Well because I was an overachiever and got my previews out of the way early, I have sat here bored with nothing good to say. Needless to say I am ready for the season to get underway. Many programs start practice this week so that means matches aren’t far off. Until then, while getting excited about this year, what better thing to do than already be thinking about next season? I thought I would provide a list (and small analysis) of the current verbal commitments to the various programs per tennisrecruiting.net. These rankings are as of Jan 14th so they are bound to change. A lot of times kids stop playing in as many tournaments once they commit so their ranking tends to fall near the end of the senior year so this might be the best ranking we get from them. Obviously there are still commits out there to be made, but here is the list of all the 4 stars and 3 stars that are currently ranked in the Top 250.
91 Nicolas Chua Chicago
92 Brandon Yeoh Case Western
102 Steven Chen Wesleyan
103 David Liu Chicago
104 Peter Leung Chicago
110 Edward Ang Carnegie Melon
127 Winn Smith Middlebury
137 Patrick Wildman CMS
143 Noah Farrell Middlebury
148 Luke Tsai Chicago
149 Rohan Gupte Tufts
166 Rex Glickman Tufts
176 Bart Panorese Emory
177 Gilbert Roddy Bowdoin
180 Brian Grodecki Williams
188 Kyle Wolfe Bowdoin
192 Shaun Berman Wash U
195 Lucas Pickering Skidmore
196 Sachin Raghaven Williams
203 Luke Tercek Bowdoin
208 Cameron Daniels Wesleyan
239 Justin Kang Hopkins
245 Tommy Chang Carnegie Mellon
Before we go into any analysis, our readers need to understand that these rankings are done by tennisrecruiting.net and in no way determine how good of a player they may be in college. They merely analyze results and rank the players based off that. Division III has had one 5-star recruit each of the last 4 years and most didn’t even step in and play 1 singles for the team: (2013 Herron ranked 92, Amherst; 2012, Yaraghi ranked 33, Amherst; 2011 Wood ranked 56, CMS, and 2010 Fritz ranked 19!, Amherst). I wanted to make this list initially to point out the huge recruiting year that Chicago is currently having, but I think the biggest thing that it shows right now is where on earth is Amherst on this list?!? The past two seasons they have had the top recruiting class in D-III and they currently have no one in the top 250. Again it is early, but has Garner taken the year off? Does he have too many good players already and wouldn’t know what to do with a “C” team full of 4-stars? Back to the initial motivation of this list. Chicago will graduate no one in their top 6 lineup after this season and will bring in 3 of the top 5 freshman. They had a strong recruiting class this year so this is a team to watch for. Case Western has to be thrilled with their big commit from Cali and that will undoubtedly help. However, he is the only one they have. Another big name missing from this list from my region is Kenyon. This is alarming as well as they seem to have plateaued and maybe on the down slide in the future. I wouldn’t be too alarmed with other teams not on this list like Trinity (TX) or Whitman as they usually get the most out of the 2 and 3 star players that end up coming to the respected schools.
Anyways, take the list for what it’s worth. I just wanted to get an article out since it has been awhile since I have posted. Needless to say I am getting a little stir crazy. Comments are most definitely welcome. Good luck to all of the teams that are starting practice!
@LoveLongPosts
1. The bloggers get paid the same as you and that “analysis” would take hours.
2. The only point you are trying to prove is that performance in high school correlates with performance in college. Obviously it does, but other factors (motivation, gamestyle, physical tools) keep it from being exact. This analysis would be the biggest waste of time ever.
3. I think tr does use the highest ranking system as of recent
Thanks for the back up d3tennisguy. My apologies for the misspelled name as he is not a player in my region, but if you take a look at his profile, he finished as a 5-star. Tennisrecruiting.net does new “star” ratings just twice a year so reiterating what was said, he was a 5-star for the last ranking period. This is why you sometimes see people ranked in the top 200 (i.e. Glickman and Grodecki from the above list) as just 3 stars. I don’t think I am the one who needs the refresher.
Strike one it’s Harron not Herron. Strike two Harron could not have been a five star if his rank was below 75. Perhaps you need a refresh on tennis recruiting ranking system. Based on these obvious errors. My guess is your going to get called our on strikes…
Harron was a 5-star because he was ranked inside the top 75 when the ranking period ended. Additionally, perhaps you need a refresher on the English language. If you’re going to be snarky, do it properly.
Post your guess on your D3tennis site and we’ll check it out.