University Athletic Association

[deiscanton]

Earlier today, Rochester defeated Emory, 71-66 in overtime.

I will comment more on that game later.

[deiscanton]

End of first overtime at Ratner Center in Chicago--

Wash U 80, Chicago 80

We are headed to a second OT period.

[deiscanton]

Final from the Ratner Center in Chicago--

Wash U 102, Chicago 97 (2 OT).

That caps off an exciting first weekend for UAA women's basketball

The only thing slightly off about this weekend was that not only were the Brandeis crew not able to get at least Jonah White to come back to do commentary for NYU vs Brandeis-- they could not find a fill-in commentator, nor could they be able to get a second feed for someone to do remote commentary-- or at least a "Manningcast".

(You may think that I should be crazy to wish for some commentary and just be glad that the games were played.  I am glad the games were played, but if you have to stay home to watch the game, you may want some commentary to make it worthwhile.  The other 3 UAA women's basketball games were able to get commentary today.)

The largest margin of victory today was NYU's 8 point win over Brandeis.  That is something about the competitiveness this weekend.

[deiscanton]

Here were the winning teams single game scoring and rebounding margins for Week 1 of UAA play--

1.)  NYU outscored Brandeis by 8 points and outrebounded Brandeis by 5 in regulation.

2.)  Rochester outscored Emory by 5 points and outrebounded Emory by 3 in a game that went to overtime.

3.)  Wash U outscored Chicago by 5 points and outrebounded Chicago by 16 in a game that went 2 overtimes.

4.)  Carnegie Mellon outscored CWRU by 6 points and outrebounded CWRU by 11 regulation.

Standings after 1 round of UAA play

NYU-- 10-0, 1-0 in UAA.

Rochester 9-3, 1-0 in UAA.

Carnegie Mellon 7-3, 1-0 in UAA

Wash U  7-5, 1-0 in UAA

Chicago 7-4, 0-1 in UAA

Emory 6-4, 0-1 in UAA

Brandeis 5-5, 0-1 in UAA

Case Western Reserve  5-7, 0-1 in UAA.

[jaybird44]

WashU's Jessica Brooks has put her name in for consideration to become the UAA Women's Basketball Player of the Year.  After a 23-point personal best to close out non-conference play against Greenville, Jessica topped that today with 32 points at the U. of Chicago.

Brooks is averaging 12.1 ppg and 5.7 rpg, second on the team in both categories to Maya Arnott, but Brooks might pass her soon.

[RogK]

jaybird44, you must be getting those averages from the WashU web site, which has 11 games of stats while listing a 7-5 record.
Those totals are missing the stats from the December 19 72-65 loss at Millikin.
Here are the 12 game stats for WashU :
http://stats.ncaa.org/team/755/stats/15866
You're welcome!

[blue_jays]

WashU's Jessica Brooks has put her name in for consideration to become the UAA Women's Basketball Player of the Year.  After a 23-point personal best to close out non-conference play against Greenville, Jessica topped that today with 32 points at the U. of Chicago.

Brooks is averaging 12.1 ppg and 5.7 rpg, second on the team in both categories to Maya Arnott, but Brooks might pass her soon.

Unless WashU wins the league and she's the leading scorer, I don't see that happening. Abbey Lawrence is putting up 24 PPG for Case, and Klaire Steffens is averaging 17 PPG and 9 RPG for the Maroons. And if NYU runs away with the league this year (that's my prediction), their best player will likely get the nod.

[deiscanton]

I can consider Jessica Brooks frontrunner for Sophomore Rookie of the Year if the UAA is not officially awarding that title for basketball this season. 

Traditionally, the Rookie of the Year has to be a first year player, but there was no Association play last season due to the pandemic.

I can't see why the fans of the UAA cannot unofficially create the title of Sophomore Rookie of the Year for this sport this season if the UAA is not officially voting an award for the position just for this season.  That can be in addition to the traditional award.

[deiscanton]

Also, you have to consider the NYU women's team the frontrunner to win the UAA.   Not only are the non-conference stats for NYU backing it up, but the coaches did vote for NYU to win the UAA in the Association Coaches preseason poll even before NYU crushed Cabrini, Wesleyan, and Brooklyn-- 3 teams that traditionally challenged NYU in the past.

I never expected that any UAA women's basketball team could get a 50 point lead in a game over any NESCAC women's basketball team until NYU did it this season.  The two leagues are similar to each other academically and athletically in basketball.

[deiscanton]

However,  it did happen that recently, there was an Association Player of the Year that came from a team that did not win the Association Championship in women's basketball.

It last happened in the 2017-18 season, when Chicago won the UAA, but Kaitlyn Read of NYU got voted as Player of the Year due to her excellence in UAA play that season.

Jessica Brooks put in 2 great performances in the past 2 games, but I am not quite sure that she is in Kaitlyn Read's league just yet.

[deiscanton]

UAA Players of the Year who competed on teams that were not UAA Champions or UAA Co-Champions in the season that the player was selected as Player or Co-Player of the Year:

1987-88:  Patti McCrudden, NYU (Team champion was Wash U)

1988-89:  Kristin Maschka, Chicago (Team champion was Wash U)

1990-91:  Karen Hermann, Wash U (Team champion was Carnegie Mellon)

1992-93:  Donna Layne, NYU (Team champion was Wash U)
1993-94:  Donna Layne, NYU (Team champion was Wash U)

2001-02:  JeNine Nickerson, Case Western Reserve (Team champion was Wash U)

2007-08:  Jaime Capra, Brandeis,  and Jessica McEntee, NYU  (Team champion was Chicago)

2008-09:  Jessica McEntee, NYU (Team champion was Wash U)

2009-10:  Jessica Chapin, Brandeis (Team champion was Wash U)

2012-13:  Evy Iacono, CWRU (Team champion was Emory)

2015-16:  Alexandra Leslie, Rochester,  and Lisa Murphy, Carnegie Mellon (Team champion was Wash U)

2016-17:  Lisa Murphy, Carnegie Mellon (Team champion was Wash U)

2017-18:  Kaitlyn Read, NYU (Team champion was Chicago)

[deiscanton]

Players with 20+ point games in UAA play for January 8, 2022--

1.)  Jessica Brooks, Wash U-- 32 points vs Chicago
2.)  Klaire Steffens, Chicago-- 28 points vs Wash U
3.)  Hannah Lindemuth, Rochester-- 23 points vs Emory
T-4.)  Grace Hynes, Chicago-- 21 points vs Wash U
T-4.)  Abbey Lawrence, CWRU-- 21 points vs Carnegie Mellon
6.)  Kerry Tanke, Brandeis-- 20 points vs NYU

Players with 10+ rebound games in UAA play for January 8, 2022--

1.)  Abby Gress, Rochester-- 14 rebounds vs Emory
2.)  Klaire Steffens, Chicago-- 13 rebounds vs Wash U
3.)  Catherine Or, Carnegie Mellon-- 12 rebounds vs CWRU
4.)  Claire Brock, Emory-- 10 rebounds vs Rochester
4.)  Preet Gill, CWRU-- 10 rebounds vs Carnegie Mellon
4.)  Tori Huggins, Emory-- 10 rebounds vs Rochester
4.)  Maura Leverone, Rochester-- 10 rebounds vs Emory

[deiscanton]

Major Brandeis highlights yesterday--

1.)  Camila Casanueva became the 10th player in Brandeis women's basketball history to join the 1,000 point club yesterday, and the first to do it since former UAA Player of the Year Jessica Chapin (Brandeis '10) did it in the 2009-10 season.

Jessica Chapin is currently the athletic director at DII American International College in Springfield, MA (in the NE10).

2.)  Kerry Tanke scored a career high 20 points for Brandeis to lead all scorers, and naturally, that is her first 20+ point game of her college career.

[gordonmann]

After 679 days of waiting, the UAA got a lot of bonus basketball yesterday with OT games between Rochester/Emory and WashU/Chicago.

That was an impressive performance by the WashU sophomore guard off the bench. It looks like the Bears are coming together after a slow start.

[jaybird44]

The youngsters are starting to figure things out...especially winning close games on the road.  And they are gaining quite a bit of confidence in short order.

Jessica Brooks, Karisa Grandison, Brenna Loftus, Sabrina DelBello, and Lauren Chao have all made significant strides so far this season. They have bolstered the efforts of veterans Maya Arnott, Samantha Weaver, Molly Gannon, and Sammi Mautoush.  WashU has kept winning even when Arnott missed a couple of games.  I think the Bears are still a year away from UAA championship contention, but they might just speed that timetable up a bit.  We'll see. 

While I certainly understand that 23 points vs. Greenville and 32 points in her first UAA opener does not cinch a UAA POY award, I think it merits putting Jessica Brooks on that radar.  Lots of basketball left to be played, to be sure.  But. after an 0-4 start, WashU has won 7 of its last 8 and is fast becoming a team to be reckoned with in the UAA.  Brooks figures to be a central figure in that reckoning.