MBB: University Athletic Association

[hugenerd]

Speaking of the CMU/UR game, after the first half I thought it was going to be just like every other game that the two teams have played at Rochester.  UR was up by 13 and had held the CMU offense to under 30 points, they looked like they were going to coast to a victory and CMU might make a late push to make the score look decent.  It took an incredible individual effort from Maurer to change that tide and win the game for CMU. Rochester is a very solid team and as it seems every year they have no big weaknesses.  I look for them to give NYU their first loss tonight, although NYU has a couple of really solid players as well and they are usually tough to beat at home.

[hugenerd]

The Rocehster/NYU game suprised me alot but it sets up a great matchup for Sunday.

I was lucky enough to attend the CMU/Brandeis game and watch CMU just manhandle the Judges.  Carnegie was up by as much as 32 with 5 minutes to play but played 4 freshman and a sophomore over the last 5 minutes so the final margin was closer than the game actually was.  Brandeis showed some flashes in the first half but they had few answers over the final 30 minutes for a very balanced CMU attack.  It seems like CMU can have one of any number of guys who can step up for them on any given night.  They shot 66% for the game from the floor including a 75% second half. Overall solid game.

This sets up a great game for Sunday in New York.  NYU could show that the are a real contender in the conference with a win or CMU could take an early hold on the race to their first UAA title.  It will be interesting to see how Clayton Barlow-Wilcox plays with a broken thumb (that happened in the Bluffton game).

[deiscanton]

Hugenerd--

I guess that the CMU supporters are going to make a running gag throughout the entire basketball season by calling every UAA men's basketball player that wears the number #10 "Jeff Juron". for the whole game.  (Juron wears the #10 for Rochester). I know that I heard the Barlow-Wilcox family call Florian Rexhepi of Brandeis "Jeff Juron" for the entire game last night.

I wonder what Jeff Juron did to deserve this?

Also, at the 11 minute mark of the first half, when Brandeis was leading 24-18, and Coach Wingen called timeout and really put his foot down, he was calling out strategy so loud that I wish that the music had not been turned on at that point.  I really wanted to hear what he had to say.

[hugenerd]

Deis-

I think the comments had something to do with the airballs that Rexhepi had, although I am not positive because I wasn't sitting right next to that group of people.  And Coach Wingen does get heated sometimes, especially when his team comes out completely flat.  At least they responded...

[deiscanton]

If the reference was to Jeff Juron's taking bad airball shots during the CMU at Rochester game last month-- I'm sorry, but I have not seen video footage of that game-- I only listened to JC DeLass's call of the game on the internet back then.

Sometimes, even the best of players make mistakes....

And yes, CMU really stepped it up after the first 10 minutes of the game last night.  If the Tartans keep up that intensity on the up-tempo game, they will be hard for any team to beat the rest of the way....

I have to hold off and rest today for tomorrow's game against Rochester.-- I will probably comment further on this weekend's action on Monday. 

[Rhodes Scholar]

I saw NYU beat Rochester last night, 68-50. NYU was up by two at the break, but they thoroughly dominated the second half and won easily. NYU shot the ball well and played solid defense. Jared Kildare broke down the Yellowjackets' defense all night long. Jason Boone was tough down low and did a good job defensively on Jon Onyiriuka. Matt Basford shot the ball well. Daniel Falcon and Mike DeCorso were both aggressive defensively and hit some shots as well.

Needless to say, Rochester did not look like a top 25 team last night. They had no guard who could penetrate and were very slow overall. Their big men played decently, but their outside shooting was poor. The Yellowjackets looked much better last year with Hauben (one of the best big men in the country) and Perez (an aggressive guard who could penetrate and create).

NYU is better than they've been in quite some time, but I'm not completely convinced yet. We'll know more after the Carnegie Mellon game on Sunday. They are disciplined, physical and can shoot, but I see a lack of athleticism and a lack of depth as possible problems for the Violets.


hugenerd: Coach Nesci asked Janeczek to leave the team shortly after the season ended last year.

[Titan Q]

I posted this on the frontpage blog...

-----
Keep on eye on Chicago @ Wash U men's game this afternoon.  I think Wash U is being a bit overlooked in discussions of the UAA race - a race that appears very interesting with CMU and Rochester getting the most pub to date, and now 11-0 NYU opening some eyes with a win over Rochester.

The 8-3 Wash U Bears are a pretty solid basketball team, but I do see they've played their last two games without their best player, 6-6 Troy Ruths (18.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg) - wins over SLIAC teams Fontbonne (104-69) and Maryville (84-59).  Not sure what Ruth's status is.  Wash U played NAIA I #5 Robert Morris-Chicago to 3 pts on opening weekend, and 15-1 RMC may be more talented than any other NCAA Division III or NAIA 1 or 2 team.  Wash U was blown out of their own gym by Illinois Wesleyan, but that was a game where IWU was just outstanding.

Chicago is a gritty, tough well-coached team that plays good defense.  They have a solid inside presence and a couple streaky 3-pt shooters.  They're capable of playing with anyone, as evidenced by playing IWU to a 4 point game at Chicago.

Games between Wash U. and Chicago usually seem to be won by the home team - worth keeping an eye on this one.

[sandman]

Case (9-3, 1-0) snapped a 12-game UAA losing streak by beating Emory (7-5, 0-1) on the road this afternoon.  The Spartans built a 13 point lead at halftime and hung on to win, 76-68.  With the win, coach Sean McDonnell's Spartans have already won as many games this year as they did the last two years combined.

Carson Oren led all scorers with 19 points and now has 1,426 for his career.  He trails only John Link '03 (1,446) and Ken Jackson '82 (1,456) on the CWRU all-time scoring list.  Since I'll be in Cleveland to watch the Spartans take on Chicago and Wash U next weekend, I may see him break the record.

[deiscanton]

Score update

Halftime at Wash U Field House in St. Louis

Wash U 28, Chicago 21

Wash U's Scott Stone scored 10 points in the first half.

Update courtesy of http://bearsports.wustl.edu

[hugenerd]

Thanks for the info Titan.  It will be an interesting game.  I think the keys in last years games were Clayton Barlow-Wilcox's play on Boone at NYU and Nate Maurer's shooting at CMU, CMU winning both games.  It will be interesting to see if CBW can handle Boone again with his broken thumb and if the rest of the guys come to play as well.  This is another contrast of style game, CMU looked like they were going to score 120 at one point last night until they pulled their starters in contrast to NYU who seems to want slow things down and pack it inside, going by what I saw last year and their stats this year.

[deiscanton]

I guess that I did not keep my eye on the Wash U/Chicago game as much as I should have.   

The game ended up tied in regulation, and there is now 31 seconds left in overtime.

Wash U is leading Chicago by a score of 69 to 65.

Info courtesy of http://bearsports.wustl.edu

[deiscanton]

Final score from St. Louis

Wash U 74, Chicago 68  (OT).

Box score and release will follow shortly on http://bearsports.wustl.edu

[deiscanton]

More on the Wash U/Chicago game

The game ended up tied at 63 at the end of regulation.

Wash U won by shooting 9 of 10 from the free throw line in the overtime period, while Chicago hit 2 of 13 from the field in the overtime and only scored 1 point at the free throw line in the overtime period.

Wash U hit 1 of 3 from the field in the overtime period.

Box score and play by play now available at http://bearsports.wustl.edu

[gordonmann]

Halftime in NYC:

Carnegie Mellon 37
NYU 32

WNYU kids are doing a nice job on the broadcast.  The link is on the Daily Dose.

[bouttime]

CMU is up at the half by 5 but are in some foul trouble. There inside players all have 2 or the fouls. Barlow-Wilcox is having his way against Boone on the inside.

The guys calling the game are doing a great job for sure.