[ColoradoTree]

Thanks CT. Your points about strength of schedule and NCAA seeding are of course right. But we've always overcome our poor seeding in the past. My concern with the schedule is about getting enough top-flight competition under our belts during the season so that we are able to excel at the NCAAs. This is especially true for doubles, where playing against ourselves and against lesser teams just doesn't prepare you to play against top competition. Maybe with a younger team Lele wants to ease them into college competition, I don't know.

Oh, there is certainly reason for concern. It's legit sad that our longstanding rivalries with Florida and Pepperdine have been left on the cutting room floor, and the burgeoning one with Vanderbilt is now being ignored as well. It's one thing to anticipate that you'll get some good matches at Indoor Nationals, but it's quite another to gut your non-conference schedule otherwise and become totally reliant on that handful of matches. 

And I wouldn't think easing a younger team into college competition would matter much. As a freshman, Michaela Gordon played #1 and had non-conference matches against Vanderbilt, Texas, and Florida (with Pepperdine getting rained out). As freshmen, Arbuthnott and Higuchi were vital in getting a 4-3 win over Vanderbilt, and also played Florida, Texas, Oklahoma State, and Pepperdine. As freshmen, Lampl and Lord locked down #5 and #6 all year, including against Ole Miss, Vandy, Florida, and Pepperdine. 

This year, we're unlikely to have more than one freshman play. We have a junior at #1, a senior at #2, and another senior and junior somewhere else in the top 6, with either two sophomores rounding out the lineup or, more likely, a sophomore and one freshman (Blake). We lost the great trio of Lord/Lampl/Yee, of course, but we're always losing great players to graduation. We keep plugging in new ones and a weaker non-conference slate isn't going to help them get better. 

Things could go really well this year, and if so, we'll still be a top 5 team at the start of NCAAs. Things could go really poorly (a lot of close losses to the best teams), and we'd miss out on hosting the first two rounds for the first time ever. But more likely with this schedule, we'll win some close ones and lose some close ones, but the lack of marquee matches means we'll sneak into the top 16 but not the top 8, hosting the first two rounds and then having to go play a road match at someone like UNC or Georgia in the round of 16 rather than get a third match at home.

[ColoradoTree]

Thanks CT. Your points about strength of schedule and NCAA seeding are of course right. But we've always overcome our poor seeding in the past. My concern with the schedule is about getting enough top-flight competition under our belts during the season so that we are able to excel at the NCAAs. This is especially true for doubles, where playing against ourselves and against lesser teams just doesn't prepare you to play against top competition. Maybe with a younger team Lele wants to ease them into college competition, I don't know.

Oh, there is certainly reason for concern. It's legit sad that our longstanding rivalries with Florida and Pepperdine have been left on the cutting room floor, and the burgeoning one with Vanderbilt is now being ignored as well. It's one thing to anticipate that you'll get some good matches at Indoor Nationals, but it's quite another to gut your non-conference schedule otherwise and become totally reliant on that handful of matches. 

And I wouldn't think easing a younger team into college competition would matter much. As a freshman, Michaela Gordon played #1 and had non-conference matches against Vanderbilt, Texas, and Florida (with Pepperdine getting rained out). As freshmen, Arbuthnott and Higuchi were vital in getting a 4-3 win over Vanderbilt, and also played Florida, Texas, Oklahoma State, and Pepperdine. As freshmen, Lampl and Lord locked down #5 and #6 all year, including against Ole Miss, Vandy, Florida, and Pepperdine. 

This year, we're unlikely to have more than one freshman play. We have a junior at #1, a senior at #2, and another senior and junior somewhere else in the top 6, with either two sophomores rounding out the lineup or, more likely, a sophomore and one freshman (Blake). We lost the great trio of Lord/Lampl/Yee, of course, but we're always losing great players to graduation. We keep plugging in new ones and a weaker non-conference slate isn't going to help them get better. 

Things could go really well this year, and if so, we'll still be a top 5 team at the start of NCAAs. Things could go really poorly (a lot of close losses to the best teams), and we'd miss out on hosting the first two rounds for the first time ever. But more likely with this schedule, we'll win some close ones and lose some close ones, but the lack of marquee matches means we'll sneak into the top 16 but not the top 8, hosting the first two rounds and then having to go play a road match at someone like UNC or Georgia in the round of 16 rather than get a third match at home.