Ohio State Men's Tennis (2014/2019/2024 ITA Indoor National Champs, 17 Straight B1G Titles)

[brodybuck21]

Unbelievably the OSU men's tennis team (22-1) jumped in the latest ITA rankings from 5th to 3rd place! :)

They passed Georgia (18-2) and Tennessee (18-3) even though The Dawgs and Vols both went undefeated last week.
Guess that OSU victory over the SEC (Kentucky) on 4/1 carried more weight than we realized.



April 7, 2009 - ITA DI Men's Team Rankings

Would love to see tOSU close out the season with W's and be in prime position to enter the Ncaa tourney with a 3 seed.
Illinois at 6-0 in the B10 stands in the direct path of this possibility.
This will be a huge showdown on Easter at Champaign Urbana! The B10 championship will be determined by this head to head match with these two undefeateds.
Before Illinois however is a Friday afternnon match at #43 Indiana.:osu:

 

[LitlBuck]

It seems obvious that Ty is anticipating that Chase will take over the no.1 singles position when Brian and Steven graduate in June.
Justin may be a factor in that competition.
The jump for Chase to collegiate level competition even after being no. 1 in the junior USTA ratings is still significant.
The sheer volume of international players at D1a schools has raised the level of play among the Intercollegiate Tennis Association schools.
ITA competition has almost become a feeder program for the men's tour.

So if I am reading you correct you are saying that college programs will now become the feeders for the professional tour. That would be nice if high school kids would have to come to college but then will we get into the problem of kids leaving early.
They passed Georgia (18-2) and Tennessee (18-3) even though The

Dawgs and Vols both went undefeated last week.
Guess that OSU victory over the SEC (Kentucky) on 4/1 carried more weight than we realized

I thought that the school up north was ranked so maybe that helped us in addition to beating that SEC speed. Plus, we do have a better overall record then both the Dawgs and the Vols

:2004:Illinois at 6-0 in the B10 stands in the direct path of this possibility.

 

[LitlBuck]

PD

OSU recruit Kobelt serves up fireballing masterpiece at St. Edward Invitational
Tim Warsinskey, Plain Dealer Reporter, April 04, 2009 10:20 p.m.

ROCKY RIVER - Tennis balls don't leave scorch marks on hard courts, but with eyes closed, it was almost possible Saturday to imagine smelling smoke wafting off the River Oaks Athletic Club's indoor surface during the first singles final of the St. Edward Invitational.

For certain, the heat produced by New Albany senior Peter Kobelt's right arm and Wilson racket was palpable. Trying his best to put out the fire was Westlake freshman Colton Buffington, who lost the championship match, 6-2, 6-2.

Kobelt, a 6-7 Ohio State recruit, put a first serve previously clocked at 135 mph in play about 75 percent of the time, and he moved Buffington around like a pawn in a backseat chess game.

"He had like 12 aces the first set," Buffington said. "I lost count after that. I was just watching them go by in the second set."

Kobelt allowed few rallies. Some of Buffington's returns sailed toward the rafters, many floundered into the net. On a couple of occasions, Kobelt's serve blew the West Virginia University baseball cap off Buffington's mop of wavy brown hair.

More

 

[Flocka]

So if I am reading you correct you are saying that college programs will now become the feeders for the professional tour. That would be nice if high school kids would have to come to college but then will we get into the problem of kids leaving early.

It will still be different than other sports in that kids can't get drafted and will either need wildcards or need to win challengers and try to get some points, which is difficult to do year around while attending college. Until you see players who went college consistently competing with the top 10 I think a lot of the more talented players will continue to forego college.

 

[LitlBuck]

It will still be different than other sports in that kids can't get drafted and will either need wildcards or need to win challengers and try to get some points, which is difficult to do year around while attending college. Until you see players who went college consistently competing with the top 10 I think a lot of the more talented players will continue to forego college.

I will try and not be labor this point but Buchanan was the #1 ranked Junior player in the United States. I guess how much better can he get. Why come to college if he can be groomed better someplace else.

 

[Flocka]

I will try and not be labor this point but Buchanan was the #1 ranked Junior player in the United States. I guess how much better can he get. Why come to college if he can be groomed better someplace else.

Sadly, the USTA does not do a good job of devolping players and this also has an impact in people's decisions. But, this is nothing new, take for instance Amer Delic, Jesse Levine, John Isner all just as capable as Buchanan as going pro and decided on college as well.

I'm not saying top ranked juniors won't play college tennis, just saying that until there are good examples of college players having success on the tour much of the talent will continue to go pro. Look at the most successful American pro's since the 80's. Sampras, Agassi, Chang, Courier, Roddick, they all went to the pros. Excluding James Blake there really hasn't been much success to speak of in regard to college players making noise on the tour. (And Blake is nowhere as good the aforementioned)

 

[gracelhink]

Sadly, the USTA does not do a good job of devolping players and this also has an impact in people's decisions. But, this is nothing new, take for instance Amer Delic, Jesse Levine, John Isner all just as capable as Buchanan as going pro and decided on college as well.

I'm not saying top ranked juniors won't play college tennis, just saying that until there are good examples of college players having success on the tour much of the talent will continue to go pro. Look at the most successful American pro's since the 80's. Sampras, Agassi, Chang, Courier, Roddick, they all went to the pros. Excluding James Blake there really hasn't been much success to speak of in regard to college players making noise on the tour. (And Blake is nowhere as good the aforementioned)

Ballin, I shared the original opinion that it appears that college tennis is becoming a feeder for pro tennis.
Part of that opinion was driven by the latest info from the tennis recruiting website which lists the top American graduating HS seniors. the website shows that 13 out of the top 14 graduating seniors are signed and committed to attend a U.S. college for next year.
Two possibilities exist that would make your theory true;
1. They sign with a school but decide to turn pro instead.
2. They enter school, play competitve collegiate tennis, but never make any noise on the pro tour.
Here is the website.

The Tennis Recruiting Network

 

[Flocka]

Ballin, I shared the original opinion that it appears that college tennis is becoming a feeder for pro tennis.
Part of that opinion was driven by the latest info from the tennis recruiting website which lists the top American graduating HS seniors. the website shows that 13 out of the top 14 graduating seniors are signed and committed to attend a U.S. college for next year.
Two possibilities exist that would make your theory true;
1. They sign with a school but decide to turn pro instead.
2. They enter school, play competitve collegiate tennis, but never make any noise on the pro tour.
Here is the website.

The Tennis Recruiting Network

I don't think you can argue that top American juniors aren't playing college tennis, just that they have not yet become a feeder to the pros. Until there is a trend of collegiate players consistently succeeding on the tour I don't think they can be a feeder. Also, not every blue chip of five star even wants to play professional tennis which I don't think could be said for most other top athletes in American sports.

 

[gracelhink]

MTEN: Big Ten Conference Names Steven Moneke Athlete of the Week - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com

For the second-consecutive week, a member of the third-ranked Ohio State men?s tennis team has been named Big Ten Athlete of the Week ? this time senior tri-captain [URL="http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=87783&SPID=10415&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1057568"]Steven Moneke[/URL]. The native of Alten-Buseck, Germany, earned his third weekly laurel this season and sixth of his career Tuesday.
Overall, it is the Buckeyes? conference-leading sixth conference athlete of the week honor. Classmate [URL="http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=87783&SPID=10415&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1057586"]Bryan Koniecko[/URL] was the recipient last week.
Ranked eighth in the most recent edition of the ITA polls (March 31), Moneke won three singles and two doubles matches last week to lead Ohio State to victory over No. 13 Kentucky (5-2), Michigan State (7-0) and No. 47 Michigan (6-1) to improve to 23-1 overall on the season.

 

[gracelhink]

I don't think you can argue that top American juniors aren't playing college tennis, just that they have not yet become a feeder to the pros. Until there is a trend of collegiate players consistently succeeding on the tour I don't think they can be a feeder. Also, not every blue chip of five star even wants to play professional tennis which I don't think could be said for most other top athletes in American sports.

I'm hearing you say, Feeders to the pros are only real feeders if they produce a trend of consistent winners on the pro tour.
I think that definition is a bit narrow.

I believe Buchanan and other juniors are opting for college now because it is seen as a strong training ground for future tour pros.
Colleges are now the choice of 13 of the top 14 American '09 recruits.
On tour presently are 35 pros who have college experience. Only 12 women on tour have college experience.

TENNIS.com - College Tennis - Pros Who Went To College

Kevin Anderson Illinois
Prakash Amritraj Southern California
Simon Aspelin Pepperdine
Benjamin Becker Baylor
Mahesh Bhupathi Mississippi
James Blake Harvard
Bob Bryan Stanford
Mike Bryan Stanford
Eric Butorac Gustavus Adolphus
Amer Delic Illinois
Benedikt Dorsch Baylor
Zack Fleishmann UCLA
Caitlin Gard Mississippi
Paul Goldstein Stanford
John Isner Georgia
Robert Kendrick Washington & Pepperdine
Kevin Kim UCLA
Mark Knowles UCLA
Jesse Levinen Florida
Robert Lindstedt Fresno State & Pepperdine
Peter Luczak Fresno State
Marcin Matkowski UCLA
Wesley Moodie Auburn-Montgomery & Boise State
Frederic Niemeyer Middle Tennessee
Rajeev Ram Illinois
Bobby Reynolds Vanderbilt
Michael Russell Miami (Fla.)
Ryan Sweeting Florida
Jim Thomas Stanford
Izak Van der Merwe Old Dominion
Sam Warburg Stanford
Alexander Waske San Diego State
Todd Widom Miami (Fla.)
Brian Wilson Illinois
Jesse Witten Kentucky

 

[LitlBuck]

I'm hearing you say, Feeders to the pros are only real feeders if they produce a trend of consistent winners on the pro tour.
I think that definition is a bit narrow.

I believe Buchanan and other juniors are opting for college now because it is seen as a strong training ground for future tour pros.
Colleges are now the choice of 13 of the top 14 American '09 recruits.
On tour presently are 35 pros who have college experience. Only 12 women on tour have college experience.

I guess to support that theory if you look at the list of recruited players some of them are going to fairly prestigious academic universities such as Stanford, Duke, Yale, and other pretty good schools of higher learning.

 

[Flocka]

I'm hearing you say, Feeders to the pros are only real feeders if they produce a trend of consistent winners on the pro tour.
I think that definition is a bit narrow.

I believe Buchanan and other juniors are opting for college now because it is seen as a strong training ground for future tour pros.
Colleges are now the choice of 13 of the top 14 American '09 recruits.
On tour presently are 35 pros who have college experience. Only 12 women on tour have college experience.

TENNIS.com - College Tennis - Pros Who Went To College

If you look at most of the names on there they were just as highly ranked if not higher in the juniors. Hopefully the schools are working harder at developing players and the USTA helps them out as well, but in so many cases you have these great NCAA players who graduate from college and then have to still play challengers and futures to get points just to be able to play tour events, where many of the players who have been on the circuit longer are much more successful, even when they were not as talented in the 18's.

 

[gracelhink]

MTEN: No. 3 Buckeyes Finish Out Road Schedule at No. 53 Indiana Friday, No. 11 Illinois Sunday - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com

The No. 3 Ohio State men?s tennis team finishes out its 2009 road schedule at No. 53 Indiana at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the IU Tennis Center, followed by a Top 15 battle against No. 11 Illinois at noon Sunday at the Atkins Tennis Center. The Buckeyes head into the weekend winning their last 15 dual matches and shutting out 11 of the last 15 opponents, . . .
CONFERENCE STANDINGS
Ohio State sits at the top of the Big Ten standings to begin the last month of regular-season play. The Buckeyes went a perfect 13-0 last season against Big Ten opponents en route to their third-consecutive Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles. . .
No. 11 Illinois (16-5; 6-0 Big Ten) is tied with the Buckeyes at the top of the Big Ten standings. The Illini have won three-consecutive matches against Big Ten opponents Minnesota (4-3), Iowa (5-2) and Indiana (6-1). . . Illinois is 13-2 this season when playing at home.
Illinois leads the all-time series 30-54-1 against the Ohio State. However, under head coach [URL="http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=87783&SPID=10415&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=1057607"]Ty Tucker[/URL], Ohio State has won three-consecutive matches against the Illini, winning seven of the last eight meetings. The two teams last met during the 2008 NCAA Tournament Round of 16 in Tulsa, Okla. Ohio State defeated Illinois, 4-3, improving to 3-0 against the Illini during the 2007-08 season.

 

[brodybuck21]

MTEN: No. 3 Buckeyes Finish Out Road Schedule at No. 53 Indiana Friday, No. 11 Illinois Sunday - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com

Come on Bucks. Beat em down!

 

[gracelhink]

The ITA #3 ranked Buckeyes advanced today 7-0, over #53 Indiana in a match suspended by rain for an hour.
Winning for the Buckeyes in doubles were the teams of Kronauge/Moneke, Koneicko/Uzawa, and Allare/Buchanan.
After the doubles was completed the singles matches were moved indoors due to the threat of rain.
The Buckeyes completed the sweep with straight set victories by:
#1 Koniecko 6-1, 6-4.
#2 Moneke 6-2, 6-2.
#3 Kronauge 6-1, 6-0.
#4 Buchanan 6-4, 6-3.
#5 Novak 6-1, 6-0.
#6 Allare 6-2, 6-2.

Next up for the Buckeyes (24-1, 7-0 Big Ten) is a critical match Sunday at noon, against Big Ten co-first place Illinois at Champaign Urbana.

-- Ohio State vs Indiana