University Athletic Association

[WUPHF]

Thanks for the correction.  I have corrected my post accordingly.  I do not follow the Women's game as closely as I should but I thought I could get the UAA fans excited again by posting general updates here and there.

Congratulations to Jessica Chapin--1000 points is quite the landmark.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Mia Smith (IWU's coach) was quoted after the game saying Chicago was the toughest team they've played this year.  Since they already played WashU, I'm really curious whether that quote will get posted in either the Maroon's or Bear's locker rooms?!

[WUPHF]

...I'm really curious whether that quote will get posted in either the Maroon's or Bear's locker rooms?!

My wife is a teacher and a few years ago she had a girl in her homeroom who is now a starter for DePaul.  I could have her pass along that quote.  I imagine that it would prompt a few good laughs in and around Lincoln Park.   

[Mr. Ypsi]

...I'm really curious whether that quote will get posted in either the Maroon's or Bear's locker rooms?!

My wife is a teacher and a few years ago she had a girl in her homeroom who is now a starter for DePaul.  I could have her pass along that quote.  I imagine that it would prompt a few good laughs in and around Lincoln Park.   

I'm assuming she wasn't including the exhibition game!

[Wydown Blvd.]

...I'm really curious whether that quote will get posted in either the Maroon's or Bear's locker rooms?!

My wife is a teacher and a few years ago she had a girl in her homeroom who is now a starter for DePaul.  I could have her pass along that quote.  I imagine that it would prompt a few good laughs in and around Lincoln Park.   

I'm assuming she wasn't including the exhibition game!

She wasn't 

"We've played Wash U. and Stevens Point, and I think this was the best team we've played so far."

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/women/article_e0ec7ab6-e220-11de-9fe5-001cc4c002e0.html

[WUPHF]

"We've played Wash U. and Stevens Point, and I think this was the best team we've played so far."

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/women/article_e0ec7ab6-e220-11de-9fe5-001cc4c002e0.html

Thanks for the entire article.  I really was just joking and that is why I included one of those smiley face things, but those are so overused that they seem to have almost no meaning.

[Wydown Blvd.]

  8)

true. 

[d3 new england fan]

anyone care to rank the UAA teams?

[deiscanton]

See the pre-season release on the UAA Women's Basketball Page at http://www.uaa.rochester.edu for the coaches poll conducted before the season started.

To recap:

Wash U is practically the unanimous pick to win the UAA according to the coaches.  (A coach cannot vote for his/her own team to finish first in the poll.)  Wash U got the maximum 7 first place votes allowed in the UAA pre-season poll.

The other first place vote went to the University of Chicago, which is picked to finish second in the UAA this season.

In order, here is what the order of finish was predicted to be in the pre-season, according to the UAA women's basketball coaches:

1.)  Wash U
2.)  Chicago
3.)  Brandeis
4.)  NYU
5.)  Rochester
T-6.)  Emory
T-6.)  Case
8.)  Carnegie Mellon

Keep in mind that one UAA game has already been played, with Emory defeating Rochester on Dec. 5 in Atlanta to take the 1/2 game lead in the UAA going into the holiday break.   Rochester has historically played their travel partner in a December conference game due to the fact that Rochester participates in the Wendy's of Rochester Basketball Tournament (formerly known as the Chase Tournament.)-- which has been held in January on the second full weekend of UAA competition.  Next season, the Wendy's of Rochester Tournament will be moved to late November, allowing all UAA teams to start conference play in January.

My impressions of the order of finish going through non-conference play is that the team in most danger of actually finishing lower in the UAA than their predicted order of finish right now is NYU.  NYU has been really struggling through their non-conference season-- losing to teams that, in the past, NYU would never lose these games to.  (Historically, NYU would blow out Skidmore and Hunter, not lose to those teams.-- as a matter of fact, the last NYU loss to Hunter before this season was in 1983, 3 years before the UAA was founded.)  NYU has struggled to win their non-league games against Skyline Conference opponents, with all of these wins being close ones-- and losing by 6 pts to Mt. St. Mary at the Coles Center.  The last NYU win, by 22 points, was over a New Jersey City team that is now 1-7, (winless going into the NYU game) and even then, NYU turned the ball over 25 times in that game.

Emory is 3-4 so far in non-conference play, but they were able to beat Rochester a few days after giving up 97 pts to the University of the South in Sewanee, TN.

Case is getting some love on the national radar due to their 6-1 start.  Case returns all 5 of their starters from last season.

Carnegie Mellon has the UAA's leading scorer at 20.4 ppg right now in Jacki Cortese, but the Tartans have not won away from Skibo Gym so far this season.  CMU is 4-3 right now, but the Tartans have not won a UAA game over the past few years.  NO other Tartan is averaging double figures in scoring, and the Tartans have not shot well from 3 pt land so far this season.

Other than the loss at Emory, Rochester has only lost to Nazareth in non-league play, but has beaten William Smith and Union.

I concur that Wash U and Chicago right now are the top two teams in the UAA to beat--they are playing pretty close to what you would expect those teams to be going into UAA play.

[WUPHF]

Thanks for the good look at the conference so far.  I do not want to wish part of the season away, but I am really ready for January 8-9th when Chicago comes to town and the conference season really gets going throughout the UAA.

[ExTartanPlayer]

Despite my handle, I am not a current Tartan BASKETBALL player - I am a CMU football alum that suited up for the Tartans from 2004-07.  I'm currently a graduate student at Pitt, so I still watch the basketball teams play when I get the chance.  I actually played pickup games with several members of the women's team for most of the summer.

Positives:

1) Cortese can score & rebound.  She should continue her solid play.

2) Freshman point guard Brit Phillips looks like a keeper.  She's not a great shooter & she turns it over a little too much, but she hustles, plays good defense, and handles the ball pretty well.  By the end of the year, she ought to hold up pretty well.  Freshman F/C Emily Peel has shown some potential, too.

3) Fifth-year senior Rachelle Roll, despite playing hurt, is providing good leadership.  She was more dynamic as a freshman/sophomore; injuries have robbed her of some quickness.  But she can still crash the boards.

Negatives:

1) As mentioned...struggles from the three-point line.  The Lady Tartans are short on traditional post players, so they have to be able to make some treys.  So far it's not happening.

2) They turn the ball over too much.  Way too much.

3) Injuries & a lack of depth are going to hurt the team in UAA play.  They have struggled to keep more than eight players healthy.  Just when they get one back, somebody else goes down.

I think the team will be competitive, but it's hard to imagine them making a big splash in the UAA.  10 wins and getting off the UAA schneid would be a start.

[WUPHF]

It looks like the UAA is 49-19 as a conference with a little under two weeks to go before conference action begins.

Case Western Reserve 8-1
Washington University 8-1
Chicago 7-3
Rochester 6-2
Brandeis 6-2
Carnegie Mellon 5-3
New York University 5-3
Emory 4-4

I am looking forward to my first Women's Basketball game since November with Washington University hosting the 5-2 Ripon Red Hawks tonight at the field house.

[deiscanton]

WUH--

Have a good time at the game tonight.  I will be observing it on the internet video feed at 8 PM Eastern.  I am looking forward to see if Brandeis can play better in the next 2 games before UAA play as well.  The Brandeis women go 5 miles west down Rte. 30 into Weston, MA (the next town over from Waltham) to play Regis on New Year's Eve.  Hopefully Brandeis can score more than 70 pts in one of the next two games before UAA play starts.  (Brandeis was not able to score 70 in a game all first semester.)

[WUPHF]

Washington University moved to 9-1 after taking out Ripon (5-3) 80-56 at the near-empty Field House tonight.

The women started slow and played slow through most of the first half.  One example: at one point in the first half, the Ripon guard was able to inbound the ball to herself off the back of Alex Hoover.  And, the Bears struggled a little more than usual with the full court press.  Washington University looked much better in the second half.

The scoring and offense in general was distributed relatively evenly among the best on the team.  I thought Kathryn Berger had a good game in only 16 minutes of play.  I was surprised by the 5-10 shooting statistic.  And, surprised by the 16 minute statistic.  I swear she played more than 16 minutes.

I had more to say about the game before I made the mistake of looking at the result of the Men's game.  I have to admit, I feel a little melancholy.

The Bears are back in action on Monday against Webster University.  Good luck to the other UAA teams in action through the weekend.

[David Collinge]

Case Western Reserve wins their 9th straight, downing Wittenberg 60-58 in dramatic fashion, but also very bizarre circumstances.  Read more about it in the Springfield (O.) News-Sun.