Man, this has been a very, very busy week. But, it’s been the most fun week of the year for me, simply because I love #IndoorsWeek. As always, I need to give you a PSA that this is the last day to join Indoors Draftkings. Trust me, it’s fun, it’s easy, and you get to compete against us. There will be live scoring and you can stay anonymous if you would like. We have a considerable amount of entries already, so don’t miss out! Anyways, every big tournament means that I get to bring the rain and give you a fun article that focuses on things other than results. Of course, it’s my 10 things to watch and X-Factors article. I love me some good observations that make things fun. I’m going to start with my X-Factors and then go into my 10 things to watch. Let’s go!
The X-Factors
#1 Wash U – Jake Klein – You’ll see a lot of people picking Konrad Kozlowski in their Draftkings submissions because of his potential as a top recruit and his insertion into the lineup, but I think the real X-Factor here is Jake Klein. When we saw the lineups and saw Klein at #5 singles, some of us were pretty amazed. Klein was not a highly touted recruit at all, but he is playing above guys like Kozlowski and Haugen. Klein is a relative unknown to the bloggers and is playing a huge position in the lineup. While the first round is easy, the second round is much tougher. If Wash U plays Chicago, he gets David Liu. Trinity, he gets Chas Mayer. Both guys are more experienced in big matches, probably began more talented, and Klein has to show he belongs. If this man gets 1 win a match, Wash U might be able to prove the Guru right.
#2 Pomona Pitzer – Jetlag/Travel – As always, I’m never going to pick just players for X-Factors. It’s way too boring. One thing I saw today was that Pomona was scheduling two practices prior to Indoors, getting there Wednesday night. That is BIG. Pomona knows that probably the biggest thing against them is traveling East and playing Indoors. As the Guru mentioned, California teams are 9-15 at Indoors in history. This is not a good record and Pomona has a tough first round matchup in Carnegie Mellon. They are really going to go toe and toe, so any slip up by any of their players could spell doom for the Sagehens. Pomona needs to shake off the jetlag and come to play Friday at 1PM, otherwise CMU could come out and (gasp!) take two doubles matches. Can’t have that.
#3 Emory – Jonathan Jemison – I have Jemison pegged right now as the best freshman in this tournament and it’s not even close. Whether that happens or not, is the question. If Jemison can win 2 out of 3 matches in both singles and doubles, Emory is looking at a potential championship. If not, they are looking at a runner up or potentially even worse. Emory is absolutely counting on Jemison to be a stud at the top of the lineup. Everyone in Draftkings seems to think so, considering he is one of the more frequent picks of the submissions. Jemison is coming off a big win over Georgia St., which is impressive, but more impressive are wins against Pomona/CMU/WashU/Chicago #2 singles players. Does Jemison have the ice in his veins to be a co-leader with Mosetick and get Emory the championship they crave?
#4 Chicago – Doubles Specialists – Much has been made about Chicago’s singles play, but the fact of the matter is Chicago needs to win doubles matches to really prove they are the favorites in this tournament. While the team of Chua/Liu at the top of the lineup seems to be a 50/50 affair, it’s the other two teams that will really feel the pressure.to perform. This year, it looks like Gordan Zhang will be the only doubles specialist for Chicago, but that doesn’t mean we won’t see another guy like Luke Tsai in the doubles lineup. Pressure is big for these doubles specialists because oftentimes they feel that this is their only way to contribute. Trust me, I’ve been there. Chicago’s singles can hold up against anyone, but I don’t think we can say that about their doubles yet.
#5 Trinity TX – Matt Tyer – Matt Tyer is probably one of the most hyped low singles players to come around in a while. This is partly because D3West picked him in the first round in the draft, but also because he had a great Fall in doubles and a lot of people believe he’s better in singles than we actually think. He’s currently slotted at the #4 singles spot, which means a giant match against Peter Leung, which is really tough in the first round. If they advance, he gets John Carswell. If they advance further, he gets Adrien Bouchet. That’s a tough lineup to run through for a guy that is new to DIII tennis. I realize that transfers aren’t to be treated like rookies, but Tyer has to bring the fight his first time out there. Not to mention, he will be indoors in doubles, which he probably hasn’t experienced that in a while. Tyer will need to prove he was really worth that first round pick if the Tigers are to overcome a really tough first round matchup.
#6 Kenyon – The Lord Mentality – As we know, Kenyon’s season has been faltering from the start. With Coach Thielke back at the helm and some chemistry hopefully to be gained with a recent departure, maybe the Lords can get back to the fight that we have come to know from Kenyon. I remember days when I used to never underestimate anything that came out of Gambier, Ohio. Guys like Paul Burgin, CJ Williams, Wade Heerboth, and others have come and gone at Kenyon. Those guys were leaders. Does this year’s team have a leader that can put all the pieces back together for a surprisingly inexperienced team? When teams begin their seasons extremely poorly, they either totally crash and burn or come back and fight. The old Kenyon teams would have fought, but this new Kenyon team is a bit questionable. If they can bring their mental state back to a fighting team instead of an over-the-top rambunctious team, maybe they can get back to their old ways of winning.
#7 Carnegie Mellon – Clutch Play – One of the things I remember distinctly about last year’s Indoors was watching third sets slip away from the Tartans in big losses. Additionally, I remember none other than Rafe Mosetick come back from a huge deficit against Zheng in match-changing win. As I’ve mentioned time and time again, CMU needs to come up with multiple big wins, all at the right time. Their first round against Pomona features two freshmen at the top of the doubles lineup and two seniors down bottom. You know who the pressure is on. Win one doubles match, and you’re in the match. Then, you rely on your big guns. There are going to be a ton of three setters in this one. As you may or may not have seen from the Guru’s tweets this week… please see below.
In 2015 against ranked teams, Pomona was 23-15 (60.5%) in 3-setters. CMU was 15-25 (37.5%).
— Division 3 Tennis (@d3tennis) February 16, 2016
#8 Case Western – Use the Home Court – This is such an easy one for the Indoors host every year. Case is the team lucky enough to host this year, in a year they probably need it the most. Case has always been a team that has gotten boosts from teammates support, some home crowd yelling, and maybe something extra-curricular to fire them up. Case will definitely bring the kegs out for their matches (maybe not the Friday one) and that will be sure to get the players fired up for their matches. The Spartans seem to be always put in a position where they don’t have as much talent as their opponent, so that’s where the intangibles come in. Can Coach Todd pull some magic out of his hat again? No matter what, Case will need to feed off the energy at the Case Indoor facility and turn that into surprising momentum changing wins.
ASouth’s 10 Things to Watch at Indoors
I always love doing this section because it keeps tournaments fun and more about the players, trends, and the general experience of the tournament. We always go through the whole match by match analysis, but if you are an avid reader of the blog you probably know the tendencies of the writers. I’m here to bring you things that you can look out for when watching Indoors this weekend, and other things that may be important to you. Let me list them out for you below.
1, Emory’s Indoors Look – You guys ALL know I was going to bring this up. Emory’s indoors look last year is the inspiration behind my Twitter logo. Last year was the yellow shorts, the mohawks, the high socks, and the jerseys that read “FIGHT” on the back. Overall, it was the best look of the tournament. Then there was also some weird plaid shorts + checkered shirt type + something else that made Coach Browning look like he was about to take a snooze in some weird pajama outfit. I’m really, really, excited for what uniform the Mosetick-led team will bring this year. Don’t go with the hawks, Rafe. That was so last year.
2. LIVE STREAM! –
@d3AtlanticSouth live video is going to happen. Working on how many, but likely to be 2 floating cameras plus live scoring.
— CWRU Tennis (@casetennis1) January 12, 2016
YAY. Right now, the Indoors site is showing six (COUNT EM SIX) video players that could potentially be playing live streams. Now that is DOPE. Case is hoping to put on a show for the rest of the country, because Coach Todd knows what he is doing when it comes to recruiting. Since I won’t be able to attend the tournament, I will be relying heavily on live stream to be watching all my favorite teams, matches, and players do battle in what are some of the most important matches of the year.
2a. Live Stats…. hopefully – With live video comes the conundrum that is live stats. I feel like every year, live stats are off, wrong, delayed, or just non-existent. I love live video, but live stats are really the most important thing. I can’t be watching every point of every match on the video. That’s why we need live stats. The Guru will tell you, one of my favorite things to say about these tournaments is this. “There’s nothing worse in the world than incorrect live stats.” And I will stand by that forever.
3. Tribute to the Seniors – Everyone loves Indoor Nationals. But for some, this will be the last one. Guys like CJ Krimbill, Rafe Mosetick, Abhishek Alla, Sam Geier, Tyler Kratky, Jason Haugen, Paxton Deuel, Adam Krull, Rob Turlington, and others will be playing their final time on the Indoor courts. Notice how important so many of these guys are for their teams. I can’t wait for the inevitable tweet from one of our bloggers that says, “________, senior,” after a match clinching victory in the clutch. We’ve already seen Tries of UWW clinch a match this year in an upset. I’m almost positive that we’ll see a match clincher from another senior sometime this tournament.
4. Enjoy the Climate Control – I can’t wait to see doubles teams that benefit from having that roof above their heads while they serve and return. Look for guys like Anthony Bello (PP), Nic Paloucci (Kenyon), Louis Stuerke (Case), Adam Krull (Trinity), and others to take advantage of the indoor courts with no elements. These guys are all featured in the doubles lineup, so I assume coaches will be trying to play up their strengths on the faster indoor surface. While being indoors doesn’t mean everything, it still is important, especially in doubles. Look for weaker serving teams to have a harder time in doubles, especially if they are leaning on their return games to get them breaks back.
5, Turn Up the Volume – We have a few teams that are well-known for the volume that are participating in the tournaments. Case, Kenyon, Emory, and Trinity TX are well-known to be some of the more in-your-face type teams in the nation. They do it very differently and certain teams have been called out before or even recently to tone it down and behave like real sportsmen. Trinity TX has a certain way of going about their cheering, it almost seems like they brought their whole lineup to the match. There are also teams like Wash U, CMU, and Pomona that are more of a laid-back type of boisterous. Those teams have coaches that believe more in the play on the court than what’s going on off of it. It will be interesting which teams are the ones that come out on top and which teams see some complaints after the tournament. It seems like we always get em.
6. ASouth’s Winning Draftkings Bracket – I know, I know. You might be tired of hearing me yell about Draftkings all the time. Well, we at the blog spend a ton of time on setting this up for everyone and have gotten amazing feedback from a lot of people about the idea. However, I’m in this this to win it. And I want an interview ith D3NE for winning this whole damn thing. Draftkings will hopefully give those that aren’t affiliated with an Indoors team something to root for. I will be updating the live stats on the site for all the Draftkings teams and you guys can do absolutely no work and follow them while you do your normal weekend activities. I’m pumped for this weekend and beating all y’all in our first Draftkings event ever.
7. UAA vs. The Field – The rankings this year have given us a strange Indoors dynamic where 5 of the teams are from the UAA. Trinity TX and Pomona will be hoping to break up this UAA slugfest and insert themselves into the national conversation once again. UAA tournaments always bring a ton of drama and maybe we can get another edition of the Wash U/Emory rivalry that we all have come to know and love. I’ll still always remember Rafe throwing up in a bucket and eventually winning a clinching match in the third set in the hot Orlando sun.
BTW, if you want to watch Rafe throw up, you can do so here. DISCLAIMER: He actually throws up, so if it’s not your thing, don’t watch it.
8. John Carswell’s Comeback? – I might be the only blogger that thinks this, but I think this might be John Carswell’s middle finger to the world. Carswell has taken a ton of flak from a lot of people over the past two years, but every story is never over until it’s over. Carswell is a great talent and a guy that literally lost 2 matches his freshman year at #2 singles. Now, he’s slotted at #4 singles, where he can run through the tournament if his mind is in it. His projected opponents are potentially going to be Leung/Tyer and potentially Bouchet/Arora/Bello. The first matchup will be super tough, but does anyone really think that Carswell can’t beat any of these guys on his best day? I wouldn’t be surprised if Carswell finds some of his freshman magic and throws us back to 2014 for a second.
9. Indoors Events! – A side note but still a very important note is the fact that Case Western is having a ton of events surrounding Indoors to promote the awareness of not only their program, but DIII tennis as well.There is a USTA event for younger kids to watch some high-quality tennis throughout the tournament. There is a sponsorship dinner with the players after the matches on Friday, which should be nice for raising some money for some of these teams. Lastly, there’s a Tennis Forum for all prospective students that are looking to get into DIII college tennis. Kudos to Coach Todd for putting together a great set of events and the ITA for continuing to promote DIII tennis. It’s all about the kids, folks.
10. Vast Overreactions – As always is the case, there will be some big overreactions to the results that will happen this weekend. We will be posting articles pretty much everyday of the tournament and that means making some predictions and statements totally on a whim. There have been plenty of times where we thought a team was done (Emory lost first round once! So did Kenyon!) Indoors provides a great measuring stick for everyone, but we have to remember that the date is February 19th and the season lasts until the end of May. It’s not all determined this weekend, people. Don’t base your season predictions off of it!
Alright, ladies and gents. There are your X-Factors and 10 Things to Watch for the all-inclusive #IndoorsWeek. Remember to sign a team up for Draftkings, because you’re not going to want to hear it if I win the whole damn thing. I’m looking forward to one of the best weekends of the year and I hope that they have a chat in the live streams. I love interacting with you guys, even under fake screen names, so it should be fun. Look for our match by match prediction article later today as well as one last Draftkings analysis. Then, we’ll be officially ready to go for #INDOORSWEEK.
Where can I find the starting lineups
Starting lineups are not available until match times start at 9AM on Friday, sorry!