There's really only two or three matchups this week that are really interesting.
Nothing jumps out at me in 4.0. The 4.0 division is a case of the haves and have nots. I still see it coming down to Hurricanes and Lakeside, with Rice also a potential factor. I don't see anything this week significantly changing any of the playoff picture.
In 4.5, the two historical powers meet up again this week, as Kingwood faces the Hangovers. The last time they met it was a barnburner, with Gary Armstrong outgutsing Jody Deluca for the win. Much to my surprise, neither team has really added any significant talent since then. Will Burkhart and Green adjust their lineup this time? Will the Dibuas find their way into the lineup for Kingwood? I doubt we'll see Phi Huynh out there this time after his disappointing showing last time. Will the dangerous Green-Morton duo get untracked? Will Burkhart put himself back in the lineup?
Also in 4.5, Ssshhhwing travels to WestSide to play No Way Out in a matchup of unbeatens. The winner will be poised to compete with Jedi Knights for the Division Championship. Look for Ssshhwing to take this one.
In 5.0, Teague faces the Met in a must win matchup for Allen's team. The much talked about duo of Putterman-Weingeist will have its hands full, as Teague has continually added players in an effort to be competitive. This week's new addition is James Robinson, another self rated 3.0 player, (what's up with that?) who helped Teague squeeze past MPTC earlier in the week. The Met can not look past Teague despite their unimpressive results so far.
There's another nice matchup in 5.0 as Rice faces Lost Forest. Lost Forest has the talent to compete with any team in the league, and has just one loss on their resume. I expect them to be a major factor in the race before all is said and done. The singles matchup in this one should be interesting, as Lost Forest has a couple of choices. Nanjappa has handled Bickmore, but Nico Heidari could be a real test if he plays.
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In Reference to Jamie Robinson Self Rating as a 3.0 It was an error and will be corrected.If you answer the 1st question wrong when Self Rating It Automatically puts you in the 3.0 category and you then must appeal which he already has done. The Self Rating system will soon play a big role before the end of the Season. Expect a few disqualifications before the season ends.
ReplyDeleteDon't count the Copperheads out of the 4.0 race; Sam Ahn and Jason Rawls are 2 of the strongest 4.0's around in both singles and doubles. Daniel Self is one of the top 4.0 singles players in the state. Their other guys are all pretty solid.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. Interesting. Care to name names? Are the (supposed) disqualifications coming only in 5.0 or are they spread across the divisions?
ReplyDeleteWell, there may or may not be some disqualifications, but there are certainly 4.5 rated guys (not self-rated either) who are really 5.0+. If you're ranked in the top 5 statewide in 5.0 and stay rated 4.5 (whether by appealing or whatever the criteria USTA uses for rating players), there's something wrong with the system. Some of these guys are winning tournaments at the Open level. C'mon.
ReplyDeleteTim Hurlbert is defintely a shady 4.5. Former top ranked juniors playing 4.5 is a joke.
ReplyDeleteWell, I disagree with you there. If you look at the current 5.0 tournament standings http://tennislink.usta.com/tournaments/rankings/rankinglists.aspx?id=322130
ReplyDeleteit's pretty obvious that there are 3 players who fit your criteria: Tim Green, Herb Morton and Greg Schmucker.
Schmucker went 1-3 in summer league singles matches last year and lost his only city championship playoff match the year before. Should he be moved up?
Tim and Herb have been successful in league play. I think moving them up is a grey area. But certainly they should not be moved up based on so called 5.0 tournament results. Those tournaments are 5.0 rated in name only. Almost all of the players who play them are 4.5 players. Take another look at that link above. Look at the top 20 "5.0" players. How many of them are rated 5.0????? Zip. Zero. Nadie.
Tim and Herb are beating 4.5 players in those tournaments. Very good 4.5 players, admittedly. But 4.5 players nonetheless.
Sorry. Blogger truncated my link. But you get the point.
ReplyDeleteThe YUTTS took out the MIB "jv" team last night 3-2. MIBJV won lines 1 & 2 doubles (legitimately, not by default!). We had to default Line 2 singles and lost the other 2 lines.
ReplyDeleteTor, Miguel et al are very good players and as always it was a pleasure to play Hank's team.
Always plenty of DQs to be had in league... It just depends on whether anyone really wants to give it a shot and really complain...
ReplyDelete