FLIGHT A
Sonterra Select (8-1) seem to be the team to beat in this flight. They appear to have found an automatic win in the singles line up with Christian Beyer, a 4.5 bump down. He has dominated the 4.0 and has only 1 loss in 4.5. Shawn Connolly's team has dominated this flight and only loss of the season was to.....Boerne 4.0.. Playoff Bound - 100%
Boerne 4.0 (8-2) also seems to be in the drivers seat for a playoff spot. They control their own destiny with 2 winnable matches left on their schedule. This team continues to impress with only 10 players on their roster and I'm thinking none of them under 40 years of age. They do NOT have one guaranteed win like Sontera Select but they will find a way to win. This is a real team effort. Hats off to Captain Derek Clow for moving players around to maximize their strengths. Playoff Bound - 95%
FLIGHT B
Fair Oak Raiders (10-1) have put a 4.5 team at 4.0 level. You ask how could this be, please explain?? Okay, this team has at least 8 players that were bumped down from 4.5 at some point. They have been able to flex their muscle when needed also by adding high quality 4.0 players to compliment their already heavy line up. Gregory Mabrito has dominated all opponents at the #1 singles spot. This team is the favorite due to their depth and experience. Playoff Bound - 100%
Oak Hill Clubbers (6-4) control their playoff birth with 2 matches remaining. On paper, this team has all the players to dominate but unfortunately, your best player are not always available. Scot Kablesh, Ricky Nunez and the Gonzalez brothers will need to be available for the next 2 matches in order for this team to advance. Playoff Bound - 60%
Alamo Heights Diaballicals (6-5) have a slim chance to make it into the playoffs. Their last match of the season will be against Oak Hill Clubbers this weekend 5/5/2012. David Mellot has done a great job getting to this point without any super stars. Let's see if the Court Warrior can motivate his team this weekend for an upset and bring up their % to make the playoffs. Playoff Bound - 30%
Shavano Park Worrich (5-5) could sneak up and still find a playoff spot if all the stars aligned right. Another team with a lot of talent but unable to field them all at the same time. Scott Worrich and Ken Flores are some of the top singles players in the league. They also have the talent to put together some strong doubles teams as well. What needs to happen for this team to make the playoffs?? Help from the other teams plus dominate the last 2 matches 10-0. Playoff Bound 20%
FLIGHT C
The Borg (10-0) seem to have put together a pretty solid roster this season. What do you expect when Captain Vic Quintanilla is involved.? This team has dominated this flight but the question is, who are their top players?? A quick look at the tournament rankings may answer this question. Every week the line ups change and the players you would expect to play are not available. This team may be undefeated simply by chance. Their strength is in doubles as they do not have a dominant singles stand out player. Playoff Bound - 100%
Sontera Rojo (7-3) plays Greentree this weekend for what could be the last playoff spot. Walter Leeman always seems to find the right combination to win matches. David Trang and Stephen Ison have come through in singles when a win was needed. Not a lot of stars on this team but it's filled with quality players up and down the roster. Playoff Bound - 70%
Greentree (6-4) can NOT afford to lose any more matches if they want to make the playoffs. Can the winner this Fall bring it's best players this weekend?? Greentree has the talent to play against any team but again they are not always available. The surprise for the team so far has been Carey Calvert with a winning record against some top singles players in the league. Playoff Bound - 30%
I hope I was able to do every team justice in my evaluations. The recurring theme this season seemed to be really good players couldn't always be available. If your best players were always available, would the playoff teams still look the same?? Please let me know if I missed anything.
I will try to handicap the playoffs once the draws are out for the 19th and 20th for further discussion and opinions.
Prepared by Lob Master
My comment is on the Borg team. Yeah, that Quintanilla is a sly one. About your comment that "Every week the line ups change and the players you would expect to play are not available"; I think that it doesn't have to so much with availability of the players, as much as the fact that they have 20 guys on the roster! With that many players surely you are not going to get who you expect to play every weekend. If they are "undefeated simply by chance" then I'm gonna have one of the Borg captains pick my lottery numbers because "chance" happening 10 times is the type of lottery winning luck I need.
ReplyDeleteThis is well thought out evaluation Lob Master. I would like to see how that Fair Oaks Raiders team would do against some of the 4.5 teams in the league now. There are some pretty good players and teams this season. I see why the Raiders are the favorites to win it all. Does any team have the talent or depth to beat this team or will everyone else just be playing for 2nd??
ReplyDeleteLooking at the playoff teams, the only team that might challenge this Fair Oaks Raiders team would be Sontera Select because of their singles guys. Looks like doubles would be pretty even. The two singles guys each team brings would be interesting to watch. The Raiders might just be to strong and deep for everyone. Just my opinion.
DeleteYou must comply. Strength is irrelevant! Negotiation is irrelevant. Freedom is irrelevant. Self determination is irrelevant. You will be assimilated. Resistance Is Futile!!
ReplyDeleteWe Are The Borg Collective
you sound more like a trailer to a prison porn show
DeleteWe are the Borg!! Nuff said!!
DeleteGo Raiders!
ReplyDeleteDKM says -- good, honest, accurate assessment. Keep up the fine work.
ReplyDeleteThe playoff picture is almost complete.
ReplyDeleteFlight A
Sontera Select & Boerne 4.0 should represent this fight.
Flight B
Fair Oak Raiders & Oak Hills Clubbers should start working on their playoff roster.
Flight C
The Borg is in but who's the other team? Will know tomorrow, maybe? If Rojo loses, now it will come down to match, sets and game count. Score is 2-2 with the swing match on tonight a Greentreen.
Greentree wins!!
DeleteReally?
DeleteNo love for Select on the survey......I figured someone from their own team would at least vote for them.
ReplyDeletePlayoff picture is now clear without any unexpected surprises this coming weekend?
ReplyDeleteFlight winners - Fair Oaks Raiders, Sontera Select and The Borg.
Wild cards - Oak Hill Clubbers, Boerne 4.0 and Sontera Rojo.
Now let's talk about the favorites for the playoffs. Based on the voting poll, Fair Oaks Raiders and The Borg seem to be the early favorites. Anyone feel any different? What match ups would you like to see happen?
I would like to see a true pairing by seed in the playoffs. Although I know that teams did not play teams from other flights, I would like for the league to seed the teams 1-6 based on record. Top half would have a Bye for #1 seed and play the winner of the #4-#5 match up. Bottom half would have a Bye for #2 seed and have them play the winner of the #3-#6 match up. Then a final with the two remaining teams. I don't like when the league does its "random" pairings for the playoffs; because sometimes you have the best two teams playing each other in the first round.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. This is way to easy and makes to much since for those in charge of such things to follow.
DeleteLobs R Us, what you suggest is commonly done in sports anytime there is a playoff. The league unfortunately does random drawing which is difficult to justify or understand why playoff draws are done this way. Does anyone know why the league has adopted the random drawing method? Just trying to see the logic of random draws.
ReplyDeleteIF WE HAD A SEEDED PLAYOFF: To borrow a phrase from TV sports broadcasters, "If the playoffs started today these are the match-ups we would have"
Delete(1)Borg would play the winner of (4)Boerne and (5)Rojo.
(2)Raiders would play the winner of (3)Select and (6)Oak Hills.
Lobs R Us has made some pretty good suggestions. Lobs r Us, do you want to play some time? Regular or mixed doubles, my racquet swings both ways :)
DeleteWith the top two playoff spots in each flight now confirmed. Here is what the playoff brackets would look like if they seeded the teams according to regular season records.
ReplyDelete(1)Borg would play the winner of (4)Boerne and (5)Oak Hills.
(2)Raiders would play the winner of (3)Select and (6)Rojo.
And the beauty of this seeded playoff bracket; no teams from the same flight would face each other unless it was in the finals (Isn't that how we find out what the toughest flight really was?).
It actually looks like Select would have been the #2 seed since they had an identicle record but won one more match than Fair Oaks. Anyways it sounds like the playoff drawing was a sight to behold. Nothing but happy players and captains were there to support the way they voted regarding playoff format. There is just no croom for rudeness.
ReplyDeleteThe #1 seed is Fair Oaks (team with the worst record out of top three) Borg are #2 seed. Finally, Select (#2 by numbers) gets crapped on and goes to a coin toss. Sounds like another great job voting on a playoff format that is compltely stupid. Good luck next year........
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DeleteGreat pun there Anonymous! That was funny or should I say, "punny".
DeleteFunny how people were were lobbing for Sontera Select for a seed but might not get past their 1st round. If they are good enough to beat everyone, why would it matter what seed they drew?? I'm just saying.
DeleteI have to say that Rod Croom had a different agenda during the seeding and was a TOTAL SHIT at the wrong place and time for personal issues. Rod Croom just needs to get his head out of his ass before he speaks because only SHIT seems to come out BOTH ends!! Mmmmmm I feel better and hope he reads this or someone let's him know.