After watching the Texas Cup match last night at Westside Tennis Center I came away with several observations and thoughts...

- the current format of this match needs some work. Playing 4-5 singles, then the doubles and then putting on the 1-3 singles is a long haul. I watched tennis from 4:30 till almost 10:15. Its to long a time for fans and few remained at the end.

- Texas is the better team right now. More talented and mature. ATM competed well in the doubles and Texas didnt. Other than that Texas is clearly better at 5 of 6 positions.


-Mid term forsh are not the best choice to recover and maintain momentum from a banner previous year. While very talented both Lester Cook and the kid from Croatia showed why this rivalry match is made for the experienced and not for the novice at dual match play. Both of them lost to more mature and emotionially prepared senior players. As a side note this also works both ways. Jarin Scube played what I consider the best tennis I have seen him play in beating Drew Hoskins who is in a similar situation as a freshman.

- I read that cass said that newport/from and scube need to give leadership. Jarrin held up his end of the deal. From and Newport are talented players but both are visable out of shape and Keith shows signs of court rust. Both ran out of gas in their matches and were clearly tired. This is not usually the case.Conditioning?

-Finally, for those who want to write off the Texas Cup being a similar thing to last season ....forget it. A year ago you played without two starters. Texas is a much different team and I look forward to the rematch in Austin.
Also, as a comment to close...It is curious to me as to why From and Scube played 3 and 4 singles. They are both seniors and are the heart of the team as guys that have been around. Scube is also your best doubles player why does he play with a frosh at two. Why is it that cass decided to play a raw, never earned nothing mid term freshman at one doubles and two singles? Makes you wonder...doesnt it?

By the way I forgot to mention that the match as a whole was well played and while there were close calls both ways it seemed that none of them caused anyone to gain a serious advantage. The match was very competitive and gives promise of an even better rematch in Austin.

I can't say I'm surprised at the result. Simon is the best player on either squad and a potential top 10 player when healthy. The transfer from KU who plays at 2 for you is also a mature talented player. For us to win From needs to play well and our number 4 has to pick it up. The two frosh will be much better when tournament time comes. We are very lucky that the tournament has been switched to College Station. We might lose to the Horns again in Austin but win it all in College Station with the homecourt advantage. It should be a 3 way race with UT and Baylor. Regardless, there will be lots of good competitive tennis to watch.

sa68ag...

In some ways cass is paying the price for not retaining players. If your line-up contained Tres Davis, Nathan Price and Stephen Moros the rebuilding process would of been seemless. This is not to say that it was possible to retain those players but having the leave the program reguardless of why they did is irrelevent.

Baylor is playing with a pro line-up made of guys that have atp points in significant numbers and do not belong in college tennis. Matt Knoll is a guy that will do anything to win.His team is still on NCAA probation for scholarship violations and now this. Brazen is an understatment. However he will get his...those kinds always do.

Hey PocketWhorn first of all, let me say you are about the 500th person to reference "11" to my age. Congrats on being original!!! You sir posted the flame I posted nearly fact I know the truth is hard to handle. Have a NIce Day whorn.

RocketHorn,

Your arrogance is beginning to annoy me. I'll give you that your boys won this time, but I don't quite like your analysis of our team. Yes we are young, but these freshman that you seem to think can't handle the pressure will only improve as the season progresses. I'll be there watching and supporting them all year, and then I'll be there in Austin in April...ready to get our revenge for the Texas Cup just like last year.

Also, why no response to me last time on the Duke thread? You challenged my knowledge and I countered with facts, then you had nothing else to say. Guess you realized I was right after all?

Rocket: I sure agree on the format thing. If number six had to go to three sets we would have been there until 11:30, which would have been a disaster. Congratulations to your guys. They played well, and as I said earlier, they are clearly better than they were last year. Seeing them in person only reinforces that view. Our team is young and the coaches are still playing around with the line-up. I am not sure about the conditioning question. If they are out of shape, they should get in better shape in a hurry because there is a lot of tennis to be played.I think our team has a lot of upside potential. Last years team was a well known commodity, with really only Tres being a new addition (although Nate played some meaningful matches early in the season). I really like Lester Cook. He is playing very high in the lineup, but I think the coaches want him to see the best players possible, and believe he is mature enough to handle some of the rough days which surely will follow for playing that high in the order.

aggiedoc2003....

As for my arrogance, well we have won a lot for many years and I know when I see a good team. I made no pretense a year ago concerning that we were in the same league with atm after the route in bcs in conference play. As for my assesment of your team it is based upon watching them on Friday night. Did you happen to attend? If not then you know nothing about what I said. As for your Duke reference I am still considering your claims. Not sure I am ready to concede. I will get back to you. And do take my evaluations so seriously they are just my opinions. We are a better team right now...you will have your chance again..thats the great thing about college athletics...the next cycle is right around the corner...



Raven...I know you guys want to win but I think it is easy to lose a match and go home early than to possible lose one late and get home the next day. As it was we got back to Austin around 1:30. I agree with you concerning cook. He is very talented and if he stays around he will be a fine player. However, I am sure you agree that having players come in and out of the program and not stay for the full time hurts continuity and success on a stable track. Guys like Madden and Caradema and Cody H paid the price and stuck it out and recieve a deserved reward as seniors. I understand that cook is on the fast track and will stay at most two years. He and Tres Davis before him need and needed to play college tennis for four years. I visited with Steve Bryan who played at Texas in the early 90s and won the NCAA singles title as a sophmore and came out and went pro. He just finished his degree and everyone at UT is proud and happy that he did. However, the patern of guys that come out early and quit is staggering. Just recieved word that Brandon Hawk has decided to retire after one year on the tour. He would of been a senior this spring. Can you imagine Hawk in our current lineup and davis and the others in yours. It would make for strong teams. and great competition. It will be interesting this spring...I hope by the time you come to austin it is warm and great weather proper setting for a rematch and a chance to once again guage where we are as teams. rocket

Rocket you knowledge of tennis is painful!!! You proably play once a week in 50+ leauge and because of this you think you know something.... Please save us all your pathetic t-sip logic
You sir are an idiot!!!!

aggie 11...I can see you are in some kind of pain and I hope you get to feeling better soon. Mean while I will just try to muddle through.

You mean dress like a player, not be a player, yet sit on the bench with the players and catch a ride back home with the players??

Oh well, congrats on the win. I'm glad Texas has restored the rivalry. Looking forward to the match in Austin.

Agten...lets play sometimes...send me an email and we can set it up. And another thing. What rivalry? Even an aggie can understand that when you win less than ten matches over thirty years vs Texas there is no rivalry.

[This message has been edited by Rocket/Horn (edited 2/18/2002).]

RH
Why do you think so many players are going pro early when realistictly they have little to no chance of success ? De La Mesa and Davis for us and Hawk for you really didn't show anything collegiately to indicate immediate or even long term success. WHen NCAA champions have a hard time cracking the top 200 in the world, what makes these kids some of whom aren't even playing number 1 in their own programs much lees dominating in NCAA play think they are making a good choice to go pro ? Who is advising them ? I know Cass certainly is upfront with kids about their chances. Interested in your thoughts ?

sa68ag....

I have thought about that for some time and believe that the problem lies a little with the player...some with the recruiting coach and all the rest with the parents.

When junior player who is a stud agrees to go to college but be on the "fast track" it starts a process that always fails. What I mean is this. Most kids that dont turn pro before college rarely ever make it as a pro at the highest level. In the case of DeMesa he had a nice game but as a smaller player didnt have a big enough game to compete aganist bigger players on the pro tour..much the same as it will be with tres davis. Both of them should of stayed around and gotten an education for free and then give it a go. Tres especially is limited . It is well documented on the college scene that his father was obsessed with tres being a pro and has a very unrealistic expectation that is fairly common with some tennis parents. Both of these guys will be out of the game in a few short years. It really is a shame. As for Brandon I am very disappointed that he didnt hang around. He is now out of the game after only one year. Injury is a big contributor but I suspect there might have been other things. Who knows..this would of been his senior season at Texas. In his case he has some nice results mostly in doubles.Brandon has some great parents who I like and respect and I know he got proper guidence before he left Texas. However none of these guys were huge winners on the college level. My feeling is that a kids should only leave college tennis if he wins the ncaa singles championship. A number of years ago
Chad Clark was ranked number 1 for most of the year however once he made the decision to leave Texas after his junior year was over he was never the same player. Truth is its like when you give your notice at a job....you are never the same while you are there.

As for the college coaches they know going in that the kids are likly to leave whenever they get the chance. So if the coaches recruit them and they leave then they pretty much get what they expected. However I have yet to have met any college coach that isnt very disappointed when the leaves for the pros. I expect the trend to continue. Coaches looking for a big hitter are willing to take the risk. And of course there is always the chance they get to campus and want to stay four years...as rare is it might be