Recruiting Update

Most schools’ early decision deadlines have passed, and the DIII recruiting landscape continues to defy logic. Take a look at the DIII commits page. Take a look at the DII commits page. Which one is better? Now, I know that the best DII programs are stronger than the best DIII programs, and that this recruiting discrepancy can be explained by the relative prevalence of international players in the DII arena, but if this were any other sport, these recruiting numbers would be shocking.

No DIII follower will be surprised by the fact that DIII tennis programs consistently manage to attract 4- and 5-star athletes to their schools. I generally believe that the quality of play in Division III men’s tennis is better than it is in any other DIII sport. (DIII women’s tennis is not far behind). Still, any time I come in contact with an outsider, I feel the need to justify my interest in Division III sports. People tend to assume that athletes play DIII athletics because they weren’t good enough to play DI or DII, and I try to explain why that’s not the case:

In what other sport would a top 20 athlete choose to play DIII? In what other sport would 5 of the top 100 athletes choose DIII? In what other sport would 23 of the top 200 athletes choose to play in Division III? The answer, of course, is “No other sport.” (Women’s tennis is the only sport that’s close. They had 0 top 20 athletes, 4 top 100 athletes, and 17 top 200 athletes this past year). There are many reasons for the DIII recruiting boom–smaller team sizes concentrate the tennis talent, international players reduce the number of scholarships going to American players, and wealth among tennis families and improved financial aid limit the need for those scholarships. Most importantly, competitive DIII programs offer academic excellence most DI and DII programs can’t match. Nevertheless, the recruiting boom has raised the level of competition in DIII tennis to the point where many former powers are struggling to keep up; coaching and development can only go so far. As is the case in Division I, schools that can’t keep up on the recruiting trail are doomed to mediocrity. It’s the Pirate’s Code of intercollegiate sports: “All who fall behind are left behind.” (I’m looking at you GAC, Redlands, and Zoo). Basically, recruiting is important. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the recruiting highlights of the Fall.

Two quick notes. First, I tend to rank recruiting classes based on which teams are fulfilling their need best. For example, Amherst is already incredibly deep, so one top 50 player is more valuable to them than five 3-stars. Second, I’m sure there are many players who have already applied ED who are not listed here. This is merely a list of the players who have already been listed as “Committed” on TRN.

1. Williams

Commits: #70 Conrad Harron (5-star), #127 Rohan Shastri (4-star)

The Purple Cows may be losing Sun, Meyer, Chow, and Weiss to graduation this year, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have plenty of depth. They brought in three 4-stars and a 3-star last year to go with Micheli and a couple other guys for the 2014 team. What they needed in this recruiting class were a couple big time players, and they’ve already gotten them. Harron is the crown jewel of the 2013 DIII recruiting class so far, marking the 4th consecutive year that at least one 5-star has gone DIII. Both he and Shastri should be immediate starters next year for Williams.

2. CMS

Commits: #92 Maxwell Macey (4-star), #782 Glenn Hull (3-star)

If you don’t pay a ton of attention to TRN, most of you are looking at the number next to Hull’s name going, “WTF?” Hull is a guy who has been away from tournaments for a while, in part due to injury, but that doesn’t mean he can’t hit the ball. He should probably be a 4-star. Macey is a top 100 player, and that pretty much says it all. Between the two of them, CMS has two guys who could potentially blow up and play near the top of the lineup in their first year. Considering the fact that they’re only worried about replacing Cahill (a solid #5 or 6 singles player at best) and Johnson (who hasn’t been good for more than a year), this is exactly what they need.

3. Wesleyan

Commits: #138 Jacob Roberts (4-star), #185 Gregory Lyon (3-star), #247 Michael Liu (3-star)

The Wesleyan Cardinals basically got sick of being the NESCAC’s whipping boy, so they went out and got an extremely aggressive AD. It’s already paying off the men’s tennis team. While the team is probably still a couple years from a Pool C bid (and many more from a NESCAC Championship), Coach Fried is doing all the right things on the recruiting trail, bringing in as many good players as possible. Add these three guys to last year’s top 20 class, and they should be cracking the top 30 in no time at all.

4. Chicago

Commits: #150 Sven Kranz (4-star), #312 Brian Sun (4-star), Anthony Stead (international)

Chicago is up to its old tricks again. They still recruit better than almost any school out there, but so far, they haven’t been able to turn those recruits into stars. Call me naive, but these players have been recruited by a different coach to compete for what is hopefully a completely different program. If Chicago tennis is going to undergo a renaissance, these guys, Crawford, Zhang, and Sabada will have to lead the way. I have no idea how good the international guy is, but Sun is much better than his ranking (hence the four stars).

5. Wash U

Commits: #93 Jeremy Bush (4-star)

The Bears may have nabbed a top 100 recruit, but they’re down on this list because they’re only halfway to filling their need. They graduate Farah, Haywood, Parizher, and Putterman, and, while they have plenty of players to fill in at the bottom of the lineup, they will need two immediate impact players to compete with Emory in the years to come. They have one, and he is quite a recruit.

6. Emory

Commits: #210 Cam Chapman (4-star), #319 Andrew Lo (3-star)

I’m not sure if Browning should be happy with his recruiting work so far or not. The 2011 recruiting class turned out to be the best of that year. Halpern, Ruderman, Wagner, and Kowalski all became integral players in their national championship run. Still, they lost one of those guys, and appear to be without a star so far this year. The spring will tell more about what they need on the recruiting trail, but neither of these guys are about to come in and start at #1 singles. So far, this year’s class doesn’t come close to meeting the usual Emory standard, but it’s still a very strong start for the Eagles.

7. Tufts

Commits: #522 Benjamin Battle (3-star), #1058 Ryan Rosen (3-star), Kevin Kelly (International)

Battle and Rosen’s national rankings are very misleading. Battle has played exactly four tournaments this year, and Rosen hasn’t played on since July. I’m not sure what that says about their commitment to tennis, but they’re both normally top 300 players. Kelly is a bit of a wild card, but I always figure we’ll find out about the international players when they get here. He could be the next Bettles, or he could be one of the faceless masses. Basically, Tufts needs as many good players as they can get their hands on, especially after Barad and Lutz leave this year. The Jumbos managed to get a very good recruiting class last year (#8), and they’re backing it up so far this year. They’re setting their sights on Trinity, Bowdoin, and a Pool C bid, but they still have to watch their rear-view for Wesleyan.

8. Bates

Commits: #177 Christopher Ellis (3-star), #291 Patrick Ordway (3-star), #485 Brent Feldman (2-star)

Bates is finally getting things done on the recruiting trail, but I’m afraid it might be too little, too late for them. If they had brought in two good players last year, they might have beaten Amherst, they might have beaten Middlebury, and they might be in the top 10 right now. They didn’t, and they graduate Crampton and Bettles this year. The best they can hope for is for these guys to fill those shoes, but the chances a couple 3-stars can come in and start dominating the NESCAC elite the way Crampton and Bettles have are pretty slim. It’s still a nice recruiting class.

9. Johns Hopkins

Commits: #225 Jeremy Dubin (3-star), #258 Emerson Walsh (3-star)

Hopkins’ recruiting class is at least as good as Bates’ and Tufts’, but it just doesn’t fill the need as well. Those guys going to Bates and Tufts will almost definitely start for them. You can’t say the same about Dubin and Walsh. Hopkins’ monster 2011 recruiting class will be coming into its own by the beginning of next year (if they don’t put things together this year), and Garcia and Jou are both better ranked than these two guys. It’s always good for Hopkins to fill its coffers with more good players, but these two might not see the court very much next year. At the same time, Fife just showed us what a freshman 3-star can do sometimes.

10. Vassar

Commits: #293 Nicholas Litsky (3-star), #1163 Alexander Luckerman (2-star)

I can almost guarantee you this will be the only time the name Alexander Luckerman gets mentioned on this blog because he’s just not very good, but Vassar is the only other school that has pulled multiple recruits so far with at least one who will definitely start this year. Litzky is a good player, which is convenient because Vassar is about to lose Guzick (AKA their only good player). Vassar also has a read on a couple other 3-stars. The college has the academics and the culture to get back in the rankings, but they need to start winning recruiting matches before they can win tennis matches. Getting Litsky helps, but they need to get Adam Schwartz as well.

That’s it for now. The names will start to roll in soon, rendering this list completely obsolete, but it’s fun to put something out there.