MBB: University Athletic Association

[y_jack_lok]

Emory took a 20 point or so loss to Randolph Macon at home, despite big games from four of the starting five.  The final score in that game: 94-74.

I watched that game.  The announcer said it is the first loss for Emory at home to a non-UAA team since November 2012. I was very curious as to how this game would go since I first knew it was scheduled. Emory is a bit younger than Randolph-Macon, who has four very experienced seniors who all play lots of minutes and three of whom start. I think R-MC's experience showed today. They stayed poised in spite of foul trouble for a number of players. Their defense against a high scoring offense (averaging 97+ per game prior to today) was solid.

[WUPHF]

Thanks for that post.  Very interesting.  And, the first non-conference loss at home since 2012?  Wow.

[WUPHF]

Washington University moves to 3-2 after a convincing 89-70 win over Carthage after leading by as many as 26.

The Bears shot 54% from the field and 50% from the perimeter.  Nolan led all scorers with 24 points and both Hardy (7-11) and Nester (8-10, 4-5 from three) finished with 20. 

[WUPHF]

I did not get a chance to post UAA results over the weekend other than the Emory and Washington University results, but the UAA is 26-13 and is currently rated 6th in the Massey conference ratings.

I did get to watch the last minutes of the Carnegie Mellon loss to Hamilton.  The Tartans trailed by 4 points with just under 2 minutes left to play, but struggled to close out the game.  The Carnegie Mellon outrebounded Hamilton by 12, but had a 22 turnovers compared to just 7 by Hamilton.

UAA fans get 5 games before the weekend including a big match-up between Chicago and Wheaton in which the Maroons will travel to Wheaton for the second year in a row.

I am definitely looking forward to the weekend...

Washington University welcomes Pomona-Pitzer, UW-Platteville and Alma to town for the 35th annual Lopata Classic.  I had previously referred to a win over the Sagehens and referred to a potential match-up with Platteville as the big game.

I had a chance to watch the last 10 minutes of the Pomona-Pitzer win on Saturday along with both overtimes, but it is hard to know what to expect on Friday.  I have watched a few Whitman games and they always seemed to wear down the other team over the course of the game.  Pitzer had just 16 turnovers and played well through the end.  The Bears will likely have to take a big step up on the defensive end in order to win this game. 

Incidentally, Washington University has an 8-3 record against Pomona-Pitzer including 4 wins in the Lopata Classic championship game and at least 2 first round wins in the last 10 years.

[Greek Tragedy]

So much for a UAA down year?

[WUPHF]

+1 I had a response to my previous predictions of a down year for the league written in to my previous post, but then deleted it.

The league is arguably down relative to the last 10 years, but is trending back up.

It all depends on the metrics of course. 

Let's see how many teams the UAA gets in to the tournament.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

So much for a UAA down year?

Let's give it a few weeks ... or months.

[WUPHF]

I do think we need to take wait a few months to be sure.

The league does have a few losses that I would have predicted to be wins or close losses, but compared to last season, the league is definitely trending up.

[WUPHF]

Along those lines, I was surprised to see the box score from the Chicago-Lake Forest game.

I was also surprised to see how uniquely cool the Lake Forest gym is from the highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=45&v=9JAowThVHNM

This gym is officially on my #D3Hoops bucket list.

[Mr. Ypsi]

So much for a UAA down year?

Let's give it a few weeks ... or months.

I do think we need to take wait a few months to be sure.

I don't know about you guys, but in a few MONTHS I expect to be talking baseball, not D3 basketball!

[WUPHF]

The UAA went 1-2 on the night with both Emory and Carnegie Mellon losing tonight.

Emory led at the half after trailing for stretches but went ice cold in the second.  The final score from Sewanee: 83-70.

Case Western Reserve trailed at the half but eventually chased down Thiel with 10 minutes or so left and closed out an otherwise close game.

[WUPHF]

Way too early but the order provided by the Massey Ratings is a little surprising...

As I said, the only pick I was confident about was CWRU at five, but they may do better than that.

Rochester
Washington University
Chicago
Emory
Case Western Reserve
Brandeis
NYU
Carnegie Mellon

[WUPHF]

Chicago lights up Wheaton with a 90-50 win. The Maroons led by as many as 35 in the first half.

I only watched minutes here and there but I was impressed by the defensive efforts of Max Jacobs and company. 

The Maroons held Aston Francis to just 12 field goal attempts and forced 22 turnovers (17 in the first half).

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Chicago lights up Wheaton with a 90-50 win. The Maroons led by as many as 35 in the first half.

I only watched minutes here and there but I was impressed by the defensive efforts of Max Jacobs and company. 

The Maroons held Aston Francis to just 12 field goal attempts and forced 22 turnovers (17 in the first half).

90-60.  It was bad, but not that bad.  The lead pretty much stayed the same after ten minutes.  Chicago came out with tremendous defense and then just held steady.

[WUPHF]

Thanks for that correction.

I did mean 90-60, but had posted that one with my phone.

At times Wheaton did get the lead down to 25.  I'll say, the Maroons had the best offensive effort by far going back to the final game of last season.  No superstars, but lots of quality players who contributed last night.