University Athletic Association

[Pat Coleman]

I've heard nothing official, just the Twitter report.

I am told the same Twitter handle said earlier someone else was taking the Bucknell job, but didn't verify that for myself.

[Just Bill]

Here is Bucknell's press release:

http://www.bucknellbison.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/041712aaa.html

and here is Chicago's press release:

http://athletics.uchicago.edu/news-2011-12/wbk-roussell-bucknell-041712.htm

[RogK]

Good luck to Aaron in D1!
He's a very pleasant guy with an extraordinarily sharp mind. Bucknell made an excellent selection.
The only thing I'm concerned about is that it will be a really long daily commute from his home here in Chicago!

[Pat Coleman]

And our story from much earlier this afternoon:

http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2012/04/roussell-takes-d1-job

This includes a recent history of D-III coaches taking D-I head coaching jobs.

[gordonmann]

I met Coach Roussell in person at the Jostens Trophy ceremony in March and enjoyed talking with him. Good luck to him at Bucknell.

[mark_reichert]

It took looking at the IWU Athletic Calender since the schedule isn't up yet, but the fourth team for the IWU Women's 2012 Tip Off Tournament appears to be Coe College, in Cedar Rapids IA.

I thought the name looked familiar and they have indeed not only played WashU but they played in the Tip Off Tournament in 2005 when the host WashU and IWU stomped them.

They've played much better recently.  In 2011, they lost to IWU 74-77 in the Sweet Sixteen.  This past tournament they lost 45-51 to St. Thomas in the second round.

YMMV, but I think close losses to Final Four bound teams two years running makes them a fit opponent for the first year in which all of the rotating host teams (WashU, IWU, Depauw) have a national championship.

[RustCollege]

I was watching 1984 Rust Lady Bearcats play the other day and i see when they won it all the game was on ESPN so tell why did they stop showing the championship game on TV.

[Pat Coleman]

ESPN decided it had better things to broadcast, such as poker and such.

[RogK]

The U of Chicago has named Carissa Sain Knoche (assistant coach for the last four years) as acting head coach.
Hopefully, they'll drop the "acting" preface. Good luck to her!

[mark_reichert]

I'm basically repeating what I said five months ago, but I think this year's Tip Off Tournament at the Shirk Center on Nov 24 and 25 takes on special significance with the Titan's championship this past season (at least among season beginning tournaments).  All three of the rotating hosts (Wash U, Illinois Wesleyan, Depauw) have a national championship and in fact have half of the last six (2007, 2010, 2012).  I was rooting for them once they reached the Final Four and the Bears did not.

Chris Mitchell, the WashU sports information director, said it would make a better story if Coe College had a championship (instead of as I said, two quality trips to the tournament in which they had close losses to Final Four bound teams).  Given the distances for other champions, the only one's I can think of coming to this tournament would be either Hope (in spite of or because of their past history with all three teams) or Wilmington (Ohio). Millikin is perfectly located to travel to any of the three schools, but is in the Titans conference and plays them two or three times a season already.

[jaybird44]

Still going to be a great tournament at IWU this weekend, even if Coe doesn't have a national championship.  Wash-U is off to a good 2-0 start after winning its McWilliams Classic with a 63-60 win over a good Ohio Northern team that won 21 games last season.  Coe is #21 in the pre-season rankings of D3hoops.com, is 1-0, and hosts Elmhurst tomorrow night before embarking on the trip to the Shirk.

[jaybird44]

Wash-U improves to 9-1 after a 77-57 victory at Webster.  Gorloks had a 9-4 lead early in the first half, as Wash-U opened 2 for 10 from the floor.  But, the Bears took the lead for the first time with 12:55 to play, and never relinquished the lead from there.  Halftime score:  Wash-U 45, Webster 28, as the bench outscored the starters 27-18.  Webster cut the deficit to 11 three times in the first five minutes of the 2nd half, but could not get any closer.

Melissa Gilkey had a double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Jordan Rettig had 6 points/11 rebounds/3 blocks.  Three Bears reserves had good performances.  Katybeth Biewen had 13 points and 5 rebounds in 18 minutes, Lucy Montgomery had 10 points on 3 treys, and Jordan Thompson had 5 points/6 assists/2 turnovers in 24 minutes.  Wash-U dominated the glass to the tune of a 52-41 advantage, including 23-15 on the offensive rebound ledger.

Maggie Zehner led Webster (4-6) with 13 points and 6 rebounds, and Gwen Willliams contributed 12 points and 5 rebounds.  Kailann Rickard had 7 points/8 rebounds/4 assists.  The Wash-U depth was too much to handle, as the Bears' reserves outscored Webster's 43-14.

Wash-U hosts Southwestern University (Texas) tomorrow afternoon at 2:00.  This will be an interesting matchup, as the Pirates (7-3) average 46.1 rebounds/game...but give up 46.7 to their opponents.  Jordan Owens (19.2 ppg/7.0 rpg), Chelsea Leeder (15.3 ppg/5.0 rpg/4 apg), and Annie Bourne (8.7 ppg/11.5 rpg) are the top 3 players for Southwestern; while Madison Eschle and Audrey Garcia add offense from the bench (9.3 and 8.7 ppg, respectively).

The pre-game discussion begins at 1:45 pm Central time tomorrow afternoon, on bearsports.wustl.edu.  Click on the "Bear Sports Network" link and then select the live broadcast.

[mark_reichert]

The WashU loss to Rochester doesn't surprise me.  The weakest part of the Bears game this season has been getting the ball into the basket.  Listen, strange shots from women on courts throwing balls in the general direction of the basket is no basis for a system of offense, to weakly paraphrase Monty Python.

Otherwise, this is a strong team for their level of experience.

[deiscanton]

Case Spartans have just defeated Wash U for the first time ever since the UAA was founded in 1987.   Case wins at Horsburgh Gym in Cleveland, defeating the Bears today by a score of 72-68.  Congrats to coach Jen Reimer and the Spartans on the accomplishment.  Prior to today, Wash U had always won vs Case.

[WUPHF]

The league standings at the half-way mark.

Emory and Rochester are tied with a 6-1 record.  Emory has road wins over Rochester and Case Western Reserve but lost at home to Washington University.

Emory 6-1 (16-2)
Rochester 6-1 (14-4)
Washington 5-2 (15-3)
Case Western Reserve 4-3 (12-6)
Carnegie Mellon 3-4 (11-7)
Chicago 2-5 (6-12)
New York University 1-6 (8-10)
Brandeis 1-6 (7-11)

And, just for fun, the sure to change Massey Ratings prior to the weekend games.  The UAA is listed as the fourth best conference with a 61-28 record.

No. 8 Washington
No. 15 Emory
No. 36 Rochester
No. 66 Case Western Reserve
No. 114 Carnegie Mellon
No. 137 Chicago
No. 182 Brandeis
No. 192 New York University