University Athletic Association

[newtonnancy]

I am going to also go with Mary Wash to upset Bowdoin

[sean-o]

Bach won't like this, but I am picking Kean to beat NYU. I think their Athleticism and speed will hurt NYU.....if NYU wins I would excpect that the NYU Home Court Advantage  would send them to the foul line for at least 1o more opportunities then Kean...

I have no idea if NYU will win, but do you really think that any team has a noticeable advantage in athleticism and speed against NYU? They were by far the best in those areas of all the women's teams I saw this season. Definitely tops in the UAA.

[jagluski]

NYU defeats Kean 76-64 to advance to the Final Four.  They will play either Puget Sound or have an all-UAA semifinal against Wash U.

[jagluski]

Wash U advances past the University of Puget Sound 57-48! 

Wash U-NYU III will occur in Springfield next weekend.  Here's hoping for 1st Place and 3rd Place for the UAA, truly the best conference in Division III.

Stay tuned to see if Wash U's men can join them in the Final Four, with one school potentially sending both teams to the Final Four for the first time since UWSP in 2004.

[TC HOOPS]

BachDog : Congratulations to your girl's and GOODLUCK in Sprinfield.

[mark_reichert]

Stay tuned to see if Wash U's men can join them in the Final Four, with one school potentially sending both teams to the Final Four for the first time since UWSP in 2004.

The men did and the school is.

[deiscanton]

Congratulations to both Wash U and NYU on making it to Springfield and the "DIII Women's Final Four".

I will be in Springfield this upcoming weekend to see Friday's and Saturday's games and will be cheering for the UAA to win both the third place and championship games on Saturday.  I'll be staying Friday night at the Econo Lodge in West Springfield, MA-- that is the place where I stayed last year when I went to see Hope, S. Maine, Scranton, and Hardin-Simmons battle it out for the title.   

From what I saw over the weekend at the Jean Yawkey Center in Boston, the DePauw Tigers look like the team to beat in the national championship game in order for the UAA to get its first national title since 2001.  At this early stage, I look for the UAA to be favored to win the early game on Saturday regardless of the outcome between Wash U and NYU.  (I will probably have to remain neutral on Friday and wish that both the Bears and Violets have an excellent game.)

And to the NYU Pep Band-- I am hoping to hear 2 great "rock and funk" concerts this upcoming weekend in Springfield as well.   

Short of Brandeis making it to the Final Four, I feel like I just hit the jackpot yesterday....

[jagluski]

Wash U has actually already played both NYU and DePauw this year.  They went 1-1 against NYU, each winning on their own home court.  The NYU loss for Wash U was the worst in Coach Fahey's history at the school, so I'm guessing they're excited to get a chance for revenge.

Wash U is 0-1 this year vs. DePauw; they played in the opening game of the season at a neutral site(Illinois Wesleyan).  Wash U was up 4 at the half and DePauw slowly pulled away in the second half.  Also, note this was when the Bears had Shanna Lei-Dacanay healthy; she started, played 34 minutes, and had 25 points and 6 assists.  Suffice it to say, the Bears are a completely different team today.

[gordonmann]

Jagulski:

"Excited" was exactly the word that Sarah Parker used when I asked her about playing NYU in the National Semifinals.  "You know it'll be entertaining," she added.

I had a good time speaking with Parker, Southworth, Schell and Fahey last night after the game.  There will be more on the Bears (men and women) later in the week.

[jagluski]

Jagluski:

"Excited" was exactly the word that Sarah Parker used when I asked her about playing NYU in the National Semifinals.  "You know it'll be entertaining," she added.

I had a good time speaking with Parker, Southworth, Schell and Fahey last night after the game.  There will be more on the Bears (men and women) later in the week.

Gordon,

I would guess you're either referring to Sarah Schell or Rebecca Parker.  I'm not sure which, but I would also guess it's not some combination of the two.

I graduated from Wash U in 2004 and the Wash U-NYU games were always entertaining to say the least(this was Schell, Parker, and Southworth's freshman year...although Southworth was on the soccer team that year and didn't play basketball).  When the brackets came out, I have a feeling the Wash U team saw it and immediately said: "We want NYU in Springfield", especially after what happened the last time they played.  The seniors especially didn't want to go out remembering that game as the last time they got to play NYU.

The thing about this rivalry is that it's spanned several different style of play.  When I first got to Wash U, this was a rivalry that where both teams would run up and down the court and try to outscore each other.  This was also the year of Dari Magyar's "Miracle in Manhattan".  Over the next couple years, Wash U stayed one of the highest scoring teams in the nation, while NYU regressed a little bit.  To counter this, NYU would hold the ball in the backcourt for 15-20 seconds each possession and then run their offense.  This was definitely frustrating to watch, but it allowed NYU to keep all the games competitive.  This year, the script has flipped somewhat.  By no means does Wash U run a slowdown offense, but they are much more deliberate, without a star after Kelly Manning graduated last year(Parker would probably be the closest thing they have).  This year, it's probably NYU with more talent with Bachman, Ryba, Rochetti, and McIntee.  However, the teams did split the series 1-1.  Now, they get to settle it on a neutral floor in the National Semifinals..

I look for this game to be very sloppily played at the outset as both teams probably will be so amp'ed up for it...combine the Final Four and the major rivalry for each of these schools and I think both teams will almost be too ready to go.  They're probably frustrated they can't just play today(although, Wash U can definitely use the time to break down tape to figure out what defensive strategies they need to modify to stop NYU this time).  After the initial sloppiness, I look for a very well-played, back and forth, close game.

[jagluski]

Wash U-NYU is the 2nd semifinal and will play at 6pm (according to the Wash U website)

[gordonmann]

No, I was talking to a super-cyborg named Sarah Parker who along with Jenny McFarlin and Jaimie Southworth are dominant forces.

Seriously, thanks for the correction.  It was Rebecca Parker who was a lot of fun to talk to.

[newtonnancy]

Does anyone other then me find this interesting:

Taken from the Brandeis University Newspaper, The Justice, in an article about Malcolm. Obviously, she will state that she mis-spoke or was misquoted but I would think it is of much interest:

"Coming to Brandeis, the only school that offered her a basketball scholarship, Malcolm said she was a little rough around the edges defensively. "

[jagluski]

Does anyone other then me find this interesting:

Taken from the Brandeis University Newspaper, The Justice, in an article about Malcolm. Obviously, she will state that she mis-spoke or was misquoted but I would think it is of much interest:

"Coming to Brandeis, the only school that offered her a basketball scholarship, Malcolm said she was a little rough around the edges defensively. "

What about the part where Brandeis is DIII and couldn't have offered her a basketball scholarship.

[newtonnancy]

That is my point exactly