MBB: University Athletic Association

[WUPHF]

Washington University has added a 6'8 center and a few 6'6 forwards.  Chicago adds a 6'7 forward too.  Maybe I'll do away with my line that the league is getting smaller.

[uaaaficionado]

Washington University has added a 6'8 center and a few 6'6 forwards.  Chicago adds a 6'7 forward too.  Maybe I'll do away with my line that the league is getting smaller.

In retrospect, the league did lose a small handful of front court guys this past year. The coaches all knew it was time to re-up! Off the top of my head..

WashU - Schmelter, Sanders, Highsmith
Emory - C. Avant, D. Avant, Gigax
Rochester - Knox
Chicago - Barthel
Case Western - Duckett
Carnegie - N/a
NYU - N/a
Brandeis - N/a

And speaking of the big guys, any takes on returners who may dominate in the front court this season? Any freshman or guys who didn't play much last season? While none IMO seem like the dominant, POY-type candidates (i.e. Sanders, Kupferberg, Foster, Klimek, etc.), here are some guys that may emerge..

Emory - Matt Davet, Lawrence Rowley
Rochester - Patrick Benka, Andrew Lundstrom, Jacob Urban
WashU - Marcus Meyer, Hank Hunter
Case Western - Connor Nally, Michael Hollis
Carnegie Mellon - Trent Suddeth, Patrick Ehland
Chicago - Ryan Jacobsen, Sam Sustacek
NYU - Dom Cristiano, Jimmy Martinelli
Brandeis - Latye Workman, Chandler Jones

Speaking purely to the frontcourt, my favorite is probably Cristiano and Martinelli - both of which started together last year and they're only juniors. Plus they've got Hawkinson and Georgiadis off the bench, both of whom got minutes last year. In my mind this is definitely the deepest front court.

At Emory, Davet was an outstanding backup as a freshman and I wouldn't be surprised if he gets the green light in that fast-paced Emory system to put up 20+ points in a handful of games. Rowley looked tough in his limited minutes as well.

I'm not sure what to think of Meyer and Hunter at WashU. They didn't get a ton of minutes last year (nor did I get to watch them very much), but I'm certain they're both motivated and hungry to pick up where Schmelter & Sanders left off.

I think the most dominant bigs this season will be Cristiano and Davet. Outside of those two I'm interested to see which guys take a big jump to some level of consistent double-digit scoring and rebounding. And who knows, maybe one of these new freshman takes the UAA over!

[WUPHF]

That is a very good pre-season look at the UAA backcourts.

In addition to his scoring and rebounding, Sanders and Schmelter greatly reduced their fouling and were able to play more minutes than prior seasons.

Hunter did not play much at all, but the minutes he played at the Mt. St. Joseph tourney were particularly impressive.  If you include the Fontbonne game, he went 13-16 from the field between those three games.

Lundstrom has proven that he can ball, but his stats were a bit underwhelming last season.  I would not be surprised if he has a senior campaign that rivals Ayers or Seltzer.

[WUPHF]

Emory has an updated roster ready to go: http://www.emoryathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2018-19/roster

I have to admit I had one of those wait, what? moments.

Emory has added two transfer students to the mix.  They have a sophomore who started for St. Lawrence University last season, scoring 12 points per game.  They have another sophomore who started in 16 games for Calvin last season, scoring 11 points per game and had a 29 point game last November.

Wow!

[uaaaficionado]

Emory has an updated roster ready to go: http://www.emoryathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2018-19/roster

I have to admit I had one of those wait, what? moments.

Emory has added two transfer students to the mix.  They have a sophomore who started for St. Lawrence University last season, scoring 12 points per game.  They have another sophomore who started in 16 games for Calvin last season, scoring 11 points per game and had a 29 point game last November.

Wow!

I second the wow here! Will definitely be interesting to see how those two fit in with all the returners at the guard spots. The lone freshman listed here is Mason Johnson (6'7"). Assuming he is a true front court guy, that gives Emory 3 bigs.

[WUPHF]

Washington University has an updated roster: http://washubears.com/sports/mbkb/2018-19/roster

Of the returning players, two averaged over 10 minutes per game, 4 averaged over 5 minutes per game.  5 new players.

[ADL70]

It may now have been updated further.  I see six FR, but I don't think that I see the transfers who were mentioned earlier.

[WUPHF]

Absolutely six new players...my first of two numerical errors today.

I was posting while on a conference call.

The transfers are on the Emory squad.

[ADL70]

Right, Emory  Memory fail.

[WUPHF]

Rochester also has an updated roster: https://uofrathletics.com/roster.aspx?path=mbball

Three new players and a sophomore who returns after being out all season due to injury.

The UAA will have two first-year players who averaged 24 points per game in their senior season of high school.

[uaaaficionado]

I also wanted to take a look at the PG spot and see what some of you think. Here are the notable graduates:

WashU – Kucera, Knupp
Emory – Rapp
NYU – Udine
Carnegie - Maha

All five of these guards of were immensely talented and left their marks on the league. Kucera (2x First-Team All UAA & three-year starter) may have arguably been the #1 catalyst to WashU's success the past two years while averaging 11.8 ppg and 6.2 apg as a senior. Knupp played the PG and off guard spots interchangeably while taking home the league's defensive player of the year last season. He led the country in assist-to-turnover atio his junior season. Rapp, a 3 year starter, finished his career as Emory's all-time leader in assists (629) while ranking 4th in D3 for assist-to-turnover ratio. Udine, a 4-year starter, completed his career as NYU's all-time assist leader (571) 10th all-time in scoring at NYU (1,276 points). Maha,a combo guard, enjoyed a very successful stint as a three year starter at Carnegie Mellon as well, finishing his career 4th all-time in school history for three-pointers made (183).

Now looking forward, here are some of the top returners at the point guard spot:

Emory – Williams, Stuck
Rochester – Wittig, Mangan
WashU – Nester
Carnegie Mellon – McNeil
Case Western – Volkening
Chicago – Baum
NYU – Moore
Brandeis – Sabir

Williams is the top talent in the league & can play as the PG or SG. Stuck held his own as a freshman backup behind Rapp last year. Wittig, in his fourth season as a starter, is right there as the top PG in the league after showing improved confidence scoring the ball. I think Mangan will compete for DPOY. Two guys I didn't include in this are Clamage (Rochester) and Baitey (Emory) – I think they'd both classify better as wings but will spend plenty of time bringing the ball down the court, running offense & taking ball screens, and tallying assists (assuming that's how you may classify a PG  ). These are the top two & deepest back courts in the league IMO.

Baum finished last season ranked 2nd in assists during conference play (as a sophomore) at 6.1 per game. At 6'3" he has maybe the best length in the league at the PG spot which certainly helps that tough Chicago defense. I'm not sure who will come in to relieve him in his role.

As a sophomore McNeil was 2nd on the Carnegie Mellon team in scoring and led them in assists. Horwarth is another guy you may consider a combo guard as well but I'm not so sure he carries the same PG role as McNeil. Both are juniors and I think will be a slept on back court.

While not a PG, NYU's next best passer after the loss of Udine is 6'7" forward Jule Brown who tallied 3.0 apg last season. Cameron Moore will assume a much bigger role as the team's point guard now. Similar story with Case Western's 6'6" forward Michael Hollis who lead the team with 3.4 apg. Volkening was only a freshman at the starting PG spot for Case last year and I imagine will be much improved in his physique and abilities this season.

I didn't get to see much of Nester or Sabir last season. I'm sure Nester, like WashU's bigs, is excited about the opportunity to take the reigns going into his senior season. All though Kucera's senior campaign is a very tough act to follow.

Thoughts?

[WUPHF]

That is a great look at the point guard spot.

I am already looking forward to your other reviews position by position.

The UAA had three point guards who finished in the Top 10 of career assists last season too.  Definitely a lot of changes at the PG position.

I have Baitey playing 20 minutes or more at the point guard position with Williams (also playing the shooting guard role) and Stuck rotating in, but it may be dependent on the play of Bommarito and to a lesser extent Rowley and the transfers.  I may be wrong.

The third-string PG from last year for Washington University is no longer on the roster.  Nester may be playing 35 minutes per game, but who subs in?

[Mr. Mo]

With the new offense and the large group of talented guards, my guess is that you are going to see Nolan (and maybe Reinmiller) playing a fair amount if point guard this year.

[WUPHF]

With the new offense and the large group of talented guards, my guess is that you are going to see Nolan (and maybe Reinmiller) playing a fair amount if point guard this year.

There is no question those guys can play that role.

Arenas played point guard at times in high school (though hard to know) as did at least one of the new guards.

[Mr. Mo]

I would think Arenas would be in that mix as well.