MBB: University Athletic Association

[deiscanton]

Any word on status Brandeis game on Tuesday? On as scheduled, or postponed or canceled? How did that bus hit the tree anyways?

Brandeis Athletics has not released an official statement regarding tomorrow's basketball games (women hosting Babson, and the men going to UMass-Dartmouth).  As of the time that I am posting this, they are still scheduled.   If there is a postponement or a cancellation, there will be an official statement, just like an official statement was released on Sunday concering the swimming and diving meet vs Tufts.

Yesterday, although the swimming and diving meet vs Tufts was cancelled, the fencing meet in which Brandeis was hosting Northeast Fencing Conference action at the Gosman Center went on as scheduled.  Both the Brandeis men's and women's fencing teams participated yesterday in the meet in all 3 disciplines (foil, epee, and sabre). 

The cause of the Saturday night crash of the Brandeis Boston/Cambridge shuttle (operated by Joseph's Transportation of Medford, MA) officially remains under investigation, according to both Waltham MA Police and the Middlesex County, MA's District Attorney's office.  No charges against the driver have been formally filed yet as of this posting.

Although I never rode the Brandeis shuttle to Boston and Cambridge during my student days myself (I used the MBTA bus, commuter rail, and subway for my travels from campus to the city), I did not post yesterday as I am still going over the shock and grief of Brandeis students getting killed or injured returning home from a hockey game at Northeastern University on Saturday.  (The news accounts did not specifically state whether or not the students were attending the Hockey East game at Matthews Arena between Northeastern and Boston University, although that game was played Saturday evening.)

All Brandeis classes scheduled for today and tomorrow are cancelled.

RIP, Vanessa Mark.

[deiscanton]

Update on Tuesday's Brandeis women's basketball game vs Babson--

Brandeis Athletics this morning, in an official release on their web site, announced that in light of the tragic crash of the Boston/Cambridge Brandeis shuttle this past Saturday evening, the Brandeis women's basketball team, after consultation with team leaders, has decided to postpone tomorrow evening's home game vs Babson.  No make up date has yet been determined.

We are still waiting on the status of the Brandeis men's basketball game at UMass-Dartmouth that is still scheduled for tomorrow.

[WUPHF]

Any word on status Brandeis game on Tuesday? On as scheduled, or postponed or canceled? How did that bus hit the tree anyways?

And why was the bus going that fast in the first place?

[deiscanton]

As of 9:30 AM Tuesday, November 22, the Brandeis men are still scheduled to play tonight at UMass-Dartmouth at 7 PM Eastern.

Streaming coverage is still scheduled to start at 6:45 PM Eastern on the LEC Network.

Just a quick announcement on the UAA Men's Basketball players of the week announced so far through 2 weeks of non-conference play:

November 14-- Toby Harris, Brandeis
November 21-- 2 co-players of the week:  Ryan Algier, Rochester  and Kevin Sax, Carnegie Mellon.

UAA/NESCAC challenge coming up the weekend of December 3 and 4.  Colby College of NESCAC got a tune-up for the challenge by winning the Midway Classic last weekend-- getting a win at the Ratner Center over the University of Chicago in the process as well as a win over Colorado College the next day at the Ratner Center.

Games in the challenge will be played at Rochester and Colby, with Rochester and Carnegie Mellon facing off against Middlebury and Bowdoin at the Palestra.  At Waterville Maine, Brandeis and Emory will face off against Colby and Bates.  There will be 8 games total played in the challenge-- To win the challenge, either the UAA or the NESCAC will need to win 5 games vs the other league.  The challenge will end up as a draw if each conference wins 4 games vs the other league.

As for NYU-- UAA basketball is scheduled to return to the site of the old Coles Sports Center and will be played on a new court built at 181 Mercer Street (the basement of the new "Zipper Building") , and conference play is scheduled to start at 181 Mercer Street in New York on Friday, January 20, 2023, when NYU hosts Emory.  The entire building is scheduled to formally open for academic, residential, and athletic activity with the start of NYU's Spring Semester on January 23, 2023.

11:50 AM update-- Brandeis Athletics has confirmed via Twitter that the game is on for tonight for the Brandeis men at UMass-Dartmouth.  Tip at 7 PM Eastern.  Streaming coverage on the LEC Network scheduled to start at 6:45 PM Eastern.  Enloy the game. 

[WUPHF]

The entire building is scheduled to formally open for academic, residential, and athletic activity with the start of NYU's Spring Semester on January 23, 2023.

For reference, they began demolishing the Coles Sports Center in the Fall 2016.  Wait, is that right?  Maybe the Fall 2017 or 2018.  It has been so long...

[deiscanton]

The entire building is scheduled to formally open for academic, residential, and athletic activity with the start of NYU's Spring Semester on January 23, 2023.

For reference, they began demolishing the Coles Sports Center in the Fall 2016.  Wait, is that right?  Maybe the Fall 2017 or 2018.  It has been so long...

Yes, NYU basketball was last played on Mercer Street (at the corner of Bleecker and Mercer in Greenwich Village) in the 2015-16 season.  Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, NYU basketball was supposed to return there in the 2021-22 season.  NYU's contract with Hunter College to use the Hunter College Sportsplex for home basketball games was only signed to last until the end of the 2020-21 season at the latest.  Due to delays in construction caused by the pandemic, NYU was forced to use their 150 seat facility at the Tanden School of Engineering (formerly the home court of Polytechnic University (NYU-Poly) (Skyline Conf. gym)) as well as negotiate a 1 season emergency contract last year with St. Francis Brooklyn to use "the Pope" for UAA home games.

In the first 2 seasons while NYU was playing home games at Hunter College, NYU also had a contract with Pace University in Pleasantville, NY to play a few UAA home games up there when the Sportsplex was not available, but Pace U was too far away from Manhattan to be an effective secondary home court for NYU, so the plan for NYU to play a few UAA home games per year at Pace was dropped afterward.

Even back as recently as last basketball season when the delays became apparent, it was hoped that 181 Mercer Street would be open in September 2022 for the full academic year, but it got pushed back to a formal opening for the spring semester of 2023 scheduled to start in mid January.

Oh, BTW, Brandeis won again tonight at UMass-Dartmouth, 79-68, to go to 5-0.  Toby Harris scored 23 points, rookie Quron Zene had a career high 16 points, rookie Ethan Edwards scored 12 points, which is 2 shy of his career high 14 points that he scored at Emmanuel, and senior Dylan Lien scored 18 pts.  Corsairs drop to 1-3 on the season.

Judges led by 17 points at halftime.

UMass-Dartmouth scored the opening basket, but the Judges took the lead from there and never gave it up.

Judges led nearly wire-to-wire shooting 26 of 58 from the field, 13 of 22 from 3 point range, and 14 of 16 from the FT line.   (44.8%, 59.1%, and 87.5% splits, respectively.)

[WUPHF]

Thanks @deiscanton! I appreciate the thorough response. I knew they were playing in multiple gyms, but did not know most of that.  Very interesting!

[EagleATL]

Some great matchups this weekend for bragging rights at the UAA-NESCAC Challenge

Saturday 12/3:
@ Colby College
  -Brandeis vs Colby 3pm
  -Emory vs Bates 5pm
@ Rochester U
  -Carnegie Mellon vs Middlebury 1pm
  -Rochester vs Bowdoin 4pm

Sunday 12/4:
@ Colby College
  -Emory vs Colby 12pm
  -Brandeis vs Bates 2pm
@ Rochester U
  -Bowdoin vs Carnegie Mellon 12pm
  -Rochester vs Middlebury 2pm

[WUPHF]

That is an awesome tournament. Let's expand it out next season...

[deiscanton]

Records of the participating teams in this weekend's UAA-NESCAC Challenge coming into the weekend--

UAA participaing teams in the Challenge--

1.)  Rochester is 5-1
2.)  Carnegie Mellon is 5-0
3.)  Brandeis is 6-0
4.)  Emory is 4-1

UAA's participating group is 20-2 vs non-UAA opponents coming into the weekend's UAA/NESCAC Challenge

NESCAC participating teams in the Challenge--

1.)  Middlebury is 4-0

2.)  Colby is 7-0  (record includes a win vs Bowdoin in Brunswick, ME in a CBB game)

Colby is 6-0 vs non-NESCAC opponents-- Colby has a win over UChicago at the Ratner Center this season and won the Midway Classic.

3.)  Bowdoin is 3-3 (record includes a loss vs Colby in Brunswick, ME in a CBB game).--

Bowdoin is 3-2 vs non-NESCAC opponents this season.

4.)  Bates is 3-3

NESCAC participating teams have a record of 17-6 (16-5 outside of CBB games).

The UAA/NESCAC Challenge starts at the Rochester pod tomorrow with Carnegie Mellon vs Middlebury at 1 PM Eastern in the first game.

The first game of the Colby pod in Waterville, ME tomorrow will be Brandeis taking on the pod's host Colby at 3 PM Eastern.

Bowdoin at Rochester follows at 4 PM Eastern, with Emory taking on Bates in Waterville, ME at 5 PM Eastern.

[deiscanton]

Game 1 of the 2022 UAA/NESCAC Challenge is about to tip off from the Louis Alexander Palestra in Rochester, NY--

Designated home team for the Middlebury vs Carnegie Mellon game is the Carnegie Mellon Tartans.

JC DeLass is on the PBP call for the games from Rochester.

[deiscanton]

Halftime of the first game of the UAA/NESCAC Challenge on the Rochester pod--

Carnegie Mellon with a 1 point lead over Middlebury, 33-32.

Kevin Sax of Carnegie Mellon and Sam Stevens of Middlebury each lead their teams with 10 pts a piece.

Alex Sobel has a game high 8 rebounds for Middlebury, while Kevin Sax has 4 rebounds to lead Carnegie Mellon.

Josh Berry leads Carnegie Mellon with a game high 4 assists, while Noah Osher has 2 assists to lead Middlebury.

First half percentage splits for the Tartans-- 33 pts, 15 rebounds, and 8 assists on 41/0/88 shooting.

First half percentage splits for Middlebury-- 32 pts, 21 rebounds, and 3 assists on 46/22/67 shooting.

Middlebury led through most of the first half, but Carnegie Mellon closed out with a late run to take the 1 point lead.

[deiscanton]

Final from Rochester--

Middlebury 74, Carnegie Mellon 68

NESCAC takes a 1-0 lead in the 2022 UAA/NESCAC Challenge, with Brandeis next to play at Colby at 3 PM Eastern.

Bowdoin will tip off at Rochester at 4 PM Eastern, with Bates playing Emory at the Alfond Center in Waterville, ME at 5 PM Eastern.

[deiscanton]

Colby is really trying their hardest to put the UAA in a deep hole on Day 1--

Colby opens up the game vs Brandeis on a 16-0 run in the first 5 minutes, with Brandeis yet to score.

Brandeis frosh Quron Zene finally scores their first 2 points 7 minutes into the game, with Toby Harris scoring shortly thereafter to make it Colby 16, Brandeis 4.

By contrast, Middlebury's largest lead vs Carnegie Mellon earlier today was just 11 points.

[deiscanton]

Halftime of the second game of the UAA/NESCAC Challenge--

Colby 37, Brandeis 21

Colby is now dedicating the building where their new basketball court is located as the Margaret M. Crook Center. 

Their new basketball court is called the Whitmore-Mitchell Court, named partly after Colby's Dick Whitmore, who coached the Colby men's basketball team for many years and is a legend in both DIII and Maine hoops.