Bracketology (Article #1) March 31, 2008

I have collaborated with d3bracketology to form an estimate of what the NCAA brackets could look like. We also tried to throw in some twists of things we would like to potentially see. We will try to post a new issue of Bracketology at the beginning of every week after evaluating the past weekend's results. Enjoy and feel free to share your comments.

*Automatic Qualifiers - 25 teams. This is composed of all of the winners of conferences with automatic bids. We did our best to decide who may win the smaller conferences.
*Independents - 9 teams. This is composed of teams from conferences who don't have automatic bids as well as Independents.
*At-Large - 7 teams. This is composed of teams from conferences with automatic bids who don't win their conference such as the NESCAC or UAA.

*Our Independents were: Santa Cruz, TCNJ, Kalamazoo, UW-Whitewater, Vassar, Calvin, Wheaton, Skidmore, Carthage
*Our At-Larges were: Emory (UAA), Middlebury(NESCAC), Redlands(SCIAC), Amherst(NESCAC), DePauw(SCAC), Carnegie Mellon (UAA), Trinity(CT)(NESCAC)
*Teams who are just outside of the At-Large Top 7: Salisbury(Capital), Chicago(UAA), Bowdoin(NESCAC), Bates(NESCAC), Pomona-Pitzer(SCIAC), Hardin-Simmons(ASC)
*All other teams are Auto Bids

Our bracket:

Region 1: Santa Cruz*, CMS, Redlands, Whitman, UT-Tyler
Region 2: Kenyon*, Johns Hopkins, Calvin (MI), Baldwin-Wallace (OH), Transylvania (KY)
Region 3: Williams*, Trinity (CT), Skidmore, Baruch (NY), Southern Maine
Region 4: Washington, Carnegie Mellon, Kalamazoo*, Wheaton (IL), Westminster (MO)
Region 5: Trinity (TX) , W&L*, Christopher Newport, Stevens (NJ), Drew (NJ)
Region 6: Emory, Mary Washington*, TCNJ, Alvernia (PA), Messiah (PA)
Region 7: Gustavus, DePauw, Coe, UW-Whitewater, Grinnell* (IA), Carthage (WI)
Region 8: Middlebury*, Amherst, Vassar (NY), Salve Regina (RI), Ithaca (NY)

An asterisk denotes Host team. The seeds are in order in each region. The top team in each region gets a bye and plays the winner of 4 vs. 5. 2 and 3 both get byes and then play each other. In the final 8...Region 1 plays Region 8, 4 plays 5, 3 plays 6 and 2 plays 7. We specifically made the bracket so that each region is balanced difficulty wise (with the exception of the west). If you look at the current rankings of the top two seeds in each region they all add up to between 18 and 22, meaning each region is the same difficulty. We also had to take into account the 500 mile rule due to NCAA financial restrictions. A team can only go 500 miles away from home or they have to be flown. As few teams should be flown as possible. We will continue to update this bracket as results come in that could potentially change things.

D3tennis.com Singles Rankings March 31, 2008

1. Watts, Washington
2. Greenberg, Kenyon
3. Bryan, Gustavus
4. Kamel, Santa Cruz
5. Maldow, Johns Hopkins
6. Feldman, Trinity (CT)
7. Goodwin, Emory
8. Lerner, Amherst
9. Gates, Bowdoin
10. Greenberg, Williams
11. Pybas, Santa Cruz
12. Ortiz, Santa Cruz
13. Gaines, Trinity (TX)
14. Solomon, Whitman
15. Wang, CMS
16. Boren, Emory
17. Vayghan, St. Thomas
18. James, Mary Washington
19. Keith, DePauw
20. Yook, Chapman
21. Kauss, Gustavus
22. Klimchak, TCNJ
23. Lee, Middlebury
24. Zhang, Chicago
25. Fletcher, Methodist
26. Lim, CMS
27. Loden, Mary Washington
28. Muliawan, Carnegie Mellon
29. Marinkovic, Middlebury
30. Wagar, Redlands
31. Furr, Trinity (TX)
32. Cutler, Washington
33. Yunes, Carthage
34. Liebman, Redlands
35. Phillips, UT-Tyler
36. Nemerov, Carnegie Mellon
37. Pelton, Hope
38. Sajovich, UT-Tyler
39. Simonette, Williams
40. Mark-Griffin, Santa Cruz
41. Starr, CMS
42. Williams, Wheaton
43. Sullivan, Bowdoin
44. Mintz. Amherst
45. Kincaid, Salisbury
46. Vandenberg, Kenyon
47. Thomson, Middlebury
48. Lebedoff, Williams
49. Gillispie, Piedmont
50. Estes, Washington & Lee

Upcoming Matches

#12 Mary Washington vs. #24 Christopher Newport (April 2)
#12 Mary Washington vs. #14 Carnegie Mellon (April 4)
#3 Williams vs. #11 Amherst (April 5)
#16 Salisbury vs. #21 TCNJ (April 5)
#9 Middlebury vs. #15 Trinity(CT) (April 6)
#5 Trinity (TX) vs. #23 UT-Tyler (April 6)
#14 Carnegie Mellon vs.#18 Johns Hopkins (April 6)
#3 Williams vs. #9 Middlebury (April 9)
#11 Amherst vs. #15 Trinity(CT) (April 10)
GLCA Tournament (April 10-April 12)
#1 Santa Cruz vs.#10 Redlands (April 11)
#4 Washington vs. #25 Coe (April 12)
#8 CMS vs. #10 Redlands (April 12)
#9 Middlebury vs. #22 Bowdoin (April 12)
#16 Salisbury vs. #18 Johns Hopkins (April 13)
#12 Mary Washington vs. #21 TCNJ (April 13)
#11 Amherst vs. #22 Bowdoin (April 13)
#1 Santa Cruz vs. #8 CMS(April 13)

D3tennis.com Team Rankings March 29, 2008

1. UC Santa Cruz
2. Kenyon
3. Williams
4. Washington
5. Trinity (TX)
6. Emory
7. Gustavus
8. CMS
9. Middlebury
10. Redlands
11. Amherst
12. Mary Washington
13. DePauw
14 Carnegie Mellon
15. Trinity (CT)
16. Salisbury
17. Washington & Lee
18. Johns Hopkins
19. Chicago
20. Whitman
21. TCNJ
22. Bowdoin
23. UT-Tyler
24. Christopher Newport
25. Coe

Today's Results

Washington & Lee d. Johns Hopkins 5-4
Washington d. CMS 7-2

Looking Ahead...

Things to look for in the next few days...

-Finalized Team Rankings tonight

-Updated Singles (50) and Doubles (25) Rankings by Tuesday

-ITA National Team Rankings published on Tuesday

-Upcoming matches happening in the next 14 days

-An interview with a Top 10 coach(undecided) about how their team's season has gone and what we can expect to see

-Bracketology for the NCAA tournament on either Monday or Tuesday. I have been collaborating with d3bracketology to form the bracket as of right now. It will include who hosts, the regions, the top seeds and all 41 teams placed. We put a lot of thought into this.

-Match Previews for next weekend's matches



As the season enters it's last month and conference tournaments approach, I think we can expect to see a lot more drama and suspense unfold. So keep checking the site and voicing your opinions.

D3tennis.com Team Rankings March 29, 2008

1. UC Santa Cruz
2. Kenyon
3. Williams
4. Washington
5. Trinity (TX)
6. Emory
7. Gustavus
8. CMS
9. Middlebury
10. Redlands
11. Amherst
12. Mary Washington
13. DePauw
14. Carnegie Mellon
15. Johns Hopkins
16. Trinity (CT)
17. Salisbury
18. Chicago
19. Whitman
20. Washington & Lee
21. TCNJ
22. Bowdoin
23. UT-Tyler
24. Christopher Newport
25. Coe

Scores from Today

Washington d. Trinity (TX) 5-4
Williams d. CMS 7-2
Trinity (CT) d. Bowdoin 5-1
Salisbury d. Mary Washington 5-4

Match Updates

#9 Williams vs. #11 Redlands, Williams 5-4
#5 Emory vs. #15 Amherst, Emory 8-1
#13 DePauw vs. #15 Amherst, Amherst 6-3
#12 Carnegie Mellon vs. #22 Washington & Lee, W&L 6-3
#5 Emory vs. #13 DePauw, Emory 6-3
#6 Middlebury vs. #7 CMS, CMS 6-3
#12 Chicago vs. #15 DePauw, DePauw 7-2
#1 Gustavus vs. #6 CMS, CMS 7-2
#4 Emory vs. #22 Kalamazoo, Emory 9-0
#2 UC Santa Cruz vs. #7 Middlebury, Santa Cruz 8-1
#5 Gustavus vs. #11 Redlands, Redlands 5-4
#8 Trinity (TX) vs. #10 Williams, Trinity (TX) 6-3
#8 Mary Washington vs. #15 Johns Hopkins, Mary Wash 5-4
#2 Washington vs. #9 Williams, Williams 6-3
#6 Middlebury vs. #10 Redlands, Middlebury 6-3
#5 CMS vs. #7 Trinity (TX), Trinity (TX) 6-3
#1 Trinity (TX) vs. #5 Washington (March 29)
#6 CMS vs. #7 Williams (March 29)
#18 Bowdoin vs # 23 Trinity (CT) (March 29)
#8 Mary Washington vs. #21 Salisbury (March 29)
#5 Washington vs. #6 CMS (March 30)

Another huge day with tons of upsets, drama and surprises. First, we saw Williams defeat WashU by taking 5 of 6 singles matches in very routine fashion. We thought WashU was the deepest team in the country in singles, apparently this is not the case. This was followed by a thriller in which Mary Washington and Hopkins were tied 4-4, and Eddie Carver came back from 5-2 down in the 3rd set to win in a tiebreaker. This was a valiant effort and kept the Eagles in the top 8 in the country. We then saw Trinity pretty much dominate CMS, particularly in 2nd and 3rd doubles. I think the scores in the that match were particularly lopsided. This could move Trinity to #1 in the country. Lastly, we saw Middlebury drop all 3 doubles to Redlands and then come back to win all 6 singles, 5 of those in 3 sets! Midd was also playing without Andrew Thomson who has been extremely valuable. Looking to tomorrow, we have Trinity putting its #1 ranking on the line and now it's WashU who is going for the upset. We also have CMS trying to rebound from their bad loss today againsta confident Williams team. Mary Washington will also be taking on Salisbury in other action and we will also see Bowdoin taking on Trinity (CT) in an early NESCAC match. Can't wait for tomorrow, should be more surprises and drama to mess up the rankings.

D3tennis.com Rankings March 28, 2008

1. Trinity (TX)
2. Kenyon
3. UC Santa Cruz
4. Emory
5. Wash U
6. CMS
7. Williams
8. Mary Washington
9. Middlebury
10. Redlands
11. Gustavus
12. Amherst
13. DePauw
14. Carnegie Mellon
15. Johns Hopkins
16. Chicago
17. Whitman
18. Bowdoin
19. Washington & Lee
20. TCNJ
21. Salisbury
22. UT-Tyler
23. Trinity (CT)
24. Christopher Newport
25. Coe