Quality of tennis players in D-I vs. Other Levels
 

Kinda cool that we've got a subforum, so I have to take advantage of posting a new topic in here :p

But I was kinda curious, obviously in all college sports, you've got the best athletes represented in Division I, and then it goes down a bit as you go down in divisions. Are there/have there been any instances where, for example, a D-II player would be among the elite of D-I? I'm assuming there's not an easy way to settle this since it would be hard to compare, but maybe there's a popular example or something

Re: Quality of tennis players in D-I vs. Other Levels
 

#1 D2 player would probably get crushed by the #125 D1 player. However, D2 & D3 do have some competitive players at good schools such as Johns Hopkins and NYU and others. Some of their recruits could get a D-1 scholarship if they really wanted to.

Re: Quality of tennis players in D-I vs. Other Levels
 

Figured...

Re: Quality of tennis players in D-I vs. Other Levels
 

Also the NAIA has some pretty strong teams. Auburn-Montgomery could beat some division 1 teams. Their best player Doumbia transfered and will be playing for Georgia this year. He will probably make their top 6

Re: Quality of tennis players in D-I vs. Other Levels
 

MSU's Jonprey Delepeirre has had some outstanding matches too

Re: Quality of tennis players in D-I vs. Other Levels
 

Division 3 teams like Emory, Middlebury, Amherst could beat MANY D-1 schools

Re: Quality of tennis players in D-I vs. Other Levels
 

There are exceptions to this. For example, a few years ago the top player in D2 was a guy that came to the states with an ATP ranking in the 600's. He was plenty good enough to be a very high level D1 player. Sometimes it's easier to slip a guy through at a D2 or NAIA school that may have "questionable" eligibility status.

Re: Quality of tennis players in D-I vs. Other Levels
 

Wesley Moodie played NAIA, Eric Butorac played D3, so there are a lot of great players in all divisions.
I know several guys in NAIA, who had a few ATP points.
But obviously D1 tennis is stronger.
Still I would not agree that no. 125 player in D1 would beat top 10 D2 or NAIA player.
The guy who is now no.125 in D1 never had any atp points, but most of top d2 and naia players had a few of them.

Re: Quality of tennis players in D-I vs. Other Levels
 

One d2 player who could be a top 50 D1 player is Eudaldo Bonet of Armstrong Atlantic. He beat Hernus Pieters of UGA 6-1 6-1 and Ignacio Taboada of UGA 6-2 6-1.