MBB: University Athletic Association

[deiscanton]

How did Rochester improve so much over last year?  Is it the new coach?  They really didn't have too many new impact players, mostly the same as last year.  Novosel, DiBart, Lab, were all there last year?  Discuss....

Totally different style of play - one that matches  the talent that is there.  And you could make an argument that the loss of some players was beneficial.  There were FAR too many players the last couple of years, making it tough for guys to figure out what their roles were.  IMO.

The Sunday, January 23, 2011 edition of the Hoopsville DIII show has a feature interview of Rochester men's coach Luke Flockerzi talking about his team, which was 4-1 in the UAA at the time.  The interview was conducted by Dave 'd-mac' McHugh and it can be found from the 14th minute to the 27th minute of the show:

 http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/12209385

[deiscanton]

Today's (Feb. 22, 2011) edition of the Emory Wheel has an article written by Geoff Gilbert on Emory's road trip at Case and Carnegie Mellon.   Comments from Emory coach Jason Zimmerman are included:

  OT loss destroys (Emory's) Chance at UAA Title

(Note: I like the quote from Emory coach Jason Zimmerman when he says that the "Sunday games are always an adventure.")

[magicman]

Not Basketball related but an interesting news article today about Wash U's library discovery. Seems that dozens of books belonging to Thomas Jefferson have been found in the library's rare books collection. Jefferson's granddaughter donated them many years ago. Here's the article:

Jefferson's books found in Mo. university library
 
February 22, 2011 12:19 PM EST
Dozens of Thomas Jefferson's books have been found in the rare books collection at Washington University in St. Louis.

Scholars are now poring through the 28 titles and 74 volumes, searching for the occasional handwritten note from the nation's third president. And librarians say it's possible more of Jefferson's books will be found in the school's collection.

The school announced the discovery Monday, on Presidents Day. Librarians say Jefferson's books were sold after his death to settle debts. His granddaughter, Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge, bid on many of the books.

When she and her husband died, their library was donated to Washington University, but there was no indication any of the books belonged to Jefferson.

The school discovered the connection after getting a tip from a Jefferson scholar.

   

[ronk]

Not Basketball related but an interesting news article today about Wash U's library discovery. Seems that dozens of books belonging to Thomas Jefferson have been found in the library's rare books collection. Jefferson's granddaughter donated them many years ago. Here's the article:

Jefferson's books found in Mo. university library
 
February 22, 2011 12:19 PM EST
Dozens of Thomas Jefferson's books have been found in the rare books collection at Washington University in St. Louis.

Scholars are now poring through the 28 titles and 74 volumes, searching for the occasional handwritten note from the nation's third president. And librarians say it's possible more of Jefferson's books will be found in the school's collection.

The school announced the discovery Monday, on Presidents Day. Librarians say Jefferson's books were sold after his death to settle debts. His granddaughter, Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge, bid on many of the books.

When she and her husband died, their library was donated to Washington University, but there was no indication any of the books belonged to Jefferson.

The school discovered the connection after getting a tip from a Jefferson scholar.
 

  Good scouting report.

[David Collinge]

Congratulations to Rochester's Michael Labanowski and Case Western Reserve's Eric Duerr for being named to the Academic All-America team by CoSIDA today.  Labanowski, a senior with a 3.86 GPA in Mechanical Engineering, was named to the second team.  Duerr, who carries a 3.93 GPA in Pre-Med Biology, was named to the third team for the second consecutive year.  Congratulations to both these outstanding scholar-athletes!

[deiscanton]

Congratulations to Rochester's Michael Labanowski and Case Western Reserve's Eric Duerr for being named to the Academic All-America team by CoSIDA today.  Labanowski, a senior with a 3.86 GPA in Mechanical Engineering, was named to the second team.  Duerr, who carries a 3.93 GPA in Pre-Med Biology, was named to the third team for the second consecutive year.  Congratulations to both these outstanding scholar-athletes!

I join David Collinge as well in congratulating Mike Labanowski and Eric Duerr on their outstanding academic accomplishments this season.

[deiscanton]

The "Eagle Watch" on the Emory men's basketball page has just posted some new video comments from Emory men's basketball coach Jason Zimmerman.

In these new comments, Coach Zimmerman talks about Emory's weekend at Case and Carnegie Mellon, and previews the upcoming game against Rochester on Saturday.

The video is 2 min 35 seconds long, and the preview starts at 1 min 45 seconds into the video.

The "Eagle Watch" can be found at:

http://www.emoryathletics.com/sports/mbkb/index

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Final Regional Rankings are out before Selection Sunday: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/category/ncaa-stuff/regional-rankings/

[deiscanton]

Regionally ranked teams that are not the automatic qualifier from the UAA :

Emory-- #8 in South

Emory's in-region record (through games of Feb. 20) is 18-5  (.783)

Emory's in-region SOS is .462  (OWP of .444, OOWP of .497)

Emory is currently 1-2 in-region vs regionally ranked opponents (1-1 vs Brandeis, 0-1 vs Rochester)

Will a victory on Saturday vs Rochester be enough to put Emory on the national table for Pool C consideration?  (A debatable question now given Emory's #8 in South regional ranking this week....) And if the answer to that first question is "yes", does Emory get picked for a Pool C?  (Another debatable question....)

Obviously, a Rochester win on Saturday @ Emory ensures that the UAA will only send the Yellowjackets to the NCAA DIII Men's Tournament this year-- no doubt about that.

Brandeis-- #10 in Northeast

Brandeis's in-region record is 16-8  (.667)

Brandeis's in-region SOS is .502  (OWP of .492, OOWP of .524)

Brandeis is currently 1-4 in-region vs regionally ranked opponents  (1-1 vs Emory, 0-2 vs Rochester, 0-1 vs Amherst (#5 in Northeast)

I will count on Brandeis being in the ECAC New England Tournament with a first round game on Wednesday, March 2, 2011.

The UAA Champion is Rochester-- Pool A automatic qualifier-- #3 in East

Rochester's in-region record is 19-3 (.864)

Rochester's in-region SOS is .490 (OWP of .486, OOWP of .499)

Rochester is 4-1 in-region vs regionally ranked opponents (1-1 vs Hobart (#5 in East), 2-0 vs Brandeis, 1-0 vs Emory).

[deiscanton]

UAA Men's play is underway

Game updates--3 games under way in UAA Men's play

NYU 32, Brandeis 23  5:38 left in first half

Emory 26, Rochester 19  6:46 left in first

Chicago 9, Wash U 5 15:39 left in first

[deiscanton]

Halftime from 3 PM Central/4 PM Eastern scheduled tips

NYU 39, Brandeis 29

Emory 45, Rochester 40

Chicago 31, Wash U 27

Halftime from 4 PM Central/ 5 PM Eastern scheduled tip

CMU 35, Case 30

[deiscanton]

Second half game resets

NYU 68, Brandeis 52  1:18 left in regulation

Emory 71, Rochester 60  3:34 left in regulation

Chicago 53, Wash U 40  11:26 left in regulation

[deiscanton]

Final from Coles Center in New York--

NYU 70, Brandeis 54

Brandeis and NYU have both declared for their ECAC tournaments in the New England and Metro Regions, respectively, and will await Monday's ECAC selection calls, pairings to be announced Monday afternoon after the NCAA releases their picks for the national tournament.

The Elms win in the NECC tourney means that Brandeis may be the #1 seed in the ECAC New England tournament when the bracket gets revealed on Monday.

(Brandeis will not face NCAA leader in PPG Lamonte Thomas next week, however, as Johnson & Wales won the GNAC tournament.)

[deiscanton]

  Final from WoodPEC in Atlanta

  Emory 83, Rochester 72

According to JC DeLass's call on WYSL feed, Emory played like an NCAA championship caliber team today.

JC DeLass is finding it hard to believe that Emory finished 20-5 overall, 2nd in UAA, but may miss out on an NCAA bid.  He believes that Emory deserves to go to the NCAAs based on the game today.

Question:  If Emory is playing so well right now, why did the Eagles lose to LaGrange, a 4 win in-region team, earlier this season?  Emory should sweep teams like LaGrange-- for a while there, LaGrange's only win of the season was over Emory until just two weeks ago.

Emory finishes 19-5 in-region (.792), the 20th win was over a provisional DIII team.

[deiscanton]

Final from Wash U Field House in St. Louis

Chicago 74, Wash U 67