The March 18th CTO/MDTA Division 1 Men’s Coaches Poll is out and the Oklahoma Sooners (14-1) are at #1 for the 3rd poll in a row. Over the past week and a half Oklahoma ended Ohio State’s epic NCAA record 200-match home court-winning streak and defeated Virginia in Norman. Starting on Friday the Sooners will begin play in Indian Wells, California at the BNP Paribas Collegiate Challenge. They open up with Purdue on Friday, then play the winner of the California/Columbia match, and if they win that last one would likely meet either Baylor or USC in the finals. The following weekend after that Oklahoma opens up Big 12 play and welcomes both TCU and Texas to Norman.
POLL RESULTS: CTO/MDTA | ITA RANKINGS
Baylor (12-2) comes in at #2 after picking up wins over TCU, Memphis, and Ole Miss in the last 2 weeks. The Bears are in Indian Wells as well this week where they will open up with BYU, then will face the winner of the USC/Tulsa match, and could possibly meet Oklahoma in the finals if they win out.
Illinois (15-3) comes in at #3 after picking up 2 big road wins last weekend at Texas and Texas A&M before dropping one at TCU. The Illini are off this week and will return to action the following weekend as they host both Penn State and Ohio State.
USC (12-2) is at #4 this week after knocking off rival UCLA 4-1 last weekend. The Trojans will be in Indian Wells this weekend and will get a shot at avenging its earlier defeat to Tulsa. If they beat Tulsa they’ll most likely face Baylor and then potentially Oklahoma in the finals if they both win out. The following weekend they open Pac 12 play by hosting both Oregon and Washington.
Georgia (13-2) comes in at #5 after running its winning streak to 7 by picking up a pair of road wins last week against Tennessee and Kentucky. The Bulldogs host East Tennessee State on Thursday and South Carolina this coming Sunday then welcome in Vanderbilt a week from Friday.
Virginia (10-3), Texas (13-2), Duke (14-2), Texas A&M (9-3), and North Carolina (14-5) come in at 6-10. Ohio State (13-6), Ole Miss (10-4), UCLA (8-6), TCU (11-5), and Wake Forest (11-4) are 11-15. Tulsa (12-7), Northwestern (12-5), Vanderbilt (13-5), Florida (8-5), and South Florida (12-4) are 16-20. Columbia (6-3), Cal (9-4), LSU (13-3), Texas Tech (15-4), and Notre Dame (8-6) round out the final 5 spots.
Also receiving votes but not garnering enough to make this week’s Top 25 are Minnesota, Oklahoma State, Harvard, San Diego, and Mississippi State.
The MDTA (Men’s Division 1 Tennis Association) was formed 2013 to provide a forum for Men’s D1 Coaches to discuss issues that are unique and special to Division 1 Men’s Tennis; for more information about the MDTA you can visit their website at
www.mensdivisiononetennis.org . All Division I Men’s Head Coaches and Assistant Coaches are eligible to vote in the poll.