We’re now well into the DIII season, and there has been A LOT of tennis over the past month or so. That being said, there is far more tennis left to be played and whenever we reach this point in the season we start seeing some players, coaches, fans, and even bloggers giving some Skip Bayless style HOT TAKES. So, we’ve called together a special meeting of the bloggers to bring you some of their favorite piping hot takes from the past month, let you know where they land on the Blog’s patented Spice-O-Meter, and discuss just how much truth is used in the hot take sauce. If you have any scalding takes of your own, and let’s be honest, you definitely do, let us know!
D3AS: Bowdoin is the best team in the country. Not much has been made about the fact that Bowdoin has brought back virtually every key player from last year’s team, have recent history of performing well at NCAAs, and generally are a well-coached team. This is a team that has the championship formula and I was too stupid to realize this at the beginning of the year. If I were to guess right now about which team was the biggest challenge to Middlebury and potentially the favorite in DIII, it’d be Bowdoin. They won the Stag-Hen, which conveniently is at the same place where NCAAs is being played. They roasted a ton of good teams including Chicago, Wash U and CMU, and no tier 2 team looks like they have any shot at beating them. Watch out for the Polar Bears, because with Farrell’s disappearing act in Middlebury, we could be looking at another surprise Bowdoin run. Except this time, I won’t be surprised.
D3RegNE/C: No-ad scoring isn’t a big deal. Seriously, everyone chill with the “no-ad isn’t tennis” hogwash. No-ad creates more pressure and rewards the player who steps up on the big points. If you want to construe that as meaning that you can luck your way into a win than go for it, but most of the time the better player is still going to prevail. If you don’t have the cojones to step up on the deuce points, then do you really deserve to win? And don’t give me “what if they hit net-cord winners?” Stop. That will happen less than once a match on a deuce point. I don’t have a burning desire to see D3 tennis switch over to no-ad scoring, but if that’s the way things go, it’s not a big deal.
D3NE: Wesleyan no longer has any shot at making NCAAs. This is a pretty spicy take, that is also pretty ridiculous/just not true. Don’t get me wrong, the Cards didn’t do themselves any favors losing big matches to Wash U and CMU last week, but the idea that they “have no shot” is outrageous. They still have an entire NESCAC schedule to play. Plus, though they hype train is a-chuggin, we still haven’t even seen Williams play a match this spring. Wesleyan is undoubtedly in a tougher spot than they were just a week prior, but this team still has plenty of opportunity. Let’s not forget that Joachim Samson and Cam Daniels missed either all or most of the team’s spring break matches.
D3RegAS: Swarthmore will win the Centennial Conference tournament, but not the regular season title. On a scale of sweet bell pepper to ghost pepper, I’d probably rate this as a jalapeno. A little bit spicy, but on the cooler scale. Swarthmore has proven that they can hang tough with quality teams over their Spring Break trip to California, and are anxiously chomping at the bit to get to that Hopkins match. I believe that nerves might get the best of the Garnet in their regular season finale, but I think the match goes the opposite direction in the postseason, giving Swarthmore an NCAA tournament appearance for the first time since joining the Centennial Conference in 2008.
DIIIWest: Though most of the Blues’ players come from California, Whitman showed that they can’t replicate their indoor play to outdoors. SBWW was a wild success for Whitman and we can all agree they played some brilliant tennis in their bubble in Walla Walla. They absolutely dismantled a tough Redlands team up at their indoor courts and that showed to us all that Whitman is a team that could contend for a national championship. Welllll, after their spring break trip to California, it seems that our thoughts have changed due to some lackluster outdoor results. Sure, most of their spring break matches ended at 4-5, but going 1-5 (0-4 to nationally ranked teams) essentially ruined their national chances. Sorry players of Whitman, not every match can be played inside your bubble!
D3Central: Fall tennis is meh. Everyone, myself included, puts way too much stock in Fall results. The Spring is the only time that matters and I think that players – upperclassmen especially – realize that and allocate their time respectively. Fall tennis is awkward because some of the best players elect to go abroad (a choice we should support) and some schools are on different academic schedules giving unique advantages to schools that start later (@UChicago). The results are often inflated and not indicative of the upcoming Spring. Spring, it’s the only time of year that matters. Bye Felicia, Bye Fall Tennis.
D3NE: Grant Urken isn’t far from being a top-5 player. This was my take about two weeks ago, that seems to be getting more and more bland by the minute. For the record, when I said it, D3AS told me I was crazy, but then Urken went and beat the #1 players from CMU, Wash U, Case Western, Skidmore, Trinity Ct in straight sets last week. He also took down Niko Parodi on CMS’ home courts 7-6 in the 3rd in the Stag-Hen final. He did suffer a loss to Hewlin, who is a really good player himself, but when you beat Parodi and Levine in the same week you throw yourself into the conversation for one of the best players in the entire country!
D3AS: Coach Belmonte of CMU is one of the up and coming coaches in DIII. Now, this is a hot take. The former assistant coach of CMU has his team playing well in both big matches and small, and we could be seeing a nice up and coming force in the coaching stratosphere. Think about what Belmonte has done this year in just his first year of coaching. We’re talking about a team that essentially lost 5 starters from last year (Rozenvasser, Arora, Zheng, Wadwani, Kirkov), and is playing at the same level if not better than last year’s team. CMU just notched their first win ever over Wash U, a team that is well-regarded as one of the most consistent teams in DIII. They took out Wesleyan, another hyped team with a lot of talent. They’ve won these matches in close fashion (5-4 over Wash, 6-3 over Wesleyan). Belmonte has pulled the right strings by switching the doubles lineup against Wash U (and Wesleyan later), while also being able to develop a #3 singles stud in Boppana. This year’s CMU team has won 2 big matches – and one can argue that that’s more than they’ve won in the past 3 years.
D3RegAS: A team outside the top 5 will win NCAAs. This is probably on the ghost pepper level of spice. It’s very hot, especially when you have four seemingly dominant teams like CMS, Emory, Bowdoin and Middlebury, but bear with me. After watching some March Madness, seeing Whitman fall to Sewanee and Swarthmore, and then watching all the teams in the 15-25 range beat the crap out of each other, I got to thinking. I believe that there is more parity of talent in D3 tennis than there ever has been, but what really matters is which team peaks at the right time (thanks Coach Settles for your podcast). A team like Williams, Chicago, Amherst, Wash U, even CMU can catch fire at the right time and take down one of these elite squads and make a deep run through the tournament and I would not be surprised at all if we saw a #7 or #9 team win it all.
DIIIWest: What is happening in Redlands, CA?! The Dawgs have cancelled their last couple matches and though nothing has been said, we’re all asking why?! Check back with us later in the week…
D3RegNE/C: Indoors needs to be overhauled. I get that it’s an awesome experience for the players and creates one of the best atmospheres in D3 Tennis. I’m all for that. However, the way Indoors is right now (sans NESCAC) makes it so far from a “national championship” that to call it such is just silly. But semantics aside, most of the matches don’t even matter. Almost all the UAA matchups end up being replayed later in the season at UAAs or elsewhere, and many of the East Coast/Midwest teams vs CMS/PP/Redlands also end up happening again in March. As we’ve seen with many teams (Whitman comes to mind), the difference between indoor and outdoor tennis can be huge, and to put so much weight into early season matches indoors doesn’t make sense. I love the idea of Indoors, and it does create some good tennis, but in the grand scheme of things I just don’t think the results are very relevant, and because of that it just doesn’t feel as legit. Is there a way to fix this? I doubt we’re going to see the NESCAC teams able to play any time soon, so what I’d do is embrace the limitations and instead of trying to make the tournament more serious than it is, turn it into something more like the Laver Cup or the new proposed Davis Cup format. Try new formats (i.e. 2 doubles/5 singles and you can only play one or the other), mix in some fun stuff like a fastest serve contest, have a “mixed” doubles tournament where you’re paired with someone from a different team. Between spring break, conference tournaments, and just regular season matches, there are plenty of chances for teams to get the matches they need. It’d be cool to see something a little different as the unofficial start of the season.
D3NE: Greg Janssen did not actually win our 2018 DraftKings challenge. This take is actually ice-cold considering nobody has thought about our DK challenge (other than D3AS who misses it each and every day) since Indoors last month. However, due to an inaccurate box-score, there seems to have been a mistabulation. GAC posted the box of the 3rd place match between Chicago and Wash U as saying that Chicago won #3 doubles, but both Chicago and Wash U posted a different box on their sites saying that the Wash U #3 team actually won, which would have given J.J. Kroot two more fantasy points and given Matt Von Vogt the title and coveted interview. Given that Matt is one of our most loyal readers, the topic of the article is thanks to him, and I’m sure he will still be reading at this point of the article, I think we should just give him an interview as well. What do you think, Matt?
D3AS: George Fox should be ashamed of their program’s behavior. Not just for recent matches, but for a while now. What went on in a recent match against Southwestern at the George Fox courts has made the twitter rounds, and I’ve gotten multiple DMs asking what exactly happened. I won’t go into details, but from what I’ve heard, GFU was one of the most hostile place to play that I’ve heard of. And not in a fun, “no one wants to play at Case Western” type of way. We’re talking vitriol and things that wouldn’t be acceptable in an Alphabet City dive bar. As a coach, you have the responsibility to be a good host – that doesn’t mean laying over and not letting crowd show emotion. But, that means, be a human. I’ve refrained from calling George Fox out by name, but I’m going to do so here. Loud and boisterous is one thing. I was loud and boisterous on the court. There’s a difference between that and being straight up combative. Learn the difference.
D3RegNE/C: No one considering D3 is “too good” for high school tennis. Time and time again we see players who thrived in high school tennis transitioning well to college. The level of high school tennis varies wildly, but even at the lowest levels I think every player has a lot ot gain and little to lose. Some players come into college having literally never played on a team before, in any sport, and it’s a lot to expect these players to come in and immediately understand what it means to be a good teammate. High school tennis also often exposes juniors to more doubles, which is obviously a huge asset once you get to college as most freshman have a lot to learn on the doubles court. It bothers me when players say high school tennis is “a waste of time.” I understand that daily practices might not always be the most productive if you’re a UTR 11 and everyone else is a 5, but in almost every case there’s a way to still be on the team while keeping up high quality training. What’s the worst that happens if you’re “too good” to play high school tennis but you do it anyway? You’ll win the state title multiple times. Not a bad feather in your cap. Jack Sock played four years of high school tennis, won states all four years, and only lost one set in his career (to his older brother). If a top-10 ATP player wasn’t “too good” for high school tennis, then neither are you.
Slandered? Kind of harsh. Don’t get me wrong. I was glad to have found this blog. I like what you guys do. Until just now, I enjoyed the “raw” energy” and enthusiasm for the subject that you write with.
I’m just saying that when I joined, you did have women’s coverage, but it has been missing for several months. I was just expressing my disappointment.
Are you saying that your mission statement has now changed.? That this is the DIII Men’s Tennis blog? Had that been my initial understanding, of course, I wouldn’t be here .
So, really, no women’s coverage?
It’s funny that you say that because in your history of comments, you have not once commented on the positives of this blog. So, I’d say you have a funny way of showing even a sliver of appreciation for what we do. We certainly have a raw energy and enthusiasm for the subject in which we write. This plays a part in my next response to you.
Yes, when you first joined (presumably two years ago) we had more women’s coverage. That was a personal goal for me to increase the women’s coverage on the site. Am I aware that the women’s coverage has gone down this year and especially last year? Absolutely. Do I wish that the women’s coverage was more expansive? Yes, I do.
One of the things that I am personally peeved about is that based on your history of comments, you seem to think that it’s easy for us to provide the coverage that we do. I’d like to reiterate – this is not my real job. This is actually none of our real jobs. I personally am working 10+ hours a day on things I have to do for my own life, then I find the time, usually 4-5 hours a week, to write on this blog. Not to mention my social life, upcoming events, and really anything a normal 25-30 year old does. This is a similar story for every single one of my writers.
The output on this Blog is the best that we can do. Every reader knows that I push every single one of my writers to get out as much content as they possibly can. Again, would I love 5 writers that were super passionate on the women’s side? Absolutely. I’ve got a couple and they manage their articles in a way that suits their lives the best. So, here’s my advice to you. I don’t have a problem with you clamoring for more women’s coverage. The fact of the matter is, I already know that. I know all the things that we can do better. And if you have suggestions, I am an open book if it’s good for this site. What I won’t tolerate is sarcastic, snarky, go nowhere comments that literally solve nothing. Do you think that I’m more motivated to write a women’s article when an incessant commenter has commented “hard to get excited when there’s no women’s coverage” 3 times in the past 3 articles. No. And if you do, well, quite frankly, get a grip. How would you like it if I consistently criticized one of your hobbies that you essentially do for free and told you each and every time “Hey, you’re not doing a good job.”
TLDR: Get off your high horse and make more helpful suggestions. Don’t just tell people what to do. We provide you a free freaking service. Enjoy it for what it is and trust me that our team is doing the best they can do.
Criticizing the free content from this blog is ridiculous. The only way your criticism is valid is if you personally volunteered your time to write women’s coverage for this blog and they told you no. The amount of content the bloggers put out weekly in the spring is insanely impressive.
Really enjoyed the article. And no need for an interview–Greg was a much better interviewee than I’d have been.
My hot take is that the current crop of freshmen might be the best class in memory. Maybe this is recency bias, but with Kronenberg, Wei, Barr, Katzman, Cassone, the Chicago, Amherst, and Wash U cohorts, etc., I don’t remember seeing this many impact freshmen flood the scene. The roster constructions of Midd and Bowdoin underscore the importance of upperclassmen, but this still feels like a special freshman class. And parenthetically, the crop of commits for next year doesn’t look as strong, although it’s still early.
Yes! Yes! Yes! regarding the Indoors overhaul. The current format (which excludes the NESCAC) makes it kind of silly.
Can’t get too excited when there is no women’s coverage!
Then don’t come to the site then, you crazy person. We all put way too much time into this to get slandered by people like you. Just enjoy what we do. If you don’t like something, start your own damn blog and write ahoht whatever you want.