Towards the end of last year's thread I put up lists of men and women currently at Div 1 schools and at the end of each list I put those who have finished their eligibility and those who have disappeared from their college rosters prior to completion of their 4 Years.  Any coming on the tour will come from these lists.  I think Farris, Tiffany William, Lloyd G, and Dylan Gee (only completed one year) are the ones with the stated aim of the tour, but I guess we might well see others dipping their toes into the water.

Added a few extra names to the list on P1 and also highlighted a few who are starting next month as opposed to the coming autumn.

Knowing a player's Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) might help better demonstrate the level of play gap between U.S. College Tennis and top players. The following is a listing of the top 20 rated British players in college, as of December 18, 2015: 

Name	UTR	Division	College	Conference
CAMERON NORRIE ALEX SENDEGEYA JORDAN ANGUS SAMM BUTLER RYAN PENISTON ANDREW WATSON SEBASTIAN REY JULIAN CASH MAX ANDREWS TOMMY BENNETT THOMAS COLAUTTI BEN LOTT JACK FINDEL-HAWKINS JAI CORBETT CALLUM POLAND-SMITH JOSEF DODRIDGE SIMON PRITCHARD TOBY MITCHELL LUKE JOHNSON JAMIE MALIK	14.72 14.13 14.05 13.87 13.87 13.72 13.67 13.67 13.51 13.48 13.42 13.42 13.41 13.36 13.35 13.28 13.26 13.21 13.17 12.93	NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NJCAA NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I	Texas Christian University Texas Tech University University of San Diego Southern Methodist University University of Memphis University of Memphis Tulane University Oklahoma State University University of Miami (Florida) Rice University Princeton University Drake University University of North Florida Virginia Tech ASA College University of Wisconsin Kennesaw State University Boise State University Clemson University Rice University	Big 12 Conference Big 12 Conference West Coast Conference American Athletic Conference American Athletic Conference American Athletic Conference American Athletic Conference Big 12 Conference Atlantic Coast Conference Conference USA Ivy League Missouri Valley Conference Atlantic Sun Conference Atlantic Coast Conference Region 15 Big Ten Conference Atlantic Sun Conference Mountain West Conference Atlantic Coast Conference Conference USA

Here are the top 20 rated British players, according to Universal Tennis as of December 18, 2015: 

Name	UTR	College
ANDY MURRAY KYLE EDMUND DANIEL EVANS ALJAZ BEDENE ALEXANDER WARD BRYDAN KLEIN JAMES WARD SEAN THORNLEY TOM FARQUHARSON CAMERON NORRIE LIAM BROADY NEIL PAUFFLEY LLOYD GLASSPOOL EVAN HOYT DANIEL SMETHURST MARCUS WILLIS DANIEL COX SIMON DICKSON JOSHUA MILTON JOE SALISBURY	16.05 15.42 15.42 15.22 14.95 14.91 14.86 14.79 14.79 14.72 14.69 14.67 14.6 14.57 14.57 14.55 14.53 14.5 14.48 14.47	Texas Christian University     University of Texas

Additional player ratings are available at www.universaltennis.com

A comment on the relative strengths of the different conferences in ladies college tennis and the strength of the best players bit historical as I did it in october but not much has changed although Eliz Maloney will have improved! 

Looking at the most recent rankings, the top 100 is dominated by four conferences the PAC 12, ACC, SEC and Big 12

In terms of base lining the level of the top 20 players ie the best players you would be tested against at the national championship finals their mean junior combined rank is 370.55 (ie Eliz Maloney (10/8/2000) is playing at the average standard these girls played at at their peak as a junior) range 9-1621


What do good American players think of college tennis?
There are 9 foreign players in the top 20.
5 players had junior ranks under 100, only 1 is an American (and only just 99!)

Who would you get to hit with day in day out, one college Stanford has 3 players in the top 20, (4 in 100), Florida 2(5), Virginia 3 (3), Cal 2(5), Miami 2(4), vandy 2(5), UNC 1(2), USC1(4), Texas AM 1(3), Georgia (6). Really these would be the places you would want to be if you had serious aspirations of pursuing a professional singles career after college.

There are 2 Ivy League players in the top 100 ranked 67 and 98, average junior rank 1,534. One from Dartmouth the other at Harvard.
So the drop off in talent level outside the top 4 conferences is very steep. So the rest of the division 1 colleges are pretty irrelevant if you want to go pro and have a decent core group to train with of the same sex. 

There is one real standout player presently ranked 1 with junior CH of 9 she is Canadian and at Stanford so probably opted to put a Stanford degree in the bank although only 19 if she wants to play pro should quit and go now, McEnroe (J) did just that. There are two other girls who ranked at a similar level to Emily at their peak in world juniors (27) both overseas and from the eastern block

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Friday 18th of December 2015 06:45:51 PM

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Friday 14th of April 2017 10:06:40 PM

The Optimist wrote:

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Are you able to post a similar comparison between the UK's top 20 professional female players and the top 20 British female college players?

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Top 20 rated women in U.S. College Tennis, as of December 18, 2015: 

Name	UTR	College	Division	Conference	Country
DANIELLE ROSE COLLINS FRANCESCA DILORENZO BROOKE AUSTIN JULIA ELBABA JASMINE LEE STEPHANIE WAGNER SINEAD LOHAN JOANA EIDUKONYTE BELINDA WOOL**** MAEGAN MANASSE CATHERINE HARRISON CAROL ZHAO LUISA STEFANI ELLEN PEREZ HAYLEY CARTER FRANCES ALTICK KAITLYN MCCARTHY KLARA FABIKOVA KIAH GENERETTE BEATRICE CAPRA	12.21 12.05 11.99 11.95 11.9 11.89 11.87 11.81 11.72 11.71 11.7 11.68 11.67 11.66 11.66 11.64 11.59 11.53 11.49 11.47	University of Virginia Ohio State University University of Florida University of Virginia Mississippi State University University of Miami (Florida) University of Miami (Florida) Clemson University University of Florida University of California UCLA Stanford University Pepperdine University University of Georgia University of North Carolina Vanderbilt University Duke University University of California Baylor University Duke University	NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I	Atlantic Coast Conference Big Ten Conference Southeastern Conference Atlantic Coast Conference Southeastern Conference Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic Coast Conference Southeastern Conference Pac-12 Conference Pac-12 Conference Pac-12 Conference West Coast Conference Southeastern Conference Atlantic Coast Conference Southeastern Conference Atlantic Coast Conference Pac-12 Conference Big 12 Conference Atlantic Coast Conference	United States United States United States United States Chinese Taipei Germany Ireland Lithuania Australia United States United States Canada Brazil Australia United States United States United States Czech Republic United States United States

 

Top 20 rated British women in U.S. College Tennis, as of December 18, 2015: 

Name	UTR	College	Division	Conference
DANEIKA BORTHWICK SABRINA FEDERICI ELLA TAYLOR ALICIA BARNETT EMILY SMITH ELIZABETH THOMS JENNIFER BROWN SOPHIE WATTS BRIGIT FOLLAND ALANNAH GRIFFIN GEORGINA SELLYN LOLADE OGUNGBESAN JENNIFER REN KATHRYN HUGHES EMMA DEVINE REBECCA SMALLER EMMA WILSON KATARINA WEYMOUTH ANNA WOOSLEY ZOE DOUGLAS	10.89 10.56 10.5 10.42 10.33 10.23 10.09 10.09 10.08 9.97 9.97 9.97 9.81 9.68 9.56 9.52 9.42 9.41 9.41 9.31	Florida State University Texas Tech University Lsu Northwestern University Rice University University of Texas at Arlington Mississippi State University Fresno State University University of South Carolina Auburn University Vanderbilt University University of Pittsburgh Boston College University of Memphis University of Oklahoma Duke University Fresno State University Furman University University of Massachusetts, Amherst University of Iowa	NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I NCAA - I	Atlantic Coast Conference Big 12 Conference Southeastern Conference Big Ten Conference Conference USA Sun Belt Conference Southeastern Conference Mountain West Conference Southeastern Conference Southeastern Conference Southeastern Conference Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic Coast Conference American Athletic Conference Big 12 Conference Atlantic Coast Conference Mountain West Conference Southern Conference Atlantic 10 Conference Big Ten Conference

 

Top 20 rated British women, as of December 18, 2015: 

Name	UTR	College
JOHANNA KONTA NAOMI BROADY HEATHER WATSON AMANDA CARRERAS KATY DUNNE KATIE SWAN NATALIE BEAZANT TARA MOORE FREYA CHRISTIE EDEN SILVA LISA WHYBOURN EMILY ARBUTHNOTT GABRIELLA PATRICIA TAYLOR ANNA BROGAN LAURA ROBSON MAIA LUMSDEN NAOMI CAVADAY ALI COLLINS MIRABELLE NJOZE OLIVIA NICHOLLS	12.93 12.52 12.43 12.01 11.73 11.69 11.64 11.64 11.57 11.43 11.41 11.37 11.25 11.24 11.24 11.2 11.19 11.08 11.02 11.02	Rice University

Additional player ratings are available at www.universaltennis.com

Indie that's right if Jamie were a girl he would be perfectly matched with Jo, the flaw being his ranking is a product of playing men and hers women. What you need is the Universal Tennis intersex constant which adjusts for the difference in power and agility between the sexes.

Yes, looking at the rankings for the GB players - about whom I have some sense - rather than just seeing them for university players - about whom generally I have little or no sense - suggested some potential areas of weakness. There were a few positive oddities, such as Mr Thornley's position. But also, it felt as if the rankings didn't fully take into account something - big match potential? consistency? I'm not sure what it is. But Aljaz Bedene felt way too low: there's a reason why he's ranked higher than Mr Edmund and Mr Evans, though both of the latter have huge potential upside. James Ward also felt too low: there's a reason why he's on the Davis Cup team, and I just don't believe a ranking system that says that he's only slightly better than Tom Farquharson (that's nothing against Mr Farquharson, but their results aren't comparable). The women's looked more reasonable, but as noted above, the placement of Ms Watson and Ms Broady felt a little off.

As with all ranking systems, in other words, interesting, potentially helpful, but not necessarily perfect. I just hope that when it's being used to determine funding decisions, people don't take it as 100% accurate.