Today on the blogger group chat, we discussed where the best place to hit the slopes was and the amazingness of Roger Federer. Then, D3West got mad at me for calling him out for drafting Matt Tyer and it devolved into a yelling match between me and him, like it always does. Everyone else just enjoys. I love D3West. By the way, I found out today that people are talking about the fantasy draft. Let me tell you. We have the best fantasy draft. There is no better fantasy draft. We know a lot of fantasy drafts and this is the best one. Now, let’s get to Rounds 7-9 of the draft!
ROUND 7
61) D3Midwest: Luke Tsai (Chicago #6)
As I mentioned in my Round 6 analysis, I knew from Round 2 that I was going to pick up Luke Tsai in the seventh round, given the write-in rule. For the draft, we projected Tsai as Chicago’s #7, but given his strong record at the bottom of the lineup the past two seasons, I would not be surprised if he played 5 or 6 again. Last season, Tsai rolled through his opponents at 6, going 8-0 while dropping a whopping 0 sets. In total, Tsai lost two matches in the Spring (both at #5), one to Kenyon’s Nick Fiaschetti (coincidentally, Fiaschetti quit the team only a couple days after the victory…probably wanted to end his career on a high note), and the other to Middlebury’s Hamid Derbani (Projected 3). This fall, Tsai had a very strong ITA, even though the draw did not work in his favor. In the opening round, he beat my starting #5, Jason Haugen, in straight sets but ultimately fell in round of 16 to teammate Charlie Pei (Projected 4) in three sets. If Nathan Niemiec turns out to be a great player, that’s fantastic, but Luke Tsai is starting at #6 for my team.
62) D3AS: Hassan Kenawi (Emory #6)
For once, D3Midwest took my pick and didn’t leave me exactly who I wanted. Luke Tsai was the no-brainer pick of Round 7, but being at the second pick of Round 7 gave me a ton of options to pick a strong #6 player. Kenawi’s UTR is on par with pretty much every other #6 player chosen in the draft excluding Jayson Fung and Peter Leung. He’s also higher than guys chosen in the last round and certainly higher than Matt Tyer. I went into this draft with a strategy and I executed it. I will say that AVZ eventually bested me with a sick sleeper pick in Round 12, but hey, that’s a wily veteran right there. I love Kenawi’s talent and his drive and I think he could be the true #6 for Emory this year. This gives me two great freshmen (Rozenvasser and Kenawi) that allows me to have some potential in my starting lineup.
63) D3NE: Cam Daniels (Wesleyan #5)
With Tsai off the board, my philosophy here was to take the best value available. I’m not sure it will matter bc if Owens does what he’s capable of then Cam might never see the lineup, but Daniels has big upside too. His UTR is an outstanding 12.46, actually higher than Steven Chen’s. Last year, Daniels went 10-1 at #5 including straight-set wins over Ali (projected Tufts #2), and Derbani (projected Midd #3). This fall, a 1st round loss to Grodecki (projected Williams #1) at MIT wasn’t surprising, but Daniels rebounded nicely winning 5 matches and the entire backdraw, without dropping more than 6 games in a match, and including wins over Raghavan (projected Williams #5) and Derbani AGAIN (projected Midd #3). Maybe Cam just has Derbani’s number, or maybe he’s a sneaky play for a bunch of wins at the lower end of Wesleyan’s lineup! There’s some risk with Holtzmann, Carter, Yadav, and Roberts all competing for the likely last two spots in the lineup, but Daniels has to be a favorite at this point.
64) D3Regional: Vlad Murad (Colby #2)
The #RomanianRocket has been a very good #2 for Colby since mid-year through his freshman season, when he moved up from #3. Since then, except for some injury concerns, Murad has been nothing but solid. Last year, he had a record of 9-6 in dual matches against top notch NESCAC competition, with three wins against ranked schools thrown in there. What really made me want to grab Vlad with my first “backup” pick was how he has fared this year, making a great run to the semis of the NE ITA tournament, getting wins over Luke Carstens (Bowdoin), Sachin Raghavan (Williams and yes, my #5), and Brian Grodecki of Williams. Another appealing part of Murad’s game is his doubles prowess. At this point in the draft, I realized that I was looking pretty weak in doubles, and given that Murad and Carl Reid have been one of the better teams in New England over the past three years, I knew Murad could help in that respect, even if he doesn’t start over Grant Urken in singles.
65) D3West: Patrick Wildman (CMS #6)
Wildman possible didn’t make the projected Claremont lineup (which I made) because he was recovering from injury this fall. He also possibly didn’t make the projected Claremont lineup (which I made), so I could take him in a late round here while less likely CMS starters were taken in higher rounds. It’s a theory. What really happened is I got some insider information that he’s healthy and playing well and might start, so I took him in round 7. If he does start, D3Tree’s Brenner pick in the first round might look a little silly. I digress. A 4-star junior with a UTR of 12.23 whose only DIII losses last season came against Glenn Hull (twice) playing #6 singles? Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. May I have another, sir. Stay healthy, Wild Man!
66) D3RegionalNEC: Antony Bello (PP #5)
The 6’4 lefty was mainly selected as a doubles specialist for me, as my top-6 had already been selected. His impact over the years has been somewhat limited due to injuries, but as long as he stays healthy Bello should be a solid fixture in the doubles lineup. This fall he and Spencer Simonides did lose to the unseeded CMS team of Jacobs/Yeam, but found more success in consolation with wins against Brenner/Macey (CMS) and Levchenko/Flora (UCSC). Bello also offers a formidable singles backup, as wins against Dugan, Stone, and Levchenko (all from UCSC) this fall indicate. Another appealing thing about Bello is that because he plays for Pomona-Pitzer, he’ll have many opportunities for good wins. The PP schedule is as loaded as usual, which I think makes Bello an even better player to take in round seven.
67) D3Tree: Spencer Simonides (PP #6)
Everyone was taking backup #6s in this round, so I decided to go out and get the best one available. Picking up a 6’6” senior at the bottom of a strong program seems like a steal after watching three solid #6s go before me. Simonides doesn’t have the singles resume that will blow you away, touting a 2-3 record against ranked teams last spring and a 6-3 record overall. But for me this selection was centered more on doubles. Last season Simonides was paired with teammate Graham Maassen and the duo racked up a number of impressive wins from March onward and qualified for NCAAs where they reached the QF round before falling in a third to Foran and Heinrich of Stevens. If I can get that kind of doubles production from him again this year my squad will be even more impressive.
68) AVZ: Nikolai Parodi (CMS #1)
I made a comment in the group chat after this pick questioning the other bloggers choices in picking guys in the lower half of the lineup. If you did your job right in the first 6 rounds, the next picks should be merely for doubles guys or #benchmob because they won’t sniff the lineup. Parodi is a top freshman without a doubt. He and my other #1 Buxbaum could switch every other day and I would be just fine. He also is going to be a staple in the doubles lineup and undoubtedly will feature once I put together my final roster. The sky really is the limit for Parodi and he is going to be a great addition to an already stacked team at CMS.
69) The Guru: Luke Tercek (Bowdoin #1)
I thought getting Tercek at 69th overall was a steal, but I also understand why he wasn’t taken in the first half of the draft. LT #1 had an inconsistent spring last year playing at the top spot and he was abroad this past fall so who knows if he will be in form come March. That said, I’d like to remind everyone that despite 5 consecutive losses near the end of the year (albeit against tough competition), Luke has a lot of upside. He beat both Butts and Rafe last year, with the latter win coming in the semifinals of NCAAs where Bowdoin pulled the upset of the year. I’m pretty confident in my first round pick being a great #1, but just in case I have an awesome backup and Tercek will be near the top of my doubles lineup after playing #1 doubles last year.
70) D3RegionalAS: Shaun Berman (Wash U #6)
Since I was given so much crap about my Dong pick, I wanted to have a strong backup 6 and I knew I needed it sooner rather than later. I picked up Berman for a few reasons. First, he comes from a historically strong program. Second, he’s a former 4 star recruit and has huge potential and showed it in the fall with a run to the sweet 16 of his ITA. Third, with the departure of Kratky and Cogan, there are going to be some holes to fill in the lineup. I’m looking at Berman to be that guy and have a solid singles and doubles season for me. I can even see myself starting him early on in the season for the sake of consistency while I wait and see how Dong pans out.
ROUND 8
71) D3RegionalAS: Kenny Zheng (CMU #4)
Back to back draft picks are not easy and I wasn’t really sure where to go with this next one. Knowing how deep CMS is, especially lower in the lineup made me slightly uneasy with my Macey pick, so I decided to go with Zheng. He has been a staple in the lineup since he started at CMU. He has had fairly consistent singles results as well as increasingly better doubles results over the years. I have a gut feeling that the senior is going to have a very good year and will be a force for the Tartans, especially in doubles.
72) The Guru: Michael Liu (Wesleyan #2)
I was between Liu and Dubin for this pick and I think either would have been a good choice, but I continued my streak of selecting NESCAC players, making it 7 through 8 rounds. After playing #1 in 2015, M. Liu started last season at #1 and had some ok results, before getting supplanted by Steven Chen who went 58th overall. Last spring, Liu had wins against Dulle, Krull, Besette, Gupte and Granoff. He was also in a 3rd set with Smolyar when the match was called. Much like Samson, every Wesleyan spot is huge for their success this season, and I know they have high aspirations. Liu had a little bit of a down year, but I hope for the Cards sake he will have a big 2017. He is a great backup for De Quant and will likely play #3 doubles for my team as he holds the #1 doubles spot for Wesleyan.
73) AVZ: Deepak Indrakanti (WIlliams #2)
Again, going with the theme of taking the best player available at the highest point in the lineup, I got Indrakanti to add to the depth of talent. I will be honest and say I don’t know a whole lot about Deepak and/or Williams, but playing that high at a NESCAC school can’t be bad right? I could make up some crazy stat about Deepak and his doubles prowess, but considering he didn’t play doubles last season, that might be a stretch. Let’s just hope he is a really nice guy, with a good GPA, and great teammate.
74) D3Tree: Austin Diehl (Kenyon #5)
I’m privy to the Missouri Valley and I remember watching Diehl play when he was in the juniors. The 3 star freshman used to resemble a young Tom Petty and, like my other selection Johnny Wu, played in nearly all tournaments offered in his youth. Selecting a freshman projected this low in the lineup is a tad unsettling because of the uncertainty surrounding their surety in maintaining a roster spot throughout the course of a season. I believe that this uncertainty has the possibility of upside mobility. With a brutal draw in the fall ITA of Carswell (WashU) followed by Haugen (WashU) in the back draw, some of his singles ability was lost in the fog. I believe the freshman has the chance to potentially ascend higher than #5 this spring.
75) D3RegionalNEC: Brian Granoff (Brandeis #3)
I had my eyes on Granoff from early on in the draft, and was waiting for as long as I felt I could before grabbing him. I would say the senior has had an underrated career, and has recently been upstaged by teammate Michael Arguello’s (#lasershow) outstanding fall. Nonetheless, Granoff is a former NCAA qualifier and has been consistently ranked in the NE, always finding good wins here and there against some of the top NESCAC and UAA teams. His 11.98 UTR very solid for a #3, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually plays higher in the lineup. Between Granoff, Arguello, and Ryan Bunis, Brandeis’s senior-laden top-3 is looking strong, and ` whichever one of them plays #3 probably won’t be losing very often. Here’s hoping it’s Granoff, so that my D3Tennis Fantasy Team looks good. #priorities
76) D3West: Austin Gu (Johns Hopkins #5)
We’re starting to get to the dredges of the draft here. Looking at the board, I didn’t see very many viable #5 singles players to be Schlanger’s backup, so I took a flyer on this freshman from the PNW. He lost to a relative unknown from Wilkes in the third round of the ITA this fall, but then everyone else lost to Courtney Murphy too, so it didn’t look so bad. Total unknown. Might be a great pick. Might be terrible. His UTR is 11.30
77) D3Regional: Jake Ly (Redlands #4)
With my next pick, I wanted to get another doubles guy who could help contribute in singles if the need arose. The experienced senior Jake Ly ended up being the perfect pick for exactly that purpose. Ly and partner Joey Dulle played #1 all last year, and the pair qualified for NCAA’s, losing in the first round to Hamid Derbani / Palmer Campbell (Midd), an absolutely terrific season. This year in the first round of ITA’s, he got a very solid win over Josh Kim of Pomona, a guy he lost to twice last year, both in SCIAC’s and the Ojai. Ly’s an experienced player who really came into his own in doubles last season, and I think he will definitely be of help to my squad.
78) D3NE: Clayton Niess (Trinity Tx #4)
With my last two picks, Steven Chen and Cam Daniels, both being guys known for their singles, I decided it was time to shore up my doubles lineup. Niess has played doubles every year of his career, and either #1 or #2 doubles each of the past two years. He brings some much needed senior leadership to my squad (at this point i think he was my only senior), and would be HUGE at #3 dubs.
79) D3AS: John Larkin (Swat #2)
When you get to the later rounds, you start to pick guys from your own region because you know them better. When I take a look at the other guys that were picked in this round, I see a lot of dudes going for their doubles. Larkin is a solid doubles player and also a player who has an 11.71 UTR, which I can use as a backup #2 player behind Tyler Barr. One thing I loved about this pick, however, was that combination again – a senior and a leader. Larkin has been through a lot with his team and will be playing a premiere spot in Swarthmore’s up and coming lineup. I figured I’d take a chance here with a seasoned veteran who could do a lot for my team chemistry as well as some solid doubles play. By the way, Larkin has a better singles and doubles UTR (yep, we have doubles UTR beta mode, b*tchessss) than the next #2 chosen by D3Midwest.
80) D3Midwest: Wilson Lambeth (Trinity TX #2)
Doubles was of utmost importance for me this late in the draft, and since my starting #2 singles player (Jonathan Jemison) was the best in the country at that position last year, I knew my backup 2 would need to be a stud on the doubles court. The main reason I picked up Lambeth is because he and Matt Tyer made the finals of the D3 ITA Oracle Cup. While Lambeth played mostly 3 last year with Eliot Guin, I’m confident that his one year of collegiate experience will do him wonders this season. Plus, the dude is 6’5! What more could you want?
ROUND 9
81) D3Midwest: Victor Cheng (MIT #4)
It probably wasn’t the smartest move for me to pick up two freshmen at #4, but since talent was thin this late in the draft, I figured I’d take a chance on a highly-touted freshman. Throughout high school, Cheng was on the 4-star/5-star border, with his ranking consistently in the 70-80 to range. For most teams, he’d be a top 3 player, so I’m optimistic he sees success at #4.
82) D3AS: Jack Gray (Sewanee #3)
For the second year running, I was able to pick up Jack Gray in the middle part of the back rounds. For some reason, Gray is overlooked by pretty much everyone despite having a 11+ UTR in both singles and doubles. That’s a well rounder player, and one that I don’t think many can get at these spots, this low in the lineup. The player that comes after Gray in this draft, Fischer, has the same UTRs as him. Gray had a dream run in doubles last year and proved himself as a freshman. This could be a year where he improves, but if he doesn’t that’s okay. I have Morkovine at #3 and #1 doubles to combat that.
83) D3NE: Joey Fischer (UT-Tyler #3)
Different round, same thought process. My singles lineup is pretty set, so how can best help my squad? Bring in the doubles specialists. Fischer went 20-5 at a variety of doubles spots last year, and this fall made the ITA finals before falling 11-9 in a superbreaker. I wouldn’t expect Fischer to play over Jiang, but he did have a nice win over Macey (CMS projected #4) who was a 1st round pick earlier in this fantasy draft. I think he can follow in the footsteps of his older brother and become a Doubles All American.
84) D3Regional: Jake Roberts (Wesleyan #6)
Jake Roberts is a guy who started his freshman season as a really good #1 guy, and has kind of gone backwards in the Cardinals lineup as Wesleyan has become more and more of an elite team. I’m not sure if he will even start in Wesleyan’s lineup this year with the depth that they have, but I still want his huge lefty game on my team just in case he does. Last year, he really got rolling towards the end, winning five straight matches including wins over Dan Coran (Tufts) and Zach Cihlar (Brandeis). I also think he can be a solid contributor in doubles with his serve and forehand. Roberts and Mike Liu won the MIT Invite in the fall, getting wins over two Midd teams, Albert Go / Tyler Barr of MIT, and Alex Taylor / Brian Grodecki of Williams. Roberts didn’t even start in Wesleyan’s doubles lineup last year but was a big contributor the two years prior. With the momentum he got this fall, I’m hoping he has the confidence to play some terrific doubles as well as singles.
85) D3West: Arthur Fagundes (UT-Tyler #1)
With Leung at #1 singles for me, it was time for me to turn my attentions back to the doubles court, and there were a ton of great options available. I decided to go with a little West-region homerism. Fagundes qualified for nationals in both singles and doubles last season and absolutely ran through the Texas ITA this year. Without Krull or Deuel, the tournament was a little depleted, but that’s no small feat. With a big serve and improving returns, I expect him to be a good addition to my doubles lineup.
86) D3RegionalNEC: Steven Koulouris (Skidmore #2)
Koulouris had a nice run to the Northeast ITA semifinal this fall, though none of his other fall results were too special. He’s got a pretty big game and is someone I expect to have a lot of wins this spring as Skidmore looks to win another Liberty League title and return to the level they were at a few years ago. Koulouris is coming off a very good spring last year, where his only losses were to Wolfe (Bowdoin) and Smolyar (Midd). Along the way, he picked up a number of good wins, the most impressive being against Yaraghi (Amherst) and Foran (Stevens). Not bad for a ninth round backup #2 player.
87) D3Tree: Winston Yu (RPI #4)
I honestly didn’t know much (anything) about Yu before selecting him other than he was a member of that historic RPI recruiting class. Looking at his fall performance in retrospect has me a little nervous, with a doubles loss to Hobart in the R16 and 1-3 record in singles. My fears were quickly dashed when I saw Winston cheesing on the RPI athletic site. Fresh fade and a couple studs in each ear. The freshman reeks of swagger. He could get double bageled and his opponent might concede the loss anyway. Also, his dad played volleyball at Stony Brook. All around top grade selection this late in the draft.
88) AVZ: Josh Kim (PP #4)
In all honesty, when picking Josh Kim, I had Johnathan Kim in my head so clearly I made a mistake knowing absolutely nothing about him. I am sure he is a good player and Pomona is good at doubles so hopefully he might be of use there.
89) The Guru: Rohan Shastri (Williams #3)
Williams is a team I don’t follow all that closely, so I used the AVZ method of taking what I thought was the best player available with the caveat that had to be from the NESCAC because I had an impressive streak of NESCAC guys going. This pick made it 8 for 9. After reviewing Shastri’s results, let’s just say he’s very up and down. He did not have a good fall and he was hot and cold last spring. The thing that I loved seeing was a victory over LT #2 Luke Trinka. I’m pretty pleased with my first half pick at #3 singles, so Shastri is just increased upside.
90) D3RegionalAS: Jeremy Dubin (Johns Hopkins #2)
I knew at this point that my doubles lineup was a little weaker than most so I wanted to make a pick to strengthen that. With a record of 20-5 last season in doubles as well as a QF ITA appearance this fall without MVP, Dubin seemed to fit perfectly. I have a few seniors on my team and I really like that just because you know that they will be pretty reliable.The real ASouth might disagree with me, however I feel like this was a pretty solid choice, especially in the later rounds, because of his doubles prowess and high UTR (somewhere around 12). Dubin will for sure be a doubles starter and who knows, maybe even have a great year in singles.
Conclusion
This was another well executed draft analysis from the beloved blogger team. Remember, you can submit some videos to This Week In Highlights, which will be hopefully a compilation of some practice stuff. Submit your videos to us on Twitter or email or whatever you guys want. Enjoy the analysis, and we’ll see you for rounds 9-12. ASouth, OUT.