Tuesday, July 18, 2017

City PlayOffs... The Fellowship of the Crystal Tennis Ball

It is finally time for annual heat stroke inducing Dallas City Playoffs.  With all of the comments preoccupied with Mixed, I decided it is time to take a break and get to an important event.  Since I am short on time, let me get started.

5.0--  We have the division I am most optimistic about advancing to Nationals and winning.  This is one of those play-in tournament events. 

2 v 3 Match--We have Cooper Fitness/Vahdat-Noel versus the 5.0 ever present Perkison (formerly Village and now Springpark).  This looks to be a tight match.  Cooper has current Louisville player Parker Wynn and a lot of players I don't know.  I am guessing they are really good.  Cooper won the head to head 2-1 in the first week  Perkison has Loren Collins and longtime 5.0s with other players I don't know.  I will take Cooper in a 2-1 but I expect a dog fight. 

In the Winner to Sectionals match, it will be the Cooper/Springpark winner versus Lakes/Jannasch.  The Lakes have a tremendous team.  They only dropped one line all year.  Lakes has a lot of options and the beat Cooper 3-0 without dropping a set.  They beat Springpark 3-0 but former Baylor player Zoltan Papp did take 3 sets to beat Kyle Davidson.

In the end, I take the Lakes to win this and go on to win sectionals.  These are three really great teams.  I don't see a wildcard in their future but any of these teams would represent Dallas well.

4.5-- Greenhill/Rossouw-- We start withe the ever present City Playoff participant and QT winner Greenhill/Rossouw.  Normally, I don't think too hghly of QT winners but this team is pretty good and like all Rossouw teams...  very deep.  This is a deep, experienced and talented team.  He has several marginal 4.5 playoff players but he does have some top in 4.5s as well.  Marc's top players are very formidable.  I think this QT champ is in the mix.

Brookhaven/Bartlett--This is a name I don't generally associate with 4.5 City Playoffs but it is another large deep roster.  I don't think they have the top end players of some of the other rosters.  They will do well but I think they are probably safe from the August Sectionals heat.

Brookhaven/Harlee-- This is a name I do typically associate with 4.5 City Playoffs.  Like the other BH team, it has really good players but he appears to be lacking those  next level ringers that could be playing in 5.0 and competing.  They will be in the mix but I am not sold.

JCC/Reiman-- This is another frequent attendee at this event.  Thye have top talent like Clint Sumrow and they will be a tough out.  I expect them to have a good chance to win this event.

Sprinkpark/Aguilar-- These are the new kids on the block and the surprising number 1 seed.  They are clearly a very good team.  I am curious to see how they stand up in the post season.

In the end, I will take JCC and Springpark with JCC wnning a close 3-2.  Springpark will be hoping for a wildcard but 4.5 is so iffy about wildcards.

I will be back tomorrow to ponder 4.0!

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

QT Time... It is the Weekend for the Worst fo the Best...

It is that time of year when we have a mini tournament for the teams that didn't win and give a mulligan.  I'm not entirely opposed to this participation event because the DTA has a pretty long track record of putting the best teams in the same flight. 

4.5 

We have a four team playoff.

Life Time Fitness/Arcaria: This is a good team that probably had no playoff aspirations in March but Arcaria had some players and added some.  Beavers, Takashi and Jean Nguyen are all very good 4.5s.  He has some new names and they look pretty solid too.  This is a good team.

Greenhill/Rossouw-Myers:  I knew Marc and Brandon were BFFs but I had know idea they merged and even took each other's last name.  In all seriousness, this roster suffers from a serious void of depth.  It is concerning in the heat to have only 28 players on the roster.  He does have some really good players with Cash, Bell, Lafavre and others.  He just needs to be sure and play his best players and not spread the playing time.  Marc has always been good to his players and got his extras playing time so that is a little concern.

Gleneagles/Juhn:  This is a team that is surprising to see in the post season.  When I look at the roster, I see a pretty good and not great 4.0 team.  I am pretty sure they can keep the next weekend open.

Oak Creek/Sangren:  This is a strange team.  They definitely would be a force in 55s.  They have some younger guys that I do not know but it is a god team.  I think they will need to overachieve to see city playoffs.

In the end, it should be between Lifetime and Greenhill.  If this were 18th century warfare, Greenhill would overwhelm with numbers.  Since 8 can play and you only need three lines, I will take Lifetime Fitness in a close 3-2.

4.0
We have two three team flights.  We even have some new party crashers that really aren't familiar with playoffs in Royal Oaks, Lakes and Canyon Creek.  Congratulations to the new kids on the block.

Flight A
Brookhaven/Bartlett:  Bartlett has a bunch of guys that have a lot of QT experience.  This looks like the same guys at the club I have been seeing at Brookhaven for a long time and really don't get to 4.5 so they are a solid group.

Lakes/Reifsnyder:  This is one of the new guns.  I'd like to say I see some potential ringers but I do not.  they look pretty average top to bottom.  I don't see enough to take down Brookhaven Brad and the Bartletts.

Royal Oaks/Templeton:  Everything I just said about Lakes is rinse, wash and repeat.  They are basically the same guys with different names.

Winner of Flight A:  This should be a walk for Brookhaven.  The only caveat is the same as others...  you must play your best.  This is not the time for equitable tennis time.

Flight B:  This is easily the more difficult flight.  All three teams in this flight are capable of winning flight A.  Put Greenhill/Canyon Creek/Brookhaven in a flight and it could go any direction.

Canyon Creek/Patterson:  This team has quite a few players that have been around for quite awhile.  If they play their cards right, they can get three lines against anyone in the flight.

Greenhill/Ohl: This is pretty much the same as Canyon Creek.  They will need to play their lines right.

Garland/Kanchi:  This is the team I expect to win city playoffs and do damage at sectionals.  The only surprise is they are in QT.  He has 23 on his roster and if Kanchi learned from his mistakes of the past and actually play his best, he wins this flight, QT, city playoffs and maybe sectionals.

As I read this, there is a recurring theme on these captains... if they will just play their best players.  I have always wondered why so many captains do not play their best and get bitten as a result.