4/28 Power Rankings (M)

Another day, another article, you know what they say.  After a whirlwind of a weekend with the UAA tournament, huge NESCAC play, and other conference tournaments, things have been crazy on the blog and we are trying to keep up with it all.  Tuesdays bring a nice steady Power Rankings article, which allows everyone to focus on our arbitrary rankings and not the mistakes I make in POTW. Who knows, maybe someone will get accused of being a current player today!  There were a lot of surprises this weekend and definitely some disagreement amongst the bloggers regarding where to place everyone so this should be an exciting edition of Power Rankings.  Oh, and D3Regional finally put Middlebury below Amherst in the power rankings.  I guess a total shellacking will do that for you. We see you, Regional.  Okay, let’s get to the latest results.

Oh and by the way, if you can’t see the full Power Rankings on your computer you have one of two options. Get a new computer with a bigger screen, or wait for us to update the site this summer so we don’t have these site issues.

Latest Results

Amherst def Midd 9-0

Amherst def Bates 8-1

Williams def Bates 7-2

Bowdoin def Williams 6-3

Bowdoin def Tufts 5-4

Tufts def Bates 7-2

Williams def Trinity Ct 5-1

Carnegie Mellon def. Brandeis 7-2

Chicago def. Case Western 6-3

Emory def. NYU 8-1

Wash U def. Rochester 8-1

Emory def. Chicago 5-4

Wash U def. Carnegie Mellon 7-2

Emory def. Wash U 5-4

Brandeis def. Rochester 6-3

Case Western def. Brandeis 7-2

NYU def. Rochester 6-3

NC Wesleyan def. Johns Hopkins 8-1

Whitman def. Pacific 5-1

Trinity def everybody 5-0

Tyler def. everybody 5-0

Power Rankings

Movers, Shakers, and ASouth’s Thoughts

Amherst, #2 Overall – In what seems like déjà vu, the top 2 teams in the country right now are CMS and Amherst.  If there’s one team that CMS can legit be scared of it is the Jeffs.  They destroyed Middlebury and left no doubt that they are here to play and a late-season bloomer.  Could we see another CMS/Amherst final? I wouldn’t mind, because last year’s was pretty damn exciting.

Chicago, Up 3 spots to #8 – Chicago had a great weekend this past weekend despite losing a heartbreaker to Emory.  They took out two teams previously ranked ahead of them in the ITA rankings and a previously top 10 Power Ranked team in CMU.  Chicago is here and has submitted their best at the end of the year, which is the sign of a truly top team.  I am the only one that placed Chicago ahead of Wash U after the weekend.  I’m a man of my word.

https://twitter.com/d3AtlanticSouth/status/592482163200827392

Tufts, Up 8 Spots to #16– What in the world?! I moved up Tufts based on the incompetency of most of the other teams ranked ahead of them.  Tufts is a team that has come on strong as of late and there is definitely a bit of recency bias here.  Everyone in the #15-24 range has been beating up on each other and Tufts has shown us what they are capable of lately.  I may get burned by my optimism for the Jumbos, but until then… #EAT.

Johns Hopkins, Down 3 spots to #18 – You’d think that after an 8-1 loss to NC Wesleyan the Hopkins team would move down more, but I guess my colleagues are a bit nicer than me.  This is a team that is lacking leadership right now as the seniors have totally fizzled out.  There is way too much reliance on Buxbaum and it’s almost a shame that this team will probably make the tournament while teams like Case Western and CMU will not make it.  Classic Pool C.

NC Wesleyan, Up 10 spots to #19 – NC Wesleyan takes out Hopkins and moved way up in the rankings.  Now, I think #18 is too high (based on my ranking at #20) but I think they should be ahead of Hopkins.  This was a team that D3West told me to watch out for based on all of their international freshmen.  Don’t sleep on the Beeshops next year.

Bates, Down 9 spots to #23 – Losing a lot of NESCAC matches will do this for your ranking.  Bates was feeling good with Schwartz in the lineup, but a lot has changed since they beat Bowdoin on random indoor courts.  This was a team that has taken advantage of their opportunities, but they have blown it and are now waiting to hear about their NESCAC fate.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Power Rankings update! Watch out for NESCAC coverage this week, Pool C and Bracketology from myself and the Guru, as well as me answering any questions you ask, unless you’re accusing me of being too pro-Emory.  I won’t respond to those claims.  Check out our articles on Tennis Recruiting as well, but check back here because we will absolutely go more in depth on the blog.  Off to my real job.  ASouth, OUT.