MBB: University Athletic Association

[blue_jays]

I think only two programs have cancelled games due to Covid and one more has played without players, but my memory may be failing me.

It will be interesting to see if other cancellations end up balancing out the number of games played over the new few weeks.

Well, according to what I read in the St. Louis feature news articles that Wash U sent out today regarding Justin Hardy and his battle with stage 4 stomach cancer, it looked like Justin was one of many players who were placed in COVID-19 protocol recently, which may explain why he only played in the Rochester game over the weekend and not in the Emory game.

A quote from the article:-- "It's hysterical to me that I have missed more games due to COVID than cancer.  It's a tough one to swallow."-- Justin Hardy of Wash U as placed on the record in the St. Louis Today feature article of Sunday, January 16, 2022.

Brandeis did cancel at least 1 non-conference game (the game vs Union) due to COVID, and depending on how the rest of the season plays out, it may be possible that the athletic directors of the affected UAA institutions may not be able to come up with a satisfactory way to reschedule the 3 UAA games that Brandeis missed and would have to cancel them.  In addition, I also do not know if Wash U and Chicago will be able to make up the men's basketball game that Chicago had to postpone due to COVID-19 protocols.  Obviously, best efforts have to be made to see if these UAA games can be rescheduled.

The WashU at UChicago game will definitely be made up. It's one of the easiest to do so, as WashU is about 5 hours away via bus. Likely a midweek late in the season. My bet is they play twice in the same week at end of February.

[WUPHF]

I think that is right about the Washington University game with UChicago. 

They could easily flip a coin to determine the location and then do a Friday-Sunday double header or Saturday-Sunday for that matter.

The travel partner games are the easiest to make-up so I think these will take priority over other missed games.  Brandeis and NYU definitely need to play their game.

[deiscanton]

Awards for this week being announced today in men's basketball--

1.)  Congratulations to Jack Nolan of Wash U on being named UAA Co-Athlete of the Week in men's basketball.

This is the first time this season for Jack Nolan getting this honor.

Source:  Tweet from Wash U athletics sent out at 11:25 AM Central/12:25 PM Eastern.

2.)  Congratulations to Bobby Hawkinson of NYU on being named to the D3Hoops.com Team of the Week for games played January 10-16, 2022.

Source:  www.d3hoops.com/awards/tow/2021-22/week8

3.)  Congratulations also go to Bobby Hawkinson of NYU on being named UAA Co-Athlete of the Week in men's basketball.  This is the third time this season that Bobby Hawkinson has been named UAA AOW, and the first time this season that he is sharing the honor with another player.

Bobby previously was named UAA AOW for men's basketball on November 8, 2021, and on December 13, 2021.

Source:  Tweet from NYU Athletics at 6:23 PM Eastern, Tuesday, January 18, 2022.

UAA Athlete of the Week Report-- January 17, 2022

[deiscanton]

New Case Western Reserve spectator policy--

Starting Monday January 24, spectators will be allowed to attend home varsity events at CWRU.  CWRU will require all spectators to wear masks at all times indoors and socially distance from others wherever possible.  Also, CWRU recommends that all spectators be up to date on their COVID 19 vaccines to attend any varsity event-- Only those who are fully vaccinated, including a booster if eligible, should attend a CWRU home contest in person.

No spectators will be allowed at the CWRU basketball games vs Emory and Rochester this weekend, but spectators will be allowed the following weekend at the CWRU basketball games vs Chicago and Wash U.

Spectators to be Allowed back into CWRU Home Athletic Events starting Jan. 24

[ADL70]

CWRU's #24 ranking is the highest in team history and only the second time in Top 25. The other time was Jan 18, 2015 when Spartans were 12-2. The next weekend they split with Emory and Rochester and dropped out even though receiving one more vote. They finished the year 15-10, 6-8 in UAA. Spartans have not won more than 15 in a season since then. CWRU previous most wins were 17 in 1998-99, the last season when Spartans did not play a double round-robin in UAA. That was Coach Sudek's penultimate season.

Interestingly, CWRU faces Emory and Rochester at home this weekend.

https://athletics.case.edu/sports/mbkb/2021-22/releases/20220118de6z6u

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Hoopsville is live on the air tonight starting at 7:00 PM ET. Might be a guest worth tuning into from this conference.

We will have the following guests:

• Todd McGuinness, No. 24 Case Western Reserve men's coach
• Margaret White, Marymount women's coach
• Top 25 Women's Double-Take with Brendan Gulick and Scott Peterson
• Jason Leone, No. 25 Oswego State men's coach
• Rich Murphy, Redlands women's coach

Plus the latest from the NCAA Convention and much more.

It is a jam packed show! Tune in starting at 7:00 PM ET here: www.d3hoops.com/hoopsville/archives/2021-22/jan20 - the show will be available on demand and the audio podcast will be available shortly after the show as well.

[deiscanton]

Scheduled games for this weekend-- As of this morning, all games are still scheduled to be played

Friday, January 21, 2022

1.)  (RV) Rochester at Carnegie Mellon-- 5:30 PM Eastern
2.)  (RV) Emory at (#24) Case Western Reserve-- 5:30 PM Eastern
3.)  Brandeis at Chicago-- 5:30 PM Central/6:30 PM Eastern  (First time Brandeis men take the court in 41 days)
4.)  NYU at (#4) Wash U-- 5:30 PM Central/6:30 PM Eastern

Sunday, January 23, 2022

1.)  (RV) Rochester at Case Western Reserve-- Noon Eastern
2.)  (RV) Emory at Carnegie Mellon-- Noon Eastern
3.)  Brandeis at (#4) Wash U-- Noon Central/1 PM Eastern
4.)  NYU at Chicago-- Noon Central/1 PM Eastern



Review of spectator policies for UAA games this weekend

This weekend, spectators are only allowed in games played at the Ratner Center in Chicago.  All spectators must be fully vaccinated and it is advised, if eligible, that they have had their booster in order to comply with the City of Chicago Health Guidelines.

A Chicago Travel Advisory is still in effect-- Only fully vaccinated individuals who are travelling from outside of the state of Illinois are allowed to travel to Chicago without undergoing a recommended 7 day quarantine upon arrival and testing before and after travel.

No person currently not fully vaccinated is allowed on the University of Chicago campus.

Masks must be worn inside Ratner Center at all times.

Currently, other than those above mentioned critieria, there is no limit on the number of fans allowed inside the Ratner Center.

For Brandeis fans in the Chicago area, Friday's UAA doubleheader at the Ratner Center is also a Brandeis Alumni Club of Chicago event.

No in-person spectators allowed this weekend for games played at Wash U, Case Western Reserve, and Carnegie Mellon.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

This is a huge weekend for Case. If they win both these games, they're set up for a shot at Pool C. If they lose, it forces them to win a lot of road games to have a chance.

[deiscanton]

Due to glitches on the live Hoopsville broadcast, only the second half of Coach Todd McGuiness's Q & A with Dave McHugh got played last night, but the complete interview is now available on the Team1Sports.com archive for replay on demand this morning.

Of interest to me in particular is the fact that the Brandeis, Carnegie Mellon, and CWRU athletic directors are still negotiating on how to make up two of the three missed Brandeis men's UAA basketball games that were forced to be postponed due to COVID-19 protocols.  None of the UAA games have been officially cancelled at this time, but scheduling of the make up games has not yet been finalized.

Coach McGuiness did talk about one potential solution, where Brandeis would move 2 of the postponed games to Pittsburgh and Cleveland, respectively.  He talked about it in terms of number of games played during the week coinciding with the Feb. 11 through 13 weekend, when Brandeis is scheduled to play the road games at Carnegie Mellon and CWRU.  While the proposal was not expressed in detail in the interview, here is my guess in one potential solution for the Brandeis games vs Carnegie Mellon and CWRU.

Under one proposal to make up the games, the Brandeis men would incur the extra travel and hotel expenses.  This would be the games scheduled for the weekend of February 11 through 13, 2022.  Under the proposed travel scheme, the Brandeis men could leave on Wednesday, February 9, or if the get away day remained Thursday, leave Boston on an earlier flight to Pittsburgh that day.  On Thursday, February 10, the Brandeis men would play Carnegie Mellon at Wiegand Gym in a "reverse jersey" contest, with Brandeis wearing the home whites that day.  The Friday game would be played as usual as the second game of the series.  On Saturday, both Brandeis basketball teams would travel to Cleveland.  The Sunday game would be played as usual as the first game of the 2 game Brandeis/CWRU series at Horsburgh Gym.  There would be another men's game between Brandeis and CWRU on Monday, February 14, where Brandeis would once again wear the home whites that day.  That game would be played as early on Monday as possible so that the Judges can return to Boston from Cleveland and get ready to play Bates at Auerbach Arena on Wednesday night, February 16.  (Assuming that the Bates game can be kept under this proposal.)

The Brandeis women's basketball team would travel on their normal travel schedule for that weekend.

The proposal is still under review, and I do not expect to see any rescheduling announcements until at least the end of January.

[deiscanton]

This is a huge weekend for Case. If they win both these games, they're set up for a shot at Pool C. If they lose, it forces them to win a lot of road games to have a chance.

I will probably put up halftime and final stats for both CWRU men's games this weekend so that people who are watching other games will get a snapshot of the UAA games from Cleveland.

(Obviously with 4 men's games being played tonight, I can't do a detailed blog of every game as it proceeds-- the halftimes are too short to get 2 halftime reports posted at the same time unless I write down the stats on pen and paper before I post them.)

I am also going to be watching Brandeis at Chicago tonight, which will tip an hour after Emory at Case Western Reserve.

[WUPHF]

(Obviously with 4 men's games being played tonight, I can't do a detailed blog of every game as it proceeds-- the halftimes are too short to get 2 halftime reports posted at the same time unless I write down the stats on pen and paper before I post them.)

Your game update are appreciated.

[WUPHF]

This is a huge weekend for Case. If they win both these games, they're set up for a shot at Pool C. If they lose, it forces them to win a lot of road games to have a chance.

Definitely a huge weekend for the Spartans.

Hosting Emory, Rochester and Washington University first games in the rotation is a big advantage.

Emory will need to get more out of Romin Williams if they want to win.  He did not win the the first-year player of the year with his perimeter shooting.

[DagarmanSpartan]

Wow.

I never would have imagined that CWRU would have a team ranked #24.

GO SPARTANS!!!

[ADL70]

Wow.

I never would have imagined that CWRU would have a team ranked #24.

GO SPARTANS!!!

And I didn't remember them ever being in the Top 25.

[WUPHF]

Dane McLoughlin and company had the Spartans in the rankings for one week or maybe two.  That was a great team too, but they fell off to end the season.  This is definitely a better team.

The next few weeks are going to be crazy...