University Athletic Association

[deiscanton]

I just got up an hour ago to read about Whitworth's upset win last night over Wash U in Whitworth's home opener in Spokane, Washington.

Whitworth defeated the Bears with an excellent 3 point shooting attack in the second half-- Whitworth hit 9 of 15 from 3 pt. land in the second half to make it a 12 of 29 3 pt shooting attack for the game-- to come back from an 11 pt deficit at halftime and win the game by 5.  In addition, Whitworth's defense held the Bears to 1 field goal made in the last 5 minutes of regulation.  Whitworth came into last night's game having made 46 of 140 from 3 pt range in their first 6 games-- 3 of which were played against Div. 2 and/or NAIA teams in Hawaii.

Wash U will probably play UAA games with the base 9 player lineup that the Bears used against Whitworth-- with Dacanay, McFarlin, Evans, and Brandt coming off the bench, the starting 5 used against Whitworth will be Wash U's starting 5 for conference games, and Wash U will add other players on the travelling squad that were not used in the Whitworth game to be used as necessary depending on game circumstances.

Based on this result and the overall quality of the UAA, I don't see any UAA team going 14-0 in conference play this season.

PS-- The Bears will probably be able to defeat Whitman today.  Whitman is not as effective in 3 point shooting as Whitworth.

[deiscanton]

PS-- The Bears will probably be able to defeat Whitman today.  Whitman is not as effective in 3 point shooting as Whitworth.

Well, the Whitman Missionaries just made me eat my words from that previous quote.

Unintentionally, I guess I provided some bulletin board material for Whitman-- but I was just going by their season stats before today's game. 

Whitman hit 12 of 26 from 3 pt. land today and dominated the Bears.  Whitman's leading scorer for the game, Morgan Krall, made 5 3's today where she only averaged 1 3 a game in the previous 5 games combined.  Krall scored all 19 of her game high points in the second half, but Whitman really raised their level of play today to defeat the Wash U Bears.  (Stats from today's game courtesy of Whitman Sports Information).

Wash U goes 0-2 for the weekend and falls to 4-3 overall on the season.  Whitman remains undefeated at 6-0 on the season.

[Ralph Turner]

Thanks for the updates on WashU's trip to the Northwest.

The NWC women are as solid a conference as there is in D3.  The geographic isolation makes it hard for us to assess them, until we get to tourney time, when their champion usually comports herself as one would expect a quality basketball team.

[Ethelred the Unready]

Congrats to the UofR women on their #1 ranking.  Sweet.

[WLCALUM83]

12/31 halftime score:

Grove City 22, Carnegie Mellon 22

[WLCALUM83]

12/31 Final:

Carnegie Mellon 53, Grove City 48  (Carnegie Mellon's free-throw shooting down the stretch was the difference in this one).

[deiscanton]

My picks for this week's action in UAA play on who I rationally think will win the week's UAA games and my commentary on those picks:

Friday, January 9, 2009-- Women's action

1.)  Rochester at Brandeis-- Rochester (The Jackets's stingy defense will take advantage of a breakdown in the Brandeis team chemistry to post their first win at Auerbach since 2002.)

2.)  Carnegie Mellon at NYU-- NYU

Saturday, January 10, 2009--

1.)  Wash U at Chicago-- Wash U  (Bryanne Halfhill is very good, but I'm not sure that she is an exact replacement for Nofi Mojidi).

2.)  Emory at Case-- Emory (Case is a young team, and Emory's win over Oglethorpe proves that the Eagles are a legit UAA contender.)

Sunday, January 11, 2009

1.)  Rochester at NYU-- NYU  (This is the game that proves that NYU is much better than they were last year, and Jim Scheible does not have a track record of sweeping the Brandeis/NYU away trip.)

2.)  Carnegie Mellon at Brandeis-- Brandeis

[mark_reichert]

Just wanted to report that my impression is that WashU is going to have its least successful year in a long while.  Of course, I also thought so when they started 1-3 and ended up in the championship game.

Their defense is still tight under most circumstances, but it can be broken through easily enough by a well practiced offense.  I'm not the student of basketball that most are here, but I do know my dismay when the opposing team gets hot by continually threading the ball to somebody who can reliably toss in a layup.

But as usual, the least reliable part of the Bears game is the offense.  Too little discipline, not enough of those threaded passes to somebody who'll actually get the ball in.

Anyway, what makes this season the one where they fall is that so many of the other UAA teams have done so well in non-conference games.  The Bears may actually lose more than two home games and over half their road games.

[deiscanton]

Excellent game last night between Rochester and Brandeis.  Rochester proved to me that they are a legit contender worthy of their high ranking-- at least for last night.  NYU awaits for the Yellowjackets tomorrow, and if I am stuck at home due to the expected bad weather for tonight that is expected to hit the Boston area, I will listen to the NYU/Rochester audio feed and check the Brandeis v. Carnegie Mellon live stats.  If I do get stuck at home, it will be the first time in a very long while that I would not have been able to see a Brandeis UAA home game in person.

I may post more on my thoughts on the Rochester/Brandeis game later this weekend.

[deiscanton]

As promised, here are my comments about Friday night's game.

On the offensive side of the ball, Brandeis played a game that would have beaten Rochester most of the time.  Brandeis shot 51% from the floor, 40% from 3 pt land, and 70% from the line.  Normally, that is good enough to win most games.  However, Rochester's defensive system dictated where Brandeis's shots would land and how many shots Brandeis would take.  I was expecting Rochester to hold us to no more than 50 to 54 attempts-- the 'Jackets held us to 49 attempts overall and 10 attempts from 3 pt. land.  In that regard, both teams did their job, but Brandeis broke the 60 pt. mark, which was the goal for Brandeis coming in to the match.

It was the defensive side of the ball where Brandeis did not succeed in their mission.  The goal there was to prevent Rochester from getting their game to 65 points-- keep the 'Jackets under 60 if Brandeis possibly can.  (Not an unrealistic goal, as Brandeis came into the match with the second best defense in the UAA.)  Brandeis made a great effort-- the defense limited Rochester to 52 attempts.  Unfortunately, Rochester made their shots count as well.  In particular, Melissa Alwardt shot a 3 pt game that reminded me of 3 players of the UAA past.  The best of the 3 pt shooters of the UAA opponents of the past that I could come up with was Lauren D'Ambrosio of NYU.  On Rochester's side, I thought primarily of Rochester alum Erika Smith, the best 5 ft. 6 guard that Rochester ever had-- but I also thought of Rochester alum Jessie Graham and her 3 pt shooting ability as well.   Instead of Brandeis doing the Boston "3" Party on Rochester, it was Rochester giving Brandeis the medicine. 

In addition, Rochester played a smart game of keeping Brandeis away from the free throw line where Brandeis could do a lot of damage.  It was Rochester that was able to get to the free throw line more often to do their work.  Rochester only shot 63% from the stripe, but if you outscore Brandeis 14-8 at the line, you have done your job in that regard.

With Rochester coming in with the best defense in the UAA, I came into Friday's game thinking of the February, 2005 game between Brandeis and Rochester at UR's Palestra and I did not want to see that particular game repeated at Brandeis.    I was not disappointed.

I did listen to the Wash U at Chicago game on Teamline yesterday, and I saw a little bit of the videocast between Emory and Case while I was not doing grocery shopping preparing for the winter storm that is hitting Boston right now.  Because of the storm, this will be the second time in many years that I will not be on the Brandeis campus to see a UAA home game in person.  I forgot that I did not go to see Case at Brandeis last season-- which was also on a Sunday.  I did follow that game on the Internet last season, and I will check on Brandeis v. Carnegie Mellon on the live stats today while I listen to the audiocast of Rochester v NYU.

[deiscanton]

I want to give my congratulations to Rochester on sweeping the Brandeis/NYU away trip for the first time in their history.  Rochester now deserves be the #1 team in Division 3 women's basketball-- at least for now.  However, more challenges await the Yellowjackets, starting with the Chase Tournament, and then continuing on with the UAA slate.  Now only must Rochester now go 7-0 at home, but they also have more road challenges in the UAA.  In particular, Rochester will have another big road challenge when they go to Wash U and Chicago later this season-- Rochester has never swept that road trip because Rochester has never won at Wash U.

Although Brandeis and NYU both went 1-1 for this weekend, I definitely believe that Brandeis had the better weekend against Rochester and Carnegie Mellon.  NYU did not play very well against Carnegie Mellon on Friday, and the Violets will have to practice their free throw shooting this week to get ready for next Saturday's game at Auerbach Arena.

As for next week's NYU at Brandeis game, I was a little concerned before this weekend before I knew that NYU is a better team than they were last season, but now that the first weekend of UAA play is over, I may be able to rest a little bit easier.  Saturday's game against NYU will not be an easy one, and the Violets are capable of bouncing back to win in Waltham next Saturday, but I like Brandeis's chances coming in to next weekend as of right now.  That could change, however.

On the rookie of the year race between the top two front runners-- Erin Hollinger of Case had the better weekend with her career high of 22 points to lead the Spartans to the victory over Emory on Saturday.  As I suspected, Bryanne Halfhill of Chicago is not going to make anyone forget about Nofi Mojidi as of right now-- I expected a little better from her in the game on Saturday against Wash U, so Erin Hollinger is my pick for Newcomer of the Week.

I don't know about my pick for UAA women's player of the week, but I have to pick someone from Rochester this week.  I pick Melissa Alwardt for her 3 point shooting that helped Rochester beat Brandeis.  I will give an honorable mention to my team's Jessica Chapin for her performance this week as well.  NYU's Jessica McEntee had an unusually flat game on Friday, so I am not sure if she will earn an honorable mention just for her performance against Rochester on Sunday.

[Ethelred the Unready]

Agree DC - great weekend for the Lady Yellowjackets.  They seem to have a lot of weapons.

[deiscanton]

I'm going to make this post short and sweet, as I don't know how long my DSL connection will hold.  The weather in Boston is causing some problems on the transmission on the phone lines.

Anyway, my picks for this weekend.

Friday, Jan. 16, 2009

Case at Wash U-- Wash U
Emory at Chicago-- Chicago

Saturday, Jan. 17, 2009

NYU at Brandeis-- Brandeis in a very close game.

Extra pick:  Rochester defeats St. John Fisher in the Chase title game.

Sunday, Jan. 18, 2009

Emory at Wash U-- Wash U
Case at Chicago-- Chicago

[deiscanton]

I went 4-1 this weekend on my picks, and got the extra pick of Rochester winning the Chase Tournament correct.  I got the NYU/Brandeis game wrong, as Brandeis was held to 29% shooting and 4-7 from the charity stripe on Saturday.

As a matter of fact, Brandeis's not being able to get to the charity stripe in the big UAA games is becoming a big concern for me.  Brandeis may be the best free throw shooting team in the UAA right now, but that does not matter if Brandeis is only going to the line an average of 10 times a game in the UAA's big games.  Brandeis shot 15-18 from the line in the home win against Carnegie Mellon, but only 8-11 from the line in the loss to Rochester and 4-7 from the line in the loss to NYU.  Rochester was able to hit 14-22 from the charity stripe in the victory over Brandeis, and NYU was able to hit 21-31 from the charity stripe on Saturday.

In contrast, earlier this season, Brandeis was able to hit 13-21 from the line in the victory against Bowdoin, and 24-35 from the charity stripe in the victory at Tufts.  Also keep in mind that in the Brandeis game at Rochester in February of 2005 when Brandeis only shot 9 of 48 from the field for the game and 1 of 20 from the field in the second half, it was Brandeis's being able to score 24 points from the charity stripe in that game that kept Brandeis within 20.  If Brandeis compounded that shooting effort with a 4-7 from the line that game, the Yellowjackets would have won that game 61-22. 

Neither Jessica Chapin nor Cassidy Dadaos have proven to me individually that they are capable of going to the charity stripe an average of 7 times a game this season.  As a matter of fact, the only time that Jessica Chapin got to the line 7 times in a game this season was the Brandeis victory over Babson.  Chapin usually goes to the line only about 3 to 5 times a game, so if others are prevented from going to the line, Chapin cannot take over a game in the same way that Jaime Capra could last year-- although Jessica Chapin can steal the ball and shoot, especially from 3 pt. range, she has not proven capable of drawing contact to get to the line when her shooting game is not doing so well.

Last year, Jaime Capra may not have shot as well as Jessica Chapin, but Capra knew when to draw contact for a shooting foul so that she could get to the line and do damage.  Capra went to the free throw line an average of 7 times a game last season and scored 124-171 last season from the stripe.  Last season, Jessica Chapin only scored 36-53 from the charity stripe, and Jessica Chapin is not going to come close this season to getting 171 attempts from the line based on what I saw in the first 13 games.  Cassidy Dadaos is not going to come close this season to getting 171 attempts from the stripe either. 

Unless others are capable of stepping up and drawing contact to get to the charity stripe in the big UAA games so that Brandeis as a team can get back to going to the line about 20 times a game, Brandeis will end up with a losing record in the UAA and miss out on going to the NCAAs this season.

In addition to knowing how to draw contact for a shooting foul, Brandeis can always work on rebounding and keep on playing great defense.  The shooting percentages are going to rise and fall in the UAA games depending on the game, but if Brandeis can focus on better rebounding, better defense, and getting to the charity stripe, then the Judges can get back to winning UAA games. 

[deiscanton]

My picks for this weekend:

Friday, January 23, 2009

1.)  Wash U at Rochester-- Rochester (in overtime.)

2.)  Chicago at Carnegie Mellon-- Chicago

3.)  NYU at Emory-- NYU (NYU is a much better team than they were last season, so I pick the Violets to hand Emory their first home loss of the season-- NYU has proven capable of winning UAA games on the road this season.)

4.)  Brandeis at Case-- Brandeis (Case is a young team, but this game will be close.)

Sunday, January 25, 2009

1.)  Wash U at Carnegie Mellon-- Wash U
2.)  Chicago at Rochester-- Rochester (in a close game once again.)
3.)  Brandeis at Emory-- Emory  (The Eagles are too good this year to go 0-2 on their home floor this weekend, and Brandeis is not getting to the free throw line enough to make a difference in these crucial UAA games so far.)
4.)  NYU at Case-- NYU