2016 Fantasy Team Recaps – DQuazzo & D3TennisGreek

All great things must come to an end. And that means the Team Recaps will soon be over for our 2016 Fantasy Draft.  Below, we will be previewing the final two teams, managed by Dante Quazzo and D3TennisGreek, two non-bloggers who got the opportunity to join us.  I was very impressed with both of these teams, as you will see below. Also, as an update, please click on the 2016 Fantasy Draft Team Lineups link on the top left of the screen for your updated Team by Team Lineups.  Additionally, use that as a reference when voting for your favorite team in the polls!! Let’s get to the two teams.

“Aristotle’s Aces”

Manager – D3TennisGreek

Coach: Jay Tee, Chicago

Ast Coach: Richy Gray, Chicago

Projected Singles Lineup:

1. Noah Farrell, Middlebury
2. Daniel Levine, CMU
3. Aman Manji, Emory
4. William De Quant, Middlebury
5. Jackson Frons, Middlebury
6. David Liu, Chicago

Projected Doubles Lineup:

1. Daniel Levine/Jonathan Li
2. Noah Farrell/Kai Yuen Leung
3. David Liu/Graham Maassen

Projected Backups:

1. Kai Yuen Leung, Skidmore
2. Steven Chen, Wesleyan
3. Graham Maassen, Pomona-Pitzer
4. Marko Mandic, Pomona-Pitzer
5. Andrew Komarov, Case
6. Jonathan Li, Chicago

Team Analysis:

Although it took me a long time to figure out, in the end, my doubles strategy is pretty simple. Last year, Noah Farrell and Kai Yuen Leung were virtually locks for Ws at No. 2, and David Liu as well as Graham Maassen were virtually locks for Ws at No. 3 (in their respective teams, of course). Rather than take a chance by placing two of my top doubles players at No. 1, I decided to keep them at spots in the lineup where they would ensure Aristotle’s Aces a lead going into singles almost every match. To recap, Leung played about half of last season at No. 2, going 10-1 before being promoted to the top spot. Let’s not forget his run to ITA Nationals this year as well. Farrell’s record at No. 2 was just as impressive as Leung’s (which I forgot to mention in my pick-by-pick analysis), going a whopping 20-5 with wins against Chicago, Trinity, Bowdoin (twice), Emory, Pomona-Pitzer, and more! So, I’m more than confident that I will win almost every match at No. 2. Now, to 3. I basically wrote a book about Liu in my draft analysis, but to recap, Liu (along with Chua) was one of the best No. 3 players in the country. Combined with Maassen, who went 18-2 in doubles last year between the 2 and 3 spots and undefeated at 3, there’s no way I’m losing a match at No. 3. This isn’t just me hyping up my team. I truly believe that I will rarely lose a match at 2 and 3. At No. 1, however (on the note of honesty), I’ll be lucky if I get a few wins. I purposely placed two freshmen at the top spot because my head coach led a team full of freshmen to 4th place at Nats last year, so I’m confident in Coach Tee’s ability to guide them. Overall, I expect to be up 2-1 after doubles in most matches – no more, no less.

The success of the top half of my singles lineup rests heavily on potential. Noah Farrell, Daniel Levine, and Aman Manji have never played as high on their respective rosters as they are projected to. This means it’s either boom or bust for Nos. 1-3. However, I relied vastly on fall (and summer for Levine) results, and if those are any indication of what’s to come in the following months, my singles lineup is looking strong. By no stretch of the imagination do I expect Farrell to win every single match come spring, but that’s the problem with the top singles spot; nobody is guaranteed wins. Still, I believe Farrell is going to remain one of the premier players in the country, and at this point, he’s as close to a lock at No. 1 as you can get. Much like Farrell, Manji’s fall season, especially with the Emory Turkey Bowl semifinal appearance, was quite impressive, so he is well on his way to being one of the top No. 3 players. Personally, I think Levine is going to have a tougher time than these two. He did nothing wrong in the fall, but there isn’t anything to tell me he’s going to be one of the best 2s, and seeing some of the No. 2s out there, I don’t know if Levine is ready to take them on just yet; the potential is there, though. If Levine doesn’t pan out, I have a solid backup option in Steven Chen. Ultimately, I say I’m guaranteed at least 1 point in every match from the top half of my lineup.

I’m more confident with the bottom of my singles lineup; I guess this really is a Jay Tee coached team. Speaking of Coach Tee, I’m positive that his No. 6 player, David Liu, gives me a point every match. Remember, this is the guy that’s taken out some solid No. 1s and almost went undefeated at the 6 spot last year. That leaves me with two Middlebury players, and I need one to win in order to clinch my matches. Forgetting Jackson Frons’ current whereabouts, he was one of the better 4s last year, besting more than a couple guys from top 15 teams and ending with an 11-6 record at 4. As a 5, I think he’s a sure bet for wins. De Quant, as a freshman, crushed it at No. 5 and ended with a total record of 23-4 in singles. Yes, he is moving up one spot in the lineup, but he also has a year under his belt. I expect him to shine again.

I alluded to this earlier, but with a team full of underclassmen, a few juniors, and one senior, I needed a coaching staff that had experience being successful with a young lineup. The reigning UAA Coaching Staff of the Year Jay Tee and Richy Gray continuously improved and led the young Chicago Maroons to a fourth place finish last season, so they are ready to lead Aristotle’s Aces. My team has a little more experience than Chicago did, as only 2 freshmen start in my lineup, so I’m confident that the Maroon coaching staff can lead my guys to the national title (or the most votes in the poll)!

Dante Quazzo’s Take: This team looks like it will play a lot of close matches, but will rest heavily on the success of two players: Noah Farrell and David Liu. The good news is that if you were to rest your fortunes on any two players doing well at their respective spots this year, it’s probably those two. Farrell has looked nothing short of unstoppable at #1 so far, and we all know how broken it is to have Liu at the bottom of the singles lineup. It will be very tough to beat the Greek at those spots.

He’s also looking very strong in doubles, with the Farrell/Leung and Liu/Maassen pairings looking like locks. However, they look a little less intimidating when you take away what I think is a stack at the #1 doubles spot–there’s no way you can play a team of two freshmen ahead of three All-Americans (two of them in dubs!). Farrell/Leung would be a formidable #1 team for sure, but probably middle of the pack compared to other #1 teams in this draft. That trades a sure loss at #1 doubles and a sure win at #2, for likely a push in both #1 and #2. Regardless, doubles should be considered a strength for the Aces and they should be up more often than down.

So far we’ve identified 3 locks for the AAs, at #3 doubles, #1 singles, and #6 singles. Where will they get the other two points? Compared to the rest of the draft lineups, I don’t see those points coming from #2 or #3 singles. Levine is still pretty green and this draft is full of the best #2 players out there–if this was Heaney-Secord we’re talking about then maybe, but Levine has pretty big shoes to fill and despite his potential will be an underdog against most #2s in the draft. Manji played a solid #6 last year and picked up a big win against DLiu, but nothing about his results so far suggests he’ll be able to hold his own at #3 against the top teams. That leaves the Midd boys, De Quant and Frons, to pick up the remaining wins. I think they’re good bets to succeed at their respective spots this year, and Greek was right to triple up on Midd. Assuming Frons doesn’t have a post-semester abroad hangover, they’ll be able to get the job done most of the time.

This team will do well against teams with lots of depth, because you can’t get much better than Greek’s #3 doubles and #4-#6 singles. However, if you take a team with a really strong top 4 like the Guru’s, I could see them taking #1-2 dubs and sweeping #1-4 singles. Get ready for a lot of 5-4s with this squad.

“Bro Man’s Land”

Manager: Dante Quazzo

Coach: Paul Settles

Ast Coach: Joe “Quick Hands and Handlebars” Dorn

Projected Singles Lineup:

1. Nick Chua, Chicago
2. Anton Zykov, Amherst
3. Kyle Wolfe, Bowdoin
4. Zach Bessette, Amherst
5. Kenny Zheng, Carnegie Mellon
6. Julian Gordy, CMS

Projected Doubles Lineup:

1. Nick Chua/Kyle Richter
2. Matt Heinrich/Tristan Kaye
3. Anton Zykov/Zach Bessette

Projected Backups:

1. Matt Heinrich, Stevens
2. Jeremy Dubin, Hopkins
3. Kyle Richter, UC Santa Cruz
4. Nicolas Paolucci, Kenyon
5. Tristan Kaye, Kenyon
6. Andrew Arnaboldi, Amherst

Team Analysis: Looking at the teams that go on to win national championships, there are normally two traits that stick out. Winning teams almost always have (1) the doubles advantage and (2) depth at the bottom of their lineup. Unless you have the Elderwood at the top of your lineup, the best #1s go toe-to-toe with each other, and as you work your way down the lineup differences in skill get more pronounced.

With that being said, I really like the makeup of my team. Starting with my doubles strategy, there was no way I couldn’t put Chua and Richter at #1. The two All-Americans would be one of the most deadly pairings in D3, and as a coach would give me confidence that I could take that #1 doubles point every time out there. The rest of the lineup was more up for grabs. I aimed to split up Heinrich and Zykov in doubles, because I wanted to balance each of them out with more of a doubles specialist given their singles prowess. I think Kaye and Bessette do a nice job of complementing them, and one of those teams should be able to take a point to give my team the advantage heading into singles play.

While some managers opted for depth right off the bat, I wanted to ensure I had the chops at the #1 and #2 singles spots to be at least even with anyone, because there’s no way a team can win without picking up one of those points. With Chua and Zykov holding down those positions, the top of my lineup is certainly a strength and should be favored against most other top players. Chua will almost certainly lose to someone in a dual match this year, but he’s in the top tier of #1 singles players and I would feel comfortable as a coach sending him on court to get a much-needed point against anyone in the country. Same thing for Zykov at #2.

#3 and #4 singles are probably the most glaring weakness on this team, unfortunately. While both Bessette and Wolfe have a ton of potential and can get a big win here and there, I think they’re overmatched against some of the other middle-of-the-lineup guys that were drafted. If someone wants to beat me, they’ll HAVE to take both of those points, but Wolfe is reliable enough to get the job done and Bessette should throw the D3 world for enough surprise wins to keep me out of too much trouble.

The final strength for this team is superior depth at the bottom, and I think it’s the big one that could get this team a coveted blog fantasy championship. Moving Zheng down to #5 is nothing short of criminal, but that was ASouth’s doing and I just took advantage. If he stays healthy, he’s going to slay at that spot all season long. Gordy is unproven, but given his strong performance in the West Region ITA I feel safe dropping him in as yet another CMS 4-star playing #6 singles. I’d say he’s an above average #6 right now, and only more match play will give us a sense of how good he really is.

If there’s one “it” factor this team lacks, it’s leadership from seniors. As ASouth has mentioned time and time again, those are the guys you look to when crunch time rolls around and things get tight. Who is the person you look to on this team when you have the yips and the match is knotted up at 3-3, or guys start looking around for the clincher? If Heinrich was starting I’d say him, but given the lineup it’s probably Zykov. He’s got national championship experience (seriously, look up his 2014 match against Butts if you have a minute. Still sad that match didn’t get played to completion), and he and Zheng are the lone upperclassmen in the starting lineup. There are worse options for sure, but this team is a lot younger than others and that lack of experience must be discounted.

However, I think that experience is somewhat made up for on the sidelines. Dorn’s facial hair will inspire his compatriots whenever they face obstacles on the court, and he’ll be a great addition to the sideline ensuring quality passing shots are always rewarded with a pants-dropping salute. More seriously, Settles’ calm demeanor out there really trains you to focus on your own match, and not worry too much about what the rest of the team is or isn’t doing. He trains doubles all day long, and he knows how to turn young, talented guys (read: Chua, Wolfe, Bessette, Gordy) into dependable players who compete on the national championship level. Looking at the team overall, I’ve got a great #1 doubles team and two very dependable #2/#3 teams that should pull me even with any other team in the draft. In singles my squad has top #1, #2, and #5 singles players, with youthful upside at the #3, #4, and #6 spots.

D3TennisGreek’s Take: Quazzo drafted a very solid team. Actually, I think all of our teams are pretty solid. Anyway, let’s start by talking about doubles. At No. 1, Bro Man’s Land is a force. Chua/Richter shouldn’t be losing many, if any, matches especially when Chua is crushing backhands past you. Plus, his record in doubles speaks for itself. I actually would have done something a little different at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, however. As Quazzo mentioned, you always want to have a 2-1 lead going into singles. This team would have been guaranteed that lead had Heinrich and Zykov been paired. Kaye and Bessette are great players, but at this point, they are still unproven a bit in doubles. So, instead of solidifying two wins, this team will naturally get a point at 1 but is hoping to get a point from either the 2 or 3 spot. Not a bad position to be in, considering each of these doubles teams has at least one very good player in them. Ultimately, I think Bro Man’s Land is ahead more often than not going into singles.

Man, Bro Man’s Land is strong in singles. You can’t get much better than the lil’ lefty at No. 1. What I like most about Chua is that, even when he is down in matches, he’s never out. One of my favorite moments came during the 3rd Place match at NCAAs. Chua was down late against John Carswell of Wash U and D3Central tweets “In other news, Carswell is about to beat Chua to clinch[.]” Well, that didn’t end up happening. Chua won: 7-5 in the third. Long story short, Chua battles. I actually have to disagree with Quazzo on No. 2. Don’t get me wrong, Zykov is an extremely strong singles player, but last year, he didn’t have a great record at No. 1 yet crushed it at No. 3. He did well at No. 2 at NCAAs, but is he one of the best 2s in the country? He could very well be; that’s still a bit of an unknown.

Wolfe is a solid choice. With the strength of the top 3s in the country, however, I don’t see him standing out. I’m a little more confident in Bessette than Quazzo is. The rook has already gone toe-to-toe with Ari Smolyar and Luke Tercek and beaten the highly-talked about Alex Cauneac. But, Quazzo is right in that it’s just a bit too early to tell. Still, things are looking good for the Amherst freshman. Zheng’s biggest hurdle is third sets. Last year, he went 2-5 in matches that went to thirds, and he ended the season on a 5-match losing streak. While he will be good at No. 5, I don’t think he’s necessarily a lock. Finally, just like all the other freshmen in this draft, you’ve got to figure that the 4-star freshman from CMS will have good results, but there’s nothing to tell me just yet that Gordy will be a premier No. 6. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is though.

In the draft, I had the first coach pick. Given the makeup of my team, the Chicago coaching staff was my best option. That said, if I hadn’t gone with Coach Tee, there’s no question that I would’ve gone with Settles. The man is a stud. So, coaching is a huge strength for Bro Man’s Land.

That’s all I’ve got. Kudos to Quazzo on the great team!

ASouth Conclusion: The only thing I have to say is this: as an update, please click on the 2016 Fantasy Draft Team Lineups link on the top left of the screen for your updated Team by Team Lineups.  Additionally, use that as a reference when voting for your favorite team in the polls!!  ASouth, OUT.