(05-02-2018 08:33 AM)ballhog Wrote:  What are our chances to advance? I see Miss. St. is ranked 6th and would be at home.

(05-02-2018 06:56 PM)mccarverslawyer Wrote:  They are major underdogs should they play MSU.

There are 2 NCAA D1 Tennis tournaments each Spring - one for school (team) championship and the other for Individual Singles/Doubles championship.

Mississippi State in the team format is seeded,correct, however, the #1 MSU player won the SEC singles championship and is #3 seed overall in the NCAA Individual Singles Bracket. He and a teammate also won SEC doubles championship and are seeded in the NCAA Individual Doubles Bracket as well - #1 seeds. For comparison the best Memphis player is an Alternate in Singles and in Doubles meaning regularly invited (a conference champion) players have to withdraw just for Memphis players to play in the NCAA Individual Championship.

How an individual does in Individual Championship does not affect Team Championship scoring totals - for instance John Isner, and back in the day Connors and McEnroe won NCAA Singles Individual Championships but their school (team) was not NCAA Champion.

Bottom Line it will be a major upset for Memphis to beat Mississippi State - they would be playing the SEC team champions (as of Sunday) and SEC is a perennial top Tennis conference (10 SEC teams in NCAA tournament).

Unfortunately, there is another reality against us in that this is a non-revenue sport and scholarships aren't equal..Power 5 particularly SEC have the money to allocate 6 full scholarships for mens tennis. Non P5 schools may only allocate 4 full mens tennis scholarships - the #1 and #2 have full scholarships but the remaining 2 are cut into 4 half scholarships. So the quality of the lower Top 6 players at P5 are generally better.

Hope that provides some context -

(05-02-2018 06:56 PM)mccarverslawyer Wrote:  They are major underdogs should they play MSU.

There are 2 NCAA D1 Tennis tournaments each Spring - one for school (team) championship and the other for Individual Singles/Doubles championship.

Mississippi State in the team format is seeded,correct, however, the #1 MSU player won the SEC singles championship and is #3 seed overall in the NCAA Individual Singles Bracket. He and a teammate also won SEC doubles championship and are seeded in the NCAA Individual Doubles Bracket as well - #1 seeds. For comparison the best Memphis player is an Alternate in Singles and in Doubles meaning regularly invited (a conference champion) players have to withdraw just for Memphis players to play in the NCAA Individual Championship.

How an individual does in Individual Championship does not affect Team Championship scoring totals - for instance John Isner, and back in the day Connors and McEnroe won NCAA Singles Individual Championships but their school (team) was not NCAA Champion.

Bottom Line it will be a major upset for Memphis to beat Mississippi State - they would be playing the SEC team champions (as of Sunday) and SEC is a perennial top Tennis conference (10 SEC teams in NCAA tournament).

Unfortunately, there is another reality against us in that this is a non-revenue sport and scholarships aren't equal..Power 5 particularly SEC have the money to allocate 6 full scholarships for mens tennis. Non P5 schools may only allocate 4 full mens tennis scholarships - the #1 and #2 have full scholarships but the remaining 2 are cut into 4 half scholarships. So the quality of the lower Top 6 players at P5 are generally better.

Hope that provides some context -

(05-11-2018 12:42 PM)fsquid Wrote:  looks like it will come down to the match on court 5. 3-1 Tigers but they are losing bad in 2 of the remaining 3 matches. Court 5 going to a third set.

(05-12-2018 04:01 PM)mccarverslawyer Wrote:  Just as well they would have been drilled by MSU at their facility regardless like South Alabama today (I think MSU beat them in under 90 minutes - that's fast). For non P5 getting a bid is about as much as you can be happy with - the gap has widened (I know so in tennis) and seems like it has in other non-revenue sports as well.

Historically about the best non-revenue non P5 program is the Houston golf team and they haven't won a NCAA title in about 20 years after winning about 15 NCAA championships previously.

Gotta pay in order to play in the NCAA -