Anybody close to the program have some insight?
The men seem to have done really well this fall and I'm looking forward to a return to the levels of the Cass teams.

What about the women? BK doesn't seem to have brought in the big gun he needed. What happened to the Mexican girl? Is she coming in January?

I think she is coming in the spring. Funny how she didnt pass the test that A&M wanted her to pass, even though it is not required by NCAA clearinghouse. Luckily, I dont think she went anywhere else, even though she got offers.

Any idea if the guys got their big guns?

the guys have 2 commitments so far.

alberto bautista, from mcallen, was from last year's class but he took some time off. his most recent recruiting ranking was #2 in texas, top 25 in the u.s (5 star, but ranked higher than a few blue chips). he's a grinder, but can be very explosive, and is a very fiery guy on the court. he has wins over chen, camillone, and whitehead, ut's 3 texas recruits for this year.

the "big gun" so far is artem ilyushin, a russian guy who has been training in california for a while. he is currently the #7 college tennis recruit in the nation, and has been ranked as high as top 140 in the world itf. he is legit.

so far these are just verbals, posted on tennisrecruiting.net, and there are no NLIs signed yet. probably waiting on clearinghouse, toefl scores, etc, and acceptance into a&m.

there are still some very high profile recruits in the running for january, but we may not know about them for sure until the first day of class in the spring.

If they get those guys in, they'll be ready to make a move to the top ten again.

and with one of the top 3 facilities in the country we should be no less then top 10

ever..

well i would say that is simplifying it a bit (ok, a LOT), but the aggie men are definitely poised to return to "perenial powerhouse" status in the next few years.

Are Ilyushin and Bautista coming in January or are they for next fall?

january

Hopefully Artem Ilyushin is good enough to play 4. Our top 3 can match up with anybody in the country. I like Chirico a lot better as a 5 or 6 than as a 4. I think Klores and Hoover have a chance to be pretty good players in the future, but I would not feel too comfortable with them at 5 & 6 this year. I'm assuming Baustista is at a similar level to Klores so the same goes for him. So, if Ilyushin can play a solid 4, I think we have a chance to get back to top 10 level this year. That is assuming we can come up with solid combinations at 2 and 3 doubles.

We will need better coaching to reach the Top 10.

McKinley has a long track record of developing players and Denton certainly has experience at the highest levels. I'm not worried about the coaching at all.

quote:

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We will need better coaching to reach the top 10.

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please tell me you are joking.

nope

Wow. Ok, who would you rather have?

I'm curious as to why you think coaching is an issue. Recruiting? Player development?

recruiting is the biggest aspect, in my opinion. luckily, the aggies have a strong enough tennis tradition, a solid education, and very good facilities. add to that the fact that we have two of the most respected coaches in u.s. tennis (and not just in college tennis...the whole sport), that makes recruiting an obvious strength of the program right now.

MOST tennis players develop their games more from 14-17 than from 18-21, especially on the girls side. obviously, guys will finally grow into their bodies and get much stronger at the end of high school/beginning of college, but their strokes, game style, strategies/tactics, are already established by the time they get to college. in football, you can switch a guy from qb to wr or lb to cb when they hit campus. in tennis, there's no way you can switch a guy from grinder to serve and volleyer (or vice versa) without wasting at least one year of his best tennis making the adjustment. that's why you have to recruit potential all-americans, as-is, because the chance that you are going to develop one from a 3 star are slim to none.

for what it's worth, if anyone out there can develop a diamond in the rough, it's bob mckinley. and steve denton is the best tennis player to ever come out of the state of texas. so as long as those two guys are in charge, with the players they want, a&m has a legit chance to contend with virginia, illinois, georgia, baylor, texas, ole miss, etc. every year.

Camden Creek - I agree with your assessment 100%.

I second that! If you are having to "coach up" your players in men's D1 tennis you are in trouble. It is all about the recruiting. If we can get Jarmere Jenkins in the spring signing period, that would make 2 straight years of signing 2 of the top 6 guys in the nation. I would consider that oustanding recruiting.

I disagree. There is plenty to coaching 18-21 year olds. Not necessarily from a physical aspect, but mentally.

I have no opinion one way or the other on Denton/McKinley ability to coach (its early), but they seem to be doing a good job with recruiting.

for sure, there is a ton of coaching that goes on. college coaches still feed tons of balls and work on the most basic aspects of the game every day. but, for the most part, it is just fine-tuning, some doubles strategy, and, like you said, mental/motivational stuff.

recruiting certainly doesn't take up as much time as actual "coaching," but i still think that it is the most important aspect of college tennis coach's job.

There is no question that you coach "better" when you have great players. Look for some positive developments on the recruiting trail over the holidays.

Great recruiting and bad coaching ALWAYS beats great coaching and bad recruiting...in college tennis, at least.

Anything new on these recruits?

Lots of activity. Hopefully we will get an official announcement in the next few days.

some changes over the last month, but if everything falls into place, this could be the best team in a long time.

"some changes" - does that mean the two players listed above are changing? Or just some additional?

Thanks.

Russian and Frenchman are on the team. Frenchman arrived last night

Thanks for the heads up. Do you have any info on them? Is the Russian the one mentioned earlier in the thread?

Alexi from Russia, Alexis from France

there were some changes and some additions, but i'll wait until it's all official to say anything more.

Well Alexi and Alexis are living with another of the guys on the team, whom I hung out with last night, so I would say thats pretty official. Frenchman is in town as of last night.

like i said, i'm just gonna wait until it's ALL official until i say anything else.

Alexis Benyahia?

gotcha camden, hope theres more to come.


I am still trying to figure out who you are, by the way

Official yet?