MBB: University Athletic Association

[WUPHF]

So, the Rochester game was just the second that I watched this season.  Unfortunately, last night was only the third Rochester game played on the road with every other game behind the paywall.

The Yellowjackets played well last night, but their obvious height advantage will not be enough to compete with Emory.  Algier and Benka may score a lot of the 6-5 Eagles front court, but it will not be enough. 

The Yellowjackets are the lowest scoring team in the league are severely lacking in perimeter shooting.  Emory wins big at home to start league play.

This may be rich given the Tuesday result, but I think they go 0-2 against both Emory and Washington University.

[deiscanton]

Last year in Waltham, Rochester's defense held Brandeis to 52 points. Kailan Lee went a perfect 2-2 from 3 pt range and 2-2 from the charity stripe coming off the bench in that game.  In order for Brandeis to win on Jan. 17, the Judges will have to solve that defense.

While Brandeis may not be able to get a win against either Emory or Wash U in January either, NYU and Rochester come first in my schedule.

I will probably buy a 2 month subscription to Rochester's video service on Sunday.  I wil have to remember to cancel it after UAA play ends, but I did this before.  The basketball games on the service use student PBP and comementary, so it will be interesting to see how this year's Rochester student commentary team compares with JC DeLass in that aspect.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I am rewatching the Swarthmore-Rochester game this morning on Youtube.

I am at the moment when the ref called a flagrant 1 foul on Swarthmore for taking down Ryan Algier.  The play was pretty physical and the foul
was indeed a hard foul, but to me, the video was inconclusive on whether there was a shoulder or jersey grab.  There seemed to be a push, however.  Enough to be flagrant, though? 

No instant replay in d3 to review the call, and the call did not decide the game.

I talked with one of the officials afterward (we have known each other for years) and he said the flagrant was unanimous... that they saw the defender go high (shoulders and up is a big no-no) and thus the call. I felt the same watching it live. You just can't go high on a player, especially not getting the ball, or seeming to go for it, and that not be called. It has been a point of emphasis for several years now.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Swarthmore appears to be settling for three-pointers (3-15), but maybe that is their game...

This is basically what you will see more and more in college basketball. Analytics show that three-pointers and lay-ups are more "valuable" from a make and score point of view. I have had games that I've called, Swarthmore included (twice), where there is no shot from outside the defensive arc and inside the three-point arc.

More and more teams are going this way. I am actually surprised when teams take a lot of mid-range shots. Tells me a lot about where their coaching staff is on the rhelm of analytics.

I'm not sure what is the best method, but the teams I see winning games more often than not are adopting this newer philosophy.

Swarthmore has clearly adopted that thinking and when they are on from deep, they are insanely hard to stop.

[deiscanton]

I am rewatching the Swarthmore-Rochester game this morning on Youtube.

I am at the moment when the ref called a flagrant 1 foul on Swarthmore for taking down Ryan Algier.  The play was pretty physical and the foul
was indeed a hard foul, but to me, the video was inconclusive on whether there was a shoulder or jersey grab.  There seemed to be a push, however.  Enough to be flagrant, though? 

No instant replay in d3 to review the call, and the call did not decide the game.

I talked with one of the officials afterward (we have known each other for years) and he said the flagrant was unanimous... that they saw the defender go high (shoulders and up is a big no-no) and thus the call. I felt the same watching it live. You just can't go high on a player, especially not getting the ball, or seeming to go for it, and that not be called. It has been a point of emphasis for several years now.

Thanks for the explanation and clarification of the rule.

[WUPHF]

Yes, last year Washington University scored 66 points in the first half against Rochester in St. Louis and then went on the road and scored 48 points (yikes!) for the game in the Palestra.

Rochester shot 17 percent from the perimeter and scored 62 points on the road and 50 percent (10-20) from the perimeter and scored 78 points overall at home.

Rochester likely needs strong perimeter shooting to defeat teams such as Emory and Washington University who mostly utilize players who have experience against the Rochester offense.  In these cases, the entire starting line-up (hopefully) of both teams have played 4-6 games against the Yellowjackets.

I had Brandeis as the third best team in my pre-season rankings as did the coaches and I still think that is right, but let's see.

[WUPHF]

Swarthmore appears to be settling for three-pointers (3-15), but maybe that is their game...

This is basically what you will see more and more in college basketball. Analytics show that three-pointers and lay-ups are more "valuable" from a make and score point of view. I have had games that I've called, Swarthmore included (twice), where there is no shot from outside the defensive arc and inside the three-point arc.

More and more teams are going this way. I am actually surprised when teams take a lot of mid-range shots. Tells me a lot about where their coaching staff is on the rhelm of analytics.

I'm not sure what is the best method, but the teams I see winning games more often than not are adopting this newer philosophy.

Swarthmore has clearly adopted that thinking and when they are on from deep, they are insanely hard to stop.

Thanks Dave!  This is very interesting.

[Gregory Sager]

Swarthmore appears to be settling for three-pointers (3-15), but maybe that is their game...

This is basically what you will see more and more in college basketball. Analytics show that three-pointers and lay-ups are more "valuable" from a make and score point of view. I have had games that I've called, Swarthmore included (twice), where there is no shot from outside the defensive arc and inside the three-point arc.

More and more teams are going this way. I am actually surprised when teams take a lot of mid-range shots. Tells me a lot about where their coaching staff is on the rhelm of analytics.

... or it tells you a lot, if the coach is analytically-minded, about how well they listen to him.

[Pat Coleman]

Swarthmore appears to be settling for three-pointers (3-15), but maybe that is their game...

This is basically what you will see more and more in college basketball. Analytics show that three-pointers and lay-ups are more "valuable" from a make and score point of view. I have had games that I've called, Swarthmore included (twice), where there is no shot from outside the defensive arc and inside the three-point arc.

More and more teams are going this way. I am actually surprised when teams take a lot of mid-range shots. Tells me a lot about where their coaching staff is on the rhelm of analytics.

... or it tells you a lot, if the coach is analytically-minded, about how well they listen to him.

Fair point, but I'd have to think that players who don't listen to their coaches tend to play less.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I am rewatching the Swarthmore-Rochester game this morning on Youtube.

I am at the moment when the ref called a flagrant 1 foul on Swarthmore for taking down Ryan Algier.  The play was pretty physical and the foul
was indeed a hard foul, but to me, the video was inconclusive on whether there was a shoulder or jersey grab.  There seemed to be a push, however.  Enough to be flagrant, though? 

No instant replay in d3 to review the call, and the call did not decide the game.

I talked with one of the officials afterward (we have known each other for years) and he said the flagrant was unanimous... that they saw the defender go high (shoulders and up is a big no-no) and thus the call. I felt the same watching it live. You just can't go high on a player, especially not getting the ball, or seeming to go for it, and that not be called. It has been a point of emphasis for several years now.

Thanks for the explanation and clarification of the rule.

I was sitting closest to the Swarthmore bench and the explanation the ref gave to Swarthmore's coach was that they felt the defenders arm had made contact with Algier's neck and they had to call it for safety reasons.  In real time, it seemed to me a combination of a defender coming in hard, coupled with an offensive player already off-balanced.  I didn't sense any animosity either way before or after the interaction.

In fact, I was really impressed with how cordial many of the players were to each other after the game - I saw a number of guys chatting between teams while Rochester was waiting to leave.  I'm sure players knew each other from camps and AAU, etc - both rosters are full of east coast prep school grads.

[WUPHF]

It looks like Case Western Reserve gave 9-2 Albion a game, trailing by one point with a minute left before eventually falling, 74-69.  The Spartans led 38-32 at the half and had another good game by Antonio Ionadi who is currently the leading scorer on the season.  Unfortunately, I could not watch this game.

[WUPHF]

Chicago had four guys go 15 or better in scoring as the Maroons pounded North Park, 85-65.  Lavrie and McDaniel both finished with double-doubles.

[deiscanton]

It looks like Case Western Reserve gave 9-2 Albion a game, trailing by one point with a minute left before eventually falling, 74-69.  The Spartans led 38-32 at the half and had another good game by Antonio Ionadi who is currently the leading scorer on the season.  Unfortunately, I could not watch this game.

Albion is known as the MIAA's comeback kids.  Case Western was actually leading most of the second half, with the first half being nip and tuck.  Case Western took a 6 pt lead heading into halftime and was still leading with 5 minutes left, but Albion came back to win it.  Albion is now 5-2 this season when trailing with 5 minutes left.  The game was streamed on Youtube on the Albion College channel, so you should be able to watch the archived version, which is now up.

Sunday morning update-- I rewatched the game on Youtube as of my edit.  I was only able to watch the second half live, but I have now watched the first half on the Youtube archived upload. 

Sunday update-- The Albion commentator revealed that Case senior Monty Khela, who played in 7 games and started in 6 of them this season, has a partially torn Achilles tendon.  He was averaging 9.1 ppg this season.

[WUPHF]

That is a tough break for Case Western Reserve.

Monty Khela is one of three seniors who have been around since the beginning of the Todd McGuinness era.

The Spartans went 2-12 in league play last season after going 6-8 the season before behind the play of TJ Duckett.  It seems for sure that they will improve on the 2-12 record, but the Khela loss matters.

[deiscanton]

Okay, here is a rant about Sidearm Stats and the All Access service.

Obviously, I do not like paywalls, but I re-subscribed this morning to Rochester's service for the UAA basketball season.  I plan to cancel the subscription once I get billed for February.

However, once you access an on-demand game on Rochester's Sidearm Stats service, their technology forces you to watch their upload as though the game was live, even though the game is not live-- there is no ability to fast forward or rewind the stream.  This must be their technology showing its age and not getting an upgrade.  You also are forced to watch the game on either a tablet or a laptop-- if you want to watch these games on a streaming TV, you have to at least use a Chromecast relay.

In that front, Wash U gives me relief on my being able to watch all of their home games on the Roku TV.  These two Wash U faculty benefactors that helped set up the service and fund it are more than deserving of their spots in th Wash U Hall of Fame.