MBB: University Athletic Association

[WUPHF]

It could go to tiebreakers this season to determine an AQ, but it is too early in the UAA season to write about detailed tiebreaker scenarios.   That can wait until the final week or next to final week of the season.

I am not talking about the tiebreakers.  The UAA awards co-championships and if it comes down to co-champions, those teams will not need to AQ to get a tournament bid.

[Greek Tragedy]

It could go to tiebreakers this season to determine an AQ, but it is too early in the UAA season to write about detailed tiebreaker scenarios.   That can wait until the final week or next to final week of the season.

I am not talking about the tiebreakers.  The UAA awards co-championships and if it comes down to co-champions, those teams will not need to AQ to get a tournament bid.

Maybe there will be 4 co-champs and none of them will get a bid...well, ok, just one. LOL

[deiscanton]

It could go to tiebreakers this season to determine an AQ, but it is too early in the UAA season to write about detailed tiebreaker scenarios.   That can wait until the final week or next to final week of the season.

I am not talking about the tiebreakers.  The UAA awards co-championships and if it comes down to co-champions, those teams will not need to AQ to get a tournament bid.

Maybe not this season, but the UChicago women were UAA Co-Champions with Wash U with a 12-2 record in the UAA in the 2014-15 season.  Wash U won the AQ by tiebreaker due to the Bears's head-to-head sweep over UChicago.  Due to UChicago's 6-5 non-conference record and their results vs regionally ranked opponents outside of the UAA, the UChicago women did not get a Pool C bid that season despite an overall winning percentage for the Maroons that was over .700

[WUPHF]

The co-champions, if we get them, will not need the AQ this season though.

[deiscanton]

A health update from me--

After a few years of successfully avoiding catching COVID-19, I have tested positive this morning on a Flowflex Rapid Antigen test for the disease.   I have been very careful to wear my N95 mask when in public in indoor locations.   The last public event that I went to was the NYU at Brandeis doubleheader in Waltham on January 7.  My symptoms developed over the weekend.  I am currently suffering from a lot of post nasal drip, a lot of sneezing, and some coughing over the past few days.  I currently have no fever at the moment.  Normally in past winters, I could dismiss it as a cold, but I will have to look into Paxlovid this morning due to my obesity. 

[Greek Tragedy]

Get better soon. Hope it's not too serious.

[y_jack_lok]

A health update from me--

After a few years of successfully avoiding catching COVID-19, I have tested positive this morning on a Flowflex Rapid Antigen test for the disease.   I have been very careful to wear my N95 mask when in public in indoor locations.   The last public event that I went to was the NYU at Brandeis doubleheader in Waltham on January 7.  My symptoms developed over the weekend.  I am currently suffering from a lot of post nasal drip, a lot of sneezing, and some coughing over the past few days.  I currently have no fever at the moment.  Normally in past winters, I could dismiss it as a cold, but I will have to look into Paxlovid this morning due to my obesity.

Well, that sucks. Hope you recover quickly.

It seems that the six or seven days between the NYU/Brandeis games and the onset of symptoms is longer than it usually takes for symptoms to appear. My wife caught it 11 months ago with symptoms appearing in about three days. (I lucked out and didn't get it from her -- or else got it but was asymptomatic.) Same for my son in Tempe, AZ last May and a friend living in an RV out west who got in early December. Any chance there is another place you could have caught it after those games?

My wife was helped tremendously by Paxlovid. My son was also helped, but then got the "Paxlovid rebound" (return of some symptoms after the medicine left his system). My friend out west (77 years old) decided not to take the Paxlovid and recovered just fine. Perhaps each of them got a different strain of the virus. Anyway, I hope this turns out to be a minor inconvenience for you. Stay safe and get well soon.

[deiscanton]

I did not go to any other public events since January 7.   I have always worn my N95 mask on public transit, at the supermarket, and when I went to regular fast food places or in other indoor buildings, I only had my mask off when eating.   Unfortunately, practically no one else was masked in any of these settings, even during the week when the Boston area's community risk level was at high.   One way masking can only do so much. 

This XBB.1.5 subvariant is so sneaky that you can do the best you can to avoid it and still get it. 

I had a telehealth consultation with a clinician this morning and will be getting Paxlovid home delivered to me tomorrow or Wednesday.  I cannot risk taking the 5 minute walk to the CVS or Shaw's/Osco pharmacy and infecting others this week.

The clinician told me that there is a 5% chance of a Paxlovid rebound, but that I cannot take my avorstatin medication while taking Paxlovid, so I am off the statin for about the next 2 weeks starting tomorrow morning.    If I take my statin at the usual time tomorrow, I would have to wait until 5 PM Eastern tomorrow evening to start Paxlovid treatment.  The clinician also told me that the latest I can start Paxlovid treatment is Wednesday, since symptoms developed over the weekend.

That is it for my health update for now...

[deiscanton]

In other UAA news--

TitanQ has confirmed to me in a written statement that he received from NYU Athletics yesterday and forwarded to me that due to a pipe burst either last month or earlier this month in the basement of the new Paulson Center at 181 Mercer Street that has required the entire basketball court to be resurfaced, this weekend's UAA home games involving NYU have been moved to the Brooklyn Athletic Facility at 6 Metrotech Center.

I had heard about the pipe burst from coach Meg Barber of the NYU women's basketball team at the doubleheader at Brandeis on January 7, and about how the NYU teams wanted 1 extra week on the road this upcoming weekend rather than hosting games in Brooklyn.  They were concerned on January 7th at they would not be able to enter the new gym on Mercer Street due to the pipe burst for the first time until the morning of the scheduled home opener this Friday.  With a lot that could go wrong at the new place this weekend, it seems that moving this weekend's games to Brooklyn makes sense.

It is my belief that NYU is still hoping that the Mercer Street gym can be ready for the Carnegie Mellon/Case Western games on January 27th and 29th, from what I heard back on January 7th.

Keep in mind, though, that the court known as the Pope that NYU used last season closed its doors for good a few months ago when St. Francis Brooklyn moved to their new campus.   The St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers now play their home basketball games at Pratt.

I had asked Meg Barber about an emergency court if the new Mercer Street gym was not ready by Friday.  She expressed a belief to me that the gym could possibly be resurfaced by this Friday, but that NYU would not be able to practice there for the full week before the games.

I am just hoping the moving of the games is just for about a week, or no more than two, and that the new gym will be ready for the February round of UAA games.

The rest of the 23 story Paulson Center is ready for use, with students scheduled to move into the dorms on the upper floors of the building on Wednesday.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Bob Quillman uses a handy +1 for a road win, -1 for a home loss system to evaluate the CCIW before all the games have been played.  Seems like that would be really helpful for the UAA right now, too:

Brandeis  +1
CMU  +1
NYU  +1
CWRU  0
WashU  0
Rochester  0
Emory  -1
Chicago  -2

[deiscanton]

Last night on Hoopsville, I heard that the NYU Athletics Department was having a meeting on Wednesday as to the status of the basketball court in the basement of the new John A. Paulson Center at 181 Mercer Street in Manhattan.  As you probably know by now, a pipe burst has placed the return of NYU basketball to the corner of Bleecker and Mercer Streets on hold for the time being, and that UAA home games involving NYU will be played at the Brooklyn Athletic Facilty, also for the time being as well.

if anyone gets any information about what happened at the meeting this week and about whether or not any UAA basketball will be played on Mercer Street this season, please update me.

I have Amtrak tickets scheduled for a trip to New York for NYU Senior Day (when Brandeis is scheduled to play at NYU) in anticipation of the games being played at the new Paulson Center, and if that will no longer be the case as a result of the pipe burst, I will have to convert these "saver" tickets to credit for a future Amtrak trip and will also have to cancel my hotel reservation for Friday, Feb. 24.

After the closure of Coles Center back in Feb. 2016, I was looking forward to one last in-person trip to NYU this season to see for myself what replaced it.  I would hate to have to delay this trip to January 2024, but I will do it if necessary.

[WUPHF]

I am sorry to hear about the Covid, @deiscanton.

I have to think you will get an answer if you e-mail NYU athletics.

As for the +1/-1 exercise, I do think that is interesting, but I have seen too many home losses to get on board with the hold serve theory when the teams are this evenly matched.

I do remember reading or listening to an interview with a Rochester player who said that there are advantages to the UAA road trips.  That he felt locked in as his only focus was basketball and homework.  And that the gyms felt familiar enough. 

The experience is surely very different than getting in a bus on game day and driving from Bloomington to the Quad Cities and back within a 12 hour period.  I am sure that the home teams are meeting and connecting Thursday-Sunday of UAA games, but those are weekends for the players to do things unrelated to homework or basketball.

I do not think the crowds have recovered to pre-Covid levels and so that is not necessarily the advantage it once was.

[deiscanton]

I am sorry to hear about the Covid, @deiscanton.

I have to think you will get an answer if you e-mail NYU Athletics.

I emailed Jeff Bernstein, (NYU Director of Athletic Communications), Janice Quinn, and coaches Meg Barber and Dave Klatsky this morning.   Hopefully, I will get a response soon.

[deiscanton]

Named to the D3Hoops.com Team of the Week for Week 8 (Games played January 9-15, 2023)

Ethan Edwards, Brandeis

[WUPHF]

Named to the D3Hoops.com Team of the Week for Week 8 (Games played January 9-15, 2023)

Ethan Edwards, Brandeis

I have only seen him twice, but Edwards is going to be a future UAA player of the year candidate for sure.

Unfortunately, he will not get the rookie of the year honors as Benjamin Pearce is running away with it.  Pearce might be the front runner for the player of the year, but there are seniors and graduate students in the mix as well as Toby Harris so Pearce may have to wait his turn.

And speaking of Harris, I do not believe they continued with the sophomore of the year award in soccer so I assume that will not return for basketball either.

I am a little surprised by the choice on the Women's side given the elite performances by the Washington University and Chicago forwards, but hey...