University Athletic Association

[newtonnancy]

OK I guess the shooting question makes sense.

[thx4playing]

dose NOT necessarily speak to an overall increased strength of the UAA BUT can be explained by parody across the field (an that parody I believe is due to decrease in quality rather then an increase)

So every team in Division III is down, as well?  These are national rankings...and the UAA has more top spots by more teams this year. 

I'll give you that Wash is barely "down," as may be Rochester and CWRU.  But NYU, Chicago, Carnegie and Emory are up from years past, while Brandeis has been pretty much the same for the last four years.  And keep in mind that Rochester and Wash are "down" and easily still rank in the top 20.  So how "down" can the UAA be?

[wonder_woman]

I also see a lot of PARITY in the UAA, right down to the fact that it seems on any night, any team can beat any other team by 20.

Teams down this year from the last few include Rochester, Washington and Brandeis

Teams up this year include Chicago, NYU, Emory and Carnegie

Holding steady is Case

[Hoop Dreams]

Sunday I watched Chicago suffer its fifth loss in six games since reaching No. 1 in the NABC poll.  The Maroons fell to Emory, 69-63.

This was the third time I had seen the Maroon women play -- the other two were the home wins against Wash U. and Rochester.  In those games, UC played with a level of confidence that was notably absent for most of Sunday's loss. 

I disagree with the statement that "everyone thinks they are Michael Jordan".  The Maroons have been aggressive on offense the entire season, mostly to their benefit.  The team was just out of sync on Sunday.

Credit the Emory coaching staff, and the Eagles' execution, for their defense on Nofi Mojidi.  Emory was able to limit Mojidi's drives to the basket, as six of Nofi's 17 points came on desperation threes late in the game.  On offense, the Eagles continued to free up Erica Kaplan for open looks, and Kaplan made the Maroons pay with 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting.

The bright spot for Chicago was probably the breakout performance of freshman Jill DiNucci (11 points, 8 rebounds -- both career highs).  Jill showed a quick release and a nice shooting touch from 12-15 feet.

[newtonnancy]

Hoops,

My point is that when things are taken away, these ladies have been playing ball long enough to realize that there is no need to FORCE everything, whether it is driving to the basket, or forcing jump shots. I have seen to many silly offensive fouls and to many bad drives and silly shots and just some crazy jump shots this year by players from all the teams in the conference. I still say its a team game and I think (I haven't looked it up) just from watching and looking at boxes that turnovers are up and assists are down league wide and I believe that effects the quality of play.

And I am standing by my statement that I think as a whole the UAA is down from the past 3-4 years...

[Hoop Dreams]

My point is that when things are taken away, these ladies have been playing ball long enough to realize that there is no need to FORCE everything, whether it is driving to the basket, or forcing jump shots.

Sunday's game at Ratner featured a combined 44 turnovers (25 by UC, 19 by Emory), so it certainly was ugly in that respect.

There must have been at least a half-dozen traveling violations called against each squad.

[pureshooter]

 hoops,newt,

         i agree. i have attended many d-3 games in different conferences and i can't get over the amount of unforced turnovers i see, especially traveling. many teams are really pathetic offensively, painful to watch.
    my guess is many teams stress defense  so much, the offense suffers. i see very few good offensive schemes that spread the floor well. i just think coaches don't teach any offensive skills,and every player needs to add more through their four year career. and boxing out is atrocious

[sean-o]

It alternatively can be a consequence of having more demanding, organic offenses. Simpler ones don't feature the same explosiveness because they limit options, but they also may limit unforced turnovers as well. On the other hand, players who have to be thinking about a slew of options are going to sometimes be caught "in between" or "of two minds." The advantage is that when those offenses work and fit the personnel, they play naturally with easy buckets falling behind clueless defenders.

Not saying one way or the other what's happening in the UAA, but I don't think that there's necessarily a defense-heavy focus. It's certainly not true for every top team in the league.

[newtonnancy]

Hey ben I guess all that shooting works  sis got POW

now lets see if they can keep winning, you see THATS THE IMPORTANT THING

[mark_reichert]

hoops,newt,
         i agree. i have attended many d-3 games in different conferences and i can't get over the amount of unforced turnovers i see, especially traveling. many teams are really pathetic offensively, painful to watch.

I know I wince.

    my guess is many teams stress defense  so much, the offense suffers. i see very few good offensive schemes that spread the floor well. i just think coaches don't teach any offensive skills,and every player needs to add more through their four year career. and boxing out is atrocious

Well, WashU has always known how to play defense.  The offense has always depended on the individual skills of either the all-around stars, layup artists, or three-point shooters.  That article Pat gave a link to showed how shocked the present team was to suddenly have to manufacture points without Manning and Beehler.

But then I don't know enough about basketball to recognize when a set play is being attempted.  I only know enough to recognize desperation. 

[deiscanton]

Internet coverage

UAA Women's Basketball

Weekend of Feb. 16-18, 2007

Friday, Feb. 16, 2007

All tip times 6 PM Eastern (5 PM Central)

1.)  Chicago at Rochester

Rochester audiocast:  http://www.wysl1040.com
Rochester videocast:  http://www.rochester.edu/athletics/webcast

J.C. DeLass with the call.

2.)  Brandeis at Emory

Note:  Emory videocasts and audiocasts are on a pay-per-view/listen basis.

Emory videocast:  http://www.hrptv.com  ($10 per game)

Emory audiocast is on the Teamline service-- http://www.teamline.cc

Team Code 1028  ($10 per game on Internet, $25 per game on any telephone.)

3.)  NYU at Case

Case audiocast:  http://www.case.edu/athletics/varsity/broadcast

4.)  Wash U at Carnegie Mellon

CMU audiocast:  http://www.wrct.org

Live stats also available-- Link for live stats on CMU Athletics page-- http://www.cmu.edu/athletic

Sunday, Feb. 18, 2007

All tip times 2 PM Eastern (1 PM Central)

1.)  Wash U at Rochester
2.)  Chicago at Carnegie Mellon
3.)  Brandeis at Case
4.)  NYU at Emory

To follow the Sunday games, please follow Friday's instructions relative to the home site of the game that you are interested in following.

[newtonnancy]

Need to win two this weekend to get back on track....Go Maroons

[thx4playing]

Friday at the half:

Chicago 28 @ Rochester 26
Brandeis 27 @ Emory 16
NYU 27 @ Case 22
Washington 33 @ Carnegie Mellon 24

[deiscanton]

Recap-- Friday's finals

Rochester def. Chicago, 64-59
Brandeis won @ Emory, 58-51
NYU won @ Case, 68-65
Wash U won @ Carnegie Mellon, 72-55

It's practically a 2 way battle for the UAA title between NYU and Wash U, with NYU needing a Rochester victory over Wash U on Sunday to have a shot to get the automatic "Pool A" bid on tiebreakers.   A Wash U victory over Rochester on Sunday makes the Bears the favorite to get the automatic "Pool A" bid on tiebreakers.  (NYU lost to Rochester at the Palestra earlier this season.)

If both NYU and Wash U finish in a first place tie at the end of the season, both NYU and Wash U will be co-champions of the UAA with the automatic bid going to the winner of the second tiebreaker-- which is results vs. the third place team(s), the fourth place teams, and so on until the tie is broken.  NYU and Wash U split on the first tiebreaker, which is the head-to-head competition between the two.

However, IMO, it looks strong for the UAA to once again send 4 teams on the women's side to the NCAAs at this moment (Wash U, NYU, Rochester, and Brandeis.)

[thx4playing]

Sunday at the HALF:

NYU 40 at Emory 40 (Emory largest lead 14 points)
Washington 35 at Rochester 22 (Wash largest lead 22 points)
Brandeis 36 at Case 28
Chicago 36 at CMU 29