury, but had a win this fall against Michael Liu (projected Wesleyan #2) and took Arguello (projected Brandeis #1 and #4 player in the region) to 7-6 in the 3rd set. Admittedly a limited sample size, but that’s a fantastic college debut and if he ends up starting the year towards the bottom of the lineup I think Mr. Owens will be something close to automatic. 2) I feel better about Owens playing in the lineup. Leung could end up a victim of circumstance if Tsai or Hawkins or Sven catch fire. Experts say you can’t win your draft in the 1st round, but you can lose it, so usually draft the known quantity. Usually…but I have a sneaking suspicion that Gabe Owens= Ezekiel Elliot.

4) D3Regional: Peter Leung (Chicago #6)

For this year’s draft, I knew that I wanted to start with a guy 4-6, given that the dominant 4-6’s are generally tougher to come by than the guys at the top of the lineup.  Given Leung’s strong start to the year (finals of the Central ITA, win over his teammate Chua), I felt like I was getting the best #6 in the country.  In the first round, why not go for the best guy at a position?  Of course, there is a risk of going with a #6.  Chicago is so darn deep that Luke Tsai, Sven Kranz, or someone else could easily play some time in the lineup.  However, getting the chance to grab the best #6 out there was really just too good to pass up.

5) D3West: Charlie Pei (Chicago #4)

Going into the draft, I knew that it would be important to pick up heart-of-the-lineup guys early on (solid #1’s being plentiful without an obvious dominant #1 this season and #6’s being made less of a luxury by the mid-draft rule change last season allowing drafters to pick up projected bench players and put them at #6). I also knew I wanted to get players who could play both ways in the early rounds, as doubles specialists got picked up in the middle rounds last year. That’s how I ended up with Pei. 14-4 at #2 doubles last year against ranked teams. 12-7 against ranked teams in singles playing mostly #2 and #3 singles. Being pushed down to #4 (or farther in the case of the actual season) figures to make him a very, very strong middle-lineup guy. Former 5-star. UTR 12.17. Hard to beat that pedigree.

6) D3RegionalNEC: Glenn Hull (CMS #2)

I’ve been a big fan of Hull since he won the West ITA his sophomore year, taking down D3 legend Warren Wood in the process.  He also will always be remembered for clinching CMS’s championship in 2015.  More recently, Big Glenn had a solid fall, losing only to teammates/eventual champions at the fall ITA and still getting to go to the Oracle Cup for doubles, finishing third. Now that he’s a senior, I think Hull would probably be a top #1, and if he plays below Parodi at #2, I don’t see him losing much. Combined with his doubles success, I think Hull can be just the type of stud that I was looking for with me first pick.

7) D3Tree: Alex Brenner (CMS #5)

Newbie to the blog so I knew I needed to make a statement with my first selection. That statement came in the form of 6’2” 195 pound Economics & Psychology major Alex Brenner. Getting high quality players in lower positions is a must for building a strong fantasy program. The triple threat of Senior+12.18UTR+Projected #5 was too much to pass up. The senior had a successful fall defeating Joey Dulle (Redlands projected #2) and Jake Yasgoor (Pomona-Pitzer’s projected #1) en route to the semi-final of the ITA West Regional before falling to teammate and eventual champion Daniel Morkovine in straight sets. If he can carry that momentum into the spring, he’s looking to be a stiff challenge at the no. 5 spot. The other bloggers were quick to tear down the selection but I, along with parents Tony and Lorre, have faith this spring.

8) AVZ: Ninan Kumar (Chicago #5)

There was never a doubt in my mind that I was going to pick a player in the back half of the lineup because depth on teams becomes an issue as the later rounds progress. Chicago has the deepest team arguably, so I was hopeful that either Pei, Kumar, or Leung fell to me. Fortunately, I think I got the best option of the three. Pei and Leung will have success no doubt, but whether or not they feature in the doubles lineup is still in question with Hawkins and Raclin’s win at the ITAs. Leung also isn’t a guarantee to play with the likes of Tsai and Kranz chomping at his heels for the 6 spot. Kumar is a top freshman and has the talent to play higher in the lineup. He will also be in the doubles lineup because he will pair with fellow freshman Eric Kerrigan. Because he is slotted at #5 singles, he is a near lock at a win. I expect big things from Chicago at the back half of the lineup and Kumar is quite the talent to be playing so low.

9) The Guru: Lubomir Cuba (Middlebury #1)

What I saw here was someone from every other lineup position come off the board before my pick and this caused some panic. The first round is for picking someone who is going to be truly dominant at their position and that’s what I was going for. I could have gone for a #3 or #4 with this pick, but they likely wouldn’t have been the strongest in the country at their position. I believe Cuba very well could be the best overall player in the country at the end of the season. Yes, there is a lot of depth at #1 as there was last year, but Noah Farrell won virtually all of his matches and came into NCAAs as the #1 seed. As we will see in a few picks, I lucked out and still got the guy I really wanted. Cuba is one of only three #1 players taken in the first three rounds and unlike Manji, I’m sure Cuba will play #1 singles and be a significant contributor on the doubles court.

10) D3RegionalAS: Max Macey (CMS #4)

Well, since everyone else was picking CMS players, I just really felt the need to drink the Kool Aid. In all seriousness, having the 10th and 11th picks is a very interesting spot to be in. I knew that I needed two guys who I felt were going to put up consistent results in their respective positions. The senior has had experience in the lineup and is poised to have a very good season in my opinion. He was a bit streaky at times last year, but had his moments of very, very good tennis (come from behind clinch over Solimano of Amherst). Look for Macey to take a step forward in his final year with good singles results and respectable doubles results.

ROUND 2

11) D3RegionalAS: Nick Chua (Chicago #1)

I’ll admit, some of the other bloggers gave me a pretty hard time about this pick; however, I think Chua is going to be a stud this year at 1. He had a little bit of a sophomore slump last season and didn’t three-peat as Central ITA Champion this fall, but I have full faith that Chua is going to bounce back strong this spring. In doubles, he’ll be paired with David Liu, who, as NE so kindly points out later in this article, is a doubles stud. If they play lower in the lineup, then look for this team to be a dominant force in the spring.

12) The Guru: Kyle Wolfe (Bowdoin #3)

I was a little surprised that Wolfe dropped this far. I may have made a small goof not taking him at #9, but I got away with it because RegionalAS was not focused while he was drinking wine and watching The Bachelor. Wolfe played a very strong #2 on the national champion and was the first Bowdoin player to be taken, compared to four CMS guys being taken in the first round!  With Urken having a big fall, we have Kyle slotted in at #3 for the Polar Bears and he was the second #3 to be taken in the draft behind Mork (who Wolfe beat last year) at 2nd overall. If Wolfe actually plays #3 this year, I have little doubt he should be one of the best in the country at this spot. He also won the Fall NE ITA with Jerry Jiang so he will be a strong starter for me in doubles as well. I think this was my best pick of the entire draft.

13) AVZ: Hamid Derbani (Middlebury #3)

This became another easy pick for me only because with one pick to go, I had Wolfe and Derbani on my board next. Guru took Wolfe, so I defaulted to Derbani. Hamid had some great wins this fall, most notably Steven Chen from Wesleyan, and is an absolute doubles beast. Playing at #3 singles on a national powerhouse will allow him to be favored in most matches he will play all year. His doubles prowess is likely where he is most valuable though and the runner up to the national champion last season is proof that Hamid has the goods to play #1 for my fictional doubles lineup.

14) D3Tree: Johnny Wu (Wash U #2)

I’m predicting a B1G year for Johnny Wu Tang Clan this spring. D3 Tennis’ Ghostface Killah is a total grind and tires opponents out before they even step onto the court. Wu played in just about every tournament offered this summer and racked up some impressive wins over Illinois State’s Dylan Steffens and Illinois’ Asher Hirsch. Wu’s fall ITA was a mixed bag, with solid wins over Case & Chicago freshmen Concannon (third) and Kumar (straight) before getting waxed by Nicolas Chua in the QF round. If I were a betting man I’d say the junior has been grinding this winter and will be ready to compete with the nation’s top #2s this spring and may even overtake the 1 spot in an effort to qualify for nationals.

15) D3RegionalNEC: Rex Serituk (Emory #3)

Obviously, the cool name had something to do with this pick. But beyond that, the Emory freshman had a promising fall and I think he’ll be a force in the middle of the Eagle lineup.  Rex competed well this fall, with his only D3 loss coming to teammate Jonathan Jemison, and had two wins against non-D3 opponents with UTR’s above 12.  There are very few #3’s in the country with UTR’s above 12, so that certainly bodes well.  Doubles wise, the jury is still out, but given his 6’2 frame and talent level, I feel confident that he’ll be a contributor this spring.  He and Aman Manji did score a win over a Sewanee team with Avery Schober, which is nothing to sneeze at.  I’ll admit I may have taken Serituk a bit early, but there’s something about those top recruits at powerhouse schools that had me pulling the trigger.

16) D3West: Daniel Levine (CMU #2)

Between Hull, Wu, and Jemison, I saw that quality #2’s were flying off the board, and figured I needed to get in there before they were gone. Personally, I feel Levine has the potential to be the best #2 in the country (if he even plays #2; Rosenvasser is not a lock to play #1 despite his fall performance). Keeping with the two-way trend, Levine only went 6-8 against ranked teams with Arora (freshman/freshman teams don’t do great together at #1 doubles notoriously), but the wins over Emory (twice), Pomona-Pitzer, and Chicago were enough to get them into nationals. I expect a huge doubles improvement this season with a year of college-level doubles under his belt. His singles record speaks for itself: 9-5 at #2 singles against ranked teams (but 9-1 against guys not named Jemison and Dubin). Those two guys are still playing #2, but with a year of growth and a higher doubles ceiling as a kicker, I think he was a high value #2 player. His UTR is 12.46

17) D3Regional: Grant Urken (Bowdoin #2)

Yes, one could argue that I could have and maybe should have gone with D-Liu on this pick.  However, I am extremely high on Urk after his fall this year.  The dude went undefeated at #6 as a freshman, made the quarters of the NE ITA (loss to Josh Marchalik of Amherst 7-5 in the third), but his best result was how he closed out the fall, running the table at a very strong MIT Invite field (debatably stronger than the NE ITA), taking out Michael Arguello of Deis in the semis and Will De Quant in the finals.  The guy keeps getting better and I can’t wait to have him on my squad with his 12.71 UTR.

18) D3NE: David Liu (Chicago #2)

This could be my best pick of the draft. I can’t believe Wu, Levine and Urken went this round before Liu. I had him pegged as the #2 #2 in the country (behind Jemison) so even though this is the 2nd round it’s a total steal. Doubles stud, returner extraordinaire, and this fall alone he notched wins over Carswell (projected Wash U #1), Metzler (projected Kalamazoo #1), and Parodi (projected CMS #1). Combine the Parodi win with the wins over Hull and Mork from last year and Liu has taken out the entire top ½ of the CMS lineup in less than a calendar year. He also pushed Cuba at the Oracle Cup (Small College Nationals), and I think is just about as good as anybody in the country. And yet he’s my #2…

19) D3AS: Gil Roddy (Bowdoin #5)

In the second round, I must say I was a bit more focused on Corinne’s antics on the Bachelor, but the good thing is that I had a decent idea of who I wanted to target.  D3NE has been talking about Gil Roddy at #5 for about 100 years now, so maybe it had a little bit of an effect on me considering he literally won’t stop talking.  Roddy was basically undefeated or close to it at #5 last year.  That means to me that he’s one of if not the best #5 in the country, outside of a few freshmen.  To me, the fantasy draft is about picking up great players from #3-5 and worrying about the rest later.  Roddy fit this strategy and set me up well for my pick in the 3rd round.  This also makes my top 2 picks both guys who have won national championships.  Who says experience doesn’t matter?

20) D3Midwest: Erik Kerrigan (Chicago #3)

Much like my first pick, I wanted to draft a player that was a force in both singles and doubles. While Erik Kerrigan doesn’t have experience on his side (freshman), he had a very promising summer and fall. I know summer/junior results matter even less than fall results, so I’ll just say a few words about them; Kerrigan had an unreal summer filled with wins against high 5-star/blue chip players (including a straight set win at Boys Nationals over CMS projected #1 Nikolai Parodi). In the fall, Kerrigan and fellow freshman Ninan Kumar made the ITA Regional final, beating Wash U’s top two tandems along the way. Singles wise, he fell in three sets to Wash U’s #1 John Carswell, so as a 3, I think he could do very well. Of course, there is always uncertainty with freshmen, but as you’ll notice by the plethora of freshmen on my team, I’m willing to take a gamble.

ROUND 3

21) D3Midwest: Alex Taylor (Williams #4)

Why the heck didn’t I draft Bouchet since he was the best #4 in the country last year? In retrospect, maybe I should have, but Alex Taylor has a huge upside, is a nasty doubles player, and might even play above #4 singles. The freshman stormed D3 when he and Brian Grodecki made the semis of ITAs and finals of the MIT Invite. Already, I’ve drafted three incredibly talented doubles players, and Taylor may just be the best one yet! I’m just as excited for the rookie at #4 singles. This fall, he beat some really solid players including Rohan Gupte (Tufts #1), Luke Carstens (Bowdoin #6-7), Jayson Fung (Amherst #6), and Brian Granoff (Brandeis #3) while the opponents he’s fallen to, Lubomir Cuba and Michael Arguello (three sets), are going to be top tier 1s. The Cincinnati-area product is bound to surprise some people this Spring.

22) D3AS: Adrien Bouchet (Emory #4)

For my third pick, I again would like to thank D3Midwest for not taking my guy, as my team has shaped up to almost exactly as I wanted after the first three rounds.  Bouchet was the best #4 in the country last year, hands down.  As a freshman.  With another year under his belt, I don’t see why he wouldn’t be again.  There were stud freshmen in last year’s class too.  Bouchet is a young, known commodity at this position in the lineup.  This again fulfills my goal to pick my #3-5 singles players in the first three rounds and I honestly did not have to reach for any of them. His lack of doubles experience bothers me a little bit, but much like my team last year, I had a few doubles picks up my sleeve to try and combat that.

23) D3NE: Jerry Jiang (Bowdoin #4)

I won’t lie, I felt a little pressure to take a #4 after Taylor and Bouchet went off the board immediately before my pick. I was planning on taking Bouchet, but that’s just how this stuff goes. Plus, I got D3AS back by stealing his alter-ego assistant coach at the very end of the draft. Jiang should accompany Liu nicely at the #1 doubles spot, and still plays a mean #4 singles. He got a win over Samson (projected Wesleyan #4, and the Guru’s selection a few picks later) at the ITA, but fell to Indrakanti (projected Williams #2). Those are his only fall singles results because he won the ITA doubles draw (with Kyle Wolfe) beating top teams from Tufts, Amherst, Williams, and Midd along the way. At the Oracle Cup, the Bowdoin duo had a straight set win in the quarters, and lost an 11-9 superbreaker to CMS after battling back from down a set. Top 4 doubles team in the country? Top-20 singles wins over Middlebury, Amherst (2x), Williams, and Hopkins last year as a freshman? National championship experience. Welcome to the team, Jerry.  

24) D3Regional: Aman Manji (Emory #1)

MANJI MANJI MANJI.  I love a dude who improves, and if you look up the word Improvement in the dictionary, I think Aman might come up.  This dude played sporadically his first couple of years before becoming one of the best 3’s out there last year.  This year, he has done nothing but dominate, winning the ASouth ITA and the ITA Oracle Cup for D3, with wins over Michael Rozenvasser (CMU), Arthur Fagundes (Trinity), and Lubomir Cuba (Midd).  I was a little hesitant about going with a #1 in the first 3 rounds, but I couldn’t pass on Manji and his 12.88 UTR.  

25) D3West: Kyle Schlanger (Middlebury #5)

Like I previously mentioned, the middle-lineup guys are probably the best early-investment in this draft, and by the time the third round came along, the options for #3 and #5 singles were pretty sparse. Schlanger didn’t play for most of the 2016 season, but when he finally got in at the end of the year, he was spot-on, going 4-1 against ranked teams at #6 singles and 8-3 at #3 doubles. He had solid doubles results with Derbani this fall (enough to earn them a national ranking), but didn’t get in the ITA singles tournament. If my team is going to be successful at the bottom of the lineup, I’ll need him to be a great #5 for Middlebury this season, which is well within the realm of possibility. UTR: 11.89

26) D3RegionalNEC: Jayson Fung (Amherst #6)

I’m not going to lie and say I know a ton about Fung (or any of my freshman), but good #6’s are at a premium in this draft and I figured by round 3 I should probably take the best remaining on the board. I didn’t look at Jayson’s results until after I drafted him, and now that I’ve had a chance to look them over, I feel pretty good about the pick.  First of all, a 11.94 UTR at #6 is a good starting point, though in the NESCAC that’s not enough to guarantee wins against the big boys.  The fall result that jumps out to me the most is his 6-4, 6-1 win over Timo van der Geest (Midd #4), and while fall tournament results in the Northeast can be a bit all over the place, that’s a convincing win against a guy who will almost certainly be playing a few spots above him.  Assuming he can handle the transition from San Francisco to Central Massachusetts, he should be in every match he plays, and I don’t expect (or hope) to see too many losses.  Nothing about his doubles results lead me to believe he’s the secret third Bryan Brother, but with the singles depth he provides, I can live without much doubles production.

27)D3Tree: Timo Van der Geest (Middlebury #4)

With my third selection I shored up the middle of my lineup with the Flying Dutchman Timo Van der Geest. The Junior had a solid year at #6 last year for the Panthers with only a handful of losses coming against CMS, Bowdoin and Pomona-Pitzer. Van der Geest also sported a nearly blemish free record at the #3 spot in doubles last season with the one loss coming at the hands of Wesleyan. What has me a touch weary however was the Dutchman’s fall performance. Losses to Amherst Freshman Jayson Fung and Bowdoin’s Luke Carstens (projected #6-#7) doesn’t bode well for a player projected at the #4 spot. That being said, roster experience on the previous year’s National Runner-Up, a UTR of 11.88, fall wins over Brian Granoff (Brandeis #3) and Ethan Chen (Tufts #4), and a hometown by the name of ‘Oegstgeest’ have me confident in a stellar junior season.

28) AVZ: Jeremy Bush (Wash U #4)

Going into this round, my intention was to pick a #4 singles spot. I had 5 or 6 choices and was feeling pretty good at my chances in getting one of the better ones. Then Taylor, Bouchet, Jiang, and Van der Geest all flew off quickly and I was stuck with a decision to make. I decided to go with senior Jeremy Bush because I expect a comeback year of sorts for the Bear. Bush is also a fantastic doubles player and an All-American at that. While I was disappointed in that I didn’t get a few players I might have preferred, I am excited at the possibility that Bush provides. He was close to unbeatable at #3 and #4 as a freshman and sophomore.

29) The Guru: Joachim Samson (Wesleyan #4)

After two #4 players went off the board in the first two rounds, there were a flurry of #4s taken in the third round. I didn’t want to fall too far behind at this spot, so I took Samson here. Before I get into how great he is, I noticed (and D3NE noticed) that my team had three NESCAC guys on it. This trend continued throughout my whole draft and eventually contributed to my awesome team name. Joachim Samson lost two matches last season. One was early season to P-P in three sets and the other was to my #2 player Will De Quant in three sets during the NESCAC tournament. That’s pretty impressive. Along the way, Samson picked up wins against De Quant, Trinity TX, Redlands, Bowdoin, Tufts x2, Amherst, Bates and Brandeis. A lot of people are high on Wesleyan headed into the season and if the Cardinals are going to succeed, Samson will need to have another big year.

30) D3RegionalAS: Sean Ko (MIT #3)

At this point, I decided to start filling in the top half of my lineup since everyone else decided to draft 2’s and 3’s early. Sean Ko was one of my more gutsy picks, but hey, you gotta risk it to get the biscuit! Ko was a highly touted 5 star recruit coming out of high school and had pretty good results last year, with wins over Tufts, Deis and Bates playing in the 4 spot. As long as he doesn’t have a sophomore slump, I’m pretty confident in this pick moving forward. Ko should be a solid 3 on a very talented MIT team.

Conclusion

What are your thoughts? Are you also surprised that RegionalAS decided to start tanking very early in the draft? Surprised that Lubo Cuba went #9 even though he’s a freaking stud?  Let us know in the comments. Stay woke and get ready for The Bachelor tonight.  ASouth, OUT.