MBB: University Athletic Association

[Marty Peretz]

98-58 final. Spencer Gay continues his dominance. He will no doubt be 1st team all conference next year. Kid shoots 60 percent from the field and is becoming an excellent finisher each and every game. I'd love to see a break down of his in conference stats. He averages like 9 a night, but in conference I'd have to think he's up to 14 or 15. Could be the X factor down the stretch, since defenses can no longer focus their efforts exclusively on the Wash.U. backcourt.

Tough to see how Carnegie has fallen. They were such a good team a couple years ago and I hope for the league's sake they return to respectability.

Edit: Gay is averaging 12 in conference, but that includes a goose egg in the opener against Chicago.  He's averaging 17 in his last five. Very encouraging news for the Bears as they enter the tournament.

[deiscanton]

Brandeis led for most of the second half, but the Judges suffer a heartbreaking loss in Atlanta today as Alex Greven hits a game winning shot for the Eagles with 5.9 seconds remaining.  Emory held on for the 64-63 win.

(Updated to correct spelling on the last name.)  

Brandeis suffers their 6th loss of the season and may need a win against NYU on Saturday in order to be more secure about their Pool C chances.

Update:  Rochester defeated NYU today, 81-68, at the Palestra.

[howardjp]

Terrible finish by the Judges today as Emory pulls out a one point win ... five point Brandeis lead and a missed Eagles shot with about a minute left, looked like victory for Deis, but a Yemga foul, one of many dumb Kenny Small shots, and various other miscues led to the Emory win.

Good games for Kriskus and Weldon for Brandeis, Small and Roberson were terrible down the stretch. Roberson committed a number of random fouls, incuding one on a three pointer and Small's shot selection was atrocious, both missed free throws left and right. Hollins was great on the boards including a big put back late in the game, but also missed several short shots.

Team missed McGee as there was often no help by the forwards once Emory guards penetrated the middle.

In short, looks like the NYU game may count for something after all. Is there a tie breaker formula if the two teams split?

[Titan Q]

98-58 final. Spencer Gay continues his dominance. He will no doubt be 1st team all conference next year. Kid shoots 60 percent from the field and is becoming an excellent finisher each and every game. I'd love to see a break down of his in conference stats. He averages like 9 a night, but in conference I'd have to think he's up to 14 or 15. Could be the X factor down the stretch, since defenses can no longer focus their efforts exclusively on the Wash.U. backcourt.

Wash U breaks out conference stats, as a lot of teams do...

http://bearsports.wustl.edu/mensbball/teamcume.htm

Gay is averaging 11.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, and is shooting .648 from the field.  Contrast with Tyler Nading, who last year in UAA play averaged 13.1 points and 5.3 rebounds, shooting .535.  Spencer Gay's emergence has been huge for the Bears.

That said, things will be a lot tougher on him next year when he is "the guy."  Right now he gets a lot of great looks due to Wallis and Thompson being on the floor.

[deiscanton]

In short, looks like the NYU game may count for something after all. Is there a tie breaker formula if the two teams split?

There is no tie breaker formula for runner up finishes.  Once you finish as a runner up, your Pool C chances fall on your entire resume throughout the season, both conference and non-conference.

For example, on the women's side of the UAA last year,  the second, third, and fifth place teams  (the Brandeis women finishing 5th in the UAA last season) got Pool C bids while the fourth place team on the UAA women's side last year (the Chicago women)  did not get in to the NCAAs.

I'll update more later this week once I get updated strength of schedule numbers and the updated regional rankings on Wednesday.

[howardjp]

In short, looks like the NYU game may count for something after all. Is there a tie breaker formula if the two teams split?

There is no tie breaker formula for runner up finishes.  Once you finish as a runner up, your Pool C chances fall on your entire resume throughout the season, both conference and non-conference.

For example, on the women's side of the UAA last year,  the second, third, and fifth place teams  (the Brandeis women finishing 5th in the UAA last season) got Pool C bids while the fourth place team on the UAA women's side last year (the Chicago women)  did not get in to the NCAAs.

I'll update more later this week once I get updated strength of schedule numbers and the updated regional rankings on Wednesday.

Thanks as always Alan!

[WUPHF]

After watching my last regular season game with such a special group of players, I am thinking now that I may have to make the drive to Chicago next week.  Cameron Smith and Aaron Thompson tied Tyler Nading today with the most games ever played in a Bears uniform.  Incidentally, we learned today, through the half-time trivia contest, that Smith was a competitive jump rope-er as a child.

Obviously, Spencer Gay stole the show, but great play all around.  Of note: Dylan Richter had two high-flying alley-oop dunks, and eight points overall in 23 minutes.

At the risk of losing all my karma, I am going to comment on the officiating.  I have been critical of the officials before, so I am going to take this opportunity to say that this group of referees really knows how to call a game.  I have seen them several times before.  Very consistent calls on both sides.  Very predictable if you are a player.

[Hugenerd]

Tough to see how Carnegie has fallen. They were such a good team a couple years ago and I hope for the league's sake they return to respectability.

Carnegie actually made it to the second round of the NCAAs last year, but they graduated 6 or 7 seniors and could not put it together this year.  I believe this will be their first single digit win season since 01-02 when they were 9-16.

[r-buddy]

The comments on Wash U are right on target.  Gay's emergence is a great help, and he continues to improve with more playing time.  This team has excellent depth with 4 quality players off the bench, including Ross Kelly, who was the starting point guard for the 2009 championship team, a real asset, plus Dylan Richter and Caleb Knepper, a forward who also shoots beyond the arc, and Alex Toth at center.  Can't wait for March Madness!!   

[Hugenerd]

UAA could only send one team to the NCAA tourney this year.  Brandeis is squarely on the bubble now and no one else has a real chance.  It would be the first time since 2006 (when only CMU went).  Last year the UAA sent 3 teams to the tourney, and the UAA sent 4 in both 2008 and 2007.

[Marty Peretz]

TitanQ, you are dead on. Next year will be very interesting for the Bears. Gay's a great finisher but much of that stems from the feeds he gets from Wallis. Wash.U. will have two proven offensive threats next year in Richter and Gay. Knepper and Toth are capable scorers as well. The concern is who it will be that gets these guys the basketball. And since the current squad has 2 pg's who've led a team to a national title, there's been literally no reason to find minutes for a frosh. Between Hoener, Stanley, Oh, Sapp, and Seymour (and who knows whp might be brought in?) you have five guys which could see minutes. Sapp hasn't travelled in league play and will be a senior (who actually saw minutes when Wallis went down as a frosh), so he likely isn't Edwards' choice. Hoener and Seymour travels and was heavily touted out of HS, so he might be the front runner, but Oh is said to be quite talented, as is Seymour. I know very little about Stanley. You have to figure that going with a rotation at the position would be ineffective, since whomever emerges will need to be allowed the opportunity to make mistakes and a quick leash will not allow for that. Talk of who's going to man the reigns is purely and 100 percent speculative, since none of the candidates have seen even a minute of meaningful game action.

[WUPHF]

Wash.U. will have two proven offensive threats next year in Richter and Gay. Knepper and Toth are capable scorers as well. The concern is who it will be that gets these guys the basketball.

I am going to make the ever-so slightest correction to your latest post and that is: Knepper is every bit the proven offensive threat as Richter.  There is a reason why he is first off the bench.  And, he has struggled a little with injuries, but he will be key to a successful 2010-2011 campaign.

It will be interesting, though seriously, we must be the only Bears fans who are thinking about next year.

Speaking of this year, I am not sure that anyone mentioned Aaron Thompson and his performance today.  No news is indeed good news.  15 easy points on 6-9 shooting (3-5 from outside) in 20 minutes of play.  Looked very comfortable in the game and during warm-ups.

[BUBeaverFan]

It was a fun game to watch in the Field House on Sunday.  Seems like it has been a long time since there was a Wash U game where the players and fans could be pretty loose after about 10 minutes.  Nice that AT's dad was allowed to walk out with him on Sunday since he was coaching his HS team on Friday night and had to miss Senior night at Wash U.  Bears need to win on Saturday in Chicago to have hopes of hosting the first round. Go Bears!

[r-buddy]

Another thought on the Wash U weekend activity:  few have given adequate credit to the Case team, which seems much improved by the return of an injured starter.  They matched up well with the Bears and played hard.  Their biggest problem might be lack of depth--only one reserve played significant minutes, and their shooting clearly fell off in the waning minutes of the game.  Have to wonder if fatigue might have been evident on Sunday against Chicago also. 

[ziggy]

UAA could only send one team to the NCAA tourney this year.  Brandeis is squarely on the bubble now and no one else has a real chance.  It would be the first time since 2006 (when only CMU went).  Last year the UAA sent 3 teams to the tourney, and the UAA sent 4 in both 2008 and 2007.

Brandeis gets a Pool C bid in our projections thru last night's action. Their winning percentage could be better but a strength of schedule ranked 23rd nationally plays to their advantage.