You would think I’d be getting tired of Indoors, considering I’ve written like 4-5 articles on the tournament, but I’m not. I’m back as promised for the last Indoors recap until we can finally put this tournament to rest (even though I will miss it dearly). My last Indoors article went through the Studs and Duds of the tournament as well as the 10 things I liked and didn’t like. This time around, I’ll be doing more of your general recap. You know, the one where we go team-by-team and I provide my analysis, thoughts, and what to expect from the teams moving forward. I personally don’t like this format as it gets a bit dry sometimes, but Indoors focuses on 8 top 15 teams and that’s nothing to scoff about. I’ll start off with my overall thoughts and then go team-by-team right after, starting with the 8th place team and finishing with the champion.
Overall Thoughts
This was an awesome tournament. Coach Girard of CMU tweeted it, but the amazing stat of the weekend was that EVERY single match was 6-3 or closer. I don’t know if that’s the first time in history at Indoors, but I know that it’s the first time I’ve seen something like that happen. Every single one of these teams was in the hunt for at least two of their matches, most of them three. It goes to show how close the top teams are right now. One thing that I want you all to realize is that from #1-#7, it’s highly possible that any of these teams beats each other on the right day. Is there not a scenario where Case Western takes out Trinity TX? Or how about a full strength CMU over Trinity or Wash U? No doubt about it it’s possible, which is going to make the rest of the season really exciting. Just think, we only have 5 Pool C spots this year. It’s sad that potentially one of the UAA teams in this tournament might not make the NCAAs at the end of the year. Curse you, NCAA rules…
#8 Gustavus Adolphus
I’ll start with Gustavus as they were the 8th place team in the tournament. There was a clear drop off in talent from the #7 team to the #8 team in Gustavus, despite the close scores. The only way GAC was going to win one of these matches at this point in the season was to take the doubles and find a few spots where injuries, fatigue, or nervousness took hold of some of the opposing players. Unfortunately, they are going up against a big talent gap (look at the recruiting ratings of the teams other than Case) and the home court was not able to overcome that. The fact that they swept Case Western was a great surprise and their two matches against CMU and Trinity also showed how much this team is willing to fight. I think this was an amazing learning experience for the Gustavus young guns at the bottom of the lineup and gave Al-Houni a taste of what it’s like to play the top guys in DIII. GAC should not hang their head about this tournament even though they came out of there with 0 wins. They performed much better than expected and were able to put a scare in every team they played. The Al-Houni brothers played close in almost all their matches and the bottom of the lineup was competitive. I especially liked the play of #6 player T. Connor Shives was inspiring because I think he will be an above average #6 player the rest of the way. With a team that had 3 or 4 freshmen and a sophomore in the lineup, GAC has a bright future ahead if they can keep the recruits coming in. Maybe they should keep getting kids who have younger brothers!
#7 Carnegie Mellon
On the surface, the tournament for Carnegie Mellon was probably neither a satisfaction or an accomplishment for a team that finished #9 in the nation. However, when you look under the covers, the story gets better. I’ve harped on the fact that they were missing two players throughout the tournament – #3 singles Will Duncan and #4 singles Kiril Kirkov. For context on how big of a loss these two guys are, take a look at these records. Duncan went 10-6 overall at #3 last year, but lost in three sets to John Carswell, beat Rafe Mosetick, and beat Eric Klawitter. Kirkov, on the other hand, went 13-2 at #4 singles and beat Reinbold, Bush, and Wagner last year. Those two guys are very good players at their spots. Not to mention, both would be playing in the doubles lineup at full strength. Instead, CMU threw Zheng and Wadwani at #3 and #4, where they went a combined 4-2. Zheng had the two losses and both were really close. If they get fully healthy, there’s no reason to think that they could have been in the finals at the end of the tournament. That’s what they can hang their hats on. However, it’s not all well and good with the Tartans and they do have a few things to work on. Doubles was a big weakness for them last year and it looks like it might be again this year. They went down in all 3 matches, with their #2 team (whoever was playing there) coming through in the clutch. Heaney-Secord did not play good doubles this weekend and that was basically the same for the rest of the players as well. I’d classify CMU as a dangerous team right now but not one that’s a national championship contender. They have work to do before they reach that status.
#6 Case Western
This was really an up and down tournament for the Spartans. I was talking with the Guru about the Spartans and one thing he was impressed about was how hard this team battles. It’s something we knew they would do ever since Coach Todd got to Case Western and they exemplified this spirit throughout the weekend. Their comeback against Gustavus was very impressive despite putting themselves in a self-inflicted hole. It’s not an easy feat to come back from 3-0 down against the home team at indoors when they are truly playing the underdog role. Case does have some bright spots, of course, as they finished in 6. Christopher Krimbill looks like far and away the best player in DIII right now. I seriously don’t have a player that I would take over him on any given day at this point. His game is so smooth and he really controls the baseline but follows it up with a great all-around game. With the best player in DIII, the Spartans really have a feather in their cap. As impressive as Krimbill was, Drougas was somewhat disappointing. I had thought this team would have a great 1-2 punch but Drougas faltered in his two tough matches. Case is really missing Fojtasek as well, who would have slotted in at #3 and pushed everyone back a spot. Stuerke and Dughi were tough outs at their respective positions but didn’t have the oomph to really put them over the edge. Also, the doubles prowess we’ve seen from Case is apparently no longer existent and I’d grade them as a middle of the pack doubles team moving forward. They took the lead against Kenyon but got swept by GAC and were down against Hopkins as well. Back to the drawing board for Case as they lost a couple of good opportunities to erase their loss to Kenyon. We’ll see how they do moving forward because we know this is a team that improves throughout the season. Right now, I have this team around the #10-12 range.
#5 Kenyon
Super impressive tournament from Kenyon and one can only wonder what would have happened if they had an on fire Tim Rosensteel for their first match against Wash U. I didn’t have high hopes for the Lords at the beginning of the season, but their worst result at Indoors was a 5-4 loss to Wash U in the first round. Heerboth’s health really helped them out as they were able to get a huge win against CMU. With the way CMU will probably finish, this is an incredible win for them because they’ll notch a few indirects and maybe get that #1 seed that they would love. I had serious doubts about anyone that was playing below #3 singles for the Lords, but Turlington stepped up huge which I did not expect at all. Just the fact that he can keep them in matches at the very least is better than I expected. At the bottom of the lineup, Huber is a bit overmatched at #4 but will probably be replaced by Rosensteel eventually, shifting him down. The Lords doubles was solid as always, and Thielke definitely rejiggered his lineups in order to maximize the amount of wins he could get. This is by far Kenyon’s best result since their national championship runner up run two years ago. Last year’s team was hit hard with the departure of their best player and that probably took a lot out of them. This year, they look like a new, supportive team that definitely are looking out for each other. Credit the team leaders and the coaches for getting these guys back on the right track, because Kenyon is always a team we want to see at the end of the year. They still will have trouble from 2-4 singles and at #2 doubles, so they are far from a lock in the top 10. With no true studs on the team, that is unfortunately the line you have to play.
#4 Johns Hopkins
I personally think this was a disappointing trip for the Jays. While 4th place is nothing to scoff at, I had this team pegged as a finals team and a potential title team. Instead, they fell to Trinity 5-4 in the semis before getting handled by a reeling Wash U team. This is a team with a ton of talent and should be a lot better than they are right now. What I thought was a strength in doubles actually might be more of a neutral entity. Hopkins will probably get their share of 2-1 leads but they aren’t that huge threat to sweep one of the top teams and then take it from there. Buxbaum/Walsh had a tough go of it this time around but they are a gritty team that will undoubtedly improve the rest of the year. In singles, Dubin is currently slotted at #2 but I’m unsure if he will be able to have a successful season. He’s a good #3 player right now but it’ll be interesting to see if that translates to wins at a higher spot as he hopefully grows throughout the season. Realistically, this team is probably #6 or #7 in the country right now. I would like to issue a plea to the seniors of this team because they are holding down the #3-6 spots in the lineup. These guys need to see improvement the rest of the year because with Buxbaum dueling at #1 singles and Dubin potentially having a rough time at #2, it’ll be up to them to get consistent points against better teams. These are all guys (outside of Joachim) that have played higher in the lineup before and should be getting more consistent wins. I’m sorry to hear that Tanner Brown is still dealing with injuries and hopefully he gets healthy throughout the season. This is a team that likes playing the villain but right now I don’t think they have the confidence that Emory has in their practice and skill. That can come over the season and I still have hopes that this is a team that can elevate themselves into the true “contender” category.
#3 Wash U
I named Wash U a dud in my previous article and I’m going to stick with that premise. Wash U’s usually dependable doubles did them in this tournament as they went down 2-1 to Kenyon and got swept by Emory, leaving almost no doubt against the Eagles. Good thing for the Bears that doubles is the easier of the two types of matches to improve and they have a history of doing so. Bush/Putterman probably just have to find their groove to get firing as a top team again, and Wash U has the pieces to make solid teams at the other spots. If anything, this was a learning experience and a reality check for the Bears that they will not roll through teams like they may have thought they’d be able to. Good news is that they have potentially the best #4-6 in the country including CMS and there will be very few times if any that they lose 2 matches at the bottom of the lineup, if they stay healthy. Having Putterman at #2 singles gives them an experienced player who can navigate through big matches and I’d give him the edge come playoff time. On the other hand, John Carswell really needs to figure out his game. I know that he relies heavily on his forehand, but it looks like his backhand and movement has taken a step back from his peak last year. #1’s won’t fall for a one-trick pony at this point in the game, so the next few weeks should be used to hopefully hone some of his other strengths. One thing I do know is that all of these opportunities are perfect for the work that Coach Follmer does and I’m sure the Bears will be around the top 5 at the end of the year. I’ve done enough doubting of this team in the past and it won’t start back up again here. Chalk this one up as a learning experience for the Bears this year and a lot of ammunition for what they need to work on the rest of the year.
#2 Emory
Emory, Emory, Emory. I’ve talked about Emory a decent amount this year and this tournament goes to show that they are on a level that deserves to be talked about. While this team is not as talented as it was in the past, I was impressed by the amount of heart that this team had. The top 3 guys – Ruderman, Halpern, and Mosetick really set the tone for this team when it comes to matches. I never saw them let up in any games throughout their matches, even when a lot of other players probably would have thrown them away. Take 5-0 down in the second set while you have a one set lead, for example. At the end of the weekend, the Eagles probably felt like they left the title on the table. Rarely, if ever, will you see both Ruderman and Halpern go down in three setters in the same match. When both those 3rd sets started I was fairly confident they’d take one of them, but Trinity simply stepped up when it counted. Not a big deal from Emory’s perspective because I feel like they’d take that situation every time out there. One thing the Eagles do need to figure out is how to play consistent doubles as well as finding their answer at #5 and #6 singles. The doubles this weekend was above-average; they took leads and swept Wash U, but went down to Trinity TX. If this team can keep up that performance in doubles they have their formula to beat the top teams. The bottom of the lineup is a different story right now. They currently have Rubinstein (got it right this time) and Goodman down there and both were good but not great. Rubinstein is really the player to watch here as he had chances in his match. It’s tough to gauge these guys against Wash U because the Bears are just so deep. Goodman actually came out of the weekend 2-1 so it’s not like he had a bad performance. I was talking with the Guru about the Eagles and he said this “Is this not a team that you can see stunning a team like CMS at NCAAs?” While this is not a more talented team than the Stags, this is a team that can grind out 5 points on the right day. In the vacuum of the NCAA tournament, that’s all you really need.
#1 Trinity TX
What a tournament for the Tigers. Overlooked by many and expected to come in fourth, I’m still scratching my head as to how these guys won the whole thing. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great team with a great coach and hard-working players, but this was something I didn’t expect at all. This team didn’t have the “wow” factor that past Indoor Champions have had, but I guess that’s what makes them Trinity. Aaron Skinner was absolutely the difference this weekend between a team that finished in the third place match and a team that finished as the champion. To go from a National Champion to average #3 player back to a top #2 player is something I don’t think we all expected. If he can keep this up, Trinity currently sits at the top of the “Threats to CMS” rankings. This is a team that has 0 weaknesses (other than maybe #4 singles) and can beat you from a variety of spots. The Tigers have basically souped up what they’ve always done – that’s play good doubles, beat you with spots that you’re potentially weak at, have salon quality hair and read the morning news. Obviously, only the first two, I just wanted to throw an Anchorman reference in there. I assume Deuel will be out permanently given that the rumors are starting to be true, but either way this is a top 3 or top 4 team right now. If Deuel can make a comeback, the rest of DIII better watch out because this is a national championship type team. Coach McMindes has done a stellar job with these players and we can see why he won National Coach of the Year last year. If TU can get out of California Spring Break in decent shape, they have a top 3 seed basically in the bag, which is huge considering they’d avoid CMS for a little while.
Quick Rankings
National Contenders – Trinity TX, Emory
Borderline Contenders – Wash U
In the Conversation – Hopkins, CMU
Top 10 Quality – Case Western, Kenyon
Outside the Bubble – Gustavus (pun intended)
I realize this is a couple days late but I wanted to take a day or two to reflect on what happened this weekend (and also do normal people things). Now that this recap is over, that’s the last article we will be writing for Men’s Indoors! Sad times for all. I’ve already spoken too much in the past hour, so on that note, ASouth OUT.
Go LORDS!!!!