We do have the new Russian player Max who started school in January and is getting meaningful time on the court. He clinched the match against Tennessee on line 5. We also have a new player from France who is enrolled and practicing with the team, and I am told he will challenge for playing time at the top of the order. Time will tell, I suppose.

I wonder if the French guy is cleared to play? He's not listed on the roster.

I believe its all clear...was told he would be good to go next year.

Don't want to get into the hard Denton bashing here, but I do happen to agree with the majority of the criticism. Some of the wording might be bit harsh however. A new point that I have is no one has mentioned Behzad Minavi. Behzad had better results than Szabo and appears better than Max Lunkin. Behzad quit the team for scholarship reasons I was told. Max Lunkin I am sure as an international is on a pretty decent scholarship. If the French guy is really a top player he must be on a very good scholarship and he isn't eligible to play and he is eating up a scholarship sitting on the sidelines. There is also another international on the team that I would assume is on a scholarship or he would go somewhere else to be on a scholarship if he isn't on one here and he is also not on the roster. My point is, that is three internationals that are not helping this year's team due to the fact that Lunkin isn't any better than Behzad and the other two are not even on the roster. Someone please explain the seemingly waste of scholarship money!

quote:

---

Don't want to get into the hard Denton bashing here, but I do happen to agree with the majority of the criticism. Some of the wording might be bit harsh however. A new point that I have is no one has mentioned Behzad Minavi. Behzad had better results than Szabo and appears better than Max Lunkin. Behzad quit the team for scholarship reasons I was told. Max Lunkin I am sure as an international is on a pretty decent scholarship. If the French guy is really a top player he must be on a very good scholarship and he isn't eligible to play and he is eating up a scholarship sitting on the sidelines. There is also another international on the team that I would assume is on a scholarship or he would go somewhere else to be on a scholarship if he isn't on one here and he is also not on the roster. My point is, that is three internationals that are not helping this year's team due to the fact that Lunkin isn't any better than Behzad and the other two are not even on the roster. Someone please explain the seemingly waste of scholarship money!

---

While I understand your concern, that is a lot of conjecture and assumptions. Say what you say is all true, I'm not really sure what the answer is but I do trust that these guys know what they are doing.

I honestly think that we have one of the best one-two punches in the nation when in regards to coaching.

How can you say we have one of the best one two punches in the nation? Maybe they are the best one two punch that could write a book that you would read in a library on how to play tennis 101, but to say they are one of the best combos in the nation for college tennis is one of the main reasons I get some pissed off on the men's forums. That statement is so beyond laughable when you compare it to say Virginia, USC, UCLA just to mention a few. They have been here close to ten years and half never made a significant run at the NCAA tournament. Not even close!!!!!

It is amazing how defensive people get on here with just the simplest of questions. I believe my question is a very common sense question. The men get 4 and a half scholarships. They have 4 internationals on the team. It is very expensive for an international to come to school here so they must be on some form of scholarship unless they suck and nobody else wanted them. Here is the simple math. There are four internationals on the team. One plays #6 singles, one plays #7 singles. They both would most likely be out of the lineup if Behzad Minavi didn't quit the team. And finally, there are two more internationals that are sitting on the bench and not even on the roster for no other reason than they must be ineligible especially if the French Guy is a top player like you say. Pleases someone answer this question other than we have the best two coaches in the nation!

I would guess the reason is that no one on this board knows the scholarship breakdown for mens tennis. I know years ago when Tim was here, it moved around a lot semester to semester. I would guess its still that way, but really don't know. Its just not something that I ever hear discussed.

Simple answer is Denton and or Denton/McKinley have done well with American recruits and awful with international recruits. Simple enough? I don't think McKinley does much of the recruiting so I don't think you can blame him for it if he is not doing the recruiting.

I have no answers, but trying to build a tier 1 program with only 4.5 scholarships has to be tricky. Adams, Vinsant, Efferding, Ore, and Withrow were all blue chippers coming out of High School. And them you add 2-3 internationals to the mix and another blue chipper next Fall? Its almost like you've got to recruit the best players who are also wealthy and don't need the $ or players who are smart enough to get academic $? Theres just not enough full rides to go around...

Jett Cash is a walk on I'm pretty sure. Minavi would probably not have played above Szabo or Lunkin.

[This message has been edited by tennisaggie (edited 2/18/2014 2:47p).]

There is no doubt that trying to juggle 4.5 scholorships among 7 or 8 guys is a major challenge. One thing we have going for us is this team really gets along well, and they genuinely pull for each other, even when they are not on the court...this chemistry probably helps the coaches as they divide the pie...As I posted earlier, you never hear it discussed, which I take as a good sign, because if there was a lot of grumbling, you would hear about it.

Next year Junior will have used up his eligibility and we are bringing in AJ Catanzariti, who is originally from Pennsylvania, but trains in Maryland. Hopefully he and the French player can offset the loss of Junior in the linup, especially in doubles.

I agree. The big positive in this team is how well they get along,. The three juniors, Withrow, Szabo and Efferding seem to be strong leaders, and I have heard they have a great work ethic which is good for the others. Scholarships are usually based on more than winning week to week.

[This message has been edited by tennisaggie (edited 2/18/2014 4:32p).]

Don't forget that Denton had Krueger and Ward-Hibbert committed to A&M before they decided to go pro instead (both poor decisions). Think about how much better the team would be right now with Krueger at 1 and Ward Hibbert around 3-4.

The rememberance of it is grevious unto me....or something out of the Book of Common Prayers...we have been close on a number of top players...being close does not get you anything, but we have finally won a couple of those tough recruiting battles.

quote:

---

Don't forget that Denton had Krueger and Ward-Hibbert committed to A&M before they decided to go pro instead (both poor decisions). Think about how much better the team would be right now with Krueger at 1 and Ward Hibbert around 3-4.

---

That is ridiculous to even say thing because it isn't even possible. If Mitchell Krueger and Ward Hibbert were on the team, there wouldn't have been any money to steal Harrison Adams from t.u. and also wouldn't have been any money for Shane Vinsant and you could probably add another current scholarship player to that list.

Shane was going to be here regardless. He and Mitchell were doubles partners in juniors

Perhaps that is true, but the point that I was trying to make is still correct. Adams for sure wouldn't be here because there wouldn't have been any money. I was merely using Vinsant as an example. There wouldn't have been enough money for all those players.

Adams may not have been here but he wasn't going to end up at Texas

Adams was committed to t.u. I have some family friends whose nephew is on their team and let's just say that the horns were none too happy about him giving his word to t.u. And then changing to A&M after he verbally committed there.