06-11-2018, 10:47 AM
Here are all the Pac-12 placements:
1. Stanford (regional 1 seed/host)
10. UCLA (regional 1 seed/host)
28. Oregon (2 seed at #13 Pepperdine's regional, with #58 Denver and #70 UNLV as the remaining two seeds)
36. Arizona State (3 seed at #12 South Carolina's regional, with #27 Wake Forest as the 2 seed and #52 Cal as the 4 seed)
42. Washington State (2 seed at Stanford's regional)
43. Washington (qualifies directly for Indoor Nationals as the host, so they're not part of this step).
52. Cal (4 seed at #12 South Carolina's regional, but I wouldn't be surprised if they advanced).
Interesting that Oregon chose to go to Pepperdine when they could have been the 2 seed at Florida, but geography/expense could have been a consideration. And at a certain point, your opportunity to win two matches and advance to Indoor Nationals might not be great, so you might as well just get a 2 seed in a good location and hope for a decent team you can beat as the 3. But based on where teams chose to be 3 and 4 seeds, Pepperdine is still seen as tough (#58 and #70 are right up there for the worst rankings for a pair of 3/4 seeds). I like ASU choosing to be the 3 seed at South Carolina rather than a 2 seed elsewhere. They get a beatable Wake Forest for the first match, and South Carolina could be down after seemingly overperforming this year and losing their #2 singles player. Wazzu chose to come to Stanford as the 2 seed over being the 3 seed at UCLA, and they get an easier first-round match for it, but I would've liked their chances against #41 FIU, who lost 3 starters, and they would have had a more manageable second-round match vs. UCLA than vs. Stanford, but perhaps they were thinking like Oregon did--just get a 2 seed in your time zone and try and get at least one win out of this. And even though Cal is the 4 seed in its regional, I think they chose smartly. Better to be the 4 seed in a competitive regional with a vulnerable 1 seed than a 3 seed with a tough 1 seed looming in the second round. It could easily be Cal-ASU for a trip to Indoor Nationals, and if you're either team, you're content with that matchup. And even though Stanford is the #1 overall seed, our regional filled up sooner than seven others, though I think that is due to St. Mary's choosing to be a 4 seed locally than a 4 seed across the country, not a sense that we're more vulnerable than UCLA, Florida, or Texas.
Here's a link to the makeup of the various regional sites: https://www.slam.tennis/ita/draft/2019/ncaaw
For whatever reason, USC opted out of the tournament entirely. (In another interesting quirk, teams can simply wait for their turn and then pass, as some teams in line for a 4 seed did when the only regionals left weren't close by or were likely already on the schedule, like Houston passing when a 4 seed in Austin was still available--might as well get someone else on the schedule that weekend. But USC wasn't even on the draft board, indicating they told the ITA they weren't participating no matter what.) Utah, Colorado, and Arizona were ranked too low to participate, though had three more schools passed, Utah could have been the last 4 seed.
1. Stanford (regional 1 seed/host)
10. UCLA (regional 1 seed/host)
28. Oregon (2 seed at #13 Pepperdine's regional, with #58 Denver and #70 UNLV as the remaining two seeds)
36. Arizona State (3 seed at #12 South Carolina's regional, with #27 Wake Forest as the 2 seed and #52 Cal as the 4 seed)
42. Washington State (2 seed at Stanford's regional)
43. Washington (qualifies directly for Indoor Nationals as the host, so they're not part of this step).
52. Cal (4 seed at #12 South Carolina's regional, but I wouldn't be surprised if they advanced).
Interesting that Oregon chose to go to Pepperdine when they could have been the 2 seed at Florida, but geography/expense could have been a consideration. And at a certain point, your opportunity to win two matches and advance to Indoor Nationals might not be great, so you might as well just get a 2 seed in a good location and hope for a decent team you can beat as the 3. But based on where teams chose to be 3 and 4 seeds, Pepperdine is still seen as tough (#58 and #70 are right up there for the worst rankings for a pair of 3/4 seeds). I like ASU choosing to be the 3 seed at South Carolina rather than a 2 seed elsewhere. They get a beatable Wake Forest for the first match, and South Carolina could be down after seemingly overperforming this year and losing their #2 singles player. Wazzu chose to come to Stanford as the 2 seed over being the 3 seed at UCLA, and they get an easier first-round match for it, but I would've liked their chances against #41 FIU, who lost 3 starters, and they would have had a more manageable second-round match vs. UCLA than vs. Stanford, but perhaps they were thinking like Oregon did--just get a 2 seed in your time zone and try and get at least one win out of this. And even though Cal is the 4 seed in its regional, I think they chose smartly. Better to be the 4 seed in a competitive regional with a vulnerable 1 seed than a 3 seed with a tough 1 seed looming in the second round. It could easily be Cal-ASU for a trip to Indoor Nationals, and if you're either team, you're content with that matchup. And even though Stanford is the #1 overall seed, our regional filled up sooner than seven others, though I think that is due to St. Mary's choosing to be a 4 seed locally than a 4 seed across the country, not a sense that we're more vulnerable than UCLA, Florida, or Texas.
Here's a link to the makeup of the various regional sites: https://www.slam.tennis/ita/draft/2019/ncaaw
For whatever reason, USC opted out of the tournament entirely. (In another interesting quirk, teams can simply wait for their turn and then pass, as some teams in line for a 4 seed did when the only regionals left weren't close by or were likely already on the schedule, like Houston passing when a 4 seed in Austin was still available--might as well get someone else on the schedule that weekend. But USC wasn't even on the draft board, indicating they told the ITA they weren't participating no matter what.) Utah, Colorado, and Arizona were ranked too low to participate, though had three more schools passed, Utah could have been the last 4 seed.