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Coach Brad Dancer will lead the Fighting Illini men's tennis team into post-season play this Friday afternoon when they host Xavier in NCAA Tournament opening-round action. The appearance is Illinois' 15th consecutive in the championship event. Dancer will be in the chat room this Wednesday, May 12, starting at 1:30 p.m. CT. Send in your questions today!
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| Moderator: Hey fans! Brad is here and ready to chat! You can continue submitting questions throughout the chat. |
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| Bill (Urbana): Hey coach, good luck this weekend. What are some key factors needed to advance to another Sweet 16 and how much of an impact does playing at home have? |
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Brad Dancer: Bill, I think we've got to come out and play with constant pressure on opponents - that's been a key to our succesful matches all year. Our guys are in good match condition so when they play hard all the way through, we have at times worn down opponents. |
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| Joe (Chicago): What happened with Jean Andersen? I see he's at Texas now, was there an admissions issue here? Thanks, Joe |
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Brad Dancer: Joe, Certainly one of the most frustrating issues I've dealt with in coaching in that Jean had his heart set on being an Illini for a number of years. He's bled orange since we first started recruiting him years ago. In 12 months time we couldn't get him through admissions, but Texas got him in on a faxed transcript and he was the Big 10 tourney MVP - needless to say, frustrating circumstances. |
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| Lisa (Rantoul): What has been your favorite moment from this season up to this point? |
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Brad Dancer: I've had a lot of favorite moments, but to be honest our second match of the season when we lost five first sets to VT, then came back to win all those second sets - I thought that was the first indication of how this team wanted to respond to situations - they have carried that with them all year |
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| Bob (Champaign): Who would you rather see in the second round, having already played both Wisconsin and Notre Dame this season? |
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Brad Dancer: Bob, first we need to get past Xavier, then we'd be happy to play either team -lots of respect for the talent on both squads - it might depend whether or not the match is inside or out in terms of prefernences |
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| Alex (Peoria): Coach, congrats on hosting a regional again this year. Two questions: how do you feel nevolo is playing right now? It seems like when he plays well your team does better. Second question being how does recruiting look for 2010 and even for 2011? |
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Brad Dancer: Alex, Dennis is doing better everyday - I think he will find his form somewhere in the next few weeks (would be great this weekend), but he has worked very hard this year - maybe is a little confused with his gamestyle at the moment - forcing some things when they aren't there, but certainly not for lack of effort. As for recruiting, we are working diligently trying to add someone to the 2010 class with the loss of Andersen. For 2011, we've hit the recruiting road hard and feel like we are in a good position with a number of prospects. |
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| Lance (Indy): Looks like you may see Ohio State again in the Sweet 16. What's it going to take to finally get past those Buckeyes? |
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Brad Dancer: Lance, the buckeyes are very good - extremely talented team. If we get that opportunity I think everyone on our squad would love another shot at them. Having said that, we really need to believe and trust in our games vs. them - we have a tendency maybe to make a bigger deal out of it (playing for Big 10 title almost every match with them) so if we can keep things in perspective I feel we give ourselves a better shot. |
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| Tim Board (Kirishima, Japan): I've read in many places that a lot of people have been amazed with what you have done with the team this year. Has there been anything you have tried differently this year to get the results you have achieved? And good luck in the NCAA! |
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Brad Dancer: Tim, I feel a lot of people are patting the coaching staff on the back for a great job this year. I've got to be honest - we've had tremendous leadership from our squad - Souza & Czerwinski and others have taken a great lead role in providing a super model for our others to follow. Also, coach Asse and coach Denenberg are great sounding boards to bounce ideas off of - I think we've got excellent chemistry, combined with driven S/A's - that makes the coaching a lot easier |
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| Fox (Champaign): What are the chances that KU will be able to play come sweet sixteen time? The 6 spot is looking a bit weak with the Big Ten final performance. |
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Brad Dancer: Fox - unfortunately KU is being penalized an entire year by the NCAA - so he will not be eligible until January, 2011. We could use him now, but I also feel confident in our 6 spot - Bruno & Connor are 19-14 on the year, which isn't outstanding, but it's included wins vs. Duke, Texas A & M, Michigan twice, etc. so I feel Connor had one bad match, but has responded with some strong practices since then. |
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| Tucker (Winnetka): What ever happened to Meedo? He seems to have fell off the face of the Earth? |
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Brad Dancer: Tucker, Meedo had shoulder surgery and has not been able to recover fully to play - tough luck for Meedo and the team, but the good news for him is that he will graduate this weekend with an accounting degree - |
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| Blake Esker (Charleston): Brad,
When are tryouts? I'm ready to suit up! |
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Brad Dancer: Blake - I've got a special spot reserved for you - 5:00 a.m. Monday morning |
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| Sue (Detroit, MI): How do you feel the Detroit Lions did in the 2010 draft? Are they headed for a winning season? Good Luck in the NCAA Championship Tournament! |
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Brad Dancer: Sue, everyone knows the Lions will break out of this mini-slump and return to the glory of past - like what they did in the draft - like Stafford - feeling good about the Lions in the twenty teens |
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| Eric (C-U): Congratulations and good luck, Coach. How have you and the players liked the new courts and environment so close to the softball (and accompanying music and noise). Along those lines, what's next in terms of a grandstand court and/or clay courts? |
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Brad Dancer: Eric, the courts play great - very true bounce which every player likes. noise from softball, etc? give us more distractions! I feel like we can focus through those things really well - it's a strength of this team |
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| Bette (Champaign): Congrats on another appearance in the NCAA's. I just found out that Marc Spicijaric is a coach at Duke. Is that your first former player to become a coach? |
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Brad Dancer: Bette, Marc is our first from my era at Illinois to get into coaching, but I've had others form previous institutions. I think you'll see some more in the coming years out of these past few squads. Also GD Jones has had some great success already coaching his sister Sacha as well as Kevin Anderson on Kev's recent strong run. |
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| Justin (Urbana): There seem to be more foreign players coming to the program now. Is this a continuation of the downward slide of American tennis? |
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Brad Dancer: Justin, I've got a lot of belief in American players, especially some local ones - we'll continue to recruit them very hard, but if that doesn't pan out then sometimes it makes more sense to bring in someone who really wants to be at Illinois |
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| KO: Coach, congrats on the job you have done so far this season and best of luck in the postseason. What are your thoughts on the ncaa allowing so many same conference match ups in the post season? Do you think top 16 team should atomatically host? |
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Brad Dancer: KO, NCAA mandates that conferences cannot play in the first round - after that it is fair game. Obviously the regionalization is becoming the priority - there is minimal travel for first and second rounds - the feedback we get is that we don't have a voice in this matter - it's about cost reduction. As for top 16 - I do believe that represents a season's worth of work and is a great reward for the effort. |
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| Ryan (Moline): How important is it to have players strive to be all americans on your team? |
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Brad Dancer: It's always one of our top priorities and it's been so frustrating the past few years where we have been 'this close' to getting Gonzales, Heiser, Nevolo, Kalmanovich - all right there to putting banners up - I think we have the opportunity to sneak some more up there this year |
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| Byron (Monticello): What happened to your Detroit Pistons this year? |
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Brad Dancer: Joe Dumars is one of my heroes, but to this day I have no idea how you trade Chauncy for Iverson |
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| Lendl (C): Coach - despite a strong overall record, the team was 1-4 in matches decided by one point (4-3). What do you attribute that to, and is that a concern of yours heading into the tourney? |
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Brad Dancer: Lendl, I've got to be honest - I didn't know this stat until you brought it up - we've also won some tight ones that maybe we snuck it up to 5 points - those matches we've lost 4-3 we've had chances - I'm a big believer in putting yourself in position enough to get victories and they will come |
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| Moderator: Brad had to run, but thanks for all your great questions! Be sure to come support the Illini this weekend as they take on Xavier on Friday at 3 p.m. in the first round of the NCAA Championships. |
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