University Athletic Association

[Wydown Blvd.]

The AP article on ESPN about Coach Quinn's retirement:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=3609666

[Pat Coleman]

I guess that's notable because it got automatically picked up on ESPN.com? Because it's less of a story than we have on D3hoops.

[Wydown Blvd.]

I don't think that the AP article itself is notable, but the fact that it is on ESPN is. Those womens basketball news stories don't change on that site for weeks, so it should get plenty of clicks. Great publicity for NYU and the UAA; although not the best of circumstances.

I don't believe the retirement of the Southern Maine coach was on ESPN.com (and his resume was also phenomenal).

Sometimes Pat, you should relax and take comments for what they are.

[Pat Coleman]

I think I was just asking a question for clarification. Thanks for providing it. Not sure why you had to couple it with a shot at me, though.

[jumphigh]

Whats going on with the NYU coaching switch?  Unforunitly coach Quinn had to retire due to medical reason, at that time an assitant was named as coach back in Septmber. Now one day before they open the season, they have now named another coach with no mention of the prior assitant

[OshDude]

Any volleyball fans? I posted on my blog a Nationals Guide similar to the ones I did for the St. Thomas and Oshkosh regionals. Check it out if you're interested in Emory and/or D-III VB.

[deiscanton]

My thoughts on opening weekend as the Brandeis women's basketball team starts their season tonight against WPI in what should be an interesting ball game--

1.)  Wash U should be back on track to challenge Chicago's current hold on the UAA title assuming that Jaimie McFarlin stays healthy.  McFarlin led Wash U to a victory Saturday against a young Concordia IL team, but Wash U seems to have balanced scoring and defense among all of its players from what I could grasp from the KWUR audiocast on Saturday.

2.)  Chicago wins the Midway Classic again, with Chicago first year student Bryanne Halfhill leading the team in scoring through the first 2 games and picking up the Midway Classic tournament MVP award.  It is a little bit early since not all of the women's basketball teams have started play yet-- Rochester won't start until this Friday-- but Bryanne Halfhill is throwing her hat in the ring to be in consideration for UAA Rookie of the Year honors at the end of the season-- there are many games to go yet and Ms. Halfhill will have to prove herself in conference play as well as the rest of the non-conference season.

3.)  I would like NYU to give a little explanation as to Chris Kosiba leaving the school entirely.  (Mr. Kosiba also used to be the head coach of NYU's golf team at the time of Janice Quinn's retirement, and he is no longer on the golf coaching staff either.)   From what I gather, it probably happened in mid October, thereby explaining the hiring of former NYU basketball standout Chiene Joy Jones as an assistant coach at NYU.  Originally, both Chris Kosiba and Stefano Trompeo were going to be the associate interim head coaches of the women's basketball team.  Mr. Kosiba's departure from NYU leaves Stefano Trompeo as the current interim head coach at NYU, with Levester Thompson and Chiene Joy Jones as assistant coaches.  Trompeo picked up his first win as a coach on Saturday as NYU defeated Mt. St. Mary 61-45.

4.)  On the volleyball track-- congrats to Emory on winning their NCAA regional on Saturday.  Brandeis chose not to defend their ECAC New England volleyball title over the weekend due to injuries-- the decision was made just before Brandeis left for the UAA tournament.  Wash U and Carnegie Mellon lost in their NCAA regionals in volleyball-- Wash U lost to Ohio Northern in the Great Lakes regional final at Wittenberg, and Carnegie Mellon lost to regional host Juniata in the regional semifinal round.  (Just a response to Oshdude there.)

[deiscanton]

My thoughts on today's Brandeis v WPI game:

(1)  WPI is a scrappy ball team, and Brandeis only beat WPI by 6 pts last year at WPI, so I came into this game expecting that Brandeis was only going to win this game by about 10 pts.  I was not expecting that Brandeis was going to lead by 27 pts with 2:25 left in the first half on the strength of Brandeis's 3 pt shooting  (Brandeis hit 7-11 from 3 pt range in the first half), but the Judges could not hit a 3 in the second half (0-5 from downtown), which enabled WPI to try to make a comeback.  WPI got the lead down to 13 pts, but Brandeis held on from there for the victory.  However, WPI did enough in that second half to make me think of the Emory at Brandeis game from last year, where the Emory Eagles came back from 27 down in the first half to tie the game with 10:00 to go and eventually win the game.

(2)  In Brandeis rookie action, Kelly Ethier (#1) got a start for the Judges and had 2 pts, 2 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 rebounds, and 1 block in 14 min of action.  Brandeis rookie Morgan Kendrew (#31) came off the bench and had 5 pts, 4 rebounds, and 1 assist in 25 minutes of action.  Shannon Hassan (#5) had 1 rebound in 3 minutes of action.

(3)  Jessica Chapin led Brandeis with 18 pts, 2 rebounds, and 6 steals.  Lauren Orlando had 11 pts, 6 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal.  Lauren Rashford did not have a bad game at point with 9 points, 4 assists and 1 turnover.

Next up:  Widener on Saturday (1st round of the Brandeis Tip-off Invitational).

[deiscanton]

A quick summary of the UAA this week:

(1)  Wash U played in their traditional tip-off tournament with rival national powers DePauw and Illinois Wesleyan plus this year's invitee Central College of Iowa.  Wash U hosted the tip-off this year (The host schools go on a 3 year rotation between Wash U, DePauw, and Illinois Wesleyan).  Illinois Wesleyan won the tip-off tournament, defeating Wash U in the championship game by 3 pts.  DePauw took third place.

(2)  Chicago got upset on the road by Carroll College of Wisconsin on Saturday.  Molly Hackney led the Maroons with 14 pts and Chicago rookie Bryanne Halfhill contributed with 13 pts in the loss.

(3)  Brandeis, NYU, Rochester, and Emory all won their weekend tournaments.  More later on...

(4)  Carnegie Mellon and Case each challenged OAC teams Muskingum and Capital in a weekend tourney that was hosted at CMU over the weekend.  Case went 1-1 v the OAC schools, while CMU went 0-2.  Case was able to defeat Capital on Saturday.

In that tournament, Case offered up a potential UAA rookie of the year candidate to challenge Chicago's Bryanne Halfhill for that spot.  Case's #44 Erin Hollinger led the Spartans in scoring in the "UAA/OAC Challenge", averaging 21 pts per game over the weekend.

(5)  As for the weekend tournaments--

a.)  Rochester was able to easily defeat Hamilton and Moravian at the Palestra.

b.)  NYU easily handled FDU-Florham on Friday without the services of Jessica McEntee, who was under the weather that day.  NYU went on to win the tournament.

c.)  Emory was able to defeat NC Wesleyan and Baruch at the Woodruf PEC to go to 4-0 on the season.  Emory has one more game before their Dec. 2 test v. national power Oglethorpe, and the Eagles could go into their showdown with their Atlanta rival with an unblemished record.

d.)  Brandeis was able to defeat both Widener and preseason #15 ranked Bowdoin in their tip-off tourney over the weekend.   Brandeis's Jessica Chapin and Lauren Orlando made the all-tourney team, with Lauren Orlando the tournament MVP.  Brandeis's #15 Diana Cincotta got to start for the first time in her collegiate career over the weekend, starting in both games of the tip-off tourney.

I would probably suggest that the most outstanding Brandeis rookie of the Brandeis Tip-off tournament is Brandeis's #31 Morgan Kendrew.  Kendrew contributed 7 pts and 5 rebs in 14 min of action in the win against Widener, and 9 pts and 2 rebs in 14 min of action in the win against Bowdoin.

[mark_reichert]

(1)  Wash U played in their traditional tip-off tournament with rival national powers DePauw and Illinois Wesleyan plus this year's invitee Central College of Iowa.  Wash U hosted the tip-off this year (The host schools go on a 3 year rotation between Wash U, DePauw, and Illinois Wesleyan).  Illinois Wesleyan won the tip-off tournament, defeating Wash U in the championship game by 3 pts.  DePauw took third place.

Wash U lost due to lousy shooting, particularly on layups, and the stellar play of  IWU player Christina Solari, she of 21 pts and 17 rebounds.  McFarlin and Evans kept missing layups (I keep missing Beehler in those situations), though Evans hit 5 of 6 FTs.  Alex Hoover, who had been doing quite well, had a bad night.  BTW, I don't know if it has been mentioned anywhere here, but in addition to the identical hometown being a giveaway, Dani Hoover looks A LOT like big sister Alex.

Kathryn Berger was the star of the game for WashU despite fouling out.  Despite being listed as a forward, I hope I don't jinx her by hoping she might be the first two way low post player since Fischer.  Beehler was a great power forward, but I don't remember her really going back and forth scoring and defending on the inside like Fischer did, and Berger had a few brief flashes of that.

[y_jack_lok]

Wash U looked very good in beating Whittier today by 23, although the game wasn't really that close given that the last ten minutes Wash U had its 1-9 players on the bench. And Whittier isn't all that bad a team compared to what I'm accustomed to seeing in the SLIAC. If you are at all familiar with Wash U, imagine having a lineup where Jamie McFarlin, Shanna-Lei Dacanay, Jill Brandt, and Jancie Evans come off the bench. If I'm not mistaken, all four of those players have been starters at some point in their time at Wash U, and not just for a game or two. If this team gets better over the course of the season...

[y_jack_lok]

Wash U looked very good in beating Whittier today by 23, although the game wasn't really that close given that the last ten minutes Wash U had its 1-9 players on the bench. And Whittier isn't all that bad a team compared to what I'm accustomed to seeing in the SLIAC. If you are at all familiar with Wash U, imagine having a lineup where Jamie McFarlin, Shanna-Lei Dacanay, Jill Brandt, and Jancie Evans come off the bench. If I'm not mistaken, all four of those players have been starters at some point in their time at Wash U, and not just for a game or two. If this team gets better over the course of the season...

Ditto for today's game against Carthage except the margin of victory was 29 points and the top nine players were on the bench for only the last seven minutes of the game.

[deiscanton]

A quick summary of the UAA for the past week:

(1)  As previously discussed, Wash U won the McWilliams Classic over the weekend with blowout victories over Whittier and Carthage.  Whittier took third place in the Classic.  The Bears seem poised for a serious run at the UAA and NCAA Championships, although the conference race on the women's side will be very interesting. 

(2)  Chicago went to Indiana to play in the St. Mary's Belles Classic.   Over the weekend, the Maroons defeated Manchester by a score of 56-46 on Saturday, and defeated the host St. Mary's Belles yesterday by a score of 73-64.  Chicago's #24 Bryanne Halfhill continues on her quest for UAA Rookie of the Year honors, as she was Chicago's high scorer in both games this past weekend.

(3)  Rochester continues to show their experience with two victories this week.  On Tuesday, the Yellowjackets won at Medaille, 63-53, and Rochester won at SUNY-Oswego  yesterday, 79-44.  No Yellowjacket scored more than 11 pts in yesterday's game, no Yellowjacket played more than 20 min. in yesterday's game, and Alex Porter had a double-double of 10 pts and 10 rebounds yesterday for Rochester.

(4)  As for Brandeis, the Judges also had a good week, defeating Wellesley on Tuesday, and scoring their second victory of the season over a preseason Top 25 team yesterday with an 81-76 victory at Tufts.

Brandeis put 4 players in double digits in yesterday's victory.  Jessica Chapin and Lauren Orlando led the Judges in scoring.  The other 2 scorers in double figures each had their career bests in yesterday's game.  Brandeis sophomore Diana Cincotta (#15) had a career high 10 pts. and Brandeis rookie Morgan Kendrew also had a career high 10 pts. 

(A side note:  I attempted to go to Tufts to watch the game, but due to track switch problems on the Providence-Boston rail line, I was forced to abandon my travel plans at Canton Junction at 12:10 PM yesterday when I found out that the commuter rail was running inbound over 30 minutes late.   A friend of mine who sometimes transports me to Brandeis games was recuperating in bed over the weekend and could not go to the game.)

Brandeis has 2 more games against NCAA tournament teams this week.  On Tuesday, Brandeis hosts Emmanuel College (defending GNAC champion), and on Thursday, the Judges will travel to Wheaton (MA) (defending NEWMAC champion).  The Judges will also play Babson on Saturday.

(5)  Emory won at Piedmont on Tuesday to go to 5-0.  The Eagles have their big local showdown against national power Oglethorpe tomorrow.

(6)  Over at NYU, Jessica McEntee led the Violets with a 24 pt, 17 rebound performance on Tuesday as NYU defeated Lehman, 75-58.   (Lehman then went on to defeat the top 5 ranked DePauw Tigers in their next game.)  NYU players Jen Hum-Traverso and Emily Foshag also scored personal career bests in the game against Lehman.  Lehman attempted 32 shots from beyond the 3 pt arc, a Coles Center record for a visiting team.  (Only 8 of those 32 made it in for 3 pointers.)

(7)  Case def. Grove City last Tuesday, and won at Kalamazoo yesterday.  Case's Ashleigh Tondo led the Spartans in scoring both games. 

(8)  Carnegie Mellon was the only team to lose games last week.  The Tartans won at La Roche, 57-43, but dropped games over the weekend to Olivet and Notre Dame (Ohio).  CMU actually led over Olivet for most of the game before taking a 4 pt. loss on Saturday.

Coming up this week:

(1) Emory hosts #2 Oglethorpe tomorrow.  Brandeis also plays Emmanuel tomorrow as well.

(2)  Wash U heads out west to the state of Washington for a weekend tournament.

(3)  In addition, we have our first UAA conference game of the season on Saturday as Rochester travels to Pittsburgh to take on UAA travel partner Carnegie Mellon.  (Yes, the JP Morgan/Chase Scholarship Tournament is responsible for this December match.)  This is the last year that Rochester and Carnegie Mellon are travel partners for basketball.  Next year, Carnegie Mellon will be travel- partnering with Case while Rochester will have Emory as its travel partner for basketball.

[mark_reichert]

This is the last year that Rochester and Carnegie Mellon are travel partners for basketball.  Next year, Carnegie Mellon will be travel- partnering with Case while Rochester will have Emory as its travel partner for basketball.

Well, plays on the traditional rivalry between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, as the UChi-WashU does between Chicago and St. Louis.

[deiscanton]

Congratulations to the Emory Eagles on their big victory over #2 Oglethorpe today.  At least I can no longer say that my alma mater was the highest ranked opponent to be defeated by a Christy Thomaskutty coached team, and that is a distinction that I can happily surrender.  I'll let Coach Ron Satelle and Oglethorpe bear that burden now. 

PS-- Why weren't the Emory live stats working for the Oglethorpe game?  I was trying to get updates off the Emory website during the Brandeis warm-up and at halftime of the Brandeis/Emmanuel game and I couldn't get any.

Unfortunately, it's a shame that the UAA cannot send 6 teams to the NCAA tournament this season.  (Or at least it will be hard to do so-- I don't recall a D3 conference ever sending 5 or 6 teams to the NCAA basketball tournament.)

In other news, Emmanuel (MA) is a very young team.  It showed.  Brandeis crushed Emmanuel today, 94-52.  Emmanuel has the GNAC Player of the Year in Iman Davis plus 11 frosh on their team.  The Case Spartans, who also have a lot of rookies on their team, will probably play a better game against Brandeis in league play.