Sunday, July 27, 2014

Groundhog Day



I wake up every day, right here at 4.0 sectionals, and its always Houston winning the finals.



I'm not the most knowledgable guy on 4.0, particularly around the state, but someone put up a nice analysis of sectionals flights so we're going to start with that.  Thank you Mr. Anon.  I did make some calls around town however, and have it on good authority that the Dallas teams will be missing some key players.  I didn't like their chances before and I sure don't like their chances now.  Looks like Houston or Wild Houston will be taking home the crown again this year.

Flight 1: The marquis matchup is the first round rematch between last year's champion Houston, and last year's runner-up Waco. Waco has seven new self-rates in addition to a few of last year's players. Not to be outdone, Houston has nine self-rates/appealed players. One has already been dq'd, so that leaves 8, including a former top 50 D-1 player. Look for some close matches, but edge to Houston. 

Flight 2: NOHO and San Angelo both have largely the same guys as last year, when they finished 4th and 5th respectively in Bazan's flight. Wild San Antonio wasn't expecting the bid, and some made other plans for the weekend, and aren't coming. Not a strong team to start with, but weaker now. Dallas looked good at cities but won't have the same team available for sectionals.  Amarillo didn't even field a team last year, but this team is pretty decent. Amarillo for the surprise winner.  Missing players will definitely effect this flight's results.  

Flight 3: Wild Dallas a great singles player, but San Antonio and Corpus each have two. Can Bob get a better lineup out for sectionals than he did for cities finals?  SETX is usually a doormat, but this year looks like a pretty good team. Won the league even though 2 of their players got dq'd. Wichita Falls is the only weakling in this group. Barely qualified for the tournament, and mainly older guys. Edge to SA.

Flight 4: Wild Houston should take this one. The only team to beat Freeman this year, but also lost to them, both in close matches. Austin is a pretty decent team, especially with Andy Merritt. Third at best for The Old Gang from Ft. Worth. Midland and Lubbock didn't bring teams last year, and this year they will battle it out for cellar dweller.

10 comments:

  1. Does anybody know anything about the corpus or San Antonio singles players?

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  2. Vinh Tran has been disqualified. High Points chances just got smaller.

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    1. Disqualified on four matches? How could Bob let that happen?

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  3. Wow looks like San Antonio and corpus chances just increased

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  4. I heard it was decided before he even played and if you look he played doubles and didn't exactly wipe the court with anyone. So maybe it's true. My question is why did they let him play if that was the case and second, why didn't they DQ him before cities. Suck's for the teams he beat in cities and sucks for Bob's boys that are now limping into sectionals.

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    1. I'd agree that the two doubles matches wouldn't seem to produce a strike but let's be real. Decided in advance? You've been watching too much Ancient Aliens. Bob assumed he had no strikes so he cut him loose in singles twice. If Bob thought he already had a strike he'd have only played once at cities. As it turns out, Bob won both matches at cities 4-1 so Tran didn't need to play at all. Still would have beaten the two teams at cities 3-2.

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    2. Tran was DQ'd because he last played USTA tennis at 4.5 in 2010. He then self rated at 4.0 this year.

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  5. Maybe his tournament record was a factor

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  6. I don't think so. Tournament results don't factor in until the End-of-Year Ratings.

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  7. The Old Gang just beat the piss out of Austin

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