The Ga*e: Ohio State vs. *ichigan

On behalf of John Kasich's proclai*ed Scarlet Letter Saturday as you can see in his "Bill" he wrote

and posted on his Twitter account at https://twitter.com/JohnKasich/status/406460164813123584, I will not be using the 13th letter of the alphabet in this article. That letter is forbidden in Ohio today, as the scarlet and gray of The Ohio State University head to play that tea* from up north, also known as the *ichigan Wolverines. The Buckeyes have won 23 straight ga*es and have no intention on changing that today in Ann Arbor. Let by Braxton *iller, the Buckeyes have it all with the air attack followed by a great running ga*e brought to you by Carlos Hyde. The scary thing about this whole ga*e is that as good of a quarterback Devin Gardner is, he is probably only the 3rd best quarterback in the stadiu*. I would say he is behind both *iller and The Ohio State senior Kenny Guiton. You have to feel for Guiton, as a senior, since he would probably start at *ost schools around the country. But the tea* player he see*s to be, I don't think he *inds since he is on one of the best tea*s in the nation. As it stands now, even with a win today and in the B1G Cha*pionship, the Buckeyes will have to settle for a Rose Bowl berth. But all eyes will be on the Iron Bowl as #1 Alaba*a will take on #5 Auburn. With an Auburn win, it is very possible the Bucks will slip up into the nu*ber 2 spot to take on #2 Florida State in the national title ga*e. It is possible Florida State *ay lose as well, but today they will be taking on Florida, who is coming off of a loss versus Georgia State, so I a* not getting *y hopes up. They will also co*pete in the ACC Cha*pionship ga*e, but nonetheless I'* saying if any tea* loses, it'll be Alaba*a today versus Auburn. That Tea* Up North, as seen on even


                                                 Fro*:  It's Always Sunny in Detroit
                               
the Buckeyes schedule, leads this rivalry ga*e 58-44-6 all ti*e. However, the Buckeyes have won 8 of the last 9. Assu*ing *ichigan keeps up their excellent efforts, so excellent that online schools are starting to consider putting the* on their future schedule (although it's a stretch) http://notsportscenter.com/onlineschools/ , and that Ohio State keeps their *o*entu* going, the Bucks should help decrease the total win count that *ichigan has on the*. Go Bucks!

My Take on the Cavs Games I Attended

In a year that has so far been disappointing for Cavs fans, I have already attended 2 games. I went to the Washington Wizards game in DC and I recently went to the Miami Heat game here in Cleveland. On the bright side, I was able to witness the only Cavs win on the road. On the down side, that has been their only win on the road all season. And their win in DC was the last win before their current 4 game losing streak. As mentioned in my prior blog about my trip into Washington D.C., the Cavs

found themselves down early, by as much as 15, in the first half. But the Wizards let off the gas pedal a little bit and all of the sudden the Cavs made it a close game. The Cavs didn't take their first lead (I believe of the whole game if my memory serves correctly) until the 4th quarter. And behind all of the Cavs fans in attendance, as there were quite a lot, the Cavs had the ball with 23 seconds left as it was tied. Kyrie Irving drove the ball and ended up getting blocked shortly before time expired to send the game into overtime. From there, the Cavs took control and sent all the Wizards fans leaving the arena earlier than expected. For the Wizards, Nene was the game changer. He kept them in the game controlling the boards and putting up 24 points. Matthew Dellavedova only scored 2 points for the Cavs, but played 31 minutes because he did a fantastic job on defense. He surprised me the most and gave some hope for the future. On the flip side, Andrew Bynum was disappointing. Bynum only played in the first quarter, and was a ball hog who couldn't seem to make a shot. It's a good thing he got taken out. It was good to see the number 1 pick Anthony Bennett play, as I had as much playing time as him (0 minutes). This was the 2nd time in the season that Bennett didn't play. 

Next, I watched a dinosaur of Jurassic Park....I mean Chris Bosh....and the Miami Heat.
The Cavs unfortunately couldn't put together the same type of comeback when the Heat came into town. The crowd was "Heat"ed for this game, as LeBron James returned to his kingdom to take on his former team that he walked away from with the infamous "Decision." At the Q, there were so many

"Heat" fans....AKA frontrunners. Although it was more of a mixed feeling than when he returned to Cleveland for the first time. Of course when the Miami player out of Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary was announced, the arena was filled with boos. But the claps that were accompanied told the surprising story. With LeBron James' free agency coming next year, many fans have accepted what he has done and want him to return to Cleveland to help win more rings with his first team. So a green Under Armour shirt saying "Come Home LeBron" was worn by many fans, and there was much support of him throughout the game. However, whenever he touched the ball in the first half, the whole arena started booing. James got off to a slow start but of course heated up as the night went on. Bynum did the same thing to start the game off in Washington (take every shot) except he actually made his shots this time, giving the Cavs a hopeful 8-4 lead. But that was the only highlight of the night as the

Heat had control the whole game. This was my first time seeing Dion Waiters play, as he had flu like symptoms at the DC game. He was their leading scorer with 24 points, but missed too many free throw shots. Unlike in DC, Dellavedova didn't have a great game, and sat most of the second half. The Cavs have some major work to do, as pointed out by the Ray Allen/Seattle SuperSonics fan that sat next to me at the game. I didn't have the best seats, but it was still enjoyable watching LeBron in person for the first time since he left Cleveland and maybe he will come back? But if not, good for him as he abandoned this town.

PS: The $7 bottomless popcorn has been my food of choice, with Wild Cherry Pepsi in a souvenir cup for both of the games this year. Go Vendors!....I mean Cavs!  

Happy Thanksgiving on Behalf of Believeland Sports!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my viewers on Believeland Sports. It has been a fun few months working on this blog. However as seen, the sight hasn't been updated since this weekend. I apologize that my schedule was very hectic with my travel schedule switching up last minute and having to put my focus on other matters. That is the problem with running a sight on my own, in that if I am crunched for time, I am pretty much in trouble. But thank you for sticking with me and I hope to jump start this again. Thank you and have a great Thanksgiving!

Best Sport Movie Scenes? Let Me Know What Your's Are!

Ever since sports movies have been around, they have been loved by all. From movies inspired by real events such as Miracle, or fictional pieces such as The Sandlot and Air Bud, they are now considered to be past times. So what I want to know is what are your favorite sports movie scenes? After receiving input from my readers here I want to put a list together featuring everybody's favorite scenes! Send me a YouTube link via comment or Twitter (@BelievelandS), or simply comment (or Tweet) the movie and scene to me. Thanks for helping me out and participating in advance!

                               From Miracle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwpTj_Z9v-c

               From Like Mike (Poor quality, sorry)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlNauci71zY

MLB Scheduling Behind the Scenes

Check out this article/video that my brother sent me. For grad school, he recently completed a project that required him to schedule the whole MLB season, while having the least amount of miles traveled. He also worked around other guidelines are required for a MLB season. This video is an ESPN 30 for 30 short that shows the story of a husband and wife duo who used to schedule the whole MLB season by themselves, until they were replaced by computer software in 2005.  

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9930115/our-latest-30-30-documentary-short-tells-story-how-husband-wife-ended-creating-schedule-mlb

          http://howmanyarethere.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/major-league-baseball-team-logos.jpg

NCAA Basketball Rankings Poll #2

Here is my ranking list that is released every other Wednesday:

    Team                                         Record        Previous Ranking 
1. Michigan State Spartans             4-0                          4 
2. Louisville Cardinals                    4-0                          2
3. Kansas Jayhawks                        3-0                          5
4. Kentucky Wildcats                     4-1                          1
5. Duke Blue Devils                       4-1                          3
6. Arizona Wildcats                        5-0                         6
7. Syracuse Orange                         4-0                         7
8. Oklahoma State Cowboys          4-0                         10
9. Ohio State Buckeyes                  3-0                          9
10. VCU Rams                               3-0                        NR
11. Gonzaga Bulldogs                    3-0                        14     
12. Memphis Tigers                       1-1                        13
13. Wisconsin Badgers                  4-0                        NR
14. New Mexico Lobos                 2-0                        NR
15. Michigan Wolverines              2-1                         11

Watch List (Not in Order): Florida Gators, Wichita State Shockers, UNC Tar Heels, Oregon Ducks, UConn Huskies

Preseason Ranking List: http://guthguth607.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2013-11-09T15:23:00-08:00&max-results=7&start=7&by-date=false

Believeland Sports on the Radio

In case you haven't heard, on December 9th I will be live on the air with Lisa Stone of www.parentingaces.com at 12pm ET. This will be online on the UR10S Network. I will be representing Believeland Sports by recapping The Eddie Herr International Championships from the week before and previewing the Metropolia Orange Bowl Junior Championships. For more information, visit http://parentingaces.com/radio-show/. Hope you listen in.

Sandgren Finishes USTA Pro Circuit in Style; Champaign Challenger Recap

Sorry for getting this out a day late, but here is the recap for the final Challenger on the USTA Pro Circuit of 2013. This Challenger took place on the campus of the Illinois Fighting Illini at their home tennis center. Like the prior challengers at Knoxville (University of Tennessee) and Charlottesville (University of Virginia) this tournament featured many current college players, as well as former ones returning to their former school. Here are the current college players that were in the draws here:

Qualifying Singles:                     Qualifying Doubles:
Farris Gosea (Illinois)                 Gosea with Dennis Nevolo
Blake Bazarnik (Illinois)
Julian Childers (Illinois)
Nick Chappell (TCU)
Brian Page (Illinois)
Mac Styslinger (Virginia)
Alex Jesse (Illinois)

Main Draw Singles:                   Main Draw Doubles:
Jared Hiltzik (Illinois)               Tim Kopinski (Illinois)/Ross Guignon (Illinois)
Marcos Giron (UCLA)              Hiltzik/Alexander
Tim Kopinski (Illinois)

In the first round of the main draw singles, only 4 of the seeds advanced to the next round. Tim Smyczek (1 seed) had the same fate as Charlottesville and lost his first match. Peter Polansky followed suit as his hopes of reaching a 4th straight challenger final came to and end. Former Tennessee Volunteer Tennys Sandgren thrashed Canadian Filip Peliwo 6-0, 6-1. That set up a second round match with 2 seeded Jack Sock, who survived a close match against Bjorn Fratenjelo.

The seeds continued to struggle in the next round, as Rajeev Ram and both Jack Sock both went down. Sandgren defeated Sock 7-6, 6-1. Samuel Groth and JP Smith were the last seeds standing in the quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinals after a JP Smith loss, Samuel Groth was the only seed to advance. Smith went down to Sandgren, who kept up his impressive run in Champaign.

In the semifinals, former Illinois alumni Dennis Nevolo made a quite run through the draw to set up a match up with Samuel Groth. Groth ended up taking the match 7-6, 6-4. In the other semifinal, Tennys Sandgren continued his winning streak and defeated the qualifier from Great Britian Daniel Smethurst 7-5, 6-3.

In an Australian-American final, Tennys Sandgren finished off the swing of Challengers at college campus' and became the 3rd (out of 3) American to win the singles title. He defeated Samuel Groth 3-6, 6-3, 7-6.

In the doubles, both Illinois teams that got wildcards into the main draw won their first round matches. The team of Ross Guignon and Tim Kopinski (coming off a semifinal run at the ITA Indoor) started the trend by defeating the team of Denys Molchanov and Fritz Wolmarans. Jared Hiltzik and Alex Jesse followed the trend by defeating Carsten Ball and Peter Polansky. This knocked Polansky out in the first round in both draws. The same fortune did not come true for both teams in the 2nd round, as Guignon and Kopinski ran into a team of JP Smith and Groth who took their 6th straight win. Hiltzik and Jesse lost to Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren.

In the semifinals, the British team of Edward Corrie and Daniel Smethurst snapped Smith and Groth's 6 match win streak as the British duo won 7-6, 6-2. On the bottom half of the draw, Sandgren and Krajicek advanced to the final after defeating Michael Shabaz and Sanam Singh.

In the final, Tennys Sandgren came up short of winning both the singles and doubles, as the British team knocked off Sandgren and Krajicek 7-6, 0-6, 1-0.

That is it for 2013 for Challenger tournaments, but stay tuned for more pro/junior/college coverage. Thanks for reading!

My Trip Into the Nation's Capital

This weekend, I was fortunate enough to have a few friends from Cleveland come up to visit me. After their late arrival Friday night, we set off early yesterday morning to the nations capital. Here, we were planning on walking around the city before attending the Wizards-Cavs game at The Verizon Center at night. We caught the metro (train) at Shady Grove, outside of D.C., and rode into town from there. We came up from the ground then, to find ourselves in the middle of downtown D.C. All of us had not been into the downtown portion of the city, so we were not quite sure where to go. After taking random turns and Devin wanting to follow where the trees were, we ended up at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue. Pennsylvania Avenue is obviously where the White House is so I asked someone to search the exact address. Upon finding out that it was at 1600, we headed there.

After that, we look around for maps and stopped by other smaller memorials and finally came face to face with the Washington Monument (which was getting repairs done on it). You can see the blue

walkways attached to the monument. So being by there, made a lot of the other monuments accessible for us. We stopped by the World War II memorial (which was our favorite I would say), the Vietnam Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the FDR Memorial and finally the Jefferson Memorial after a long way around the Tidal Basin. It was 3 by this time and we had yet to eat all day. So we set back into the city but for the life of us could not find a restaurant. A

 

few of us got a quick snack at a roadside hot dog stand (do as the Romans do) and finally came into contact with Ollie's Trolley. This restaurant had an old fashioned feel to it and had very great French Fries, even though I'm not typically a fan. But the 26 different seasonings on top lured me in and was accompanied by a decent burger. Onward to the Holocaust Memorial Museum, which was a little walk from the National Mall. None of us had ever been in the museum before, so we had no idea what to expect going in. It was a very neat museum, but obviously an unfortunate one. It was hard for

some of us seeing exhibits such as a train that the Jews rode in before arriving at concentration camps and thousands of shoes worn by inmates at these camps. But it was a very enriching experience as we furthered our knowledge on the very tough topic. After this we quickly went to the Natural History Museum to see if it was Ben Stiller's shift as night guard. He wasn't there, and neither was the globe like in The Night at the Museum, but we did run into Rexy (as seen above) and looked at other dinosaur fossils. Next up, we were on our way to the Capitol Building but we took a detour at an ice skating rink. We watched a few people fall, and then a Zamboni come out onto the ice. Back on our way to the Capitol we realized the basketball game started at 7 and not 7:30. So we didn't make it to

the Capitol but ending up at The Verizon Center was a good consolation prize. We took our seats in the front section on the baseline and it was hard being a Cavs fan in the first half. We were getting beat by a struggling Wizards team badly. Losing by as much as 15, the Cavs started gaining momentum and put the game within reach. I will have a more descriptive recap of the game later on this blog, but the game came down to the wire at the end. With 23 seconds left, Kyrie Irving brought the ball down the court and drove with little  time left but got blocked so the game went to overtime.

But from there, it was all Cavs as all the Wizards fans started clearing the arena. There were a vast amount of Cavs fans there, especially in our specific section. So the Wizards fans were disappointed but we sure were. After exiting the arena, we ended up in Chinatown. We saw a few street dancers perform live in front of maybe a hundred people who were there with us. Then our group decided to take a crack at authentic Chinese food at a random restaurant. Egg rolls were ordered and when I used the bathroom I was in for a surprise. I had to go in a small little closet in the back of the

place so that was interesting. After eating the delicious egg rolls, we decided to call it a night and head back to my college. None of us had been here since 8th grade when we were on our class trip to Washington D.C. It was ironic that my brother is in 8th grade this year and that trip this year was this past Wednesday through Friday, so we missed them by a day. Actually, I also was in D.C. a month after that trip that year, so I had been to D.C. more recently than a month from the rest of the guys. It was a very neat experience and a fun weekend. I wish we could've been there another day, as we missed things like Arlington Cemetery and most of the Smithsonian Museums, but the fact we got a day in was great. I appreciate Joey, Ryan, Josh and Devin for making the drive in the first place and spending the weekend here. It was great and I can't wait to see them and everyone else from back home soon! Go Cavaliers! 

DC Today

Will be at the Cavs-Wizards game tonight in Washington D.C. with Zel, JG (The Lithuanian), Devin and Joey. Hoping to see the Cavs actually win a game and build on their disappointing 3-7 record.

Final Fall College Tennis Recap

After the ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, I have updated my singles, doubles, and teams rankings. First off though, the USTA has selected the team to represent the USA at Master'U PNB Paribas international college tournament from November 29-December 1 in Aix-en-Provence, France. The team was selected as I expected, and includes Virginia's Mitchell Frank, Ohio State's Peter Kobelt and UCLA's Marcos Giron. Since it is a mixed competition, the girls on the team include USC's Sabrina Santamaria, UCLA's Robin Anderson and Georgia's Lauren Herring. Boise State's Greg Patton and Cal's Amanda Augustus will be the coaches and travel with the team. The USA won the title last year and have won 3 of the past 4 titles there.

So to check out my prior rankings and how they differ from these, click on this link http://guthguth607.blogspot.com/2013/10/ncaa-fall-tennis-recap.html to see my 2 prior ranking lists.

Singles Rankings (# denotes their previous ranking on my rankings):
1. Mitchell Frank, Virginia (3)
2. Alex Domijan, Virginia (2)
3. Ray Sarmiento, USC (7)
4. Mikelis Libietis, Tennessee (5)
5. Jared Hiltzik, Illinois (6)
6. Marcos Giron, UCLA (4)
7. Peter Kobelt, Ohio State (1)
8. Clay Thompson, UCLA (NR)
9. Patrick Pradella, Baylor (NR)
10. Axel Alvarez, Oklahoma  (NR)
Dropped Out: de Klerk (Tulsa), Hanfmann (USC), McDonald (UCLA)

Doubles Rankings:
1. Libietis/Reese, Tennessee (1)
2. Kobelt/Metka, Ohio State (8)
3. Giron/McDonald, UCLA (2)
4. Frank/Domijan, Virginia (5)
5. Guignon/Kopinski, Illinois (NR)
6. Narayana/Schnur, Columbia (NR)
7. Withrow/Ore, Texas A&M (3)
8. Pieters/Wagland, Georgia (7)
9. Vinsant/Adams, Texas A&M (9)
10. Glasspool/Hess-Olsen, Texas (NR)
Dropped Out: Harris/Webb (Oklahoma), Stropp/Angus (Mississippi State), Semenzato/Hemmeler, Duke

Team Rankings:
1. Virginia (1)
2. UCLA (1)
3. USC (4)
4. Oklahoma (6)
5. Georgia (3)
6. Ohio State (5)
7. Baylor (NR)
8. Illinois (NR)
9. Duke (7)
10. Texas A&M (9)
Dropped Out: Texas, Tennessee

Cavs in Some Early Trouble

After their first 9 games of the season, the Cleveland Cavs are currently in 3rd place in the Central Division and 11th in the Eastern Conference with a 3-6 record. To be fair I have only watched 1 game so far this season because no games have been on national TV so far, and living in Baltimore makes it difficult to access watching. But the one thing I keep hearing about is the lack of defense, which I suppose would not be expected out of a Mike Brown coached team (even though the Lakers two years ago didn't completely oblige with this). Some other factors are leading into this as well. The overall number 1 draft pick, Anthony Bennett, has his confidence shot right now as he went 1 for his first 20 attempted field goals. With talks of sending him to the NBA Development league on the Canton Charge, he may be the first overall draft to play in the D-League. Andrew Bynum is also looking like he may be a bust, as he is negotiating with the idea of retiring (only at age 26 too). But despite all of this, Kyrie Irving (as expected) is leading the way for the Cavs with 19.4 points per game. 3 other Cavs are averaging double digits in the points category (Waiters, Thompson and Miles). Tristian Thompson is close to averaging a double-double, as he also averages 9.7 rebounds per game.

The Cavs have some improving to do, but it is only 9 games into the season. I will be attending the Wizards-Cavs game Saturday night in Washington DC and will be attending the Heat-Cavs game in Cleveland on November 27th so I am excited to see them play more. Let's go Cavs.

The International Aspect on College Tennis

It seems as if in college sports, tennis is impacted the most (or at least one of the most) by international players coming in. Them coming in includes taking away scholarships from American players, taking away NCAA bids from American players, and taking away championships from American players. I am not completely complaining about this, as I saw the Ohio State Buckeyes get NCAA Titles the past two years thanks to Blaz Rola of Slovenia. Rola won the NCAA doubles championship with Chase Buchanan in 2012 and Rola won the NCAA singles title last year. So as a Buckeyes fan, I have seen benefits from this. The down side to this though, is obviously that scholarship money and NCAA titles are snagged from American athletes. If Rola wasn't in the NCAA, odds are that Virginia's Jarmere Jenkins would have won the triple crown last season (winning the team title, singles title and doubles title). Jenkins was on the winning Virginia Cavaliers team and teamed with Mac Styslinger to win the doubles title. Also who knows, the bar in Division 1 tennis would be set lower to the point I would be on scholarship at a Division 1 school for tennis. So why do these players come here? They come to develop themselves in their respective sport while gaining an American education. With that, living in the United States is an experience in itself. I was played last year at the Cleveland $3,000 Championships last year and my mom and I ran into a guy who was on scholarship at Lake Erie College and he was from Australia. He said that in Australia, he would have never been able to study and to play tennis like he can here. He has since moved on and is now on scholarship at New Mexico State.

So where am I going with this? After this weekends ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in New York City, I thought to myself how different would this field be without international players incorporated. First off, let's look at the men's singles field and the countries where the players were from:

Seeds:
1. Patrick Pradella, Germany (Baylor) 
2. Guillermo Alcorta, Spain (Oklahoma)
3. Julian Lenz, Germany (Baylor)
4. Austin Smith, United States (Georgia)
5. Gonzales Austin, United States (Vanderbilt)
6. Clay Thompson, United States (UCLA)
7. Winston Lin, United States (Columbia)
8. Jared Hiltzik, United States (Illinois)

So here, the top 3 seeds were international players and the bottom 5 were from the United States. Here is the rest of the field:

Mikelis Libietis, Latvia (Tennessee)
Peter Kobelt, United States (United States)
Ray Sarmiento, United States (USC)
Henry Craig, United States (Denver)
Joran Vliegan, Belgium (East Carolina)
Dane Webb, United States (Oklahoma)
Greg Andrews, United States (Notre Dame)
Deni Zmak, Croatia (Embry-Riddle)
Andrew Harris, Australia (Oklahoma)
Marcos Giron, United States (UCLA)
Campbell Johnson, United States (California)
Max Schnur, United States (Columbia)
Brett Clark, United States (UNC)
Malte Stropp, Germany (Mississippi State)
Alex Sarkissian, United States (Pepperdine)
Axel Alvarez, Spain (Oklahoma)
George Goldhoff, United States (Texas)
Nik Sholtz, South Africa (Ole Miss)
Carlos Lopez Villa, Spain (Old Dominion)
Samir Ifhitkar, Pakistan (New Mexico)
Diego Galeano, Paraguay (Baylor)
Nathan Pasha, United States (Georgia)
Hunter Reese, United States (Tennessee)
Yannick Hanfmann, Germany (USC)

So if you do your math right (or if I did) that is 14/32 players in this singles field that were international. That's only 18 Americans.....

So how different would this field be without these players and instead only Americans? That's what I am going to try to figure out. With 32 spots, 4 of these spots were given to wildcards. These players were Marcos Giron, Ray Sarmiento, Max Schnur and Andrew Harris. Harris was the only non-American to receive a wildcard. The next 8 spots were given to the quarterfinalists of the ITA All-Amercians and 1 spot given to the consolation champion. These players were Mitchell Frank, Guillermo Alcorta, Patrick Pradella, Jared Hiltzik, Austin Smith, Gonzales Austin, Clay Thompson, George Goldhoff and Julian Lenz. That is 3 international players (Pradella, Lenz and Alcorta). The rest of the spots were filled by ITA Regional Champions and selected Runner-Ups. For the purposes of this experiment, I will include Virginia players (even though their only player, Mitchell Frank, did not compete).

How am I going to go about this: I will first look at the ITA All-American Championships. Who did those international players knock off in the round of 16 to get clinch a spot in New York?
Next: I will look at each ITA regional where an international player clinched a spot. To determine their replacement, I will look at runner-ups and semifinalists, seeding and preseason rankings to estimate who may have gotten in. And let me say, while doing this it was amazing how very few quarterfinalists were American (Made this harder to do and made me switch up where the at-large bids were coming from).
Last: Determine one who may have received an ITA wildcard in lieu of Andrew Harris.

Now, this "experiment" will not be exactly perfect as people matchup differently with other people and if international players weren't there, the whole specific ITA tournament could've gone a lot differently (even from the 1st round). So let's see how this goes......

Green highlights denote players who would have qualified for the ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships (in my experiment). Blue denotes the player being replaced.

ITA All-American International qualifiers
Round of 16: Pradella def. Clarke Spinosa, San Diego
                      Alcorta def. Austin Powell, NC State
                      Lenz def. Ronnie Schneider, North Carolina
ITA Midwest Regional: Not affected
ITA Northwest Regional: Not affected
ITA Southwest Regional: F: Hanfmann def. Sarkissian
                                         Mackenzie McDonald, UCLA highest seeded semifinalist
ITA Mountain Regional: F: Craig def. Ifhitkar
                                         I will not replace Ifhitkar, as he replaced Mitchell Frank (who I am keeping for this experiment).
ITA Texas Regional: F: Galeano def. Shane Vinsant, Texas A&M
ITA Central Regional: F: Alvarez def. Webb
                                     I don't think this regional would've gotten an At-Large Bid with all Americans.
ITA Northeast Regional: Not affected
ITA Ohio Valley: Reese def. Libietis
                             I don't think this regional would have gotten an At-Large Bid without Libietis there, with no other Americans in the semifinals.
ITA Atlantic Regional: Lopez Villa def. Alexis Huegas, VCU
                                      This regional is a little more complicated. Lopez Villa and Huegas are both international players, as well as semifinalist Francisco Dias, GWU. However, Virginia's Ryan Shane would be next in line. But.....Huegas defeated Mac Styslinger, Virginia in 3 tight sets in the quarterfinals and Huegas beat Shane in 2 sets in the semifinal. This isn't a stretch in my opinion to give Styslinger to upper hand in this regional, since Styslinger played a higher spot on the team last year and was seeded higher. But with an At-Large Bid available, let's say Ryan Shane, Virginia ended up getting it anyways.
ITA Carolina Regional: F: Vliegan def. Mike Redlicki, Duke  
                                       This was a tough regional so I'm surprised they didn't get an At-Large Bid, but I would give them one, and it would be Robbie Mudge, NC State since he was the only other American semifinalist (besides Redlicki).
ITA Southern Regional: Stropp def. Scholtz
                                        All 4 semifinalists were international (Kallberg and Helliar). Becker O'Shaughnessey, Alabama  was the only quarterfinalist from America. With the lack of depth of Americans (only 1 quarterfinalist) I am only going to grant one spot. .
ITA Southeast Regional: Pasha def. Alexandru Gozun, South Florida. In replacement of the ITA Southern Regionals At-Large Bid, I am going to grant Gozun one in place.
ITA Super-Bowl: Zmak def. Mate Cutura, Tyler JC
                             Cutura is from Croatia, Alla is from India and Savi is from Brazil, so that accounts for all 4 Super Bowl entrants. The guy Zmak defeated in the NAIA Championship is from Spain. I am going to put in Matt Alves, American River Community College, as he lost a close 3 set match to Cutura in the JUCO finals. However, with a Brazilian name and lack of information on the school website, he may not be American. So as a back-up (in case he isn't American) I'm going to put in Skyler Butts of Claremont-Scripps who lost in the Division 3 final.
ITA Wildcard: To replace Andrew Harris, I am simply going to put in the highest ranked American in the ITA Preseason poll who didn't already qualify. Ryan Lipman of Vanderbilt I believe was hurt, so the next person in line would be Jeremy Efferding, Texas A&M. I know they didn't give Harris his wildcard by this, but I'm just trying to find an effective way to determine this spot.

So here is my updated ITA Indoor Intercollegiate field (With all Americans) and my projected seeding based upon how the ITA seeded the original field:

1. Mitchell Frank, Virginia
2. Austin Smith, Georgia
3. Gonzales Austin, Vanderbilt
4. Clay Thompson, UCLA
5. Winston Lin, Columbia
6. Jared Hiltzik, Illinois
7. George Goldhoff, Texas
8. Clarke Spinosa, San Diego

Mike Redlicki, Duke
Mac Styslinger, Virginia
Ronnie Schneider, UNC
Shane Vinsant, Texas A&M
Mackenzie McDonald, UCLA
Austin Powell, NC State
Peter Kobelt, Ohio State
Ray Sarmiento, USC
Henry Craig, Denver
Dane Webb, Oklahoma
Greg Andrews, Notre Dame
Marcos Giron, UCLA
Campbell Johnson, California
Ryan Shane, Virginia
Max Schnur, Columbia
Brett Clark, UNC
Alex Sarkissian, Pepperdine
Nathan Pasha, Georgia
Hunter Reese, Tennessee
Alexandru Gozun, South Florida
Becker O'Shaughnessey, Alabama
Jeremy Efferding, Texas A&M
Matt Alves, American River
Robbie Mudge, NC State

This is the field of 32 I came up with for the ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships that is all American. There is no telling if this is accurate, just my best predictions based on Regional results, not on my bias (besides limitedly for at-large selections). Also, thank you to Zoo Tennis for helping me out on this one with nationalities of players. I tried my best and worked hard, I hope you enjoyed it.

NCAA Basketball Doubleheader for the Ages Tonight

If you're a college basketball fan, there is no need to make plans for tonight. In fact, your plans are already made. The best doubleheader to my recent memory will take place tonight and it's even in the same building. The Champions Classic held at the United Center in Chicago will host 4 of the top 5 teams in the nation (Sorry Louisville for being excluded). In the first match of the night, the top
                                          
                                                                 www.primesport.com 

ranked team in the nation (and notably ranked 27th in www.notsportscenter.com 's NBA power rankings) the Kentucky Wildcats will take on Tom Izzo's Michigan State Spartans. The Spartans are the 2nd ranked team in the nation, setting up the first #1 vs. #2 matchup since #1 Memphis lost to #2 Tennessee in 2008. If this matchup isn't enough for you, shortly after the #4 ranked Duke Blue Devils will take on Andrew Wiggins and the #5 ranked Kansas Jayhawks. For all 4 teams, this is their first chance this season to prove they can stack up with the best teams in the country. It is also allowing freshman like Andrew Wiggins to show if they really can play at this level, or if they'll falter. Well we will find out tonight on ESPN at 7:30 ET. Hopefully the power at my school is back on (Today is day 3 without power) or I'll have to take another trip to Buffalo Wild Wings tonight.    

Champaign Marks Last USA Challenger in 2013; Champaign Challenger Preview

The field in Champaign will not be as strong as the field in Knoxville but is still a fairly strong one. Headlined by Knoxville Champion Tim Smyczek as the top seed (once again), here are the seeds for the singles:

1. Tim Smyczek
2. Jack Sock
3. Rajeev Ram
4. Alex Kuznetsov
5. Peter Polansky
6. Rik de Voest
7. Samuel Groth
8. John-Patrick Smith

Like the last 2 challengers, this challenger is on a college campus (this time being at Illinois). So the Illinois Fighting Illini will have representation in the draws with current players and former players. In the main draw singles, Tim Kopinski (current), Dennis Nevolo (former), Rajeev Ram (former) and Jared Hiltzik (current) will represent the Illini. In the main draw doubles, Alex Jesse/Jared Hiltzik, Ross Guignon/Tim Kopinski will represent the Illini. Fares Ghosya and Dennis Nevolo are in the final round of qualifying doubles as well.

                                                          www.illinoischallenger.com

There are more unfamiliar names in the draws than usual, but there still are a few key first round matchups that struck my eye. UCLA's Marcos Giron got a wildcard into this main draw coming off of his consolation singles title in New York City and will play 3 seeded Rajeev Ram in the first round. Ram didn't look quite in form in Knoxville so watch out for a good battle from the UCLA Bruin. All the way at the bottom of the draw, 2 seeded Jack Sock will take on Bjorn Fratenjelo. I'm assuming Sock will win this one, but these two players both came up through the juniors together and it'll be a nice little rematch. Right "above" this match, Canada's Filip Peliwo will take on former Tennessee Volunteer Tennys Sandgren.

Look for Canada's Peter Polansky to make a run here, as he has made his last 3 Challenger finals (winning 1 of them). He will play a qualifier in the first round. Former Michigan player Evan King is in the final round of qualifying and will play Canada's Milan Pokrajac today. This would add to the college twist as Michigan and Illinois are Big 10 Conference rivals.

Here are the seeds for the doubles:

1. Groth/Smith
2. Krajicek/Sandgren
3. de Voest/Ram
4. Cluskey/Neuchrist

The Australian team of Samuel Groth and John-Patrick Smith are coming off of a title in Knoxville. A Knoxville semifinal can be repeated if both Krajicek/Sandgren and the team of Carsten Ball/Peter Polansky win their first rounds. Ball/Polansky won that match. The Illini have two teams in this field with Kopinski/Guignon and Hiltzik/Jesse. Kopinski/Guignon are coming off a semifinal run at the ITA Indoors and will be looking to build on that run here on their home courts.

This will be a good end to the USTA Pro Circuit for the year and I look forward to watching it.

Thompson Wins ITA Intercollegiate Indoor Championship; ITA Indoor Day 4 Recap

Sorry for not getting this out last night as I intended. Upon arriving back to school, I noticed that the whole campus was dark. Maybe if I got back at 3 in the morning that wouldn't have been strange, but it was only 9:00 at night. So I called a friend and as I suspected the power was out. Apparently it's been out since 11 yesterday morning. With it still out this morning, there are no classes for the day and I am currently at a Panera Bread typing this out.

Yesterday in the Big Apple, Clay Thompson continued his winning streak (which is now at 15 in a row) as he beat Illinois' Jared Hiltzik in the final 6-4, 7-5. A more aggressive baseline game by Hiltzik was overpowered by Thompson, as Thompson's signature forehand especially was too much for Hiltzik to handle. This is the first time in 6 Fall majors that a Virginia player did not win the singles title. Also another fun fact that I realized yesterday was that UCLA's Mackenzie McDonald lost to both fall major champions (Virginia's Mitchell Frank and Thompson) in 3 sets in the fall.

UCLA's Clay Thompson via twitter.com

In the doubles main draw, the home crowd favorites and the host team from Columbia, Max Schnur and Ashok Narayana, capped off their dream run this week by beating the number 1 seeds from Tennessee (Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese). The 6-3, 6-2 win was their 5th win of the week. Here is match point:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J87UFWSg0f4&feature=c4-overview&list=UUHcP4qfBcLa7YJbXe8XNYHg

In the consolation singles, UCLA produced another winner in Marcos Giron, as he took out top seeded Patrick Pradella from Baylor 6-4, 6-2 in the final. The same success was not found for Giron in the doubles final with partner Mackenzie McDonald, as the Ohio State team of Kevin Metka and Peter Kobelt came out victorious with a 8-7 win.

Stay tuned later in the week for my updated NCAA singles, doubles and team rankings.

No Power at McDaniel

Due to no power, I have no wifi and the blog will be down until further notice. Hoping to get my Champaign Challenger preview out tomorrow.

Top Seeds Win in Knoxville; Knoxville Challenger Recap

Due to school work, traveling and also covering the ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, I didn't get to watch as much of this challenger as I wanted, but still got to see some of the action.

In a field featuring many big American names, trying to get their ranking inside the Top 100 to get in the Australian Open Main Draw, not many got far into the tournament. Denis Kudla (2 seed) was the first seed to go out in the first round, as Rik de Voest's slow pace was not favorable for Kudla. de Voest kept getting everything back slow, but deep in the court and Kudla could get any rhythm as he went down 6-1, 7-6. Jack Sock (3 seed) was next to follow, as a dangerous Peter Polansky took him down 6-4, 7-6. Polansky was coming off a loss in the Charlottesville final to Michael Russell in which Polansky was up 5-0 in the 3rd set. Ryan Harrison (6 seed) received a walkover after hometown favorite and former Tennessee Volunteer Rhyne Williams pulled out. Former USC Trojan Steve Johnson snapped his 6 match singles losing streak as he beat France's Laurent Rochette handily 6-3, 6-2. The top seeds in the doubles, Samuel Groth and John-Patrick Smith had to play each other in the first round of the singles, as Groth ended up winning 6-3, 6-3. Virginia's Mitchell Frank pulled out of the ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships to play this string of challenger events, and after qualifying for the main draw he beat Tennessee Volunteer Jarryd Chaplin 6-4, 6-3 in the first round.

Due to a back injury, Mitchell Frank also pulled out of this tournament in the 2nd round, allowing Rik de Voest to advance to the quarterfinals. Zimbabwe's number 1 player Takanyi Garanganga added onto his impressive run through the qualifying and beat fellow qualifier Kevin King to advance to the quarterfinals. After a decent week in Charlottesville, India's Sanam Singh made a statement in his second round match as he defeated 5th seeded Donald Young 6-3, 6-0. Another hometown favorite and former Tennessee Volunteer Tennys Sandgren used the home court advantage and beat Ryan Harrison 6-4, 6-3, as Harrison continued to struggle. Another doubles team that had to play each other occurred in the 2nd round, as top seeded Tim Smyczek defeated Steve Johnson 5-7, 7-5, 6-4. That match featured Steve Johnson breaking 3 times in the 1st set to secure it, and many more breaks through the match.

In the quarterfinals, Tim Smyczek took down fellow American Alex Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the semifinals. In the next matchup, Michael Russell couldn't build on his success from last week in Charlottesville as he had to retire due to a wrist injury, and allowed former Volunteer Tennys Sandgren to advance. In the bottom half of the draw, Peter Polansky kept rolling and took down a hot Sanam Singh 6-3, 6-3. Garanganga won once again in beating Rik de Voest to advance to his first ever Challenger Tour semifinal.

Unfortunately, Garanganga ran into Peter Polansky in his first ever semifinal. He did put up a fight in winning the first set 6-4, but from there it was all Polansky as Polansky went on to win the match 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. In the other semifinal, hometown favorite Tennys Sandgren came up just short, as top seeded Tim Smyczek edged the match out, winning 7-5, 7-6.

In the final, Polansky didn't have as much consistency that he has had the past few weeks, as Tim Smyczek upheld his number 1 seeding to win the final 6-4, 6-2.

Now for some doubles....

Due to early losses in singles, Ryan Harrison and Denis Kudla (who I thought would win it all) pulled out in the quarterfinals. The top seeds John-Patrick Smith and Samuel Groth took advantage of this as they moved onto the semifinals and ended up beating Alex Kuznetsov and Dennys Molchanov easily 6-0, 6-2. This would put them into the finals. 2 seeds Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren were hoping to have the top 2 teams in the final, but Carsten Ball and Peter Polansky had a different opinion, as they took out the 2 seeds 6-3, 7-6 in the semifinals.

In the finals, former Tennessee Volunteer John-Patrick Smith and partner Samuel Groth also upheld their top seeding as Peter Polansky lost his 2nd final of the day, as him and Carsten Ball lost 6-7, 6-2, 10-7.

Stay tuned for the Champaign Challenger preview.

3rd Time is a Charm for Irving and the Cavs

When watching Cleveland sports, you are sure to always get frustrated. That included when I watched the end of the game tonight against a good 76ers team. Ironically, this was my first time watching the Cavs live all season (as I live in Baltimore). So with being in Cleveland this weekend it was nice to watch the game. I'll also be attending the Cavs game in Washington DC next Saturday night as they take on the Wizards.

Anyways, it was very frustrating that the Cavs had leads with less than a minute left in each regulation, the first overtime and the second overtime and they almost blew those. Part of that was due to poor shot selection and also credit is due to a very solid 76ers offense led by Michael Carter-Williams. No matter what the Cavs did, the 76ers came up with an answer. And with limited time left in each regulation, overtime, and double overtime (with a tied score), Kyrie Irving took the final shot. After missing his first two, Kyrie was successful the third time as he drove to the basket beating 3 76ers defenders to put in a layup with .6 seconds left in double overtime. With that win, the Cavs are now 3-4 and will take on the Chicago Bulls on the road on Monday at 8ET.

All Finals Set in NYC for Sunday; ITA Indoor Day 3 Recap

All of the action at the National Tennis Center is quickly coming to an end, as all of the finals have been set. After a big day on Friday, USC's Ray Sarmiento came up short today versus Illinois' Jared Hiltzik, as Hiltzik won 6-2, 7-6. As the 8 seed, on Sunday Hiltzik will take on UCLA's Clay Thompson. Thompson is now 17-1 on the season in singles and is on a 14 match winning streak. After losing his only match of the season to Oklahoma's Axel Alvarez (who Thompson defeated in today's semifinals), Thompson went onto win the ITA-All American Championships back draw (winning 5 matches), the Southern California Intercollegiate Championships title (winning 5 matches) and now winning his first four here. Not a bad fall for Thompson at all. That match will be at 11:30 ET on Sunday.

In the main draw doubles, Tennessee's Hunter Reese and Mikelis Libietis will go for their second straight major doubles title of the season after defeating Illinois' Tim Kopinski and Ross Guignon 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 on Saturday. In more of the surprise department, the wildcards from Columbia (Ashok Narayana and Max Schnur) clinch their spot in the final taking down Florida States Benjamin Lock and Marco Nunez 6-4, 6-4. Here is match point, via WeAreITA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG0LsDen-n4

The final between the host's Columbia and Tennessee will take place at 10 am ET Sunday.

In the consolation 2nd round doubles, both seeds made it to the finals. The top seeds from UCLA (Marcos Giron and Mackenzie McDonald) will take on Ohio State's Peter Kobelt and Kevin Metka on Sunday also at 10 am ET.

Marcos Giron will also be in the consolation singles final, as he took down Baylor's Diego Galeano and then Tennessee's Hunter Reese on Saturday. He will play another Baylor player in the final, as the top seeded Patrick Pradella took down Dane Webb and Nik Sholtz en route to the final that will take place at 11:30a am ET Sunday.

Stay tuned for the conclusion and see who will win the last fall major of the year in the NCAA.

USC's Sarmiento Has a Big Day; ITA Indoor Day 2 Recap

I wasn't able to follow coverage throughout the day, as I was driving from Baltimore to Cleveland. But I still got periodic updates throughout the day and was very surprised by some of the stuff I saw. The day started with doubles, both main draw and consolation. Florida's Elliot Orkin and Gordon Watson took the 1st round consolation doubles title, beating Texas A&M's Junior Ore and Jackson Withrow 8-7. In the 2nd round consolation doubles bracket, the top seeds UCLA (Giron/McDonald) and Ohio State (Kobelt/Metka) both advanced to the semifinals. In the main draw, Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese (Tennessee) kept rolling as the top seeds, winning 8-3 over Liberty's team of Azuero and Thomas. They will play the 4th seeded team from Illinois, Tim Kopinski and Ross Guignon, in Saturday's semifinals. In the other semifinal, the host team (of Columbia) Max Schnur and Ashok Narayana will take on Flordia State's Marco Nunez and Benjamin Lock. Nunez and Lock took down the 2 seeds from Texas (Glasspool/Hess-Olsen) and both of these teams in that semifinal have now won 3 matches in order to get there (neither received a bye).

In the singles, Ray Sarmiento came down from big first set deficits twice (according to my Twitter feed) to make Saturday's semifinals. Sarmiento in the 2nd round knocked off top seeded Libietis, before taking out Vanderbilt's Gonzales Austin, both wins coming in straight sets. Sarmiento has yet to drop a set so far this tournament. Illinois earned another semifinalist after Jared Hiltzik (who will play Sarmiento in the semifinals) breezed past California's Campbell Johnson 6-3, 6-0 and beat the wildcard entrant Andrew Harris of Oklahoma. Oklahoma has three players in Friday's quarterfinals and are showing how much depth they have. However, the only Sooner to advance was Axel Alvarez after he beat both (3 seeded) Julian Lenz of Baylor 6-1, 6-0 and then defeated hometown favorite Winston Lin (7 seeded) of Columbia 6-3, 6-3. Alvarez will take on the 6 seed from UCLA, Clay Thompson, in the semifinals after Thompson beat Alvarez's teammate Guillermo Alcorta in straight sets. I knew Thompson had a solid game, but I am impressed he was able to make a semifinal run (and maybe better) here. In the singles consolation, Patrick Pradella (1 seed) and Dane Webb (imagine that, another Oklahoma player) will play each other in the second round after both advancing on walkovers. 4th seeded Nik Scholtz of Ole Miss moved onto the second round, as did Ohio State's Peter Kobelt and UCLA's Marcos Giron. The seeds on the bottom half of the draw though were not as fortunate, as 2nd seeded Austin Smith of Georgia lost to Baylor's Diego Galeano and the 3 seed George Goldhoff of Texas lost to Tennessee's Hunter Reese.

Well tomorrow should be a good day of semifinals leading into Sunday's finals. Look forward to writing about it!

Never Fails to be a Dramatic Day in NYC; ITA Indoor Day 1 Recap

The ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships kicked off from the National Tennis Center Thursday morning with doubles. The surprising results started right away in the first round as Columbia's Max Schnur and Ashok Narayana took out Texas A&M's Junior Ore and Jackson Withrow 8-3. However the Columbia duo backed up their first win with another convincing victory as they beat UNCW's Rafael Aita and Sam Williams 8-2. In the next round, they will play the Super Bowl (small school championships) Champions from Embry-Riddle Simon Felix and Deni Zmak. The Embry-Riddle team got to the quarterfinals by stunning the 3 seeds from UCLA Mackenzie McDonald and Marcos Giron, who had an impressive fall by being runner-ups at the ITA All-American and winning an ITF Futures event. The top seeded team, Tennessee's Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese, took care of business in the second round defeated the Virginia Tech team of Bjerrhus and Contini 8-1. They will play Liberty's Jorge Azuero and Shea Thomas in the quarterfinals. The 4 seeds from Illinois, Tim Kopinski and Ross Guignon advanced to the quarterfinals and will play Drake's Ravi Patel and Robin Goodman. The Drake team knocked off Ohio State's Peter Kobelt and Kevin Metka in the 2nd round 8-6. The 2 seed from Texas, Lloyd Glasspool and Soren Hess-Olsen, defeated a tough team in Max de Vroome and Eric Johnson from USC 8-4 they will play the Florida State team of  Benjamin Lock and Marco Nunez (who won two rounds to get to the quarterfinals). Junior Ore and Jackson Withrow will play on Friday against Florida's Gordon Watson and Elliot Orkin for the Doubles 1st Round Consolation Championship. In the 2nd Round Consolation, UCLA's Mackenzie McDonald and Marcos Giron are the 1 seeds and Ohio State's Peter Kobelt and Kevin Metka are the 2 seeds.

Doubles Quarterfinals (To be played Friday):
Libietis/Reese, Tennessee (1) vs. Azuero/Thomas, Liberty
Guignon/Kopinski, Illinois (4) vs. Patel/Goodman, Drake
Felix/Zmak, Embry-Riddle vs. Schnur/Narayana, Columbia
Glasspool/Hess-Olsen, Texas (2) vs. Lock/Nunez, Florida State

The ITA All-American Runner-Up from Oklahoma, Guillermo Alcorta, had a strong start to the tournament by defeating USC's Yannick Hanfmann 6-1, 6-4. After losing to Peter Kobelt in the Midwest Regional, Notre Dame's Greg Andrews received an At-Large bid and took full advantage of that, beating the 4 seed Austin Smith (Georgia) in three sets in the first round. Another seed almost went down in the first round, as Vanderbilt's Gonzales Austin (the 5 seed) survived by beating Denver's Henry Craig in 3 sets as well. After receiving a wildcard in, Oklahoma's Andrew Harris beat Embry-Riddle's Deni Zmak in the longest match of the day winning 7-6, 6-7, 7-5. Still not a bad day for the NAIA Fall Champion. As I noted on my preview, I did not think Baylor's Patrick Pradella was worthy of the top seeding, as he backed up my claim by falling to Tennessee's Mikelis Libietis 7-6, 6-4 (who was the preseason number 1, but yet didn't get a seed here). Libietis saved a set point in the first set as well, and he will take on USC's Ray Sarmiento in the next round. Sarmiento played a very solid match and beat Ohio State's Peter Kobelt 6-2, 6-3. Kobelt has now lost the first round of both majors this year (tough to see this being a big Ohio State fan). After a solid fall on the pro tour, winning 3 ITF Futures titles (2 in singles, 1 in doubles) UCLA's Marcos Giron is now out of both main draws, as he fell to a very talented player in Illinois' Jared Hiltzik. I think Hiltzik was under seeded but nonetheless Hiltzik came out and won in 3 sets. Finally, the 7 seed, Winston Lin of Columbia, came out and blanked Pepperdine's Alex Sarkissian 6-0, 6-2 in front of a home crowd at the National Tennis Center. In the singles consolation, the seeds are 1. Patrick Pradella, Baylor 2. Austin Smith, Georgia 3. George Goldhoff, Texas 4. Nik Sholtz, Ole Miss. I get that Kobelt hasn't had the best go at it during the majors this year, but he's a player than can beat anyone in the nation if he plays well and feel he's not getting enough respect since he didn't get seeded in the consolation. I also think Giron got shafted in a seed. But I do feel all 4 seeds do have the capability of playing a good tournament as well, so we will see how it turns out. A big tip of the hat to Emory-Riddle's Deni Zmak for pairing up with partner to beat Giron-McDonald in doubles and almost beat Andrew Harris in singles. I think his consolation matchup with Marcos Giron tomorrow can be a good one.   

Singles Round of 16 (To be played Friday):
Mikelis Libietis, Tennessee vs. Ray Sarmiento, USC
Joran Vliegan, Eastern Carolina  vs. Gonzales Austin, Vanderbilt (5)
Greg Andrews, Notre Dame vs. Andrew Harris, Oklahoma
Jared Hiltzik, Illinois (8) vs. Campbell Johnson, California
Winston Lin, Columbia vs. Brett Clark, North Carolina
Axel Alvarez, Oklahoma vs. Julian Lenz, Baylor (3)
Carlos Lopez Villa, Old Dominion vs. Clay Thompson, UCLA (6)
Guillermo Alcorta, Oklahoma (2) vs. Nathan Pasha, Georgia

Preseason NCAA Basketball Rankings

Here are my preseason basketball rankings led by the Kentucky Wildcats:
(I will be posting a new ranking sheet every other Wednesday)

    Team                                          Record          USA Today Ranking
1. Kentucky Wildcats                     0-0                              1
2. Louisville Cardinals                   0-0                              3
3. Duke Blue Devils                       0-0                              4
4. Michigan State Spartans            0-0                              2
5. Kansas Jayhawks                       0-0                              6
6. Arizona Wildcats                       0-0                              5
7. Syracuse Orange                        0-0                              7
8. Florida Gators                            0-0                              8
9. Ohio State Buckeyes                  0-0                             10
10. Oklahoma State Cowboys        0-0                             12
11. Michigan Wolverines               0-0                              9
12. UNC Tar Heels                         0-0                             11
13. Memphis Tigers                        0-0                            13
14. Gonzaga Bulldogs                    0-0                             14
15. Oregon Ducks                          0-0                             18

Watch List (In order)
Wichita State Shockers, VCU Rams, New Mexico Lobos, Marquette Golden Eagles, UConn Huskies

Comments on My Blog

Not many people comment on my blog, but I believe it is close to 25% of the comments ever posted on the blog have been posted by anonymous cowards who give the blog criticism, but are too big of losers to say it with a name attached. I feel that I should leave the anonymous option available so that if someone likes my pieces they can say it without a name attached, because I love hearing feedback. The downfall to that obviously are people who don't appreciate what I am doing here, spending numerous amounts of hours watching sports, writing about sports, and reading about sports to provide another source of news for a sports (along with another opinion). I thank the people who have commented positively and I look forward to responses to this post, along with other posts of mine.

Thank you,
Alex Guthrie
Believeland Sports Founder
@BelievelandS

ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships Preview

The second NCAA Major of the year for NCAA D1 Tennis will take place this Thursday through Sunday at The USTA Billy Jean King National Tennis Center (site of the US Open) in Flushing, NY. Players qualified for this tournament (for singles) by either getting to the final of their regional tournament, getting to the quarterfinals at the ITA All-American, winning the consolation of the ITA All-American, or getting a wildcard (4 given out). The doubles qualifiers had to either get to the final of the ITA All-American, win the consolation, or get a wildcard (2 given out). And for each draw, a Super Bowl champ was crowned from non-Division 1 schools and was granted an entry.

For the first time in 5 Fall Majors, the Virginia Cavaliers will not have a singles champion, as the only person that was in the field for them (who was the favorite) Mitchell Frank, opted out of the tournament to play the Knoxville and Champaign Challengers.

The singles seeds are as follows:
1. Patrick Pradella, Baylor
2. Guillermo Alcorta, Oklahoma
3. Julian Lenz, Baylor
4. Austin Smith, Georgia
5. Gonzales Austin, Vanderbilt
6. Clay Thompson, UCLA
7. Winston Lin, Columbia
8. Jared Hiltzik, Illinois

I have a HUGE problem with whoever did this seeding. It is downright awful and makes no sense at all. Left off of the seeding list is Mikelis Libietis of Tennessee who is the pre-season #1 player in the nation, Peter Kobelt of Ohio State (#3 pre-season ranking), Marcos Giron (#6 pre-season ranking). They are meaning to tell me those top 8 seeded players are better than those 3? I'm not buying it. Also Patrick Pradella as a number 1 seed has to be the biggest joke. Pradella was ranked #16 coming into the season. He first lost to teammate Julian Lenz in a fall tournament before the ITA All-American, who is seeded 3rd here. At the ITA All-American as the 13 seed, Pradella took out the number 87th ranked player (Vliegan), the number 34th ranked player (Silverman), and the 96th ranked player (Powell). He then lost in 3 sets to the 2 seed here, Guillermo Alcorta. So with no big wins and losing to the 2 and 3 seeds at the last tournament, why is he the number 1 seed? Makes no sense whatsoever.
If he goes onto win the tournament, I will eat my words I suppose. But until then it makes no sense. Onward down my list of complaints: The 2-5 seeds here can make an argument for being seeded (maybe not as high though). I do agree after a good showing in Tulsa, at least Alcorta deserves a quality seed. My next problem is with Clay Thompson of UCLA being seeded 6th. Makes no sense once again. Thompson won the back draw at the ITA All-American, so basically, he came in 33rd out of 64 people. The only reason I can think that the ITA gives this winner a selection is to get people to take the back draw seriously, or if they got a bad draw. Which I can understand. But the fact that this player got seeded and has done nothing else this fall is a joke. Giron is also higher in the UCLA singles lineup than Thompson, so I'm sure UCLA finds this funny too. My last negative complaint in seeding: Winston Lin of Columbia being seeded 7th. Lin lost 6-0, 7-6 in the 3rd round to the champion Mitchell Frank, which is an unlucky draw. But Win had no big wins in the ITA All-American, defeated a Lucky Loser and a Qualifier to get to that point. Sure he won his regional and didn't ride on the host wildcard he would've gotten any way. But the regional he came out of was a comparatively very weak one. A Columbia player that finally didn't get a free ride into this tournament must be a once in a lifetime thing, "so why not give him a seed?" -(What the seeding committee must've had said). A positive complaint is Jared Hiltzik being seeded 8th. Hiltzik got to the quarterfinals by having an easy win over Ray Sarmiento of USC. I personally think Hiltzik should've been seeded higher in this tournament. Also, I think somewhere in the seeding USC's Yannick Hanfman should have got seeded. He won the toughest regional in singles (featuring UCLA, USC and other Southwest teams). I think that is deserving of a seed. However, I realize that goes against my rule since Sarmiento plays a higher position that Hanfmann, but Sarmiento withdrew early from the Southwest Regional so Hanfmann earned that.

Looking onto the draw though, my analysis on the horrible seeding job will be either justified or prove me wrong on Day 1. The first match on the draw is top seeded Patrick Pradella versus the preseason number 1 Mikelis Libietis. Tough luck for Libietis to get the 1 seed in the first round, but he still should be able to get by. The winner of that will take on the winner of Ohio State's Peter Kobelt and USC's Ray Sarmiento. If things go the way they should, Kobelt and Libietis will play in the 2nd round and will feature the preseasons #1 and #3 ranked players. Shouldn't that have been a semifinal matchup? Other intriguing first round matchups include Illinois' Jared Hiltzik versus UCLA's Marcos Giron. This match could go either way, and the fact that both of these guys got hooked on seeding, one of these guys will be out of the Main Draw earlier than they should be.
Nik Sholtz of Ole Miss has been doing well on the professional circuit and he will play the 3 seed Julian Lenz in the first round. Hanfmann will play 2 seeded Alcorta in a match that I think can go either way. Both have had good falls, and Hanfmann didn't play the ITA All-American so this tournament he can show how he fairs against the rest of the nation.

Here are the seeds for the doubles tournament:
1. Libietis/Reese, Tennessee
2. Glasspool/Hess-Olsen, Texas
3. Giron/McDonald, UCLA
4. Guignon/Kopinski, Illinois

I like the seeding for this a lot more, except I think Texas and UCLA should've been flip flopped. But that is irrelevant since they would meet in the semifinals anyways. I also am not a fan of the ITA All-American consolation champ being a seed because that is saying, "We came in 17th out of 32 teams." So how they jump from 17th to 4th? I don't know. But I think the Ohio State team of Kevin Metka and Peter Kobelt is better, but I understand they didn't get seeded because they didn't have a good enough showing at the ITA All-American. But those two teams possibly will play in the quarterfinals so once again that will work itself out. I do think all 4 seeds have a good chance to go far. But I think the top 2 seeds will have tough tests in their first match. The Texas team will take on the USC team of Max de Vroome and Eric Johnson (once again out of the toughest regional). So I definitely think the Longhorns may be on upset alert in the first round. The top seeds from Tennessee will have to play a team from Virginia Tech in Bjerrhus and Contini, who I think can be a big threat early on. One other team I think can make a run is the Texas A&M team of Junior Ore and Jackson Withrow, who potentially will meet Giron and McDonald in the quarterfinals.

I'll have day by day results and analysis of the tourney so stay tuned! (Go Buckeyes)

21-0 is Only Good Enough for #4 in the Nation

The Ohio State Buckeyes are now 21-0 in their last 21 games, almost good enough for the school record of 22 straight wins. The Buckeyes will look to tie the record on November 16th @ Illinois. The following week the Buckeyes will look to break the record at home versus the Indiana Hoosiers. But at 21 straight games won, why are they only number 4 and currently not deserving of a national championship birth? Here's why....

  

                                                          www.thebuckeyebattlecry.com

Well in first place in the AP Poll and the BCS Standings are the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Crimson Tide to me seems as if they are automatically granted that top spot for the sole purpose of being undefeated in the SEC. However, they have only played one ranked in the season and that was in Week 1 (Against Texas A&M). But that was only a 7 point victory....so I'd say they will be vulnerable against LSU Saturday not playing a ranked opponent since September 14th....the top team in the nation has had that week of a schedule. Really? So far even Ohio State's schedule has been harder. They do play Auburn the last week of the season, giving them 3 ranked opponents. But so far, it seems as if they are number 1 just because they are the defending national champions and still undefeated (with their week schedule).

In second place, the Florida State Seminoles now reside. Jameis Winston, the redshirt freshman, has taken charge for the Seminoles. As the number 5 ranked team in the country, Florida State went into number 3 ranked Clemson and crushed them from the start, winning 51-14. Two weeks later they faced another tough test having the undeafeated Miami Hurricanes come into their home field. Ranked 7th in the nation, the Hurricanes couldn't put up a fight as they Seminoles won 41-14. Crushing opponents in those two tests, Florida State should be the number 1 team in the nation. They have a much more impressive record than Alabama in my book.

In third, sits the Oregon Ducks. I haven't decided if I'm sold on the Ducks yet, as they have a solid defense, and solid offense, but things just don't click all of the time. But nonetheless, they survived UCLA after a tight first half and went on to blow them out and Oregon hasn't had much of a challenge yet besides that. Unless you want to say Washington State was somewhat of a challenge just because WSU threw the ball 89 times, even against Oregon's backups they kept throwing it (with their starters). The Ducks will play #5 Stanford tomorrow night and that'll back up their ranking either way. Will the #5 ranked team in the country knock off the #3 ranked team in the country again? (Like FSU over Clemson)

                                                     Braxton Miller, www.annarbor.com

In 4th place are my beloved Ohio State Buckeyes. Led by Braxton Miller, the Buckeyes got off to a slow start to the Big Ten season, having close wins over Wisconsin, Northwestern and Iowa. From there, this went into the argument that as easy as the Big 10 is, Ohio State is barely getting past those teams. So the past 2 games, Ohio State has made big statements over Penn State (63-14 Win) and Purdue (56-0 Win). I am now starting to get sold on the Buckeyes because with Miller hurt earlier in the season, Kenny Guiton has to play the relieving role, and still came out with wins. With Miller's return to the team against Wisconsin, things weren't exactly clicking. As they weren't in the Northwestern or Iowa games. But as in cross country, it usually takes 3 meets to get back into things, as it took the Buckeyes 3 games to get back into things. It is understandable that the Big 10 isn't strong so naturally if all the 3 teams ahead of the Buckeyes went undefeated, they would get left out of the national championship. But perhaps in place The Rose Bowl would act as a 3rd place game featuring Oregon or Stanford (Whoever the PAC 12 Champ is) against Ohio State (The Big 10 Champs).