Men’s tennis coach Billy Martin’s intense, uninhibited concentration on the television screen in his office Wednesday signified one thing.
No, he wasn’t watching Baywatch.
In fact, the men’s tennis NCAA Championship draw was announced live Wednesday on ESPNews.
UCLA (20-3) was granted the sixth seed in the tournament. Martin was expecting to be seeded fifth, but he wasn’t all that disappointed.
“I don’t think it’s a horrible draw by any means,” Martin said.
Assuming UCLA gets past lowly Wichita State and either USC or UCSB in the regional round – which UCLA hosts at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on May 10-11 – the Bruins will meet No. 11 Minnesota (20-5) in the first round at Athens, Georgia.
And then if they get to the quarterfinals, they will likely meet No. 3 Florida, who beat UCLA 4-1 during the National Indoor Championships in February.
“We would be eager to play Florida again,” said junior Tobias Clemens. “We want to prove that we are really the better team.”
“We just played so horribly against Florida,” Martin added.
But Martin’s main reason for satisfaction, despite the unexpectedly low seed, is that the Bruins avoid powerhouses No. 2 Baylor (25-1) and No. 1 Illinois (26-0) until the semifinals and finals, respectively, if they get that far.
“I’ve always thought Illinois and Baylor are the two teams you have to beat to win the championship,” Martin said. “But it’s good we don’t have to beat both just to get to the finals.”
Pac-10 champion Stanford (21-3) was given the fifth seed, with Cal (18-4), who finished third in the conference behind both Stanford and UCLA, getting the fourth seed.
“For Cal to be ahead of Stanford is a real shocker,” Martin said.