ASouth’s Mens Burning Questions. Click it.

Atlantic South Five Burning Questions

The moment you’ve all been waiting for…. Atlantic South Burning Questions!  Let’s be honest, you’ve been waiting for this article because I was your favorite writer of the year last year.  I’ve decided to take on the responsibility of both the Atlantic South Men’s and Women’s sections, as well as my normal National view that I always love to give.  Now that you’ve endured the slow-footed D3Central, the skittish D3Northeast, the condescending D3West, and of course, the delusional D3Regional, it’s my turn.  Call me what you want, but don’t say you didn’t enjoy the article.  My ego wouldn’t be able to handle that.

ANYWAYS, I’ve been through a long offseason.  It’s time to get to my favorite section of the nation and pick out 5 true burning questions for all of you.  I really like to focus on individuals when we get to the regional level instead of those boring old national burning questions that everyone seems to know about.  Let’s get to the damn nitty-gritty, why don’t we.  Here are my 5 Burning Questions for the ASouth this year.

  1. Emory, Hopkins, or CMU – who’s your pick? – Last year, these three teams battled it out for Atlantic South supremacy. This year, I expect it to be more of the same.  All three teams had a question in the National Burning Questions because they all deserve recognition on the national scene.  None of them were hit hard by graduates and all of them brought in solid to really good recruiting classes.  Last year, Emory went 1-1 against Hopkins who beat CMU, who beat Emory.  It was a round robin of great Atlantic South play.  All of these teams feature very strong singles play with very deep teams.  Doubles may be the key here and as of right now I’d probably have to give Hopkins the edge in that department.  That being said, Emory has the big senior guns at the top of their lineup.  CMU has the youth from last year and what should be great team chemistry.  Hopkins played some great doubles last year, but Emory and CMU have nowhere to go but up in that category.  This is by far the best question of the ASouth this year.  Personally, my pick is Hopkins (surprise!) with Emory not far behind.  Can I see all three of these teams in the top 5?
  2. Which player will surprise everyone with his improvement and change his team’s outlook? – There were honestly two players that really stuck out to me last year that fit the above criteria. They played #1 for their teams and eventually made waves at their positions.  Those two players were of course Abhishek Alla of CMU and Alex Ruderman of Emory.  Ruderman had a year that any #1 singles player would love to have.  He barely lost and although he fizzled out in the individual tournament, he was the key to Emory’s top 8 finish.  Alla, who came into the season as a #2 player, went on to win the Fall ITA Championship and played a rock solid #1 for CMU the rest of the year.  He was obviously a huge boost to the team’s success as well.  Who will it be this year?  Will it be a guy like Jeremy Dubin of Hopkins who takes a big step?  How about Evan Charles of Mary Washington?  How about Taylor Shamshiri or Michael Holt of W&L?  You never know who the next great player is going to be.  One player can make the difference between a top 10 finish and a top 5.  I’m excited to see who worked their ass off in the offseason and came back ready to play in the fall.

  1. Has Mary Washington reached their high point? – Mary Washington surprised many last year with their top 20 finish, something they hadn’t really reached in quite a long time. They took advantage of a reeling CLU team in their first match out West and never looked back.  The Eagles took Redlands to a very close match as well and generally proved that they belonged in the top 20.  With the graduation of Alex Blahkin and a basically non-existent recruiting class, I’m not very high on the Eagles this year.  While I never want to discount the impact of their location, facilities, and longtime coach Todd Helbing, all signs point to down on this team without a significant improvement from one or two of their players.  If Tyler Carey can enter the stratosphere of a Tier 1 #1 player, then we may be talking.  As of now, count me as skeptical.  I tweeted this back in June, and I’m not looking back.

  1. Which recruiting class will make the biggest impact?

Damn, my twitter timeline is pretty accurate even three months ahead of time, isn’t it?  Freshmen always play a big part in the grand scheme of things, especially in the ASouth.  This year, both CMU and Emory have big time recruiting classes with minimal losses and lots of holes to fill in their doubles lineup.  Hopkins returns a ton of people and brings in a solid class on their standards.  With the emergence of so many freshmen last year including Kirkov (CMU), Zheng (CMU), Buxbaum (Hopkins), Dubin (Hopkins) and Walsh (Hopkins), what can we make of this years class?  I definitely think at least one from each of the Big 3’s recruiting classes will make an impact somewhere in singles or doubles.  Emory and CMU might see two or three freshmen in their doubles lineup by the end of the year.  Can these guys handle the gamesmanship and intensity of the ASouth?  I hope so.

  1. Will there be any improvement from the bottom teams in the region? – The bottom teams in the region, such as Washington and Lee and Sewanee, basically make no impact on the top 25 rankings. The only impact these guys have is when their best players make the individual tournament.  Here’s how the ASouth goes: The Big 3 (Emory, Hop, CMU), then your middle man in Mary Washington, then everyone else.  Washington and Lee took steps back last year in terms of ITA rank and will need to step up their game to get back into national prominence.  Sewanee took steps forward and won their first NCAA match in a long, long time.  All the other teams (Swarthmore, Haverford, whoever else) basically just milled around in the 30-60 range and did nothing to convince anyone that they belong.  With no recruiting classes that really stand out to me, I don’t see a whole lot to be excited out in the pits of the ASouth.  If anything, my money would be on Sewanee…. But I don’t have that much money.

Well, that’s that.  Those were my 5 burning questions for the ASouth.  I’m sure that other people have other suggestions, so please let me know in the comments section.  Emory kids, you can lambast me in the comments section like you always do as well.  Everyone else usually leaves me alone.  Maybe it’s because of our history.  Anywho, I’ll be back with the ASouth Women’s questions tomorrow, (why did Gabby Clark have to go) and you know that’ll be fun because I really need to do some research.  I don’t even know the mascots at this point.  Do I just add “Lady” to everything?  I digress.  It’ll be a straight up killer season in the ASouth with lots of close line calls, fist pumps, and yelling about the break you just got.  That’s what I’m talking about.  Peace and love, ASouth… out.

One thought on “ASouth’s Mens Burning Questions. Click it.

  1. asouthfan

    Watch out for an Erik Lim comeback this year!

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