Big 12 Men’s Preview and another reason I should be the commisioner of college tennis

I should be sleeping, but I haven’t done a whole lot of that lately. Too many irons in the fire.

Before I start some bland discussion about how the Baylor men will again win the Big 12 Tournament, I wanted to throw out a proposal that just would suit the fans. Let’s face it, Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and possibly Texas Tech will be heading to the tournament in a few weeks. I am not sure Oklahoma will make it, but they are close. They really need a win over Texas to get there (which will likely not happen) and may just get in anyways.

So my proposal is this – let’s go back to a flighted tournament. How freaking great would that be? The #1 singles draw would be amazing. You have to give Lukacs the bye. That puts Pollock and Nedovyesov on the other half of the draw. I mean that is a nasty draw with Kutrovsky, Carvalho, Daescu and either Benheim or Aumueller in the last spot from Nebraska. For fun, you make Lukacs play Brugues from Tulsa, since he’s in the neighborhood, for practice on Friday while everyone else has a match.

It would look something like this:
Lukacs
Bye
Kutrovsky
Daescu
Pollock
Carvalho
Benheim
Nedoryesov

The #2 singles draw would be great too with Rux, Krajicek, Corrie, Markovoc, Byrnes and whoever Nebraska threw in of Benheim or Aumueller. That would be awesome. You could work all the way down to #6 with some great draws.

The only thing that would make it better would be to combine the draws. Put the 1’s and 2’s together, the 3’s and 4’s together and 5’s and 6’s together. You then give Lukacs and Nedoryesov byes and have a 16-draw starting on Thursday. I am not sure how you seed that though.

1. Lukacs
2. Nedoryesov
3. Pollock
4. Kutrovsky

Where do you put Rux and Krajicek or even Aumueller who had a great year at #2 and most consider Nebraska’s best player?

I could go on and on and spew about the 3-4 draw with Spencer, Damico, Mueller, Bley…

Ok, back to reality.

There are a few stories here. Texas and Texas A&M are trying to stay in the top-16 so they can host. UT really needs a few wins to help themselves out. The Aggies figure they can get out of the first round and stay at home for the duration, but I am sure they would like a second win over Texas to validate their success. Like I said above, OU probably needs a win to feel good.

Friday
Oklahoma State over Texas Tech (The Red Raiders could pull of the upset and help their chances, but unless OSU is still hurting from the ass kicking they got in Waco Sunday, I don’t see it. Wait, can you even say ass kicking in Waco?)
Texas A&M over Nebraska (The Aggies are playing for too much to let this get away. I also saw how young – read immature – the Cornhuskers were last weekend. They are very talented, but are not experienced enough yet.)
Texas over OU (I am guessing the OU fans will be tough, but the Longhorns are just better)

Semifinals
Baylor over OSU – again, but I am guessing they win a line or two this go around
Texas A&M over Texas – This pains me, but the Horns will really need to pick their game up a notch to have a chance. Again, UT has to get the doubles point at 2-3 to start off well. They will also need big matches all around. I have not seen to lineups they had to submit tonight, but something like Damico back at #2 wouldn’t surprise me.

Championship
Baylor over Texas A&M – The Aggies are not there yet, especially at the bottom of their lineup – unless of course Baylor plays their seniors: John Arvesen, David Galic, Justin Luningham and Chase McVicker. Sorry, just can’t leave that alone.

MEN
Friday, April 24
9 AM
#4 Oklahoma State vs. #5 Texas Tech

Noon
#2 Texas A&M vs. #7 Nebraska

3 PM
#3 Texas vs. #6 Oklahoma

Saturday, April 25
Noon
#1 Baylor vs. M1 winner
M2 winner vs. M3 winner

Sunday, April 26
1 p.m. semifinal #1 winner vs. semifinal #2 winner