[ColoradoTree]

I remain of the view that Ma is objectively better than Yepifanova right now, and it's not close, but Lele wouldn't be doing this if she wasn't seeing something in practice that was making her think differently. 

Could it be a match-up consideration, that in scouting our opponents she is seeing weaknesses that different of our players can exploit better? Or put another way, can she can construct a stronger game plan for one of our players versus the other? Or am I too immersed in basketball season, where matchups are key?

In theory, you're not really allowed to play matchups in tennis, because you're obligated by rule to rank your players in order of ability. Of course, form can impact that, so if Lele's seeing something from Ma that she doesn't like, it's fine to drop her for a bit. And you can always move one line per match, so Ma at 2 means she can return to 1 at anytime. But Texas would've been the kind of match you do that for, so I'm not sure.

But certainly there are times when you do play matchups, and you realize that a particular player's strengths feed into the weaknesses of a likely opponent. So you can try to do that, but you also run the risk the other team wouldn't play their top player at that slot for the same matchup concerns. 

FYI, new team rankings dropped yesterday, and here's where we and our opponents this season rank:

6. Georgia (L)
9. Pepperdine (maybe it'll get rescheduled?)
10. Texas (road W)
11. Duke (L)
13. Stanford (up 9 spots)
18. Vanderbilt (W)
25. Arizona State (home)
26. Washington (home)
31. USC (away)
37. San Diego (home)
40. Florida State (W)
43. Arizona (home)
53. Oregon (away)
55. Cal (home)
56. Utah (away)
63. UCLA (away)

Not in Top 75: St. Mary's (W), UC Davis (W), Kansas State (W), Colorado (away), USF (home), and Washington State (home).

So, you can see that right now we only have two good wins and no real marquee win opportunities left on the schedule, given the disappointing early showing from the Pac-12 teams that were expected to be better. And some of the matches that we're counting on being useful wins for us look like no-win situations instead--UCLA is so much better than #63, but they're 3-2 with no impressive wins to their name, so there they sit. So, either we beat them and don't get much credit for it, or we go to Westwood and take a loss that would hang around our necks like an albatross. They don't have a lot of non-conference opportunities yet to prove it, either. They get #3 Ohio State and #9 Pepperdine, and both at home, so in those two matches, we'll all be big Bruins fans (assuming we don't reschedule the Pepperdine match). And for us, we are now rooting for Georgia and Vanderbilt to dominate the SEC, Texas to do the same in the Big 12, and Duke to roll over the ACC. The stars are really going to have to align to get us into the top 8 to finish the season, because the rest of the Pac-12 teams aren't doing their part. 

I'm not looking forward to that LA road trip. Two teams that are good enough to beat you, but where the rankings don't reflect it. Ugh.

[ColoradoTree]

I remain of the view that Ma is objectively better than Yepifanova right now, and it's not close, but Lele wouldn't be doing this if she wasn't seeing something in practice that was making her think differently. 

Could it be a match-up consideration, that in scouting our opponents she is seeing weaknesses that different of our players can exploit better? Or put another way, can she can construct a stronger game plan for one of our players versus the other? Or am I too immersed in basketball season, where matchups are key?

In theory, you're not really allowed to play matchups in tennis, because you're obligated by rule to rank your players in order of ability. Of course, form can impact that, so if Lele's seeing something from Ma that she doesn't like, it's fine to drop her for a bit. And you can always move one line per match, so Ma at 2 means she can return to 1 at anytime. But Texas would've been the kind of match you do that for, so I'm not sure.

But certainly there are times when you do play matchups, and you realize that a particular player's strengths feed into the weaknesses of a likely opponent. So you can try to do that, but you also run the risk the other team wouldn't play their top player at that slot for the same matchup concerns. 

FYI, new team rankings dropped yesterday, and here's where we and our opponents this season rank:

6. Georgia (L)
9. Pepperdine (maybe it'll get rescheduled?)
10. Texas (road W)
11. Duke (L)
13. Stanford (up 9 spots)
18. Vanderbilt (W)
25. Arizona State (home)
26. Washington (home)
31. USC (away)
37. San Diego (home)
40. Florida State (W)
43. Arizona (home)
53. Oregon (away)
55. Cal (home)
56. Utah (away)
63. UCLA (away)

Not in Top 75: St. Mary's (W), UC Davis (W), Kansas State (W), Colorado (away), USF (home), and Washington State (home).

So, you can see that right now we only have two good wins and no real marquee win opportunities left on the schedule, given the disappointing early showing from the Pac-12 teams that were expected to be better. And some of the matches that we're counting on being useful wins for us look like no-win situations instead--UCLA is so much better than #63, but they're 3-2 with no impressive wins to their name, so there they sit. So, either we beat them and don't get much credit for it, or we go to Westwood and take a loss that would hang around our necks like an albatross. They don't have a lot of non-conference opportunities yet to prove it, either. They get #3 Ohio State and #9 Pepperdine, and both at home, so in those two matches, we'll all be big Bruins fans (assuming we don't reschedule the Pepperdine match). And for us, we are now rooting for Georgia and Vanderbilt to dominate the SEC, Texas to do the same in the Big 12, and Duke to roll over the ACC. The stars are really going to have to align to get us into the top 8 to finish the season, because the rest of the Pac-12 teams aren't doing their part. 

I'm not looking forward to that LA road trip. Two teams that are good enough to beat you, but where the rankings don't reflect it. Ugh.