University Athletic Association

[deiscanton]

Wash U now advances to play the winner of the next semifinal game between George Fox and the College of New Jersey.  That game will be at 1 PM Eastern tomorrow on the CBS College Sports Network.

CBS College Sports's broadcast of the national title game will also be video streamed on the NCAA player in case there are people who do not get CBS College Sports on their cable system or will not have access to a TV tomorrow but prefer to watch the game on the computer.  D3Hoops.com will also have a separate audio stream of the national title game, as CBS College Sports will use their own broadcasters for the video stream.

[BruinFan]

I think the Bears will be the favorite tomorrow against either George Fox or TCNJ, although I think that George Fox will probably be the tougher matchup for the Bears should the Bruins win the second semifinal.

I'm just fine with you making Wash U the favorite. Deep down I think you want to guarantee a win. The Bears season didn't really get on track until after they lost at Whitworth and Whitman of the the Northwest Conference. I notice they use a different starting line up now. Wash U played very well today and I look forward to the final.  Go George Fox Bruins!

[deiscanton]

After seeing Whitworth and Whitman sink a lot of threes against Wash U in December, and after seeing George Fox tie an NCAA single game record for most 3's made by a team with 14 3's made, and after seeing what George Fox's 6 ft 4 in center Shielee can do against TCNJ tonight (I watched the live video of the George Fox v TCNJ game), I would like to guarantee that Wash U will win tomorrow, but I cannot do it.  I have too much respect for George Fox to guarantee a Wash U victory.  However, Wash U has improved a lot since those games against Whitworth and Whitman back in December-- they improved enough to hold Brandeis to 1 of 23 shooting from 3 pt range back when the two teams met at Auerbach Arena in Waltham, MA, and Wash U played well enough in the rematch in St. Louis to make Brandeis's 3 pt shooting in the game a non-factor. George Fox has a good shot to go undefeated and bring a title to the West Coast, and this national title game should be a good one.  I hope that Wash U wins both the men's and women's title games and brings both Walnut and Bronze titles home to the UAA, but the games still have to be played.

PS-- I did see a little bit of George Fox over the regular season through video-- of course I have to stay up until about 10 PM Eastern on Saturdays to see the first half of those games due to the time zone difference. 

PPS-- Sage Indendi is the real deal as well.

[quaj]

I think the Bears will be the favorite tomorrow against either George Fox or TCNJ, although I think that George Fox will probably be the tougher matchup for the Bears should the Bruins win the second semifinal.

I'm just fine with you making Wash U the favorite. Deep down I think you want to guarantee a win. The Bears season didn't really get on track until after they lost at Whitworth and Whitman of the the Northwest Conference. I notice they use a different starting line up now. Wash U played very well today and I look forward to the final.  Go George Fox Bruins!

I would love to guarantee a win for Wash U but I saw George Fox playing today. A team that goes undefeated up till now is no pushover especially with such potent three point shooting. It'll be a battle and it will go down to the last possession. The roadtrip out west was a wake up call that the Bears have heard loud and clear. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Go Wash. U. Bears!

[deiscanton]

Wash U tried their best, but George Fox was just too strong today.   As I watched the last 5 minutes of the game, it seemed similar to the moment in 2007 in Springfield, MA, where I watched Wash U try to come all the way back against DePauw, but the Bears couldn't get over the hump.  Unfortunately, the 2009 game ended very similarly, and the George Fox Bruins get a Walnut and Bronze home to the Pacific coast.

George Fox will be very tough to beat for the next few years to come, at the very least.  Congrats to Scott Rueck and the Bruins on their victory today.

[BruinFan]

... and also congratulations to the Washington University Bears on a strong finish. They were a 3-point make away after a steal from taking a 1-point lead near the end of the game. They played hard all the way to the end.

I think that the UAA and NWC are two of the top conferences in the country and I hope they can schedule more non-conference games in the future. I see that Rochester has a couple of sophomores on their roster from Seattle. Maybe Rochester could come out to the NW either next season or in 2010.

32-0  Way to go Bruins! Coach Rueck now has 260 wins in 13 seasons at George Fox.

[Wydown Blvd.]

WashU is mourning the passing of Lynn Imergoot. I talked to her a couple times at UAA games at WashU. Wonderful person and huge pioneer and supporter of womens' athletics across the nation.
Headline of http://bearsports.wustl.edu/

[Wydown Blvd.]

The UAA Preseason Coaches Poll is Out:
http://d3hoops.com/pressreleases.php?release=3212

I'll probably comment on this over the weekend. Anyone else with thoughts/comments/their own ranking?

Team (1st-place votes)    2008-09 Record
1.   Washington (7)    26-5, 13-1 UAA
2.   Chicago (1)    17-8, 8-6 UAA
3.   Brandeis 20-8, 7-7 UAA
4.   NYU    23-5, 10-4 UAA
5.   Rochester    24-4, 11-3 UAA
6.   Emory    13-12, 4-10 UAA
      Case    10-15, 3-11 UAA
8.   Carnegie Mellon    5-20, 0-14 UAA

[deiscanton]

I wanted to follow the Wash U exhibition game at Southern Illinois last night, but the Gametracker for the Salukis website was not working, and I am trying to watch my finances these days. (In other words, I was not up to paying the $6.95 needed to follow the internet video stream for last night's game.) I'm not too surprised that the Bears won the game last night given that Southern Illinois only won 5 games last year, that the Salukis barely beat a DII squad (Quincy, IL) a few days ago in an exhibition game, and that the Salukis were picked to finish dead last in the DI Missouri Valley Conference this season.

Recapping the UAA women's basketball exhibition season:

The UIC (Illinois-Chicago) Flames of the D1 Horizon League defeated Chicago by a score of 84-67 on Wednesday, November 3.  UIC led 41-19 at the half and was up by 31 in the second before Chicago was able to cut the deficit to a respectable 17 point loss-- however UIC probably could have blown out Chicago  if the Flames were going all out for 40 minutes.

UIC's Horizon League rival, the Cleveland State Vikings, defeated Case by a score of 93-53 on Friday, November 5.   Case held on in the first half, but Case was just overmatched by Cleveland State's talent.  Cleveland State was picked to finish higher than UIC in the pre-season Horizon League coaches poll. 

And then the final game had Wash U winning by 10 over Southern Illinois last night-- if any UAA team was going to win one of the exhibition games this week, this matchup would be the game in which it would happen.

I'm just waiting for the regular season to start....

[WUPHF]

It looks like the UAA is doing well early in the season.  Here are the records (not including exhibitions) as of the end of November:

Brandeis 5-1
Case Western Reserve 4-1
Chicago 4-1
Washington U. 4-1
New York University 4-1
Rochester 3-1
Carnegie Mellon 3-3
Emory 2-3

Overall, the UAA is 29-12.  Not bad, but not as strong as last season.

Washington University recovered from the loss at Illinois Wesleyan by winning their home tournament over the weekend, though admittedly the competition was relatively weak.  Not much of a test on either side of the court.

[WUPHF]

The No. 22 University of Chicago Maroons ran up a 16 point lead on Wheaton College (IL) before the Thunder rattled the Chicago offense with some pressure defense.  Chicago held on to get a very good win on the road, 49-42.

Unfortunately, the men are down by 12 with a little over five minutes left in the game.

[WUPHF]

The Washington University-Elmhurst game is underway in the beautiful Chicago suburb of Elmhurst.  9-7 after five minutes of play.

The UAA game of the week is arguably the CCIW game of the week: No. 22 University of Chicago at home against No. 1 Illinois Wesleyan.  Tip off in 45 minutes.  Good luck Lady Maroons!

[WUPHF]

A tight game in Elmhurst, though I wish I was actually watching the game.  Elmhurst has 8 fouls compared to two for WUSTL.

At the 7 minute mark, WUSTL with the slight lead, 22-20.

[WUPHF]

The UAA went 4-3 over the weekend with wins by Washington University, Carnegie Mellon, and Brandeis.  

Emory beat Rochester in the first UAA match-up of the season.

Pre-season No. 19 New York lost to a 5-0 Skidmore team on the road.

New York University 51 Skidmore 65 Final
Oberlin 47 Carnegie Mellon 72 Final
Rochester 50 Emory 60 Final
Brandeis 66 Roger Williams 31 Final
Washington U. 77 Elmhurst 60 Final
Illinois Wesleyan 64 Chicago 57 Final

Chicago dropped a heart breaker at home against No. 1 Illinois Wesleyan.

Looking forward: slow week ahead with games here and there, but nothing particularly exciting.

[deiscanton]

WUH--

Hillary Klimowicz played for the College of New Jersey (who knocked out Rochester in the Sweet 16), not Rochester.   Rochester had Julie Marriott and Alex Porter as seniors last season.

Jessica Chapin joined the Brandeis 1000 pt club yesterday in Brandeis's game at Roger Williams.  The milestone moment came with a steal and a layup by Chapin with 7:11 remaining in the first half yesterday.  Chapin now has 1006 points for her career and needs to make 4 more treys to become #1 among Brandeis players in most career 3 pointers made.  Chapin now has 134 made 3 pointers for her career-- the record is currently held by Jen Curran of Brandeis with 137 career 3 pointers made.