Tennis Atlantic

Tennis Atlantic’s 2016 @ITA College Tennis Conference Power Rankings
Jeff McMillan, Tennis Atlantic

 

With the first ITA computer rankings of the year being released this week, I figured it was time to break out my own Conference Power Formula Rankings again. It is the same as last year except for a slight adjustment that punishes conferences less for having unranked teams. The rankings of every team are taken to determine how many points they add to the conference’s overall total which is then divided by the number of teams in each conference. The lower the score the better.

The point totals look like this:

#1: -25

#2: -21

#3: -18

#4: -15

#5: -12

#6: -10

#7: -8

#8: -6

#9: -4

#10: -2

#11: 0

#12: 2

#13: 4

#14: 6

#15: 8

#16: 10

17-75 same as ranking

Unranked team: 85

So as you can see. The point totals reward top 10 teams with negative numbers and reward top 16 teams. Below the top 16, the numbers are self-explanatory. Without further ado, here are the conference rankings based on overall strength.

 

 

1. Big 12

6 Texas Tech, 8 TCU, 9 Oklahoma State, 10 Oklahoma, 26 Texas, 34 Baylor

Score: 6.33

Once again this formula puts the Big 12 firmly at the top thanks to having no teams ranked lower than 34. No weak links at all in Big 12

2. Pac 12

4 UCLA, 12 Cal, 13 USC, 20 Oregon, 29 Stanford, 31 Washington, 53 Utah, Arizona

Score: 26.13

Pac 12 comes in 2^nd thanks to teams like Oregon and Washington jumping up the rankings. Having only 1 unranked team helps the Pac 12 as well, as does having 3 top 16 teams.

3. SEC

7 Texas A&M, 16 Georgia, 18 Kentucky, 19 Ole Miss, 37 LSU, 41 Florida, 42 Mississippi State, 45 Vanderbilt, 48 Auburn, 51 Arkansas, 56 Tennessee, 61 South Carolina, Alabama

Score: 38.84

The SEC is helped by having only 1 unranked team out of 13. The gap from 19 to 37 prevents them a bit from moving up any further.

 

4. Big Ten

3 Ohio State, 11 Illinois, 15 Northwestern, 21 Penn State, 28 Michigan, 36 Wisconsin, 39 Purdue, 43 Iowa, 64 Indiana, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska

Score: 41.33

Having 3 unranked teams hurts the Big Ten, however having 8 teams within the top 43 is a boost.

5. ACC

1 North Carolina, 2 Virginia, 5 Wake Forest, 25 NC State, 35 Florida State, 46 Virginia Tech, 47 Notre Dame, 54 Duke, 57 Georgia Tech, Miami, Clemson, Boston College, Louisville

Score: 42

This is the most interesting score to see. The ACC has 3 top 5 teams and yet still finishes last among the power 5 conferences. This is due to the gap from 5 to NC State at 25 and also only having 5 teams within the top 45. 5 unranked teams does not help either.

Non power 5 conferences with more than 2 ranked teams

6. American

14 USF, 17 Memphis, 22 Tulsa, 33 Tulane, 60 SMU, 4 unranked teams

Score: 53.11

Strong score for the American. If not for the few schools who do not even give tennis scholarships in the league (UCONN) the American would threaten to overtake a power 5 league.

7. Ivy League

23 Columbia, 32 Harvard, 38 Dartmouth, 52 Princeton, 59 Penn, 68 Cornell, Brown, Yale

Score: 55.25

Good score for the Ivy League puts them solidly in 7^th. Not having a team in the top 16 hurts their chances of moving up.

8. Big West

27 UC Santa Barbara, 49 UC Davis, 62 UC Irvine, 3 unranked

Score: 65.5

8^th is about the best the Big West can hope for. Pretty good league this year indeed.

9. Conference USA

30 Rice, 50 MTSU, 55 Old Dominion, 5 unranked

Score: 70

5 unranked teams hurts the CUSA, but overall still a pretty competitive league this year.

10. West Coast

24 San Diego, 58 BYU, 70 Pacific, 72 Santa Clara, 72 Portland, 5 unranked

Score: 72.1

Having 5 ranked teams is phenomenal for the Big West and it gives good unranked teams like Loyola Marymount the chance to get ranked wins as the season progresses.

 

Conferences with only 1 or 2 ranked teams 

11. Missouri Valley

44 Drake, 71 Wichita State, 5 unranked

Score: 77.14

12. Summit League

40 Denver, 5 unranked

Score: 77.5

 

13. Mountain West

65 San Diego State, 67 Boise State, 6 unranked

Score: 80.25

 

14. Sun Belt

63 Georgia State, 75 South Alabama, 5 unranked

Score: 80.29

 

15. Southland

66 Abilene Christian, 5 unranked

Score 81.83

 

16. MAC

69 Western Michigan, 5 unranked

Score: 82.33

 

17. Atlantic Sun

75 North Florida, 6 unranked

Score: 83.57

Conferences with no ranked teams and therefore the score of 85:

Atlantic 10, Big East, Big Sky, Big South, Colonial, Horizon, MAAC, MEAC, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Southern, SWAC, Patriot, WAC