Editor's Note: The following is a survey of the current college tennis landscape provided by former Waco Tribune-Herald sports editor, Kim Gorum. Baylor will host the NCAA Championships for the first time, May 14-25, 2015, at the Hurd Tennis Center. This bi-weekly series is meant to give the Central Texas community a look at what to expect when the nation's top teams come to Waco.

Compile a list of the biggest winners at the quarter mark of the 2015 college tennis season, and the Big 12 is No. 1 with a bullet, both individually and collectively.

It starts with Oklahoma, which this week established itself as the early favorite to win the NCAA Tournament in Waco this spring by rolling through an elite field to claim its first ITA National Team Indoor Championship at Chicago's Midtown Athletic Club.

The Sooners avenged last year's 4-2 loss to Southern California in the NCAA title match by rallying from a break down on two courts to win the doubles point, then holding off a late rally in singles to beat the top-seeded Trojans by the same score.

"For our program, it's massive," OU coach John Roddick told itatennis.com. "Just to say that we're national champions, just to put those two words together is a huge thing for any program, especially ours coming from where we did. To know that we belong and that we can win these kinds of tournaments, it's great to get over that hump."

Big 12 rival Baylor also made a statement in Chicago, upsetting sixth-seeded Duke (4-1) and perennial tournament favorite Virginia (4-3) before giving OU its stiffest test of the weekend. Down a set and two breaks against Mate Zsiga, Sooner sophomore Alex Ghilvea broke the BU All-American's serve three straight times to save the set and eventually the match, clinching a 4-2 victory in the semifinals.

Despite the missed opportunity, Baylor coach Matt Knoll took the glass-half-full view after his team's first Indoor semifinal since winning the tournament in 2005.

"Well, I felt like we were one of the best teams in the country, and now I don't have to sell anybody on it," he said. "We're in the mix. As a coach or a player, to be in the middle of February and know that you can achieve something special certainly sends you into practice with a little bit of zip in your step."

Texas and TCU, which made the Big 12 the only league with four teams in the main draw, both lost their first-round matches. But the Longhorns whipped their two backdraw opponents, and the Frogs, ranked 37th nationally last month before stunning Texas A&M in the Indoor qualifier, pushed Duke to the brink and challenged UCLA as well in their first Indoor appearance since 2001, when they lost to the Bruins in the semifinals.

Though they didn't make the field in Chicago, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech have taken some early-season pelts as well. The Cowboys lost a squeaker to No. 16 Notre Dame and upset No. 17 Tennessee in the Indoor qualifier, while the Red Raiders beat No. 21 Mississippi State and pushed then-No. 4 UCLA to three sets on four courts in a 4-1 loss.

With four teams in the Top 20 (No. 1 OU, No. 5 BU, No. 10 Texas and No. 18 TCU), plus OSU at 32 and Tech at 38, the Big 12 has a chance to put all its teams in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in its 19-year history.

"The days when you lose a league match and your ranking drops 10 spots because that team was ranked 50th are over," Knoll said. "You can lose to Oklahoma all day long and you're not going to drop an inch."

Big 12 women also gaining ground

Unlike their male counterparts, the Big 12 women's programs can't make much of a case for being an elite league. They don't have the depth. the commitment or the history of the Pac-12, ACC and SEC, which have produced 31 of the last 33 NCAA champions (Texas won in 1993 and '95).

But the Big 12's days as a two- or occasionally three-contender league are numbered, if the last month is any indication. Then-No. 41 TCU announced its arrival with a stunning 4-2 takedown of No. 11 Texas A&M in the ITA Women's Indoor qualifier in College State. And Oklahoma State sent No. 18 Georgia Tech unpacking with a 4-2 upset in Atlanta to earn its first trip to the Women's Indoor in Charlottesville, Va.

Both teams added to their resumes in the tournament. TCU upset fourth seed Duke, 4-3, in the opening round before dropping a 4-1 decision to No. 5 California, while Oklahoma State lost to eventual champion North Carolina (5-1) and No. 6 Alabama (4-0), but bounced back to upset No. 12 Vanderbilt in the backdraw, 4-1.

It was a pleasant surprise for the league to put two teams in the draw with defending champion Baylor sitting out and both Texas and Tech Tech eliminated in the qualifers.The Cowgirls and Frogs got a boost in the ITA rankings to 13th and 17th, respectively, behind only No. 6 Baylor among league members and ahead of both Tech (25) and Texas (30).

But the emergence of TCU and OSU wasn't even the best news out of the tournament for the Bears (10-0), whose ranking tends to flatten out every year about the time conference play begins in earnest. With Georgia reaching the tournament finals and Virginia posting two wins over ranked teams, the Bears' season-opening W's against the Bulldogs (4-3) and Cavaliers (6-1) will be gifts that keep on giving. Not to mention the wins posted by Clemson and future BU opponents Michigan, Vanderbilt, UCLA and Miami. Like compound interest, early-season victories figure to pay off handsomely for coach Joey Scrivano's team down the road.

If the NCAAs began today ...
Here's how the men's and women's draws would be seeded:

MEN: 1. Oklahoma, 2. Southern Cal, 3. Georgia, 4. Baylor, 5. Virginia, 6. Illinois, 7. Duke, 8. North Carolina, 9. Ohio State, 10. Texas, 11. Columbia, 12. UCLA, 13. Texas A&M, 14. California, 15, Mississippi, 16. Florida.
In the above scenario, the Bears could face the Aggies in a Round of 16 Battle of the Brazos. Good times!

WOMEN: 1. North Carolina, 2. Florida, 3. Georgia, 4. UCLA, 5. California, 6. Baylor, 7. Virginia, 8. Miami, 9. Alabama, 10 Stanford, 11. Southern Cal, 12. Oklahoma State, 13. Vanderbilt, 14. Michigan, 15. Clemson, 16. Duke.
Baylor has played USC only three times. The last was a 4-3 upset win over the No. 10 Trojans in Los Angeles in 2014.

Who's hot

-- Dane Webb, Oklahoma: The senior co-captain from Richardson, Tex., was the first man off the court three times in four matches, sparking the Sooners to wins over Ole Miss, Baylor and top-ranked Southern Cal en route to the ITA Team Indoor title. Webb, a two-time all-American ranked 31st in singles, remained unbeaten in dual-match play with a 8-0 mark at No. 3 singles and 9-0 at No. 1 doubles with partner Axel Alvarez Llamas.

-- Ema Burgic, Baylor: After a season in which she was good but never quite herself after off-season shoulder surgery, the senior from Bosnia and Herzogovina is proving she's regained her Big 12 Player of the Year form of 2013 -- and maybe surpassed it. Burgic improved to 7-0 in dual matches last week with a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 23 Joana Eidukonyte of Clemson, and is 3-0 against players ranked in the ITA Top 25. Just as impressive, she hasn't dropped a set since a 7-6, 7-5 loss to former WTA Top 10 player Nicole Vaidasova in an ITF Pro Circuit qualifier last October in New Braunfels. Now up to No. 19 in ITA singles after playing a reduced fall schedule, Burgic puts her streak on the line this week against Michigan's No. 17 Emina Bektas and Vanderbilt's No. 15 Sydney Campbell.

Who's not

In the last decade, the Southeastern Conference has averaged more teams in the ITA Men's Team Indoor draw -- 4.3, to be precise -- than any other league has sent in any single year. "It's weird to me not to have eight teams there from the SEC," said Baylor coach Matt Knoll. "Seems like they've made up half the draw perennially." With a record 12 schools competing on Kickoff Weekend, they could have filled up the bracket again. But 10th-ranked Texas A&M, No. 13 Florida and No. 19 Kentucky all lost on their home courts, and No. 17 Tennessee dropped a winnable play-in against Columbia, leaving the SEC with only two teams in Chicago -- No. 8 Georgia and No. 32 Mississippi. The Bulldogs lost in the semifinals to top seed Southern Cal, 4-1, and this week are the league's only team among the ITA's top 12 -- a first in recent memory.

Upset of the week

Baylor senior Tony Lupieri, playing a Top 10 player for the first time in his career, outlasted No. 1-ranked Thai-Son Kwiatkowski of Virginia, 6-4, 7-6 (10), to spark the Bears' 4-3 upset of No. 3 Virginia in the ITA Team Indoor quarterfinals. Playing at No. 3 singles, the native of Zagreb, Croatia, saved two set points in the tiebreaker and set the stage for teammate Mate Zsiga's clinching win moments later to end 11th-seeded BU's seven-match losing streak against the Cavaliers.

"He's a great player," coach Matt Knoll said of Lupieri, who is 5-2 this spring and rose to a career-best 27th this month in the ITA singles rankings. "He's a senior, he's been through these big matches, and he's playing a lot better. He was more coachable in this tournament than he's ever been in his career, which shows a lot of maturity and his commitment to us being better as a team."

The highest-ranked player Lupieri had beaten previously was No. 15 Shane Vinsant of Texas A&M, 6-4, 6-3, in the round of 16 at the USTA/ITA Regional Championships last October. He is the first BU men's player to beat college tennis' No. 1 player since Julian Lenz stopped UCLA's Clay Thompson, 7-6 (5), 6-4, last March in Los Angeles. Other BU players who have beaten No. 1 players in recent years include Jordan Rux (d. OSU's Oleksandr Nedovyesov, 2009) and Lars Poerschke (d. Illinois' Ryler DeHeart, 2005).

Trivial matters

Can you name the Houston native and world-famous recording artist who financed the ITA National Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame on the University of Georgia campus in Athens? Hint: This vocalist's first Top 5 hit came in 1968 when he sang lead on "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)." (See answer at end of column).

Looking ahead
Big matches on campus, Feb. 20-March 4

1. #1 Oklahoma men at #13 Texas A&M, Friday
2. #8 North Carolina men at #10 Texas, Friday
3. #4 UCLA women at #5 California, Saturday
4. #12 UCLA men at #5 Baylor, Sunday
5. #6 Baylor women at #12 Vanderbilt, Sunday
6. #10 Stanford women at #2 Florida, Sunday
7. #3 Georgia men at #16 Florida, Thu, Feb. 26
8. #8 Alabama women at #2 Florida, Fri, Feb. 27
9. #4 Virginia men at #5 Baylor, Sun, Mar. 1
10. #14 Clemson women at #9 Miami, Sun, Mar. 1

Surveying the field
A preview of some of the top contenders for the NCAA Championships in Waco beginning May 14

North Carolina women
-- Record: 9-0
-- Ranking: No. 1 in ITA poll (Feb. 17)
-- How their resume shapes up: UNC dominated an elite field to win their second ITA Women's Team Indoor title in 3 years, dropping only 2 points in beating No. 16 Oklahoma State (5-1), No. 12 Miami (4-0), No. 2 Florida (4-0) and No. 9 Georgia (4-1) in Charlottesville, Va. Tar Heels coach Brian Kalbas suggested the scores were a bit deceiving, but his team showed a killer instinct in key moments. "We knew what we wanted to do and we wanted to accomplish it," he said. "Some of these matches, to be 4-0, 4-1 instead of 4-2, 4-3, you have to have all six of your players competing at their highest level, mentally and physically, and we were able to do that."
-- Top players: Caroline Price (sr, Duluth, Ga.) is No. 21 in the ITA singles rankings after going 4-0 in both singles and doubles at the ITA Indoors. The rangy left-hander is 8-1 in dual matches and 19-4 overall, and earned Most Outstanding Player honors after rallying from two match points down to beat Georgia's Kennedy Shaffer and clinch the Tar Heels' second Indoor crown in three seasons. No. 5 Jamie Loeb (soph, Ossining, NY), No. 18 Hayley Carter (soph, Hilton Head, SC), No. 53 Whitney Kay (jr, Alpharetta, Ga.) and No. 66 Ashley Dai (jr, Temple City, Calif.) have combined for an 18-2 mark in dual-match singles and 43-12 overall.
-- NCAA Tournament history: 16 appearances, 34-16 record. Best finish: Lost to UCLA in 2014 finals, 4-3.
-- Record against Baylor: 2-4, including a 4-3 loss in NCAA quarterfinals in 2011
-- Quotable: "I think we're actually a better outdoor team," Kalbas said after the Heels won the ITA Indoors. "I'm hopeful that we can show that. This team is so motivated and this is only going to motivate us even more."

UCLA men
-- Record: 6-4
-- Ranking: No. 12 in ITA poll (Feb. 17)
-- How their resume shapes up: UCLA bounced back from losses to No. 7 North Carolina and No. 14 Ole Miss to overwhelm No. 17 TCU in their ITA Indoor finale last weekend in Chicago. Coupled with earlier road losses to No. 4 Georgia and No. 14 Florida, it's been an unusually slow start for the Bruins. This is not one of coach Billy Martin's vintage teams, and Gage Brymer (soph, Irvine, Calif.), expected to be a solid player in the middle of the lineup, has struggled since his mother died of lymphoma on Jan. 21, the day of the Bruins' season opener. But UCLA has enough talent to get back on course, earn a host spot and advance to the final site for the 39th straight season. Like Baylor, UCLA is a hot-weather team that historically peaks at tournament time. Anyone who bets against the Bruins making it to Waco is betting on something that's never happened.
-- Top players: Second-ranked Mackenzie McDonald (soph, Piedmont, Calif.) was unbeaten in the ITA Indoors, going 2-0 in singles and 3-0 in doubles. He's 21-3 (7-0 duals) in singles, 14-3 (7-1) in doubles. No. 44 Dennis Mkrtchian (sr, Reseda, Calif.), 16-6 and 3-3 in duals, and Martin Redlicki (fr, Boca Raton, Fla.), 16-6 and 7-2, have been solid at the 2-3 spots, but the Bruins were 2-10 at the bottom 3 singles positions in their 4 losses.
-- NCAA Tournament history: UCLA's 16 NCAA titles rank behind only Southern Cal (21) and Stanford (17), and the Bruins' 14 runner-up finishes are the most all-time. UCLA is the only program to reach the NCAA's round of 16 every season since the dual-match format was introduced in 1977. Over that period, the Bruins are 114-34 in 38 appearances with four titles, the last of which was a 4-3 upset of undefeated Baylor in the 2005 final in College Station.
-- Record against Baylor: 5-8, including a 4-0 loss to the Bears in the 2004 final in Tulsa. Baylor is one of only two teams with a winning record against the Bruins (Georgia is 12-5), and will host UCLA again Sunday (Feb. 22) at noon at the Hurd Tennis Center.

Trivia answer
Kenny Rogers, who was living near Athens in the 1980s, donated the money to build the ITA National Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame, located adjacent to the main gate at Georgia's Dan McGill Tennis Complex.