MBB: University Athletic Association

[y_jack_lok]

Thanks to sports director Rene Knott for keeping all the schools and all the programs on the radar.

Dunno -- Rene Knott didn't really do squat for the D3 schools in Washington, D.C., when he was there.

I guess people can change for the better. I made the post below on the SLIAC site yesterday.

Another shout out to KSDK Channel 5. Last night on the 10 p.m. sports they showed footage of the following local/area college basketball games: Mizzou v Texas A&M (or was it Tech?), SLU vs St. Bonaventure, SIU-Carbondale vs , AND WEBSTER VS GREENVILLE.

I guess I need to watch the 10 p.m. news more often and Channel 5 in particular. Thanks, Rene Knott, for keeping the St. Louis D3 programs on the radar.

Interestingly, the footage showed two plays, one of which was Webster's Reggie Smith hitting the only shot he's made in the only game he's been in for Webster this season.

[lileyes]

Case knocks off Brandeis, 63-61

[WUPHF]

Washington University completes the season sweep over Rochester with 68-59 win at the Field House.  

The story of the night: Aaron Thompson goes 7-11 from three point range, scoring 29 points in all.  The All American is complete again.  They Bears played well against argueably the most physical team in the UAA.  Both teams battled on both sides of the floor.  Even on rebounds.  

Rochester scored more from three point range, which was the difference last year, but not well enough to win the game.  Washington University could do better guarding the perimeter.  

Great play by Cameron Smith, Caleb Knepper, and of course, Sean Wallis.  In addition to almost perfect guard play, Wallis became only the 11th player in Division III history to surpass the 700 assist mark.

Next up: the Emory Eagles visit on Sunday afternoon after dropping a close one in Chicago.

[Gregory Sager]

What a strange night at the Ratner Center. Chicago could do no wrong in the first half, running out to a 41-20 halftime lead over Emory. And then Chicago could do no right in the second half, as Emory sped up its perimeter ball movement and the Maroons became a step slower and had more trouble fighting through screens than they did in the first half. Sophomore Alex Gulotta was the key sharpshooter who made the comeback happen, as he hit four of five trey attempts in the second half for Emory. The Eagles had the Chicago lead down to single digits at the nine-minute mark, and with 6:51 left they got it down to two points. The Chicago lead would stay at four or below for the duration of the game, save for the last eight-tenths of a second, but miraculously the Eagles never drew even or claimed the lead. Five times Emory would get the lead down to one, and all five times the Maroons would respond. In fact, for the last 4:38 the Chicago lead was either one, two, or three points the whole way. It was positively bizarre.

With nineteen seconds left and Chicago clinging to a 70-68 lead, the Eagles played for the last shot and got the ball into Dan Curtin's hands. He drove the left side of the lane, but the six-foot Curtin forced a layup against three taller Maroons defenders that had no chance of going in. Chicago's Tom Williams, who led all scorers with 21 points and 13 rebounds and was terrific all night long, hauled in the carom and was fouled by Gulotta with only that 0.8 left on the clock. Curtin apparently felt that he had been mugged on the layup attempt, as he muttered something that got him T'd up. The game was pretty much over at that point anyway, as for all intents and purposes it would take a major miracle for a 72% free-throw shooter to miss a pair and then watch as an opposing player scooped up the rebound and heaved a ninety-footer into the basket at the other end of the floor in a single motion of his arm. Williams made three of the four FTs (two for the Gulotta foul, two for the Curtin technical), and the Maroons walked off the floor with a 73-68 win that felt oddly unsatisfying, given how badly they had played in the second half.

The officiating was horrendous, but at least it was horrendous both ways. In a sense, it made an already entertaining game even more interesting as I sat there and wondered what call the crew would botch next.

[Hugenerd]

I dont know whats up with CMU, but they are playing like they dont want to win.  They had ample opportunities to break their 11 game losing streak last night, but instead they went 3-12 from the FT line for the game, including 0-4 in the final minute, to lose to NYU by 1, 59-58.  This is the second time in the past week in which they fell apart at the end of the game to lose to NYU.  Last weekend, they didnt score in the final 3 minutes of the game to lose 59-57.  CMU is now 4-15 and has lost 12 in a row.  After steadily improving/being pretty good for the past 9 seasons, CMU has fallen back into the pits of the UAA.  They are on pace to have their worst record since 1999-2000 (when they were 3-22).  Tough season for the Tartans.  Last time they had a record like this, it took 5 seasons to get the team turned around and into a top UAA team.  Hopefully the turnaround wont take as long this time around.

[magicman]

I dont know whats up with CMU, but they are playing like they dont want to win.  They had ample opportunities to break their 11 game winning streak last night, but instead they went 3-12 from the FT line for the game, including 0-4 in the final minute, to lose to NYU by 1, 59-58.  This is the second time in the past week in which they fell apart at the end of the game to lose to NYU.  Last weekend, they didnt score in the final 3 minutes of the game to lose 59-57.  CMU is now 4-15 and has lost 12 in a row.  After steadily improving/being pretty good for the past 9 seasons, CMU has fallen back into the pits of the UAA.  They are on pace to have their worst record since 1999-2000 (when they were 3-22).  Tough season for the Tartans.  Last time they had a record like this, it took 5 seasons to get the team turned around and into a top UAA team.  Hopefully the turnaround wont take as long this time around.

I bet they wish they had an 11 game winning streak going into the NYU game Wishful thinking by an alum no doubt!

[Hugenerd]

I dont know whats up with CMU, but they are playing like they dont want to win.  They had ample opportunities to break their 11 game winning streak last night, but instead they went 3-12 from the FT line for the game, including 0-4 in the final minute, to lose to NYU by 1, 59-58.  This is the second time in the past week in which they fell apart at the end of the game to lose to NYU.  Last weekend, they didnt score in the final 3 minutes of the game to lose 59-57.  CMU is now 4-15 and has lost 12 in a row.  After steadily improving/being pretty good for the past 9 seasons, CMU has fallen back into the pits of the UAA.  They are on pace to have their worst record since 1999-2000 (when they were 3-22).  Tough season for the Tartans.  Last time they had a record like this, it took 5 seasons to get the team turned around and into a top UAA team.  Hopefully the turnaround wont take as long this time around.

I bet they wish they had an 11 game winning streak going into the NYU game Wishful thinking by an alum no doubt!

Magic, you are always there to catch my wishful thinking and slap me with the cold hard truth.

I guess the post doesnt make much sense with that typo in there, I will change it.

[magicman]

I dont know whats up with CMU, but they are playing like they dont want to win.  They had ample opportunities to break their 11 game winning streak last night, but instead they went 3-12 from the FT line for the game, including 0-4 in the final minute, to lose to NYU by 1, 59-58.  This is the second time in the past week in which they fell apart at the end of the game to lose to NYU.  Last weekend, they didnt score in the final 3 minutes of the game to lose 59-57.  CMU is now 4-15 and has lost 12 in a row.  After steadily improving/being pretty good for the past 9 seasons, CMU has fallen back into the pits of the UAA.  They are on pace to have their worst record since 1999-2000 (when they were 3-22).  Tough season for the Tartans.  Last time they had a record like this, it took 5 seasons to get the team turned around and into a top UAA team.  Hopefully the turnaround wont take as long this time around.

I bet they wish they had an 11 game winning streak going into the NYU game Wishful thinking by an alum no doubt!

Magic, you are always there to catch my wishful thinking and slap me with the cold hard truth.

I guess the post doesnt make much sense with that typo in there, I will change it.

hugenerd,
You usually don't make mistakes and you've also caught a few of mine but when I saw the 11 game winning streak for CMU remark I thought maybe I'd been in an alternate universe for the past couple of months or possibly teleported to Bizzaro World. No one has ever checked another team's won-lost record any quicker than I did!

[BUBeaverFan]

Good weekend for the Bears! Win over Emory wasn't as close as the final score indicated.  Chicago and Case with two win weekends as well.  Should be and exciting final three weekends.  Bears finish with 3 of 5 on the road.

[WUPHF]

Washington University held a 28 point lead over Emory with eight minutes left in the game, so the final score was not at all a reflection of the overall game.

Congratulations to Cameron Smith for scoring a career high 15 points on 5-5 shooting from three point range.  Spencer Gay also had a big game after struggling a little on Friday.

The two game lead over Brandeis in the UAA gives the Bears control of their UAA destiny.

[Hugenerd]

I dont know whats up with CMU, but they are playing like they dont want to win.  They had ample opportunities to break their 11 game winning streak last night, but instead they went 3-12 from the FT line for the game, including 0-4 in the final minute, to lose to NYU by 1, 59-58.  This is the second time in the past week in which they fell apart at the end of the game to lose to NYU.  Last weekend, they didnt score in the final 3 minutes of the game to lose 59-57.  CMU is now 4-15 and has lost 12 in a row.  After steadily improving/being pretty good for the past 9 seasons, CMU has fallen back into the pits of the UAA.  They are on pace to have their worst record since 1999-2000 (when they were 3-22).  Tough season for the Tartans.  Last time they had a record like this, it took 5 seasons to get the team turned around and into a top UAA team.  Hopefully the turnaround wont take as long this time around.

I bet they wish they had an 11 game winning streak going into the NYU game Wishful thinking by an alum no doubt!

Magic, you are always there to catch my wishful thinking and slap me with the cold hard truth.

I guess the post doesnt make much sense with that typo in there, I will change it.

hugenerd,
You usually don't make mistakes and you've also caught a few of mine but when I saw the 11 game winning streak for CMU remark I thought maybe I'd been in an alternate universe for the past couple of months or possibly teleported to Bizzaro World. No one has ever checked another team's won-lost record any quicker than I did!

I wasnt upset or anything, just joking around.

[howardjp]

Washington University held a 28 point lead over Emory with eight minutes left in the game, so the final score was not at all a reflection of the overall game.

Congratulations to Cameron Smith for scoring a career high 15 points on 5-5 shooting from three point range.  Spencer Gay also had a big game after struggling a little on Friday.

The two game lead over Brandeis in the UAA gives the Bears control of their UAA destiny.

Yes, the two point loss to Case takes away Brandeis' ability to take charge of the division with a win on Friday, not that it wouldn't be nice to have anyway .....Case's win today as well wraps up a good weekend for them, so kudos are merited.

[WUPHF]

Yes, the two point loss to Case takes away Brandeis' ability to take charge of the division with a win on Friday, not that it wouldn't be nice to have anyway.

If you have ever read my posts before, you would know that I am prone to hyperbole.  As a fan, I am just trying to make the most of this season because of what was lose to graduation this year.

The Bears would likely wrap up the UAA with wins on the road against Brandeis and then New York or Chicago.  A Brandeis win on Friday would make things interesting for sure.

[WUPHF]

For those of you who might be interested in the Trials and Tribulations of junior Spencer Gay who, after two years of very limited actions, has become essential to the Bears starting line-up.

The article references Tyler Nading several times and Gay suggests that there is no way he can "replace him" and that is probably true, but I do think there are a lot of similiarities.

http://www.studlife.com/sports/2010/02/08/the-trials-and-tribulations-of-spencer-gay/

[r-buddy]

Nice article.  No question that Spencer has made a significant contribution this year and he continues to improve.  He and Caleb Knepper bring somewhat different skills and the combination adds flexibility as well.