After watching the 2022 NCAA Tennis Championships selection show, a notable omission from both the men’s and women’s tournaments was Illinois, the school that will be serving as hosts of the competition.

Now, there is a selection process established that makes clear who gets to take part in the NCAA Championships and who doesn’t. However, in reality, this procedure does not allow the actual best 64 teams in the nation to compete against each other. 31 conferences from around the nation receive automatic qualifiers, as this lets a larger variety of teams into the tournament. Stronger conferences, like the Big Ten, which have multiple high-caliber teams, are then forced to exclude tournament-worthy teams such as Illinois.

Simply put, the NCAA isn’t rewarding the top teams in the country but is instead rewarding teams with lower strength schedules.

For example, in men’s tennis, Illinois finished with a 14-14 overall record. This isn’t impressive by any means. However, their strength of schedule was ridiculous. The Illini came up against ranked teams regularly, including at the time No. 1 TCU, No. 1 Florida, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Baylor, No. 6 Michigan, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 22 Oklahoma, No. 20 Michigan and No. 22 UNC. The Illini’s victories against these incredibly difficult opponents cannot be understated, and their losses to them must be considered. Illinois’ 14-14 record was one that didn’t accurately reflect the true strength and potential of the team.

Let’s take a look at one of Illinois’ opponents who will be participating in the NCAA Championships. The team swept Fairleigh Dickinson 4-0 back in March, yet the Knights are in and the Illini are not. Additionally, Fairleigh Dickinson had a losing season, going 7-11 overall in the regular season. How did a team like the Knights get selected? They won their much weaker conference and, as a result, were automatic qualifiers coming out of the NEC.

While Illinois would have provided much stronger competition in the NCAA Championships, the selection process sees teams like Fairleigh Dickinson featured instead. In fact, after the first weekend of NCAA Championship play, the Knights lost 4-0 to the Virginia Cavaliers and are now out. While Virginia is a top-tier program with a lot of rich history, Fairleigh Dickinson did not win a single set. Virginia might as well have had a first-round bye.

Now, let’s look at Illinois women’s tennis and its snub from the tournament.

Despite having a strong, winning season, the Illini were excluded from this year’s NCAA Championships while many other questionable schools made it in. A prime example of this is the inclusion of Quinnipiac, who made it in as the automatic qualifier out of the MAAC. The Bobcats had a 13-8 overall record this season and provide another shining instance of why the NCAA Championships are not actually including the 64 best teams in the nation.

Illinois deserved a spot in the Championships over Quinnipiac and would have put up a much tougher fight in the tournament. The Illini finished the regular season 15-8, which many can argue on the surface is not much better of a record. Fair enough. Let’s take a look at the strength of opponents for both team’s schedules.

As a member of the Big Ten, Illinois took on a much higher caliber of opponents in conference play alone. However, conference strength aside, Illinois’ schedule this season included matches against ranked opponents like No. 11 Baylor, No. 18 Florida State, No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 23 Michigan. Quinnipiac played zero ranked opponents in the regular season.

The one common opponent between Illinois and Quinnipiac was Harvard. How did these matches go?

Final score: Illinois 7, Harvard 0.
Final score: Quinnipiac 0, Harvard 7.

And yet, it is the Bobcats who are going dancing while the Illini will watch from home. So, how did Quinnipiac do? The Bobcats lost 4-0 to the Duke Blue Devils without winning a set on the day. Another example of a first round that might as well have been a bye.

The teams with weaker schedules and weaker conferences have an easier shot of making it to the national stage over teams who are higher level than them. In both men’s and women’s tennis, the Illini have watched as smaller teams received invitations despite not proving they were worthy. Fairleigh Dickinson and Quinnipiac are only two of numerous shining examples.

Additionally, the point that the NCAA Championships do not consist of the 64 best teams in the nation can be highlighted by the ITA rankings. The ITA officially ranks the top 75 teams in the country over the course of the season, and factors such as strength of schedules are considered. This is how, for example, 14-14 Illinois men’s tennis came in at No. 51 in the most recent rankings and UC Santa Barbara came in at No. 57 despite a 17-6 record. The caliber of opponents is vitally important to keep in mind.

Both Illinois men’s (No. 51) and women’s (No. 53) teams were ranked within the top 64 in the most recent ITA listings. If the NCAA Championships were focused on having the strongest teams in the nation, the Illini would’ve featured in both tournaments.

@james_kim15

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