Let’s start off this article with a look into the Blog Group Chat, where D3RegionalNEC has been absolutely ridiculous as of late. He has commented multiple times about our lack of articles, yet writes one article a week (max) and then gets on my case about things. If you’re looking for an irrational confidence guy on the Blog team, look no further than RegionalNEC, who has somehow overtaken the title from either myself or NewD3Central. Although NewCentral is still pretty absurd. In other Blog news, I hear many great things have been happening on the Women’s side of things, where that team has already doubled, if not quadrupled, it’s content from last year. Talk about improvement. I hear they may even be developing a 6G cellular network to please our President. They say anything can happen when you put your mind to it right? I’ll finish this intro off by saying thank you to those who have donated in the past few days to our site. As we continue to grow bigger and bigger, our resident IT guy D3Regional needs all the $ he can get to make a less clunky experience for all of you. And us. Especially us.
So, that’s the Blog team. Let’s talk about me and this article. I introduced the “Stream of Consciousness” article last year as a way for me to comment on things that I don’t really need to, because that’s what I do. I step on people’s toes and don’t do the job asked of me. Good thing I only have 5 teams, with only 1 of them actually a threat to win the National Championship at the end of the year. With that being said, I’ll take the time now to talk a little about some ASouth stuff I want to get to and then also my takes on the national scene and maybe a little miscellaneous stuff. I’ll try to keep Game Of Thrones references out of this, because RegionalNEC is that guy that throws “no-watch” parties for the Super Bowl and GoT.
How many teams can win it all?
A common argument against Pool C is the fact that none of the bottom Pool C teams usually has the talent or the ability to win the championship at the end of the year. While that is a foolish argument (and I’ve given my thoughts on that in the past), it’s actually something that needs to be brought up this year. The unanimous #1 in the country in this week’s Power Rankings (spoiler alert), CMS, has a loss on it’s resume. That loss is to Amherst, who has losses to Wash U and Case Western. Don’t talk to me about who Case has lost to. “But it was indoors!” You say. Well, when’s the last time we had a not rainy day in Kalamazoo, Michigan? Someone ask Collette Lewis. In line with this argument, the NESCAC has been a heavyweight bout every single time out there. Everyone’s beaten everyone. Chicago almost lost to Wash U last weekend. Emorys lost to Chicago. Is there any team out there that you have a ton of confidence in going into the tournament? I’ll answer that for you. It’s no. And that makes for some exciting stuff this playoff season. In my mind, up to 9 teams can get hot and win it all this year. @ me in May.
Let’s talk Tech
And no, I’m not talking about that favorite Tech of mine, MIT. I’m talking Caltech Beavers. I’m talking CaltechCoachCohen. I’m talking Varun Shanker. I’m talking James Wei. Not enough has been said about the Beavers season this year, which has seriously been a huge success. Now, I haven’t always been a Coach Cohen’s biggest supporter (but a supporter nonetheless), but he’s done an incredible job this year with the Men’s team (and Coach Gamble with the Women’s team has done pretty damn well too). Too often do we see new coaches come in and need a couple years before making their mark *cough Swat.* Caltech has forever been the team that CHB said “they could be good” about and they finally are. With a win over Pomona recently, this team is a team on the way up. Coach Cohen will need to continue this success with strong recruiting classes in the next couple of years to keep up the winning ways. It’s hard to develop a top 20 team. It’s even harder to develop a perennial top 20 team. Will this school become the next Case, Wesleyan, or Brandeis? Or will they fall like Stevens and Denison in recent years? Here’s to hoping Coach Cohen can walk the walk, as we all know he can certainly talk the talk.
The Blog Dynamic
I oftentimes get questions about the Blog Chat and what we talk about other than DIII tennis. We talk about a variety of different topics (mostly what basic bros talk about), and I do want to take the time to say one thing. I am very happy to have made 9 or so friends from the Blog. Many of these guys attended my wedding and that to me is quite crazy.
Why do I bring this up? Because just like how the Blog has allowed me to quadruple my friend count, I think we all can use this site to connect with our fellow DIII players, coaches, and parents in some way or another. I know some have reached out to me in the past about things to do for alumni that havent gone very far. But honestly, please come to us with ideas about how to get people more involved and connected. DIII Tennis should be a family. Even if I say you’ve underachieved this year, reach out to me or a blogger and we’ll probably have your back. So again, if you’ve got a suggestion for the Blog, email/tweet/WeChat us. Kidding about the WeChat. We’ll come up with a way to try and execute your idea if it makes sense. That goes for you too, parents and coaches! Boy, am I opening up a can of worms here.
D3NE CELEB SHOT: The top of the NESCAC be crazy and that will lead to an unfortunate Pool-C sitch
Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Wesleyan and Williams. I have to list them in alphabetical order because there simply isn’t another fair way to do it at this point of the season. Those five teams will play a combined 10 matches against each other this spring in the regular season alone. So far ½ of those matches have been played, and here are the results. Amherst def. Bowdoin 5-4 (7-6 in the 3rd to clinch). Bowdoin def. Wesleyan 6-3 (three three setters), Wesleyan def Middlebury 6-3 (winning both three setters), Middlebury def Williams 5-4 (overcoming a doubles deficit and with a 3rd set clinch at #3 singles), and Williams def Wesleyan (four three setters). Every single match has been INSANELY close, and every single match should be the same way down the home stretch. None of these teams have any glaring weaknesses, which is why we could see any of them win or lose on any given day. I believe this will be the messiest Pool-C year we’ve had in a long time, if only because one of those aforementioned teams will end up not making NCAAs, which is a shame because as AS touched upon earlier I think any of those teams could get hot and win the title this year!
An ASouth Individuals Look
The ASouth often gets shafted when it comes to regional analysis because they fall under my Umbrella Academy (boom), so I will take the time to do some digging on the current rankings and what my thoughts are. The ASouth rankings are below:
Jonathan Jemison (Emory)
Vishnu Joshi (Hopkins)
Andres Carro (Sewanee)
Daniel Levine (CMU)
Chaz Downing (CMU)
Hayden Cassone (Emory)
Dominic Lacombe (CNU)
Patrick Hughes (UMW)
Adrien Bouchet (Emory)
Matthew Miles (UMW)
Okay so. We have a bit of a predicament. But let’s get into the top 6 first – all of these guys are going to essentially be locks, given even if I don’t agree that anyone outside of Jemison should be a lock outside of the ASouth. I’m really unsure of how Joshi is so high despite losing to Jemison and having no wins over any of the top 6, but such is life in the ASouth. I think it’s more of a reflection of how his counterparts have played that puts him that high. Andres Carro is a surprising #3 overall, but that’s about to go down because… he just lost to #9 Adrien Bouchet. And therein lies our problem. Bouchet is the #3 singles player on the Eagles, but now sets himself up to be in the tournament because the ASouth is so extremely weak in top talent that the Eagles deserve three guys in. Lacombe of CNU has losses to the #2 of NC Wesleyan and the #2 of Longwood (not even sure where this is), as well as a recent loss to #1 of Salisbury, Alex Angradi. Honestly, he probably doesn’t have the resume to make it. Neither Hughes nor Miles from UMW has any wins in the top 6 either.
So, we’re likely going to get 3 Emory players in the draw. We’re also likely to get 2 CMU players in as well, despite their struggles this year. The top dogs from Hopkins and Sewanee get in through the virtue of not losing to anyone that hurtful, which, I guess is a feather in your cap in the ASouth. This segment has made me a little depressed so I will end it right here. There will be 7 from the ASouth in NCAAs at the end of the year and they are going to come from 4 teams.
The Southwestern Clinch Belt
Now, I’m not sure if NEWRegional has hyped this up enough (maybe he’s embarrassed), but there’s been something going on down in Texas at Southwestern. Coach Porter, who is always ready to do something that is a little bit out there, has introduced the “Clinch Belt” to his team. It’s a little over the top, but honestly, it seems to be keeping the fun in tennis. So, what’s the harm in that? I’ve picked out a few favorites from the season and hopefully this is a long standing tradition at Southwestern.
When you go undefeated at home the only suiting way to celebrate the Clinch Belt is with the Harlem Shake #besouthwestern pic.twitter.com/QuuUQ08Cfs
— Southwestern Tennis (@SUPiratesTennis) April 8, 2019
Alexis with the clinch tonight #besouthwestern pic.twitter.com/ti49JgjYGp
— Southwestern Tennis (@SUPiratesTennis) March 14, 2019
Kyle Brown with clinch today! #besouthwestern pic.twitter.com/wEH8KCHR6k
— Southwestern Tennis (@SUPiratesTennis) March 2, 2019
Get on board with having stupid shit that keeps teams together. It’s the millenial thing to do.
My Favorite Topic – Chicago
Man, Chicago has had a year this year. I remember when Coach Tee used to get upset with me whenever a blogger said “same old Chicago” about 5-6 years ago. Those days are gone. This has been one of the most clutch teams in the country this year, essentially pulling out their 5-4 and 6-3 matches except against CMS on the road. Whether it’s Xu against Williams, Yuan against Wash U, Guzvha over Pomona, or their Indoors Finals win over Emory, Chicago has done it all so far. I think this may be the first time I’ve ever said this, especially this late in the season – but Chicago is looking like a national championship team. Everyone is on the CMS train right now, but don’t count the Maroons out. Chicago has played the schedule, they’ve won the matches, and they have the experience. There’s no reason whatsoever to say that Chicago can’t be the #1 team in the country – losing to CMS on CMS’s home courts is kind of like losing to Amherst on their Indoor Courts, right? Either way – we’re a long way from “same old Chicago” and some kudos needs to be given to Tee-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named for turning this program around in a big way. Like, a really big way.
Interesting Thoughts
I saw this tweet from Kenyon Tennis and it got me thinking:
It’s Time for Division 3 Tennis to Get On Board! https://t.co/1nZpUBfaRZ
— Kenyon Men's Tennis (@KenyonMTEN) April 16, 2019
What are your thoughts on the above? I mean I totally agree that matches should have an average length of under 3 hours. That’s be really freaking awesome. But, I’ve also heard all the b*tching and moaning about super tiebreakers, shortening doubles, and no-ad scoring. Which way does everyone want it? I know that AVZ proposed some strange scoring system earlier in the year and honestly I agree that that’s probably the best way to go about this. Why can’t people think outside the box? The only way to shorten matches isn’t necessarily to straight up shorten matches through set and match scoring. But, that’s why 99% of us are followers and 1% of us create things like Facebook and Snapchat and the Division3Tennis blog.
Take your thoughts to the comments section below.
Final Thoughts
That’s all I’ve got for you in my DIII Tennis mind today. Know how they make jokes about how dessert is a second stomach? DIII Tennis is like my third mind. When it turns on, I actually know things. Other than that I am just a bumbling observer like the rest of you jokers. JK. I’ll be back later on today to give you some bracketology, but in the meantime enjoy the above article as well as our first ALUMNI INTERVIEW with old Wesleyan alumnus Cameron Daniels. Always good to get a blast from the past. ASouth, OUT
Adam Van Zee’s format is outside the box. Sorry Adam. The problem with his tiebreak system is that a match tied at 3-3 should not come down to sets won or games won. An odd number of matches needs to be played. Will it be exciting to watch the USTA Official do math? Then once he decides that one team won by 1 game, watching the USTA Official check his math and then declare the winner.
Let’s look at a different scenario: One match left on court, my team is down 2-3, my player is down 4-1 in the third. “Joey, you need to fight back and win”. “Coach, if I fight back and win, will we win the match?” “No we can’t win, Billy lost his match by two more games than you can win.”
No more clinch videos with matches tied 4-4.
The D1 format is pretty fun to watch.
Here is another possible format.
A 3 singles and 2 doubles format adds 1 more player to the starting line-up and you have a true winner. Play all matches 2 out of 3 sets. Puts doubles on the same footing as singles matches.
Just my thoughts.
I was too lazy to log into my blog account to respond, but I definitely can see your point on losing the dramatic clinch potential. My scenario was outside the box more so for discussion purposes and not that I actually think it’s the right move. 3 singles and 2 doubles is what many states in high school employ and I am a fan of that for the most part. While I would prefer a 5/2 or even 4/3 model, it solves the problem of campuses with only 6 outdoor courts and that is crucial in the argument of shortening the length of these matches. The thing I want to avoid is shortening sets or doubles going to a short 6 game set format. Being that all my success came on the doubles court, I have a special place in my heart for doubles. Although the only NCAC team I never beat was Kenyon…
I can still remember getting off the court against Mike Herrick at around 8 PM on a Saturday evening at the indoor courts at Wabash College. And he beat me 6-1, 6-0! Long Saturday tri-matches need to become a thing of the past. Especially when there’s a Ben Folds concert in the building next door that we all wanted to get to. Let’s just say that’s the reason I got beat so badly….
This reminiscing is only proving to me how much Kenyon cost my ego to take a few steps back! haha Always a fan of Coach Thielke.
I remember heading to the concert! Good day in Crawfordsville. Since that time we have had a conference tournament match finish at 3:30 am.
A 4/3 format would take 10 healthy players. That may prove to be too difficult in some years.
I think our sports medicine staff would love to only be at tennis for 3 hours. Let’s all push for a better format.
Great job on this post
What was AVZs match format? Curious to hear what that was.
In all reality, D3 meets need to be shorter. It seems like any competitive meet goes 4 hours nowadays. D1 has become a shorter format because they are trying to televise more college meets. I personally wish D1 was exactly how it is but an 8-game pro set for doubles instead of 6. One set is just too short. Does D3 and other divisions adopt the D1 format? Does D3 just switch to no-ad?
Would love to hear other thoughts about this.
Here is AVZ’s match format
Mandy Gamble is still alive and kicking coaching Caltech’s womens team into the top 20!! Coach Cohen is only coaching the guys.
I am so sorry! Coach Gamble is awesome, I can’t believe I forgot.