MBB: University Athletic Association

[Titan Q]

WashU plays Illinois Wesleyan Dec 8 but do you think we can get through a postseason without meeting a Wesleyan team?  They seem to be a jinx. 

It does appear the Bears have had some tournament troubles with the Wesleyans...

2007 - L, 67-65 to Virginia Wesleyan, national semis (Salem, VA)
2003 - L, 85-73 to Illinois Wesleyan, Round 2 (@ Wash U)
1996 - L, 73-61 to Illinois Wesleyan, Sectional final (@ Roanoke)
1995 - L, 90-65 to Illinois Wesleyan, Round 2 (@ IWU)


I can't comment on other Wesleyans, but I don't think Wash U will have to worry about the one in Bloomington, Illinois this year!

[mark_reichert]

You missed

1988 - L, 58-55 to Nebraska Wesleyan, national quarterfinals

a year when Ohio Wesleyan won the title.

Got caught up some.  Kranz apparantly was on the cross country and did well so his stamina should be good.

Here's some nice things said about Spencer Gay:

http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=550142

[bouttime]

Finally some movement on this board!!!

Not too much disparity from Marty's post. The best in the UAA are teams that did not lose much. Wash U, Brandeis, and UofR could all win the conference.

1) Wash U. (13-1)
2) Brandeis (12-2)
3) Rochester (11-3)
4) Chicago (6-8)
5) NYU (4-10)
6) Emory (4-10)
7) Case (3-11)
8) Carnegie (3-11)

Sleeper picks to be above .500: Chicago, Case

WashU: They could go undefeated. Didn't really lose anyone except Nickitas really. And they are simply "that" good. The challenge for them came v. NYU (and Boone, Decorso, and Falcon graduated). I think the loss at Brandeis for them was a fluke. It was their worst game of the second half of the season and when Wallis and Nading fouled out, it was over. Ruths didn't get enough shots off, etc. Not having a solid backup point was the biggest deficit to this team. And O'Boyle should be back (not to mention the 3 recruits at point guard), so it'll get better and better for WashU. Game to watch: WashU at Rochester.

Brandeis: Their senior class is stacked: DeLuca and co. (Coppens, Graves, and Rexhepi). Great recruits coming, who Ole Ollie mentioned before; I think they can beat Wash U once so I gave them one; Rochester will beat them once at the Palestra. Game to watch: BU at Rochester.

UR: Onyiriuka can single handedly destroy teams. Lost Snider. Experience helps them and will be a huge factor; Im thinking loss to Brandeis 1x and loss to Wash U 2x, and loss to hmm Chicago maybe. Wash U and Rochester have the greatest home-court advantage. Could win the conference. They don't play as well on the road. Game to watch: UR at BU.

Chicago: Two heads of the three headed monster graduate; Hainje impresses me more than Federigos

NYU: This is just based on gut. Third best home-court advantage especially on Friday nights; however, I don't think they have enough to capitalize.

Emory: Coming off a 2-12 conference record, I don't think they are going to have a five game improvement. New coach also -- it'll take a little time for this team to get to the middle of this top-heavy conference. I don't know if Federigos can carry the load without Sosa. They'll have one surprise win though at least. But they even lost their senior night game at home last year to Case; Ill check their recruits again but I don't think they are getting that much better.

Case: hey you never know, and they were young last year and still won some. They return their top four leading scorers, Conrad (15.7 ppg), Young (14.2 ppg), Bradford (8.2 ppg), and Skuski (8.0 ppg). They will win a few. They were in several games last year (Senior Night v. Brandeis, Chicago 2x, Carnegie Mellon 2x); Could win as many as 6 or 7.

CMU: What a difference from 2006, wow. Is Greg Gonzalez coming back? (I wouldn't think so, but I figured I'd ask) Otherwise they need more size. Einwag has the talent to be 1st team UAA, but will CMU get enough wins? I hate putting them this low though.

Greg Gonzalez will be back for one more season after redshirting last year. I look for good things from the Tartans this year they had a solid recruiting class with Matthew Pettit, F 6-6; Shane Rife, F 6-6;  Sam Huebner, F 6-6, Drew Cole, G 6-1. Add them to the mix with returners Geoff Kozak, Ryan Einwag, Jack Anderson, and Corey O'Rourke; good things could happen. We will have to wait and see.

[formerD3er]

Wash U is #1 in D3 poll and every preseason poll

Rochester and Brandeis are both very highly ranked

Chicago is recieving votes

Great year ahead in the UAA.  I'm glad it's getting the recognition it deserves as one of the best (maybe the best) conference in the nation.  No other conference can give kids the type of experience they get from schools like Wash U, NYU, Rochester, Chicago, Brandeis, etc.  Hopefully the trophy is not far behind.

I must say I'm a bit surprised about the optimism towards Brandeis this season.  DeLuca is a nice player and they can be in games with anybody, but I can't see them doing as well as everyone thinks.  They didn't really ever seem to put an organzied game on the floor that you would expect to see from a top team.  Do they have a stud freshman?  Someone present their case for me. 

[ILive4This]

Lets go through the main points...

Last season they were 3rd in the UAA, beat Wash U at home, lost by 3? to the Bears on the Road, lost to Amherst at Amherst by roughly 10, one of the closest game the lord jeffs had all year. They return their WHOLE team, having no seniors last year, and bring it a solid recruiting class. Let me know if you need more.

[Gregory Sager]

I saw Chicago scrimmage North Central in the Ratner Center this evening. Boy, talk about a 180-degree turn! Gone with Woodhead, Meyer, and Adams and the three-guard offense are the days when twenty-footers would come flying towards the basket like spitwads in a third-grade classroom with a substitute teacher. Tonight the Maroons featured two guards in the starting lineup: Jake Pancratz, who will be looking to set things up or create on the drive as much or more as he will be looking to shoot the trey; and Matt Corning, who's really not an outside shooter. The trey won't disappear entirely from Mike McGrath's arsenal, as Nate Hainje will throw it up early and often again this season. But it won't figure nearly as much into the Maroons' offense; last season they attempted almost 28 treys per game, and I'll be surprised if they average much more than half as many attempts per game this season.

Instead, it'll be a team built upon size. The front line will probably go 6'8, 6'7, and 6'5, and my guess is that McGrath will use up to six players in his rotation who are 6'5 or bigger. It'll be a team that's based upon layups and bunnies rather than long-range bombs. Look for the Maroons to place a heavy accent upon scoring in the low post, finding size mismatches, and utilizing their effectiveness on the offensive boards to make quick back cuts for easy layups.

They'll be a pretty decent team this year, but the 34 points in the d3hoops.com preseason poll are definitely excessive. Given everything that the Maroons lost from last year's team -- aside from Hainje there aren't any statistically significant returnees at all -- I have to wonder what exactly motivated the pollsters who included Chicago on their ballots.

Still, they'll be fun to watch. I always enjoy watching a coach try to build something new from scratch, or nearly from scratch. While the roster isn't exactly brimful of new faces, the look of the team itself will very definitely be new.

[Jacketfan2011]

Anyone going to the UR LeMoyne scrimage today?

[Jacketfan2011]

Also, being a newbie, I am having difficulty understanding the whole +- karma thing.  12 posts and -2 karma?  Am I losing style points or pissing someone off?

[ILive4This]

The way karma works, is the only certain level people can give or take karma points (so as to prevent abuse and retaliation etc.) This usually means that someone is not happy with something you said or perhaps the way you said it. Hopefully the later, otherwise it would be an awful thought to be penalized for saying your opinion.

[Jacketfan2011]

Aha....thanks

[Ralph Turner]

Welcome aboard Jacketfan2011.

I reviewed your posts and did not see anything objectionable.

Nevertheless,  you may have posted something that someone is just now reading.

Don't worry about, karma.  We are glad to have you.

[Jacketfan2011]

Thanks for the welcome, Ralph.  I'm pretty thick-skinned, but I do like to know the rules.  Just so I know when I'm breaking them

[ILive4This]

So lets get back on task, under two weeks to go till most teams have their first games via tip off tournaments/classics, who is going to steam roll their weekend competition and who is going to get run over?

[hugenerd]

Anyone know what happened to the West Penn Classic?  CMU had played in that tournament the first weekend of the year ever since I can remember, but this year they are playing in Hopkins tourney.  Anyone know anything about this and possibly why they are no longer holding the West Penn?

[ILive4This]

I do not know what happened to the tournament, but from a little googleing, It seems like all the normal participants are going to various tournaments in and out of PA