MBB: University Athletic Association

[bouttime]

I think that there needs to be a rule on the posting up section where people can not make assumptions about their team beating someone they havent played just because they beat someone else who has.

[OXY Oswald]

But common opponents its such an easy justification for **** talk?

[hugenerd]

Wow.  This is easily Case's biggest victory in years-- I don't recall them beating a ranked team, much less on the road, since I started following the team in 2000.

Last year, Case gave CMU a real fight late in the season and fell short, but this time, the Spartans prevailed, behind double-doubles from both Carson Oren (21 points, 10 rebounds) and Matt Cannan (14 and 10); sixth man of the year Funso Lafe also scored 18.  Marques Johnson and Nate Maurer led CMU with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

The stat of the game was field goal percentage; Case shot 50% for the game as opposed to the Tartans' 35%.  After leading by nine in the first half and trailing by seven with 8:32 to go in the second, Case went on a 16-4 run, taking the lead for good on a layup by Funso Lafe and a 3-pointer by Rich Mullen.  CMU's three-point attempt to tie the game at the end went wide left, and the Spartans walked off the court with the upset.

This raises an interesting point: if Case beat Carnegie Mellon on the road, who beat Princeton on the road, how would the Spartans fare against the Tigers?  We know that Case was able to handle the up-tempo attack of Westminster (in a 135-120 win in November), but how would they do against the slow Princeton offense?

Case improves to 10-5, 2-2 while CMU falls to 13-2, 3-1.  It doesn't get much easier for the Spartans as they've got to travel to Rochester, Brandeis, and NYU for their next three games.

It is ridiculous to try to say something about how Case would fare in a game against Princeton from a game that CMU obviously played horrible.  It is even more ridiculous to compare Westminster to a D1 team.  Additionally, if CMU shot 35% in every game this season, they would probably be below 0.500 on the season.  In conclusion, you cannot make far fetching conclusions from one game.  My conclusion would be, CMU played an awful game, while Case played a good game, congratulations to Case for having a big road win.  Comparing what they have done thus far this season, I don't think anyone could argue that Carnegie Mellon is not the better team.

In a similar result, Albion lost to Calvin last night, yet for some reason I do not think Calvin will vault into the top 10, while I am pretty certain Albion will stay there.  Similarly, I wouldn't be surprised to see CMU in the top 25 next week, but if you are a Case fan I wouldn't get your hopes up about too many votes.  The simple bottom line is that if you shoot 35% from the field for a game, 25% from three, and 62% from the foul line, and your opponent shoots 50%, 43% and 79%, respectively, you are probably looking at a loss.  I am actually surprised that the margin wasn't larger from looking at the shooting percentages.

[sandman]

Listen, I'm just raising a hypothetical question and not making any assumptions like "Case would beat Princeton".  All the data we have are two isolated events, and all I did was wonder how such a matchup would play out.

Sure, Case has won more games this year, but that doesn't mean they could beat a struggling D1 program (for whom I mentioned Westminster as an opposite extreme, and not a comparison).  Their out-of-conference schedule was fairly weak and 9 of 11 of those games were at home.  Clearly, Carnegie Mellon was the best opponent they've beaten all year.  I won't be surprised if the Tartans take the rematch in Cleveland.  I'm just thrilled that Case was able to pick up such an important victory on the road after I watched them lose twice at home last week.

But now, it is almost time for the Rochester game.

[hugenerd]

Carnegie Mellon wins today over Emory, moving to 4-1 in the conference while the Eagles drop to 1-4.

[sandman]

Courtesy of www.wysl1040.com:

Halftime at the Palestra:

Rochester 28, Case 22

[hugenerd]

In todays contest between CMU and Emory, Clayton Barlow Wilcox led all scorers with 31 pts, Nate Maurer had 27 and 14 boards.  Emory had 5 scorers in double digits but CMU was able to pull it out after trailing at halftime behind 18 from Maurer, 11 from Wilcox, and 10 from Johnson in the second half.

[sandman]

With 4:48 left to play, Case has cut the Rochester lead to 44-41.

[sandman]

Rochester 47, Case 45, 1:45 2nd.  U of R has the ball (after a timeout).

[sandman]

Jeff Juron hit a 3-pointer for Rochester with 1 second left on the shot clock.  Funso Lafe converted a 3-point play. 

Both teams missed a shot, and Joe Canty is on the line for a 1-and-1 with 17.2 seconds left.

The shot is no good, but John Onyiriuka got the rebound and was fouled.

First shot is good.
Second shot is good.

Lafe missed a lay-up.  Juron on the line for 2 shots.

1 out of 2 is good.

Lafe made a lay-up. 0.7 second left.  Timeout for Case.

Game over.  Final: Rochester 53, Case 50.

Case (10-6, 2-3) battled back from a 12-point second-half deficit but couldn't quite tie the game when they had the chance.  Rochester (12-4, 3-2) moves within a game of first place.

[hugenerd]

NYU up 7 with a minute left.

[hugenerd]

NYU wins 67-58 to move into a tie for 3rd with Rochester (3-2) in the UAA.  In the top spot is CMU and Wash U (4-1) who have yet to play eachother but will meet twice in the next two weeks.

[Rhodes Scholar]

UAA Standings

Carnegie Mellon 4-1
Washington U. 4-1
NYU 3-2
Rochester 3-2
Case Western 2-3
Chicago 2-3
Brandeis 1-4
Emory 1-4

[bouttime]

CMU slides down to #14 in the latest top 25 poll with 283 points while Rochester is essentially #30, NYU #34 and WashU #37 with 24, 13, 7 points respectively.

[hugenerd]

I am glad to see the pollsters didnt punish CMU too much for having one bad night, although they had a right to.  CMU is a strong team and will show it the rest of the way (I hope).  They have a really good oppurtunity to take control of the conference, again, because they face WashU twice in the coming two weeks, both teams are currently tied for first in the UAA. Next up however is Chicago.

Also a note, Nate Maurer is 4 points away from 1500 for his collegiate career (740 at Grove City and 756 at CMU so far).