University Athletic Association

[WUPHF]

Unfortunately, I have not been able to follow University Athletic Association Women's Basketball this season, but it looks like it may be a two team race for the crown, with Chicago a possible third.

Washington University will travel to New York on Sunday for the first of two match-ups for two teams that are both undefeated.

NYU is ranked relatively low for an undefeated team--only one undefeated team ranks lower--though they also have a poor strength of schedule.

Does NYU have a serious chance of knocking off a senior-laden Washington University team or will the Bears run the table in the UAA?

[jaybird44]

I think NYU has a shot at a win this Friday.  Kaitlyn Read has upped her scoring, Amy Hairioka has become a very good point guard, and Megan Dawe is Megan Dawe.  Given the Bears' early struggles against Rochester (down by 7 with 9:10 to play in the 1st Half), an upset loss on the road in NYC is a possibility.

It is very encouraging to see Maddy Scheppers bounce back into double-figure scoring, after a trio of tough shooting games.  I also believe that Ereka Hunt and Natalie Orr will be important to Wash-U's fortunes this weekend, in their first full road-trip weekend in the UAA.  Their confidence and scoring beyond the arc off the bench were instrumental in the win over Emory Friday night, and they are going to be needed if there is a dry spell or foul trouble among some of the other starters.

One trump card in Wash-U's favor that has been overlooked a bit is the defense of Katybeth Biewen.  Her defense has been stifling, as she collected 9 steals vs. Rochester Sunday--energizing the Bears with 3 steals in 3 consecutive Yellowjackets possessions to turn that game into a rout late in the 1st half.

[WUPHF]

+1 and thanks for the update.  I'll have to make sure I watch this weekend.

[jaybird44]

Wash-U defeats Emory easily, 70-50 after leading by as many as 31 points early in the 2nd half.  Has 1/2 game lead over Chicago, pending the Maroons' game at Rochester. NYU stays a game off the lead with a narrow 62-59 home win over Case.

[jaybird44]

Chicago wins 66-56 at Rochester to stay even with Wash-U after tonight's action.  Wash-U now has to travel to Rochester, a tough place to play for travelers.

[deiscanton]

Sorry that I have not posted in a while, but I do not have a laptop at home.  I use a Kindle Fire at home for my internet service.

As you can imagine, the snow and cold weather in the Boston area has been historic this season.  Transportation, especially via commuter rail, has been very hard to accomplish.  I have been hanging on, though.   I did have to follow the Brandeis women's Senior Day game vs Case Western Reserve on line this season due to the commuter rail being undependable on even a weekend schedule.  I had given my thanks to Hannah Cain, the Brandeis senior captain in the game vs Carnegie Mellon-- I had made the Friday vs Carnegie Mellon my last home games in person due to the weather.  Commuter Rail locomotives have been knocked out of service-- it will take at least a month for the commuter rail to be back to normal.   MBTA subway and bus service has recovered faster, but hiking 5 miles from the closest bus stop home at night is a pain.  As a result, I have restricted travel to Boston.

Back to the UAA...

I am very glad that Brandeis became eligible for ECAC New England Tournament selection before having to make the trip to the Midwest.   The ECAC will not consider a team with a record under .500 for selection, and Brandeis clinched the winning record on Senior Day.

Carnegie Mellon needs 1 more win to be eligible for ECAC South Tournament selection.  The Tartans play at Case Western Reserve on Saturday. 

As for the teams contending for the NCAA (Chicago, Wash U, NYU).

Chicago is assured of hardware from the UAA for clinching at least a UAA Co-Championship.

If Wash U holds serve at home on Saturday against Chicago, then Chicago and Wash U are Co-Champions, and Wash U gets the automatic bid due to the head to head sweep of Chicago.

If Chicago wins at Wash U on Saturday, then Chicago wins the UAA title outright and the automatic bid.

Based on my seeing Chicago play at Auerbach Arena this season, the Maroons did not look like a team that went 6-5 in non-league play.  Brandeis was down by 10 at the half, but with the way that Chicago played defense that game, I felt that it was going to be a long weekend.   The Brandeis women did bounce back a few days later to take a 12 pt lead on Wash U at the half, but Wash U killed Brandeis in the second half.

Chicago had to run the table after the loss vs Wash U to get into consideration for NCAA selection.  From what I saw of Chicago, I think that Chicago is underrated in the Top 25-- and that they deserve an NCAA bid no matter what happens on Saturday.  Should Chicago get in, I would not be surprised to see the Maroons win at least 2 games in the NCAAs.

NYU is playing to host NCAA tournament games on the first weekend-- NYU looks good to be selected on a Pool C at large bid.  A win vs Brandeis on Saturday should hopefully be enough to get that home field advantage.  NYU is taking maximum advantage of the home court on Senior Day-- there will be a pep rally at Coles at 1:30 PM on Saturday.   The last time that I remember being down at NYU at Coles for a pep rally was during my Brandeis undergraduate student days-- it was the year that the Brandeis and NYU men played at the old Boston Garden.  (1989-1990 season.)

If Wash U wins on Saturday, will the Bears also host first weekend action?  We will find out.  Should be a great game on Saturday for the "unofficial UAA women's championship game."

[Roundball999]

Sorry that I have not posted in a while, but I do not have a laptop at home.  I use a Kindle Fire at home for my internet service.

As you can imagine, the snow and cold weather in the Boston area has been historic this season.  Transportation, especially via commuter rail, has been very hard to accomplish.  I have been hanging on, though.   I did have to follow the Brandeis women's Senior Day game vs Case Western Reserve on line this season due to the commuter rail being undependable on even a weekend schedule.  I had given my thanks to Hannah Cain, the Brandeis senior captain in the game vs Carnegie Mellon-- I had made the Friday vs Carnegie Mellon my last home games in person due to the weather.  Commuter Rail locomotives have been knocked out of service-- it will take at least a month for the commuter rail to be back to normal.   MBTA subway and bus service has recovered faster, but hiking 5 miles from the closest bus stop home at night is a pain.  As a result, I have restricted travel to Boston.

Back to the UAA...

I am very glad that Brandeis became eligible for ECAC New England Tournament selection before having to make the trip to the Midwest.   The ECAC will not consider a team with a record under .500 for selection, and Brandeis clinched the winning record on Senior Day.

Carnegie Mellon needs 1 more win to be eligible for ECAC South Tournament selection.  The Tartans play at Case Western Reserve on Saturday. 

As for the teams contending for the NCAA (Chicago, Wash U, NYU).

Chicago is assured of hardware from the UAA for clinching at least a UAA Co-Championship.

If Wash U holds serve at home on Saturday against Chicago, then Chicago and Wash U are Co-Champions, and Wash U gets the automatic bid due to the head to head sweep of Chicago.

If Chicago wins at Wash U on Saturday, then Chicago wins the UAA title outright and the automatic bid.

Based on my seeing Chicago play at Auerbach Arena this season, the Maroons did not look like a team that went 6-5 in non-league play.  Brandeis was down by 10 at the half, but with the way that Chicago played defense that game, I felt that it was going to be a long weekend.   The Brandeis women did bounce back a few days later to take a 12 pt lead on Wash U at the half, but Wash U killed Brandeis in the second half.

Chicago had to run the table after the loss vs Wash U to get into consideration for NCAA selection.  From what I saw of Chicago, I think that Chicago is underrated in the Top 25-- and that they deserve an NCAA bid no matter what happens on Saturday.  Should Chicago get in, I would not be surprised to see the Maroons win at least 2 games in the NCAAs.

NYU is playing to host NCAA tournament games on the first weekend-- NYU looks good to be selected on a Pool C at large bid.  A win vs Brandeis on Saturday should hopefully be enough to get that home field advantage.  NYU is taking maximum advantage of the home court on Senior Day-- there will be a pep rally at Coles at 1:30 PM on Saturday.   The last time that I remember being down at NYU at Coles for a pep rally was during my Brandeis undergraduate student days-- it was the year that the Brandeis and NYU men played at the old Boston Garden.  (1989-1990 season.)

If Wash U wins on Saturday, will the Bears also host first weekend action?  We will find out.  Should be a great game on Saturday for the "unofficial UAA women's championship game."

I saw Chicago play at Hope earlier in the season.  Hope won but Chicago played them tough at DeVos, a very tough place for a visiting team to win.  I remember thinking "no way this team should be under .500".  Based on what I saw that day, I am not surprised Chicago's season turned around dramatically.  They are very good and definitely underrated in the national polls, obviously due to their slow start.  They had 27 turnovers against Hope's pressure defense but I'm guessing they fixed that as the season wore on; the rest of their game was already good.

[ronk]

Sorry that I have not posted in a while, but I do not have a laptop at home.  I use a Kindle Fire at home for my internet service.

As you can imagine, the snow and cold weather in the Boston area has been historic this season.  Transportation, especially via commuter rail, has been very hard to accomplish.  I have been hanging on, though.   I did have to follow the Brandeis women's Senior Day game vs Case Western Reserve on line this season due to the commuter rail being undependable on even a weekend schedule.  I had given my thanks to Hannah Cain, the Brandeis senior captain in the game vs Carnegie Mellon-- I had made the Friday vs Carnegie Mellon my last home games in person due to the weather.  Commuter Rail locomotives have been knocked out of service-- it will take at least a month for the commuter rail to be back to normal.   MBTA subway and bus service has recovered faster, but hiking 5 miles from the closest bus stop home at night is a pain.  As a result, I have restricted travel to Boston.

Back to the UAA...

I am very glad that Brandeis became eligible for ECAC New England Tournament selection before having to make the trip to the Midwest.   The ECAC will not consider a team with a record under .500 for selection, and Brandeis clinched the winning record on Senior Day.

Carnegie Mellon needs 1 more win to be eligible for ECAC South Tournament selection.  The Tartans play at Case Western Reserve on Saturday. 

As for the teams contending for the NCAA (Chicago, Wash U, NYU).

Chicago is assured of hardware from the UAA for clinching at least a UAA Co-Championship.

If Wash U holds serve at home on Saturday against Chicago, then Chicago and Wash U are Co-Champions, and Wash U gets the automatic bid due to the head to head sweep of Chicago.

If Chicago wins at Wash U on Saturday, then Chicago wins the UAA title outright and the automatic bid.

Based on my seeing Chicago play at Auerbach Arena this season, the Maroons did not look like a team that went 6-5 in non-league play.  Brandeis was down by 10 at the half, but with the way that Chicago played defense that game, I felt that it was going to be a long weekend.   The Brandeis women did bounce back a few days later to take a 12 pt lead on Wash U at the half, but Wash U killed Brandeis in the second half.

Chicago had to run the table after the loss vs Wash U to get into consideration for NCAA selection.  From what I saw of Chicago, I think that Chicago is underrated in the Top 25-- and that they deserve an NCAA bid no matter what happens on Saturday.  Should Chicago get in, I would not be surprised to see the Maroons win at least 2 games in the NCAAs.

NYU is playing to host NCAA tournament games on the first weekend-- NYU looks good to be selected on a Pool C at large bid.  A win vs Brandeis on Saturday should hopefully be enough to get that home field advantage.  NYU is taking maximum advantage of the home court on Senior Day-- there will be a pep rally at Coles at 1:30 PM on Saturday.   The last time that I remember being down at NYU at Coles for a pep rally was during my Brandeis undergraduate student days-- it was the year that the Brandeis and NYU men played at the old Boston Garden.  (1989-1990 season.)

If Wash U wins on Saturday, will the Bears also host first weekend action?  We will find out.  Should be a great game on Saturday for the "unofficial UAA women's championship game."

Welcome back - your perspective has been missed, especially with the UAA which affects multiple regions for Pool C selection and hosting.

[deiscanton]

Sorry to see that Chicago did not get picked on an at-large bid.    I guess that the NCAA committee could not overlook Chicago's 5-5 mark outside of the UAA, what with the 1-3 November start and all of those games on the road, and the 2 losses in December to regionally ranked opponents Wheaton (IL) and Hope.  Perhaps St. Vincent was no longer regionally ranked in the secret rankings-- that may have hurt Chicago's chances as well.

Chicago did everything in the UAA short of getting the automatic bid.  Chicago finished in a first place tie with Wash U, but lost the automatic bid on the tiebreaker.   Save for Wash U, Chicago swept every other UAA opponent and finished with a 12-2 mark.    It is the first time in league history in women's basketball that a UAA co-champion did not make the NCAA tournament.

Best of luck to Wash U and NYU in the NCAAs.  Did I hear correctly from Dave McHugh on the DIII selection show that Coles Center is closing down and NYU is getting a new home basketball court next season?  This is the first time that I have heard this.-- I did not get confirmation from the UAA, Brandeis, or NYU about this.

Later today, I will find out if Brandeis will be playing on Wednesday night in the ECAC New England tourney.   If they do get picked, Brandeis will most likely be playing on the road-- I won't be surprised if Brandeis goes to Westfield State  (possible #1 vs #8 match).  Keene State is also a possibility as well.  Potential rematches with Roger Williams and Emmanuel also, although I would be surprised to see that happen.

Carnegie Mellon ended their season at 12-13 with the loss at Case on Saturday.

[Roundball999]

Sorry to see that Chicago did not get picked on an at-large bid.    I guess that the NCAA committee could not overlook Chicago's 5-5 mark outside of the UAA, what with the 1-3 November start and all of those games on the road, and the 2 losses in December to regionally ranked opponents Wheaton (IL) and Hope.  Perhaps St. Vincent was no longer regionally ranked in the secret rankings-- that may have hurt Chicago's chances as well.

Chicago did everything in the UAA short of getting the automatic bid.  Chicago finished in a first place tie with Wash U, but lost the automatic bid on the tiebreaker.   Save for Wash U, Chicago swept every other UAA opponent and finished with a 12-2 mark.    It is the first time in league history in women's basketball that a UAA co-champion did not make the NCAA tournament.

Best of luck to Wash U and NYU in the NCAAs.  Did I hear correctly from Dave McHugh on the DIII selection show that Coles Center is closing down and NYU is getting a new home basketball court next season?  This is the first time that I have heard this.-- I did not get confirmation from the UAA, Brandeis, or NYU about this.

Later today, I will find out if Brandeis will be playing on Wednesday night in the ECAC New England tourney.   If they do get picked, Brandeis will most likely be playing on the road-- I won't be surprised if Brandeis goes to Westfield State  (possible #1 vs #8 match).  Keene State is also a possibility as well.  Potential rematches with Roger Williams and Emmanuel also, although I would be surprised to see that happen.

Carnegie Mellon ended their season at 12-13 with the loss at Case on Saturday.

As a Hope fan who saw the Chicago game, I agree.  Chicago is very good and certainly tournament caliber.  Haven't looked yet, I wonder who made it in to knock Chicago out?

[deiscanton]

In case anybody was wondering, NYU is hosting NCAA fencing regionals this weekend, but the fencing is on Sunday, and as such, should not interfere with the 1st and 2nd rounds of the basketball tournament.

[deiscanton]

Brandeis gets a bid to the ECAC New England tourney as the #6 seed.

Brandeis has a rematch at Roger Williams on Wednesday.  Brandeis won by 2 pts at Roger Williams in the Judges's first road game of the season back in November.

[deiscanton]

It is going to be an interesting and busy weekend for me.

Last night, Brandeis won at Roger Williams to advance to the ECAC New England semifinals.  Brandeis will be hosting the rest of the ECAC New England tournament because the higher remaining seeds told the ECAC that they would not be able to host semifinal and championship round action this weekend due to various issues.

Hopefully, Brandeis will be able to conclude the final weekend of action for the Judges by winning the ECAC New England Championship for the third time.  Brandeis won it back in the 2003-04 season (defeating Eastern Connecticut in the title game in D# legend Allison Coleman's last college game for the Warriors), and in the 2004-05 season (beating Fitchburg State (MA) in the title game.)

Brandeis has a semifinal game against Emmanuel on Saturday in game #1 of the day at Auerbach Arena. The winner of that contest will face the winner of the Westfield State (MA) vs Keene State (NH) contest  (Game #2 of Saturday's action) on Sunday for the ECAC New England crown.

[deiscanton]

FYI, the ECAC title history of the current University Athletic Association schools:

(Year won is the year in which the title game took place)
(First year of the UAA is the 1986-87 season--  Brandeis joined the UAA in 1987-88 season)

1.)  NYU-- 7 ECAC Metro titles

1985, 1988, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2010

2.)  Rochester-- 3 ECAC Upstate titles

1994, 2001, 2002

3.)  Brandeis-- 2 ECAC New England titles

2004, 2005

4.)  Carnegie Mellon-- 1 ECAC South title

2000

[deiscanton]

Congratulations to the Brandeis Judges women's basketball team on their winning their third ECAC New England Championship today.  Westfield State gave a good battle, but Brandeis prevailed in overtime.  Congrats to Hannah Cain on being named the Most Outstanding Player of the ECAC New England Tournament.