New Years

Happy new year. I will be posting a story on the Cleveland Browns and the new College Tennis format changes in the next two days. I have a very busy schedule socially and tennis wise so please bare with me. Have a great evening, thanks!

Juniors in the Pros: My New Tennis Segment

Every Sunday, I will be posting a new segment on my blog called Juniors in the Pros. I have always wanted to start this column, but now that the new year of tennis is starting I felt in was the right time. I will report on junior results (and also NCAA college players) playing in any ATP World Tour draw, ATP Challenger Tour draw, or ITF Futures Main Draw.

Since only qualifying draws are going on this weekend, this segment will start next Sunday.

NBA Time

After watching a full day on NBA on Christmas Day, I have a few thoughts on those games and the league in general.

Western Conference v. Eastern Conference: Yes, I get it. The Western Conference is stronger than the Eastern Conference. It is also nice hearing it 20 times per hour, thanks to the ESPN/ABC reporting teams. I personally am getting frustrated with ESPN reporters. Great information available? Absolutely. But they feel the need to repeat things such as the conference difference every 5 minutes. Please give it a rest. Being a Ohio State fan, and a Cleveland Indians fan, this past fall I have continued to hear about strength of schedules, which conference is better than which, and so on...I am sick of hearing it. Is it Ohio State or the Indians fault they play in a weaker conference/division? No. Same with the Cavs, if they can sneak a way into the playoffs I'll be the first one to say it may be because of them being in the Eastern Conference. But nonetheless that is how sports work. Are commissioners really going to realign conferences/divisions every year based on projections? No. So every conference/division/league isn't going to be equal every year.

Christmas Day Uniforms: I'm all for switching things up on Christmas Day in terms of jerseys and shoes. But I'm wondering who thought up this years uniforms and socks. I mean, they weren't terrible by any means. I just wasn't a fan of the sleeves. I thought the logo look was unique and cool which I applaud. But the sleeves made it look in sorts like a recreation game at a community fitness center. The socks looked liked different colored candy canes which was also strange. I'm a fan of something different but maybe this was too different.

A few of the different jerseys via sneakerbardetroit.com 

Brooklyn Nets: The worst team in the National Basketball Association. Led by Jason Kidd, this program is just a wreck at 9-19. Now with Brooke Lopez out, who knows what is going to happen to this team now. The team has talent, that is for sure with Jason Terry, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Deron Williams, the team is not clicking. And with Jason Kidd not knowing how to coach a team that isn't helping. Stupid decisions such as benching his starters on Christmas Day as the game went along, the crowd at the Barclays Center had every right to boo. And then there was the pop spilling incident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2BaJFvpSFk. Not only are the Nets the worst team in my mind, Jay-Z's Brooklyn Nets are just something else that is showing Jason Kidd should not be a coach.

NBA Christmas Day Schedule: I have heard many complaints about the schedule of games yesterday, asking why the LA Lakers, NY Knicks, and other "bad" teams are playing while teams like the Trail Blazers and Pacers are not playing. It's simple. It is not about how good a team is. It's about the market. The Lakers have the 3rd biggest market in the NBA as of last year (behind the Spurs and Heat) so why wouldn't they play on this holiday? After all, the NBA is a business. They also almost always play on this holiday anyways. Also, David Stern and his staff do not schedule solely on the premise of who they think is going to be good each year. Who knew the Trail Blazers would be this good? I sure didn't. The Pacers you could make a case for not playing, but then again their market is not the best (It's not even in the top 15 according to http://wagesofwins.com/2013/03/28/the-best-nba-markets-of-2012-13/). So please do not complain about the scheduling. Just watch and soak it in.

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays to all my viewers. Whatever holiday you are celebrating this season, I hope it is going well. As my Twitter followers know, I am in the process of designing a Believeland Sports T-Shirt. So this afternoon I will be trying to design the shirt. Also this afternoon I hope to have a post up about my current NBA thoughts. Tune in later, thank you!

Australian Open Wildcard Playoff Day 3 Recap

As Tennys Sandgren told reporters on Saturday, he had never played a best out of 5 match before but he wanted to go the distance to see where he would stand. His wish came true as Steve Johnson and Sandgren went 5 sets in the final of the Australian Open Wildcard Playoff. The tournament held in Norcross, Georgia features no prize money, but the winner earning a spot in the 2014 Australian Open main draw of the singles tournament. The USC graduate Steve Johnson rose to this challenge of earning a spot as he took out Sandgren 4-6, 6-3, 0-6, 7-6, 6-1. With this main draw wildcard, this will be Johnson's 6th straight singles main draw appearance in grand slams, dating back to the 2012 US Open. Sandgren most likely will play the qualifying draw in Australia to try to still get into the main draw.

Australian Open Wildcard Playoff Day 2 Recap

I was hoping to have another story about Chase Buchanan after day 2, but unfortunately his run came to a close as 2 time NCAA Singles champion Steve Johnson of USC knocked him off 6-0, 6-4. In the other semifinal, Tennys Sandgren knocked off Denis Kudla 6-3, 7-6. Both Kudla and Sandgren train with each other in Boca Raton, Florida and they even went out to dinner after the match. The final between Johnson and Sandgren will be a best of 5 set match, like it will be in Australia. Johnson has the edge in this category as he played all 4 main draws of the majors last year, while Sandgren has never played a best of 5 set match before. The winner will have a spot in the main draw singles of the 2014 Australian Open in January.

I went 1-1 in my picks Saturday, so I am 4-2 now. Here is my last pick:
Sandgren def. Johnson (Sorry I haven't given Johnson any love this weekend)

Buchanan's Poise Gets Him Through First Round; Australian Open Wildcard Playoff Day 1 Recap

After watching Buchanan play in person at the CRC Invitational in Cleveland this summer, watching him at Charlottesville and watching him today, the thing that stuck out with me is that he doesn't get frustrated and stays calm no matter what the situation is. An attribute like this to one's game can get them through tough matches against higher ranked, "better" opponents. This is in part what happened today in the first round of the Australian Open Wildcard Playoff that took place in Norcross, Georgia. Buchanan lost the first set 6-4 to Rhyne Williams, the 2 seed here and a Tennessee graduate. Down in the 2nd set, Rhyne Williams started to get frustrated resulting in him throwing a racquet (and getting a code violation). Buchanan went on to win the 2nd set in a tiebreak, that led to Williams looking like he was giving up. Williams was just slapping that ball and kept slicing a bunch where Buchanan took care of business while staying focused to close out the match, winning 4-6, 7-6, 6-2. While Williams was out throwing his fit, it took a lot for Buchanan to focus on his game and keep going. But the Ohio State graduate did just that in order to create a first round upset, according to tournament seeding and ATP World Tour Ranking (Buchanan was the 7th seed). Buchanan will play 2-Time NCAA Singles Champion Steve Johnson in the 2nd round, who defeated Bjorn Fratangelo. Both the top seed Denis Kudla and Tennys Sandgren took care of business easily, as they defeated Jarmere Jenkins and Austin Krajicek respectively. Here are my picks for Saturday's semifinals:

Sandgren def. Kudla
Buchanan def. Johnson

                               My picture with Buchanan at the CRC Invitational this summer
                                                  (yes, I know I need to charge my phone)
                                                                      
Both these matchups will be close, so who knows. I may be right on both, I may be wrong on both. Hopefully my 3-1 record (from my first round picks) will stay above .500 after Saturday's action. And I'm especially hoping Buchanan takes home this title now that he took out last year's champion. Go Bucks!

My College Bowl Game Predictions

New Mexico Bowl: Washington State over Colorado State
Las Vegas Bowl: USC over Fresno State
Idaho Potato Bowl: San Diego State over Buffalo
New Orleans Bowl: Louisiana-Lafayette over Tulane 
Beef O'Brady's Bowl: East Carolina over Ohio
Hawaii Bowl: Oregon State over Boise State
Little Caesars Bowl: Bowling Green over Pittsburgh
Poinsettia Bowl: Northern Illinois over Utah State
Military Bowl: Maryland over Marshall
Texas Bowl: Syracuse over Minnesota
Fight Hunger Bowl: BYU over Washington
Pinstripe Bowl: Notre Dame over Rutgers
Belk Bowl: Cincinnati over North Carolina
Russell Athletic Bowl: Miami over Louisville
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl: Michigan over Kansas State
Armed Forces Bowl: Navy over Middle Tennessee State
Music City Bowl: Ole Miss over Georgia Tech
Alamo Bowl: Oregon over Texas
Holiday Bowl: Arizona State over Texas Tech
Advocare V100: Arizona over Boston College
Sun Bowl: UCLA over Virginia Tech
Liberty Bowl: Mississippi State over Rice
Chick-Fil-A Bowl: Texas A&M over Duke
Gator Bowl: Nebraska over Georgia
Heart of Dallas Bowl: North Texas over UNLV
Capital One Bowl: South Carolina over Wisconsin
Outback Bowl: LSU over Iowa
Rose Bowl: Stanford over Michigan State
Fiesta Bowl: Baylor over UCF
Sugar Bowl: Alabama over Oklahoma
Orange Bowl: Ohio State over Clemson
Cotton Bowl: Missouri over Oklahoma State
Compass Bowl: Vanderbilt over Houston
Go Daddy Bowl: Ball State over Arkansas State
BCS National Championship Game: Florida State over Auburn

Cavs/Trail Blazers Game I Attended

Like the Miami Heat game I went to, I didn't have the best seats in the house. But nonetheless they were all you can eat seats so that made up for it. My stats for the first half were 2 hot dogs eaten, 2 nachos & cheese eaten, 2 popcorn bags eaten, 1 wild cherry Pepsi drunken, and 1 blue raspberry slushie drunken. I wasn't consistent though as I only drank 1 more slushie in the 2nd half. Well this is the Believeland Sports account and not Michael Symon's blog account so I guess I'll actually talk about the game beyond my unhealthy eating. So the Trail Blazers who own the top record in the NBA came into town led by Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge. The game was played in spurts, as the

 

Cavs for the most part had the game under control, but not by much. In the 4th quarter, the Trail Blazers got up by as many as 9 I believe, but a late surge by Dion Waiters and the Cavs tied the game up. The Blazers then had the ball with 34 seconds left but could not convert any points. So with about 15 seconds left, Kyrie Irving brought the ball down the court, with 10 seconds left he drove to the hoop, missed a layup, and Anderson Varejao also missed the put back. Blazers ball now, and Damian Lillard, who dominated the whole game, walked up the court like it was nothing and drained a 3 to win with .4 seconds left. This was the 2nd straight game that Lillard hit a game winner for the Blazers in the last second (Pistons the game before). Lillard had 36 points in a 119-116 Blazer victory. Both Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters had 25 for the Cavs. Aldridge had 26 as well. Right now, I feel Dion Waiters is the Cavs best player (Yes, above Kyrie). But at the end of the day, the Lillard-Aldridge show was too much for the Cavs to handle. The Cavs will play against the Bucks tomorrow night.

Australian Open Wildcard Playoff Preview

At Life Time Fitness in Norcross, Georgia (close to Atlanta) 8 Men and 8 Women will be looking to win this title to earn themselves a spot in the main draw of the singles at 2014's Australian Open in January. For the other 7, they will most likely either play the qualifying draw their or they will stay in the US to play Futures tournaments in January. The tournament runs tomorrow through Sunday. Here are the players in order of seed (with current singles ranking/college).

1. Denis Kudla, 114, N/A
2. Rhyne Williams, 130, Tennessee
3. Steve Johnson, 156, USC
4. Tennys Sandgren, 183, Tennessee
5. Austin Krajicek, 241, Texas A&M
6. Bjorn Fratangelo, 304, N/A
7. Chase Buchanan, 306, Ohio State
8. Jarmere Jenkins, 341, Virginia

In the first round, Kudla will play Jenkins, Williams will play Buchanan, Johnson will play Fratenjelo, and Sandgren will play Krajicek.

Rhyne Williams is the defending champion of this event and nearly won his first round match last year, losing to German Florian Mayer in 5 sets. I am an Ohio State fan so I am of course pulling for Chase Buchanan to win this event, but here are my first round picks:

Kudla def. Jenkins
Williams def. Buchanan
Johnson def. Fratangelo
Sandgren def. Krajicek

Yes I know, all of the higher seeded players winning. But from there, I think Denis Kudla is the most vulnerable to lose in the first round after struggling at the end of 2013. As the 4 seed, I also think Tennys Sandgren has big firepower and has a good shot to win this event. I don't think Krajicek or Fratangelo will make much noise at this event, as I would say Buchanan and Jenkins are the better players, but with drawing the top 2 seeds it will be tough for them to win a round here. My favorite for this tournament is Rhyne Williams. I think Sandgren and Kudla will be the biggest threats to Williams trying to defend his title but I would say he is my favorite to win.

NCAA Basketball Rankings Poll #4

    Team                                        Record        Previous Ranking
1. Arizona Wildcats                      11-0                        1 
2. Syracuse Orange                       10-0                        2 
3. Ohio State Buckeyes                 11-0                       5
4. Michigan State Spartans             9-1                       3
5. Wisconsin Badgers                    12-0                     10   
6. Oklahoma State Cowboys         10-1                      9                                   
7. Louisville Cardinals                  10-1                      7                        
8. Duke Blue Devils                      8-2                        8 
9. Wichita State Shockers             11-0                      11
10. Oregon Ducks                         10-0                      13
11. Villanova Wildcats                 10-0                       NR           
12. Iowa State Cyclones                8-0                        NR
13. UNC Tar Heels                        7-3                        15
14. Florida Gators                          8-2                        NR
15. Memphis Tigers                      7-2                        14 

Watch List (Not in Order): Kansas Jayhawks, Kentucky Wildcats, UConn Huskies, Baylor Bears, UMass Minutemen

Tiafoe Wins Orange Bowl; My Full Orange Bowl Recap

A tournament where the young American boys took their talents to South Beach, or at least 30 minutes away from South Beach in Plantation, Florida, the youngest player to ever win the Orange Bowl was crowned on Sunday. The championship match featured Francis Tiafoe of College Park, Maryland and Stefan Kozlov of Pembroke Pines, Florida (a 20 minute drive to Plantation). Both are 15 years old and among the trio of 15 year old Americans who are now in the Top 10 in the Junior ITF World Rankings, which also includes Michael Mmoh of Temple Hills, Maryland (who trains at IMG Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton, Florida). In the new rankings, Kozlov leads the way in 5th

                                                      Stefan Kozlov via @DartfishDave

place, Tiafoe is next in 8th, and Mmoh rounds them out in 9th. Back to the action, Kozlov started off the match in front up 4-1, but after fending off 2 set points Francis Tiafoe came back to take the first set 7-6. After a bathroom break, Kozlov came back strong to take the 2nd set quickly 6-0. After another bathroom break by Kozlov, the 3rd set started off with him getting a point penalty after taking too long with the break. I am personally not a fan of these type of point penalties. After all, if you have to go, you have to go. Anyways, this was a possible momentum shift as Tiafoe got a fast start and didn't look back. Francis Tiafoe won the match 7-6, 0-6, 6-3 and is now the youngest Orange Bowl champion at 15 years old. Tiafoe has now won 2 out of the last 3 big ITF tournaments

Francis Tiafoe via @TheJTCC

in America, winning this tournament and the ITF Pan American Championships. A big win and a big week by Tiafoe, served some disappointment from the  Kozlov side of things. Kozlov cited to ZooTennis that he was out of shape and the whole week took a toll on him. He vows that he will come back for the Australian Open in better shape. Tiafoe, will be foregoing the Australian stretch in January to play in the USA ITF Futures swing in Florida (as of now). This tournament didn't have as many surprised as Eddie Herr, as 14 of the 16 seeds made it to the round of 16. One of the players who was the exception to the seeds advancing was 6'8" American Reilly Opelka, who also reached the round of 16 at Eddie Herr after qualifying.

                                                      Reilly Opelka via @bgtennisnation

In the doubles, the 2nd seeded team of Lucas Miedler (AUT) and Filippo Baldi (ITA) won for the second straight week, as they beat the top seeds Andrey Rublev (RUS) and Alexander Zverev (GER) 6-3, 6-7, 10-8. Miedler and Baldi have only played 3 tournaments together now, but have won all 3 tournaments. These tournaments were the Orange Bowl, Eddie Herr and the European Summer Junior Championships.

15 year old Sofia Kenin of the US was the highest American finisher in the girls 18 singles bracket. Her run to the semifinals ended with a 6-2, 7-6 loss to 2nd seeded Ivana Jorovic of Croatia. Jorovic then lost to top seed Varvara Flink of Russia 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 in the finals. Tornado Alicia Black, the highest seeded American, lost in the quarterfinal round.

In the Girls 18 Doubles, Black didn't go home without a title as she and Naiktha Bains (AUS) won the doubles final 6-0, 6-1 over the American team of Sofia Kenin and Kaitlyn McCarthy.

Following a tournament in which Sameer Kumar (USA) knocked off the top player in the Junior world (Zverev) at Eddie Herr, Kumar played in the 16's division this week. Kumar still played big tennis as he advanced to the semifinals, but lost to top seeded Yunseong Chung of Korea 6-1, 6-3. In the other semifinal, it was another Korea-American match up as 2nd seeded Chan-Yeong Oh defeated American wildcard Eduardo Nava 6-3, 7-5. In the final, Chung took the title as he defeated Oh 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. Chung and Oh teamed up for doubles as well, and won the title after defeating Genesen (USA) and Kwon (KOR) (who was Chung's partner last week when they won Eddie Herr) 6-1, 6-4.

In the girls 16 singles, American Alexis Nelson was one win short of winning another title for the Americans, as she lost in the final 6-0, 1-6, 6-4 to Canadian Charlotte Robillard-Millette. In the doubles, the American Wildcard team of Brienne Minor and Jaclyn Switkes won the championship match defeating the 3rd seeded team of Robillard-Millette and Vanessa Wong (CAN) 6-3, 7-6.

For full draws and info on the Orange Bowl, go to: http://orangebowltennis.ids-sports.com/Default.aspx

All-American Final For Orange Bowl; Orange Bowl Day 6 Recap

A 15 year old American Boy will be crowned the Orange Bowl champion on Sunday afternoon. Francis Tiafoe from College Park, MD will play Stefan Kozlov of Pembroke Pines, FL to play for the last Grade A Junior Title of the year. Francis Tiafoe, the 13 seed, took out 2nd seeded Johan Taltot (FRA) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in one semifinal. In the other semifinal, Stefan Kozlov took out top seeded Alexander Zverev (GER) 7-6, 6-2.

                                                         Francis Tiafoe via @zootennis

In doubles, the top seeds Alexander Zverev and Andrey Rublev (RUS) had double duty today, having to finish a match that started yesterday as well as play the semifinal. And to clinch their spot in the final they would have to go through 2 All-American teams. First, they defeated Stefan Kozlov and Henrik Wiersholm 6-2, 7-5 (after starting today being up 6-2, 3-2, and then they defeated the 3 seeds Michael Mmoh and Francis Tiafoe 7-6, 6-7, 10-8. The top seeds will play the 2nd seeded team of Filippo Baldi (ITA) and Lucas Miedler (AUT), who are looking to win their 2nd straight title. They defeated Roman Safiullin (RUS) and Nino Sedarusic (CRO) 7-6, 6-4.

At 10:00am, Francis Tiafoe will play Stefan Kozlov for the singles title and not before 12pm will be the doubles final between Alexander Zverev/Andrey Rublev and Filippo Baldi/Lucas Miedler.

2 Americans in Singles Semifinals; Orange Bowl Day 5 Recap

At the Frank Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation, Florida Friday, the semifinals for the singles and doubles were set (almost). Due to rain, the Andrey Rublev (RUS)/Alexander Zverev (GER) vs. Henrik Wiersholm (USA)/Stefan Kozlov (USA) match got delayed due to rain with the top seeds (Rublev/Zverev) leading 6-2, 3-2. Besides that, the doubles semifinals features the next top 3 seeds. So with a Rublev/Zverev win, the top 4 seeds will be in the semifinals. That match's victor will take on the 3rd seeded American team of Michael Mmoh and Francis Tiafoe. The 3 seeds beat Hubert

                                                    Michael Mmoh via @bgtennisnation

Hurkackz (POL)/Marko Osmakcic (SUI) 6-4, 6-3. In the other semifinal, the 2nd seeded team of Filippo Baldi (ITA)/Lucas Miedler (AUT) will take on the 4 seeds Roman Safiullin (RUS)/Nino Sedarusic (CRO).

In Singles, 2 Americans will be representing our country in the semifinals. Francis Tiafoe (13th seed) kept up his high level of play defeated 7th seeded Roman Safiullin. Stefan Kozlov (4 seed) followed suit by defeating 8th seeded Naoki Nakagawa (JPN) 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 in a battle that Kozlov was fighting his own focus. Michael Mmoh came up short in his quarterfinal match however, losing to 2nd seed Johan Taltot of France 7-6, 7-5. Mmoh was actually up 5-2 in the 2nd set before Taltot took the last 5 games to win the match. Alexander Zverev took out doubles partner Andrey Rublev in 3 sets in the final quarterfinal match. Zverev and Kozlov will play in the first semifinal and Taltot and Tiafoe will play in the other semifinal. I don't believe Tiafoe and Taltot have met before, but Kozlov has beaten Zverev twice this year, once at Junior Wimbledon and once at the Mansfield, Texas Futures in October. Kozlov won the recent match 6-2, 6-0, and the match at Wimbledon 1-6, 6-4, 4-0 Ret.

For full draws and more information click here:   http://orangebowltennis.ids-sports.com/Default.aspx

3 American Boys in Singles Quarterfinals; Orange Bowl Day 4 Recap

All 15 years of age, Michael Mmoh, Francis Tiafoe and Stefan Kozlov are into the quarterfinals of the Metropolia Orange Bowl in Plantation, Florida. Francis Taifoe had the match of his life and took out Italian Filippo Baldi 6-0, 6-3. Tiafoe will play Roman Safuillin (RUS), who beat Tiafoe in the finals of the International Spring Championships 16u final. They have also trained briefly in Maryland together at Tiafoe's home academy. Stefan Kozlov also easily advanced over Weigiang Zheng (CHN) 6-2, 6-2. Kozlov will play Naoki Nakagawa (JPN), who got revenge over Eddie Herr champ Kamil Majchrzak (POL), avenging a semifinal loss as he won 6-3, 6-2. Michael Mmoh will play the 2nd seed from France, Johan Taltot in the quarterfinals. In the last quarterfinal, doubles partners Andrey Rublev (RUS) and top seed Alexander Zverev (GER) will play each other.

In doubles, the Eddie Herr champions Filippo Baldi (ITA) and Lucas Miedler (AUT) are already into the semifinals after a 2nd round win against Catalin Mateas (USA) and Aron Hiltzik (USA), and then a walkover from Tommy Paul (USA) and Jordi Arconadi (ARG). The American team of Stefan Kozlov and Henrik Wiersholm will take on the top seeded team of Zverev and Rublev. Also, the ITF Pan American Champions Francis Taifoe and Michael Mmoh are into the quarterfinals against Hubert Hurkacz (POL) and Marko Osmakcic (SUI). The other quarterfinal paring is the British team of Julian Cash/Alexander Sendegaya and Roman Safuillin (RUS)/Nino Sedarusic (CRO).

Full results can be found here: http://orangebowltennis.ids-sports.com/

14/16 Seeds Still Alive in Singles; Orange Bowl Day 3 Recap

Nino Sedarusic (CRO) and Benjamin Bonzi (FRA), the 15th and 14th seeds respectively, are the only seeds not to move onto the 3rd round. However, the other seeded players had a tough time getting there. Top seeded Alexander Zverev (GER) needed 3 sets to get past Phillip Gresk (POL) as he won 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. He will play 16th seeded Francisco Bahamonde of Argentina in the 3rd round. 3rd seeded Filippo Baldi of Italy also needed 3 sets to get past Maxime Janvier of France and will play American Francis Tiafoe who breezed to victory in his match. Eddie Herr Champion Kamil Majchrzak won his 3rd straight 3 setter (dating back to the Eddie Herr final) as he took out American Daniel Kerznerman 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Majchrzak will play Naoki Nakagawa (JPN) in the next round, as it is a rematch of the Eddie Herr semifinal from last week that Majchrzak won. Eddie Herr Runner-Up Andrey Rublev (RUS) survived a tough test from American Martin Redlicki, as Redlicki took the first set 6-4, but Rublev came back to win the next two sets 6-2, 6-2. He will play France's Quentin Halys in the next round. Besides Tiafoe, Americans Stefan Kozlov and Michael Mmoh advanced easily against Nicolae Frunza (ROU) and Deiton Baughman (USA) respectively.

 
In the doubles, US Open Junior Doubles Champions Majchrzak and Redlicki lost in the first round to the Chinese team of Fajing Sun and Zhe Zhou. The teams in the 2nd round that feature Americans are Stefan Kozlov/Henrik Wiersholm, Michael Mmoh/Francis Tiafoe, Deiton Baughman/Tommy Mylnikov (CAN), Taylor Fritz/Logan Smith, Jordi Arconada (ARG)/Tommy Paul and Aron Hiltzik/Catalin Mateas. Besides Majchrzak/Redlicki, the only other seeded team to lose in the first round was Naoki Nakagawa (JPN)/Sumit Nagal (IND).

Full results can be found at: http://orangebowltennis.ids-sports.com/

Big Matchups Set For 2nd Round; Orange Bowl Round 1 Recap

Sorry again for not having a post yesterday on this, but until Friday I won't be getting on here much. I've been studying Physics since 3:30 and had a dinner break and am getting back to it shortly after this. 8:30 AM final that I am not looking forward to at all. But anyways, a lot of close,  3 set matches took place in the boys 18s first round and there weren't nearly as many first round surprises as Eddie Herr, as Benjamin Bonzi of France was the only seed out of the 16 seeds to get knocked out in the first round (Weigiang Zheng of China knocked him out). Top seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany

                                               Alexander Zverev (GER) via @zootennis

won his first round, after losing the first round of Eddie Herr to American Sameer Kumar, Zverev defeated Gabriel Hocevar (Brazil) 6-3, 7-6. Duke Commit Martin Redlicki (USA) had a slow start and finished strong against qualifier Marko Osmakcic as he won 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. He will take on 12th seed Andrey Rublev (RUS) in the 2nd round, which is destined to be a very great matchup. Argentinian qualifier Matias Zukas could not build upon his quarterfinal run at Eddie Herr, as he lost first round to Wildcard William Blumberg (USA). Fajing Sun (CHN) had the same fate after an Eddie Herr quarterfinal run, as he lost to American Henrik Wiersholm in straight sets. 11 Americans advanced to the 2nd round. Joining Blumberg, Wiersholm, Redlicki are Stefan Kozlov (4th seed), Michael Mmoh (6th seed), Francis Tiafoe (13th seed), Deighton Baughman, Reilly Opelka, Aron Hiltzik, Daniel Kerznerman and Carter Lin. This is Hiltzik's first Grade A tournament after receiving a wildcard. The Illinois commit took out Poland's Jan Zielinski in 3 sets. Deighton Baughman and Australian Omar Jasika played a very close match, but Baughman toughed it out winning 7-6 (9), 6-7 (3), 6-4. Some big potential 2nd round match ups include the aforementioned match of Redlicki and Rublev, and also the All-American battle of IMG Bollettieri Student Michael Mmoh and Deighton Baughman.

On the doubles side, Andrey Rublev and Alex Zverev are once again the top seeds (like Eddie Herr). They won their first round matchup over them American team of Daniel Kerznerman and Spencer Papa in 3 sets. The ITF Pan American champs Francis Tiafoe and Michael Mmoh won their first round match, as well as a newly formed team on Henrik Wiersholm and Stefan Kozlov (who train together). It is strange that Kozlov and Australian Omar Jasika went to the finals of Eddie Herr and split up (unless the Wiersholm-Kozlov was made before Eddie Herr). Jasika is teamed with Mexican Rogeilo Siller. The American-Polish team of Martin Redlicki (USA)/Kamil Majchrzak (POL) are



joining forces again after hoisting the US Open Junior Doubles trophy from this September and are the 5 seeds. The Eddie Herr Champs Miedler and Baldi will try to win back to back as they are the 2 seeds.

Here are all of the seeded doubles teams:
1. Rublev (RUS)/Zverev (GER)
2. Baldi (ITA)/Miedler (AUT)
3. Mmoh (USA)/Tiafoe (USA)
4. Safiullin (RUS)/Serdarusic (CRO)
5. Majchrzak (POL)/Redlicki (USA)
6. Nagal (IND)/Nakagawa (JPN)
7. Hong (KOR)/Kang (KOR)
8. Hocevar (BRA)/Matos (BRA)

For up to the minute news and live scores (I love this website) go to http://orangebowltennis.ids-sports.com/Default.aspx

To hear me on The Parenting Aces radio show, go to:  http://parentingaces.com/radio-show/

Radio Show/Orange Bowl Preview

Good morning. Just to fill you guys in it's finals week here at my school so I'm very busy with everything. Due to this, I did not write an Orange Bowl Day 1 recap last night, and I will only be able to get a round 1 recap tonight. But here is my Eddie Herr Recap/Orange Bowl preview with Lisa Stone of Parenting Aces: http://parentingaces.com/radio-show/

Radio Show! T-Minus 90 Minutes

Hello Believeland Sports followers. From 12ET to 1ET I will be on the radio with Lisa Stone of www.parentingaces.com previewing this weeks Orange Bowl tournament and recapping last weeks Eddie Herr tournament. This will be in lieu of my usual write up about the two. I will try to link the show to here when available. But if you aren't doing anything, check the show out at 12 at www.blogtalkradio.com/ur10snetwork .

Majchrzak Raises Trophy at Eddie Herr; Eddie Herr Day 7 Recap

On the final day of play at IMG Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton, Florida, Kamil Majchrzak (POL) ended Andrey Rublev's (RUS) singles winning streak at Bollettieri by winning the championship match 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5). Rublev's winning streak was at 10 matches, going back through Eddie Herr (5 matches) and the USA F31 Futures (5 matches). Rublev last lost in singles at Bollettieri when he lost in the first round of qualifying in the 18's last year at Eddie Herr as the 6 seed to Gerardo Lopez Villasenor (MEX) 7-6, 4-6, 6-2. This is Majchrzak's first ITF Grade 1 singles title, but he does have a US Open Junior Doubles title to his name with American Martin Redlicki.

Here are the other singles champions from Eddie Herr:
Boys 16 Singles: Alfredo Perez, USA
Boys 14 Singles: Miomir Kecmanovic, SCG
Boys 12 Singles: Adam Neff, USA
Girls 18 Singles: Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia
Girls 16 Singles: Helen Altick, USA
Girls 14 Singles: Sofia Sewing, USA
Girls 12 Singles: Anastasia Potapova, USA

I will have my full Eddie Herr Recap online at UR10s Network @  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ur10snetwork tomorrow at 12ET until 1ET. I will be live on the air with Lisa Stone of www.parentingaces.com and I will discuss that as well as previewing this weeks up and coming Orange Bowl in Plantation, Florida.

Baldi/Miedler Win Doubles Title; Eddie Herr Day 6 Recap

I'm currently watching my Ohio State Buckeyes try to clinch a spot in the BCS National Championship game, but here is my daily recap. The day on the grounds of IMG Bollettieri Academy started with the 2nd seeded team of Filippo Baldi (ITA) and Lucas Miedler (AUT) taking out American Stefan Kozlov and partner Omar Jasika (AUS) in 3 sets, 6-3, 6-7, 10-5. This is this team's first championship since winning the European Championships this summer. In the singles, American Deiton Baughman barely came up short of continuing his phenomenal run as he lost to Russian Andrey Rublev 6-7, 7-6, 6-2. Rublev hasn't lost a match in singles since losing in the Kazan Challenger first round in October. On the top half of the draw, IMG Bollettieri student Naoki Nakagawa couldn't continue his run either, as Kamil Majchrzak (POL) topped him 6-4, 6-3. Majchrzak has not dropped a set yet this week (in singles) and Rublev has been more vulnerable as he dropped 3 sets so far this week (in singles). Whoever comes out on top Sunday will have the momentum going into the Orange Bowl next week in Plantation, Florida.

I also watched a little bit of the 16 singles today, in the match between Yunseong Chung (KOR) and Ben Fatael (ISR). Fatael seemed controlling of more points, but just did not have the consistency to get past the top seeded Chung.

Here are all of Saturday's doubles champions:
Boys 16's: Yunseong Chung (KOR)/Soon Woo Kwon (KOR)
Boys 14's: Yshai Oliel (ISR)/Jui-Chen Ho (TWN)
Boys 12's: Adrian Andreev (BGR)/Alexander Zgirovsky (BLR)
Girls 18's: Anna Bodnar (HUN)/Naiktha Bains (AUS)
Girls 16's: Maddie Pothoff (USA)/Rebecca Weissmann (USA)
Girl's 14's: Oleshia Pervushina (RUS)/Anastasia Potapova (RUS)
Girl's 12's: Anna Laguza (UKR)/Ekatarina Makarova (RUS)

Here are Sunday's Finals (Singles) matchups:
Boys 16 Singles: Yunseong Chung (KOR) vs. Alfredo Perez (USA)
Boys 14 Singles: Miomir Kecmanovic (SCG) vs. Patrick Kypson (USA)
Boys 12 Singles: Adrian Andreev (BGR) vs. Adam Neff (USA)
Girls 18 Singles: J Ostapenko (LAT) vs. Sandra Samir (EGY)
Girls 16 Singles: Helen Altick (USA) vs. Sydney Riley (USA)
Girls 14 Singles: Olesia Pervushina (RUS) vs. Sofia Sewing (USA)
Girls 12 Singles: Anastasia Potapova (RUS) vs. Tyra Black (USA)

College Football Conference Title Games Preview

B1G Conference Championship Game: Ohio State vs. Michigan State
Braxton Miller and the Buckeyes will be looking to extend their winning streak to 25, but after a tight win last week (mostly due to their struggling defense) the Buckeyes will need to get back on the horse.
Bowl Futures (In my prediction): With a win, the Buckeyes will clinch a spot in the BCS National Championship game since they are undefeated. The Michigan State Spartans would then take the Buckeyes place in the Rose Bowl. With a Buckeyes loss, the Spartans will be playing in the Rose Bowl still, and the Buckeyes would either get an At-Large bid into another BCS Bowl (Which is highly likely) or they would play in the Capital One Bowl (don't count on that).

ACC Championship Game: Duke vs. Florida State
I don't see Duke continuing their Cinderella Story over Jameis Winston and the Seminoles.
Bowl Futures: With a Duke upset, they would get a BCS Berth into the Orange Bowl. The Seminoles would then get an At-Large Bid into another BCS game or play in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. But the Chick-Fil-A Bowl is where Duke will be with a loss, and the Seminoles would clinch a spot in the BCS National Championship Game.

SEC Championship Game: Missouri vs. Auburn
After a crazy game last week defeating the #1 team in the nation, the Auburn Tigers are playing this game to win a conference title and try to prove they deserve a BCS National Championship spot. Even with 2 top 5 wins in a row, I have to believe a loss to LSU put any damper into those hopes (unless OSU or FSU loses). With a Missouri win, they have a compelling case also with their lone loss coming in 2OT without their starting QB. But the BCS does not take pity into account, so Missouri would need a win plus a FSU or OSU loss and some other help perhaps.
Bowl Futures: The winner will most likely play in the Sugar Bowl with the loser most likely playing in the Capital One Bowl.

PAC-12 Championship Game: Stanford vs. Arizona State
Bowl Futures: The Winner will play in The Rose Bowl Game and the loser will play in either the Holiday Bowl or the Alamo Bowl.

Baughman into the Semis; Eddie Herr Day 5 Recap

Deiton Baughman (USA), who has been training at IMG Bollettieri Academy recently, reached the semifinals after defeating fellow American Francis Tiafoe 6-4, 6-2. Tiafoe was the Pan American Championships champion from this past October in both singles and doubles. My claim to fame with Francis Tiafoe is that my friend Nathan Griffin and his partner defeated Tiafoe and Jordi Arconada (ARG). Nate still trains at the club I spend part of my time training at and we went to camps in our younger years together. Anyways, this is proven to be a big tournament for Deiton Baughman. I have always felt Baughman is a lot better of a player than he results show. He had a tough early round loss at this years USTA National Championships in Kalamazoo when he lost to the eventual champion Collin Altamirano in 3 sets. And with his odd, travel-conservative schedule of primarily playing tournaments in California (and now Florida since he is training here) he has had big wins and runs, but usually couldn't string it all together. Especially at the junior level. His junior career has been highlighted by a quarterfinal run at last year's Orange Bowl and a Round of 16 run at Kalamazoo in the singles in 2012. With this win, Baughman will not have to play the qualifying at the Orange Bowl, and will receive a Special Exempt bid into the main draw. Baughman was originally in the qualifying draw. But he will be looking to continue his run when he faces Russia's Andrey Rublev who is playing hot right now, riding of a win against top ranked junior American Stefan Kozlov, and a Futures title from a few weeks ago. Rublev and Baughman have been playing practice sets while training at Bollettieri in between the Futures event and Eddie Herr. Here is a video of Rublev at last year's Orange Bowl, from the ZooTennis YouTube page:

In the other semifinal, another Bollettieri student Naoki Nakagawa (JPN) will play Poland's Kamil Majchrzak. Majchrzak easily defeated China's Fajing Sun, who had a solid first 3 rounds to the tournament after only giving up 11 games through 3 matches. Nakagawa defeated Argentinian qualifier Matias Zukas 7-6, 6-3. Both Sun and Zukas are in the qualifying draw at the Orange Bowl as of right now, but considering that starts Saturday and the draws aren't released, it is unknown to me if they went straight to Plantation, FL (The Orange Bowl site) or not. Possibly they'll get a wildcard card into the event? But as Colette Lewis of Zoo Tennis pointed out to me, it is unlikely the wildcards will go out to non-Americans.

In the doubles, the 6 seeds Stefan Kozlov (USA) and Omar Jasika (AUS) clinched a spot in the finals with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Bollettieri students Stephen Madonia (USA) and Runhao Hua (CHN). In the finals, they will face the 2nd seeded team of Filippo Baldi (ITA) and Lucas Miedler (AUT). The 2 seeds defeated Zukas and fellow countryman Francisco Bahamonde in 3 sets. The doubles final will be at 9 am followed by the singles semifinals.

Full draws can be found here at: http://www.itftennis.com/juniors/tournaments/tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100029444

Big 10/ACC Challenge ends in a tie

For the 2nd straight year, the ACC and Big 10 each won 6 games in the ACC/Big 10 Challenge. Here are the results:

Big 10 Wins:
Ohio State def. Maryland
Wisconsin def. Virginia
Purdue def. Boston College
Nebraska def. Miami
Iowa def. Notre Dame
Minnesota def. Florida State

ACC Wins:
Duke def. Michigan
Pittsburgh def. Penn State
NC State def. Northwestern
UNC def. Michigan State
Georgia Tech def. Illinois
Syracuse def. Indiana

The UNC Tar Heels ended up being the deciding factor, as they were only ranked #25 in the USA Today Poll (I believe) and they went on to beat the top team in the nation in Michigan State on the road. This is a cool challenge, and perhaps if they did this in football between a few conferences, maybe who was a tougher conference would finally be proved versus talked about all season.

Zukas and Kozlov Alive in Both Draws; Eddie Herr Day 4 Recap

Matias Zukas of Argentina and Stefan Kozlov of the US are into both the quarterfinals of the singles and the semifinals of the doubles. Kozlov got to this point in singles by a close 3 set match over 6'8" qualifier, and fellow American, Reilly Opelka. Zukas, who is a qualifier, defeated fellow qualifier Marko Osmakcic of Switzerland in straight sets. IMG Bolletieri student Naoki Nakagawa (Japan) will play Zukas in the quarterfinals. China's Fajing Sun has only given up 11 games through 3 matches, and will play Kamil Majchrzak (Poland) in the quarterfinals, after Majchrzak defeated Bolletieri student Michael Mmoh (USA). The next quarterfinal matchup will feature Kozlov and Russian Andrey Rublev, who is in form after winning the USA F31 Futures at Bolletieri a couple weeks ago. The last quarterfinal will be an All-American one, when Francis Tiafoe will take on Deiton Baughman. Tiafoe is playing very consistent right now, but Baughman has a big game that is dangerous against whoever his opponent is. Here is a clip of Baughman at last year's Orange Bowl, when he defeated this years US Open Boys Champion Borna Coric (Courtesy of MrTennisdad): Baughman is in the red.

Here is a clip of Francis Tiafoe playing in the championship of this year's ITF Pan American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma (Courtesy of Zoo Tennis)

In the doubles, Kozlov and Australian partner Omar Jasika took out the Polish team of Gresk/Zielinski (the team that took out the top seeds Rublev/Zverev) 6-2, 6-2. They will play the team of Stephen Madonia (USA) and Runhao Hua (CHN), who are both Bolletieri students. The Bolletieri team took out the favored American team of Michael Mmoh and Francis Tiafoe. Zukas teamed with Argentina partner Francisco Bahamonde to defeat the American team of Catanzariti and Fritz in the quarterfinals. They will play Filippo Baldi (ITA) and Lucas Meidler (AUT), who beat the American team of Papa and Kernzerman in 3 sets.

Full draws can be found here at: http://www.itftennis.com/juniors/tournaments/tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100029444 

Kozlov Highest Seed Remaining; Eddie Herr Day 3 Recap

Another top seed went out on Wednesday, as 2nd seeded Johan Taltot of France got knocked out in the second round by Guy Iradukunda of Burundi 6-4, 6-4. Stefan Kozlov (USA) advanced to the round of 16, making him the highest seed remaining in the field (3 seed). He will play fellow American (and qualifier) 6'8" Reilly Opelka. Opelka is one of four qualifers in the round of 16, as he is also joined by Matias Zukas (ARG), Marko Osmakcic (SUI) and Catalin Mateas (USA). At least one qualifier will be in the quarterfinals, as Zukas and Osmakcic play each other in the round of 16. Other Americans advancing are Michael Mmoh, Francis Tiafoe and Deiton Baughman. Mmoh will be taking on US Open Boys Junior Doubles Champ Kamil Majchrzak (POL), Tiafoe will be taking on Iradukunda and Baughman will be taking out 10th seeded Lucas Miedler (AUT). Andrey Rublev (RUS), who won the F31 Futures at Bolletieri is still in the draw after a 2nd round win over Jordi Arconada (ARG) in 3 sets. Sameer Kumar unfortunately couldn't following up on beating the top seed, as Zukas defeated him 7-5, 6-2.

In the doubles, the Polish team of Phillip Gresk and Jan Zielinski knocked World number 1 Alexander Zverev (GER) out of the tournament entirely (for both singles and doubles) as him and partner Andrey Rublev lost in 3 sets. The 2 seeded pair of Filippo Baldi and Lucas Meideler escaped a 3 set win over Deiton Baughman and Weigiang Zheng (CHN). The American teams of Daniel Kerznerman/Spencer Papa, Michael Mmoh/Francis Taifoe, and AJ Catanzariti/Taylor Fritz are all in the quarterfinals as well. Stefan Kozlov and partner Omar Jasika (AUS) advanced to the quarterfinals with a 3 set win.

Complete draws for the tournament can be found here: http://www.itftennis.com/juniors/tournaments/tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100029444

NCAA Basketball Rankings Poll #3

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

    Team                                         Record        Previous Ranking 
1. Arizona Wildcats                        8-0                        6
2. Syracuse Orange                         8-0                        7
3. Michigan State Spartans             7-1                        1
4. Kentucky Wildcats                      7-1                       4            
5. Ohio State Buckeyes                   7-0                        9
6. Kansas Jayhawks                         6-1                       3
7. Louisville Cardinals                    7-1                        2 
8. Duke Blue Devils                        7-2                        5
9. Oklahoma State Cowboys           7-1                        8    
10. Wisconsin Badgers                    9-0                       13
11. Wichita State Shockers              8-0                      NR
12. UConn Huskies                          8-0                      NR 
13. Oregon Ducks                            7-0                      NR
14. Memphis Tigers                         5-1                      12
15. UNC Tar Heels                          5-2                      NR

Watch List (Not in Order): UCLA Bruins, Villanova Wildcats, Iowa State Cyclones, Baylor Bears, Florida Gators

More Americans Advance; Eddie Herr Day 2 Recap

11 of the 32 competitors left in the singles field are American, as over half of the original Americans advanced to the 2nd round. 6'8"  Qualifier Reilly Opelka from the US took out 16 seeded Nino Sedarusic of Croatia 6-4, 6-3. American Alex Rybakov also took out a seeded player, as he took out Russian 6th seed Roman Safiullin 7-5, 6-1. 12th seeded Naoki Nakagawa, who plays various American tournaments since he is a student at IMG Bolletieri Academy, won his first round as well after taking out Phillip Gresk of Poland. Notable Americans to lose today include Spencer Papa and Tommy Paul, who both lost to qualifiers. Speaking of qualifiers, 6 out of the 8 qualifiers are in Wednesday's second round. 3 wildcards are as well.

In the doubles, Alex Zverev (GER) bounced back from his loss Monday and advanced in doubles with partner Andrey Rublev (RUS). Reilly Opelka also did damage in the doubles on Tuesday, as he and partner Catalin Mateas (USA) took out the 7 seeds Kamil Majchrzak (POL) and Alexandre Muller (FRA). Majchrzak was the US Open Junior Doubles Champion (with Martin Redlicki). The Bolletieri team of Anudeep Kodail (USA) and Alejandro Tabilo (CAN) advanced with a three set win, but the same could not be said for the Bolletieri team of Tommy Mylnikov (CAN) and Naoki Nakagawa (JPN) who were the 8 seeds, as they lost to an American wildcard team of AJ Catanzariti and Taylor Fritz. Deiton Baughman paired with Weigiang Zheng of China and advanced after beating a Brazilian team. Baughman/Zheng will play the 2 seeds Filippo Baldi (ITA) and Lucas Miedler (AUT) in the 2nd round. The 3rd seeded team of Michael Mmoh (USA) and Francis Tiafoe (USA), who were the ITF Pan American Champions, advanced to the 2nd round also.

The 2nd round of both singles and doubles will be played on Wednesday. The order of play can be found here: http://www.imgacademy.com/sites/default/files/sport/tennis/OP_3.pdf and the draws can be found here: http://www.itftennis.com/juniors/tournaments/tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100029444

Big 10/ACC Challenge

The Big 10/ACC Challenge will go on today and tomorrow. Tune in and see who takes home the title this year, as last year was a tie. The matchups for this year are:
Florida State @ Minnesota
Illinois @ Georgia Tech
Indiana @ Syracuse
Michigan @ Duke
Notre Dame @ Iowa
Penn State @ Pitt
Boston College @ Purdue
Maryland @ Ohio State
Miami @ Nebraska
North Carolina @ Michigan State
Northwestern @ NC State
Wisconsin @ Virginia

Picture from: http://acc.blogs.starnewsonline.com/36589/36589/

An Inside Look at College Football

After the crazy day of college football on Saturday, did you really think I would go without writing about it? Especially since the day included my beloved Ohio State Buckeyes? Well I am currently feeling very under the weather, so I am currently accompanied by a big bag of popcorn and Gatorade so I don't fall asleep while typing. Well let's get started on Saturday's games. The Ohio State Buckeyes were going into Michigan with a 23 game winning streak against a 7-4 Michigan team. But regardless of the preview, when a team goes to their arch rival's field, anything can happen. And it did. Michigan struck first, and it was a back and forth scoring slugfest. The performance got interrupted though when a fight broke out on the field. On a Dontre Wilson (Ohio State) kickoff return, the fight then broke out after words and after a Michigan player was ejected and along with

Marcus Hall and Dontre Wilson. Kudos to the ESPN announcers for naming Ohio State's players "Dontrelle Willis" and "Marius Hall." They screwed up the sport, as Dontrelle Willis is a major league baseball pitcher (as seen below). But back to the action, the Buckeyes then took a 35-21 lead

in the second half. But of course what kind of game would it be if Michigan didn't come back? Michigan tied the game up at 35-35 in the 4th quarter, but that was changed after Carlos Hyde ran the ball in for a touchdown for the Bucks. With little time left, Devin Gardner led the Wolverines to score, capped off by a touchdown pass to Devin Fauchness. All of my friends I was with predicted the next play to happen: to go for 2 and win the game versus just go for the tie. In a rivalry game like this against the number 3 team in the nation, why not go for it all? It's not every day a team can hang in with the Buckeyes, so if you have a chance to defeat your rival and ruin their perfect season, do it. And Brady Hoake did. Due to copyrights, I can't get the video up here. But I suggest you click this link to see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf4RnsEwGnE Ohio State's Tyvis Powell intercepted Gardner to secure the win for the Buckeyes on the 2 point conversion. Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes extended their streak to 24 straight games, and fortunately Meyer's first loss as a Buckeye will not be against Michigan (unless in the future they lose if they're still undefeated).

So with that said, the Buckeyes needed either Florida State or Alabama to lose one of their final games. Well unfortunately Florida State only had to deal with Florida, a team that lost to Georgia Southern the week before, and then Duke. As a matter of fact, yesterday was the first day of classes for GSU students since the win, and they served gator meat in their dining hall. So Florida State obviously won Saturday. But Alabama would be facing the number 4 ranked team in the nation in Auburn. I got a text around 4:00 on Saturday from my college tennis coach saying, it's a long ride back to Tuscaloosa. So I thought Auburn was already pulling away but when I flipped the TV on, it was only 7-0 with Alabama having possession. So I was mislead with that text. I later turned on the game to see Alabama was up 2 touchdowns...."Well this one is over," I thought. But I was glad I was wrong. Later in the night, I saw Twitter and saw that it was about to be overtime in that game so I turned the game on once again. And this is what I saw:

I'm not sure if kicking a FG at that point was the smart choice, especially with a kicker whose career long was around 20 yards (as it was a 57 yd. FG attempt), but who am I to question Nick Saban about football? Nonetheless, this helped move Ohio State to number 2 in the BCS standings, a spot that will put them in the national title game if it holds up one more week. Ohio State will play Michigan St. in the Big 10 Championship and will need to win that one first. Duke will play Florida State for the ACC Championship.

So as most people believe the SEC conference is the best, and deserve to have a team in the BCS National Title game, here is what I think of each conference:

SEC: 3. Auburn 4. Alabama 5. Missouri. I believe the SEC is the strongest conference. However, I do not feel that Auburn or Alabama have a good case right now to get in (if OSU and FSU still are undefeated). Their nonconference schedule is a easier than Ohio State's and Alabama and Auburn don't beat the teams they play by very much either. They both had tight wins to Mississippi State. I think the SEC is highly overrated this year, but still are the best conference. There just isn't as big of a gap between conferences as usual. Missouri however only has one loss without their starting QB in double overtime. If they win against Auburn in the SEC title game, I would say they have a case for being in the title game. But I don't see a case for Auburn or Alabama.

Big 10: A juggernaut football conference in the cold weather. So the best results may not be produced but there is still great football being played. With an undefeated record at this point, Ohio State deserves a shot at playing for a national championship. They have beat 10/12 they've played by 10 or more points, so they aren't slipping by as everyone is implying. Sure, their defense has some questions. But at this point, they deserve to be in. I'm not saying on any given day they are at least the 2nd best team in the nation, but with their given schedule, they did what they had to do and any other team can't say that (except for Florida State and Northern Illinois).

ACC: A conference that slowly slipped throughout the year. I don't believe it's the second best conference as it used to be, but still not awful. But nonetheless, it is about the same level as the Big 10 (if the Big 10 is not better) in my eyes.

PAC-12: They are a conference that features teams that flash national championship potential, but the consistency is obviously lacking.

Big East: No threat to the BCS National Championship game.

Big 12: Baylor Who? Oklahoma State deserves to be in a BCS game for sure, but not the national championship.

Stay tuned for next weeks championship games and bowl selections.

Kumar Takes Out Zverev; Eddie Herr Day 1 Recap; Doubles Preview

3 of the top 8 seeds were taken out today in the first round of the singles at the Eddie Herr International Championships. All 3 players who took out the seeds were American. Sameer Kumar (USA) pulled off the biggest upset of the day, taking out top seeded Alexander Zverev (GER) 3-6, 7-6, 7-6. Next to be taken out was 4th seeded Quentin Halys (FRA), as Julian Zlobinsky (USA) took him out in 3 sets as well. Deighton Baughman only needed 2 sets to take out 8th seeded Marcelo Zormann (BRA), as he won 6-4, 7-6. Other Americans who advanced past the 1st round include AJ Catanzariti, Taylor Fritz, Stefan Kozlov, Michael Mmoh and Francis Tiafoe. The US Open Juniors Doubles champion Kamil Majchrzak (POL) advanced easily over Bolletieri student Toshiki Matsuya. Andrey Rublev (Who won the Futures tournament at Bolletieri a couple of weeks ago) also advanced. There are more 1st round matches to be played Tuesday, including all the matchups with qualifiers in them. Complete singles results can be found at: http://www.itftennis.com/juniors/tournaments/tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100029444

In the doubles, Alex Zverev will once again be the top seed and he will have Andrey Rublev (RUS) as his partner. They have been partners throughout the year, and have reached one final (Trofeo Bonfiglio in Milan, Italy). Here are the rest of the seeds:

1. Zverev/Rublev
2. Baldi/Miedler
3. Mmoh/Tiafoe
4. Janvier/Taltot
5. Safuillin/Sedarusic
6. Jasika/Kozlov
7. Majchrzak/Muller
8. Mylnikov/Nakagawa

Michael Mmoh will be looking to go far in his home tournament with partner Francis Taifoe, as they won the Pan American Championships last month together. As mentioned earlier, Kamil Majchrzak won the doubles at the US Open Juniors this year, but will have a new partner in Alexandre Muller (FRA) instead of Martin Redlicki (USA). Redlicki is entered in the Orange Bowl next week so possibly the tandem will give it another go then? The 8 seeds Tommy Mylnikov (CAN) and Naoki Nakagawa (JPN) will have home court advantage, as they both train at Bolletieri. The American team of Spencer Papa and Daniel Kerznerman will be looking to make a run at this tournament. Also, the Mexican team of Gerardo Villasenor and Alan Nunez Aguilera will be looking to go deep, as Aguilera won a Futures tournament in doubles this fall. Sameer Kumar will also be looking to add onto his already great tournament, after defeated the top seed in singles. Kumar will be partnering with fellow American Logan Smith.

The full doubles draw can be found here:
http://www.itftennis.com/juniors/tournaments/tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100029444

Eddie Herr Junior International Championships Singles Preview

A week before the famous Orange Bowl Championships, competitors will flock to the IMG Bolletieri Tennis Academy to tune up for next weeks event. In doing so, they will go for the prestigious title of winning the Eddie Herr Championship. Past players in this event include Andy Roddick, Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova. Last years 18 & Under champion was this years French Open
                                                     

                                                               www.jobspapa.com

 junior champion, Christian Garin of Chile. This tournament is also unique in that it doesn't just offer the 18&Under division, but also a 16&Under, 14&Under and a 12&Under division. The 18's will be the only division to be played on clay, as the rest of the divisions will play on hard court. In the 18's division, here are the seeds for the Boys singles:

1. Alexander Zverev, Germany
2. Johan Taltot, France
3. Stefan Kozlov, United States
4. Quentin Halys, France
5. Michael Mmoh, United States
6. Roman Safiullin, Russia
7. Filippo Baldi, Italy
8. Marcelo Zormann, Brazil
9. Kamil Majchrzak, Poland
10. Lucas Miedler, Austria
11. Andrey Rublev, Russia
12. Naoki Nakagawa, Japan
13. Francis Tiafoe, United States
14. Benjamin Bonzi, France
15. Seong Hong, Korea
16. Nino Serdarusic, Croatia

A lot of these seeds have been testing their luck in the professional ranks since the US Open junior tournament, as Johan Taltot (Greece F18 Futures), Andrey Rublev (USA F31 Futures), Naoki Nakagawa (Mexico F13 Futures) and Marcelo Zormann (Brazil F12 Futures) all won a futures title. Zverev, Halys and Baldi all reached at least one futures semifinal as well. Coming into the tournament, 3 of the seeds are coming off tournament victories. As mentioned earlier, Rublev is coming off his F31 Futures win, that took place on the same clay courts at Bolletieri that are being

www.midatlantic.usta.com

played on this week. Stefan Kozlov is coming off winning a qualifying wildcard spot into next year's ATP Delray Beach 250 Championships, as he won the wildcard event. He was down 5-2 in the 3rd set to fellow American (who is in this tournament) Spencer Papa, before winning the third set. Lastly, Filippo Baldi is coming off winning the Yucatan Cup in Mexico. There are 19 Americans in the main draw, after 4 qualified. One of them is Michael Mmoh, who won the Grade A Osaka Mayor's Cup in Japan in October. Francis Tiafoe took home a championship of his own, as he won the ITF Pan American Championships in October. Sameer Kumar is coming off winning 2 straight ITF Grade 4 tournaments in Columbia, South Carolina and Atlanta. As IMG Bolletieri is a training academy, some competitors will have home court advantage, as they either currently train there or have in the past. The list of competitors includes Tommy Mylnikov (CAN), Jordi Arconada (ARG), Deighton Baughman (USA), Alejandro Tabilo (CAN), Naoki Nakagawa (JPN), Michael Mmoh (USA), Stephen Madonia (USA), Oscar Janglin (SWE), Alexander Sendegeya (GBR), Toshiki Matsuya (JPN) and Anudeep Kodali (USA) That's over 1/6 of the field (and I may have left some off mistakenly). Although Deighton Baughman doesn't play too many junior events, he is a danger on the clay as he reached the quarterfinals at the Orange Bowl last year. USA's Spencer Papa is the highest finisher in last year's event, losing in the quarterfinals to Egypt's Mazen Osama. USA's Henrik Wiersholm, Zverev, and Baldi all reached the round of 16.

The top seeds for the other divisions are:
Boys 16 Singles: Yungseong Chung, Korea
Boys 14 Singles: Miomir Kecmanovic, Serbia and Montenegro (Weird that this country was listed, since it split up in 2006).
Boys 12 Singles: Alexander Zgirovksy, Belarus
Girls 18 Singles: Vavara Flink, Russia
Girls 16 Singles: Helen Attick, United States
Girls 14 Singles: Kayla Day, United States
Girls 12 Singles: Anastasia Potapova, Russia

Unfortunately the live streaming is only available on the hard courts, so I won't see any of this tournament but I will be following it as closely as possible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPOWhIKRB1o 

This video was from 2010 but it is still a good view on the Eddie Herr Championships. Live streaming of the hard courts at IMG can be found here: http://live.imgacademies.com/Tennis.aspx