Biggest surprise to me on Day Two was Shane Van Boening emerging as the leader. I did not expect that.
But now that he has, I think SVB has to be the leader from now on. Forget that he supposedly doesn't have the personality. He can do it - he just did. He is a lead by example kind of guy.
With Sky in the doubles match, SVB gave him pointers. He also stayed calm and looked confident. Woodward basically shut up and just played. No hamming it up for the crowd. At one point, Shane was saying, it's not over yet. He kept Woodward focused.
I've got a theory about this. Shane was basically forced to take a backseat for the past two years to Gorst and Sky. He wasn't sure what his role should be.
First, Gorst gets on Team USA and he gets scheduled to be the top dog. Jeremy Jones rushed him out in a bunch of singles matches, signaling lack of trust in Shane. And Shane went along without complaint.
Gorst didn't earn the hero-to-be role, and still hasn't.
Next Sky becomes player captain for two years. Thus SVB is shunted to the third position on the team.
Now? All of a sudden, he is stepping up and trying to get the team to focus after the worst start in Mosconi history.
I don't care about SVB's Mosconi record. He is still the best US, and US-born player, and he should be expected to lead given his age and experience. He doesn't have to be a formal leader, but lead he should and must to make the US competitive.
To that end, no more SVB-Gorst pairings. They are not fully comfortable with each other and need to serve as anchor for other players.
The US also has to start showing some strategy and unpredictability in pairings. Backload some matches with our best guys. Throw a Ty or Billy out against Filler. Who knows, they might get lucky, and we'd get SVB or Gorst facing off against an Alcaide or Pijus.
