Thornqvist, Thorne Named Wilson/ITA Coaches of the Year; Final Rankings; Men's Kickoff Weekend Draft
I'm not quite ready to close out the 2010-2011 college season (an NCAA slideshow is still on the way, probably this weekend), but once the awards and final rankings are announced, there isn't much left to report, other than the USTA collegiate team selections.
Florida's Roland Thornqvist was named the Wilson/ITA women's Coach of the Year after leading the Gators to the NCAA title last month. The men's Wilson/ITA coach of the year is Georgia Tech's Kenny Thorne, whose team finished 13th in the final rankings. Both are first-time winners. The list of the names of the last 12 winners makes it clear that winning the national title is hardly the only criteria for the award, especially on the women's side. The complete release can be found at the ITA website.
Men's COYs:
Kenny Thorne, Georgia Tech 2011
Peter Smith, USC 2010*
Ty Tucker, Ohio State 2009
Brian Boland, Virginia 2008
Manuel Diaz, Georgia 2007*
Adam Steinberg, Pepperdine 2006*
Matt Knoll, Baylor 2005
Ron Smarr, Rice 2004
Craig Tiley, Illinois 2003*
Dick Leach, USC 2002*
Manuel Diaz, Georgia 2001*
Dick Gould, Stanford 2000*
Women's COYs:
Roland Thornqvist, Florida 2011*
Brian Kalbas, North Carolina 2010
Jeff Wallace, Georgia 2009
Claire Pollard, Northwestern 2008
Bryan Shelton, Georgia Tech 2007*
Jay Louderback, Notre Dame 2006
Mark Guilbeau, Kentucky 2005
Patty McCain, Washington 2004
Lele Forood, Stanford 2003
Brian Fleishman, Wake Forest 2002
Mike and Sonia Patrick, Tennesseee 2001
Jeff Wallace, Georgia 2000*
*won NCAA title that year
For those of you who missed the announcement of the National Assistant Coaches of the Year, Bob McKinley of Texas A&M and Sara Anundsen of North Carolina were the 2011 winners.
NCAA champion Jana Juricova of Cal was today announced as the winner of the Honda Sports Award for tennis. For more on that honor, see the Cal website.
Juricova and Steve Johnson of USC finished at the top of the final singles rankings, with JP Smith and Boris Conkic ending at No. 1 in the men's doubles, despite failing to win any of the three collegiate majors. Texas A&M's Jeff Dadamo and Austin Krajiek, who won the USTA/ITA Indoor and the NCAAs, finished second in the rankings. Alex Domijan's first round loss at the NCAAs knocked him from No. 2 to No. 4 in singles, with Virginia's Michael Shabaz finishing No. 2 and Rhyne Williams of Tennessee No. 3.
NCAA champions Hilary Barte and Mallory Burdette of Stanford finished atop the women's doubles rankings, with Cal's Mari Andersson and Juricova finishing second. Barte finished No. 2 in singles, followed by Maria Sanchez of USC and Allie Will of Florida.
The complete final rankings can be found at the ITA website.
Next January seems like a very long time from now, but today was the men's draft for the ITA Indoor Kickoff Weekend, which is scheduled for the last weekend of January 2012. Both the men's and women's 2012 Team Indoor Championships will hosted by the University of Virginia on two consecutive February weekends. All of the top 15 men's teams elected to host (Virginia doesn't need to, since they get in automatically). The lowest ranked team to get in the draw was Purdue, at No. 64. Arizona, Idaho and Drake, all eligible ranking-wise, elected not to participate. See the ITA website for who will be going where. The women's draft is Thursday.
5 comments:
Colette,
Vcu did not Pass they are in the Duke Region.
@tennis lover
Thanks. Corrected. I did a search on Virginia and didn't find them, then didn't look closely enough for the alternative.
Texas A&M and Georgia Tech are going to be a shell of themselves next season. I dont expect either to be a Top25 team, maybe not even Top30, yet they get to host.
USC has a joke of a region.
Why cant the NCAA Tournament have draws like this? Look at how much traveling a lot of these regionals have. They are making South Florida & UNC-Wilmington fly across the country to play in Los Angeles. I dont have a problem with this, I just wish that if it isnt going to be an issue here why it has to be one in May for the tournament that truly matters.
I still love this format though!
I have heard that the rules for the NCAA field will be different next year. The earliest teams from the same conference can meet will be the round of 16 not the round of 32. More travel for the first two rounds will result.
Others must agree about GT next year. The first three schools all picked Atlanta as a destination.
Austin, no body is making anybody fly across the country. The ITA conducted a draft in which teams picking in order of their ranking select which of the 15 sites where they would like to play. If my memory is correct the first three teams choosing all picked to go to Georgia Tech. Of course very few teams wanted to go to USC, so that explains the weak field at USC. Although a lot of the schools were anxious to take Tech on they were not so anxious to go to Texas A & M, so they must have something. The NCAA has nothing to do with this draw.
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