MBB: University Athletic Association

Rhodes Scholar · February 04, 2007, 11:08:39 PM

I watched NYU defeat Chicago, 79-76, this afternoon at Coles. It was a very well-played, exciting contest. NYU led from the opening tap, but the game was not decided until the final buzzer. The Violets raced out to an 8-0 lead but the Maroons got back into it pretty quickly. The game was close for most of the half, but NYU opened up some breathing room behind five three's by Michael DeCorso and went into the locker room with a 40-29 advantage.

In the second half, Nate Hainje and Brandon Woodhead got going and the Maroons steadily closed the gap. A three-pointer by Jake Pancratz got Chicago within two points, 68-66, with a little over two minutes remaining. It was nip and tuck the rest of the way. After Jason Boone converted an offensive rebound off of a missed foul shot to put NYU up 77-73 with 15 seconds remaining, Woodhead countered with a three to make it 77-76 with nine seconds left. Charlie Parker made two free throws to put NYU up 79-76 with 7.5 seconds remaining. Woodhead had a chance to send it into OT, but his three-point attempt at the buzzer was a little off the mark enabling the Violets to come away with a hard-fought victory.

Boone led NYU with 22 points, while DeCorso had 20 and Parker added 15. Hainje was high man for Chicago with 19, followed by Woodhead with 18 and Jesse Meyer with 14.

It should be noted that Daniel Falcon went down with an ankle injury midway through the second half and did not play the rest of the game. The Maroons hit 13 three's and the Violets had eight. Chicago, remarkably, had only two turnovers for the entire game.

howardjp · February 05, 2007, 02:14:18 PM

It was great to see that the Judges won a big one, I listened to the Women's game and the announcers were reporting that Allan was trying to whip the crowd up. Unfortunately, didn't translate on the court.

I'm from a previous Brandeis era when we played Harvard, Northeastern, Springfield and Assumption, so it's hard to compare eras. However, the "Big 3" then were John Perry, Mike Fahey and Major Williams, who were no slouches either.

Best game I ever saw was Harvard 122, Brandeis 117 (no O/T). Serious shooting in that game, when it was over, the fans applauded both teams!

Pat Coleman · February 05, 2007, 02:27:30 PM

Quote from: howardjp on February 05, 2007, 02:14:18 PM
It was great to see that the Judges won a big one, I listened to the Women's game and the announcers were reporting that Allan was trying to whip the crowd up. Unfortunately, didn't translate on the court.

Nor did it translate to giving the actual score and time, things which are helpful to listeners.

deiscanton · February 05, 2007, 04:52:11 PM

I'm just glad that these last 2 weeks of Brandeis v. Chicago and Wash U are over, and that Brandeis can go up against some other teams in the UAA next week. I was really exhausted after the two doubleheaders on Friday and Sunday.

howardjp · February 05, 2007, 07:10:32 PM

Sorry Pat, since this is the "men's" board, didn't go into detail ....

Quote from: Pat Coleman on February 05, 2007, 02:27:30 PM
Quote from: howardjp on February 05, 2007, 02:14:18 PM
It was great to see that the Judges won a big one, I listened to the Women's game and the announcers were reporting that Allan was trying to whip the crowd up. Unfortunately, didn't translate on the court.

Nor did it translate to giving the actual score and time, things which are helpful to listeners.

Pat Coleman · February 05, 2007, 07:13:35 PM

It applied to both games. Talking about the announcers, not you.

benjgc · February 06, 2007, 02:13:37 AM

Mr. Coleman:

With all due respect, I feel that your comments regarding the WBRS broadcasts of the men's basketball game between Brandeis University and Washington University in St. Louis are inaccurate and damaging. I had the good pleasure to serve as WBRS's color commentator for the men's game that day, and I was fortunate that I decided to record the broadcast of the game. I recall turning to the play-by-play guy several times as he noted the time and score, and I pointed to the scoreboard to remind him a few times as well.
Upon further review, my memories were confirmed by the recording of the WBRS broadcast that I have on my computer. It would be impossible for me to e-mail you the proof of this (the file is a .WAV that is over a gigabyte in size), but if you'd like, I'd be happy to burn it to DVD and send it to you.
Your comments (to wit, "Nor did it translate to giving the actual score and time, things which are helpful to listeners." and "It applied to both games. Talking about the announcers, not you.") are damaging to our station's reputation and hurtful to myself and my co-commentators. We in the WBRS sports department take the work we do very seriously, and we hope to continue to bring you the finest all-student broadcasting in Division III as the years go on.

Yours,
Ben Gellman-Chomsky

P.S. Shameless plug: WBRS will be broadcasting the game between the women's teams of Brandeis and Carnegie Mellon, this Friday at 6 PM. Catch all the action at WBRS.org!

Pat Coleman · February 06, 2007, 02:33:34 AM

Benj,

No offense, but while Ray Martel and I were doing the NYU/Wash U games, we had someone back at home relaying us scores of the Brandeis/Chicago games. Except WBRS didn't give both pieces at the same time, making it impossible for us to pass along updates.

benjgc · February 06, 2007, 10:10:05 AM

Mr. Coleman:

I was under the impression that you were speaking about the Brandeis-Wash. U. games of Sunday. While I cannot speak to the time and score checks in the women's game, I happened to be the play-by-play announcer for the men's game, and so I recorded it as well. I checked it this morning to make sure I did give frequent score updates, and I was correct in thinking that I did, to the best of my ability (as the game was very fast-paced and difficult to keep up with from a play-by-play standpoint). Again, I would be happy to send you a DVD with either or both of my enormous .WAV files on them.
I would like to reiterate that I mean no disrespect with my posting here, but I felt compelled to defend the quality of the broadcasts that we put out this weekend and over the course of the year. Thank you for even taking the time to listen to us as a source of reliable information; we hope we'll always surpass expectations.

Yours,
Ben Gellman-Chomsky

sean-o · February 06, 2007, 11:17:08 AM

Sometimes it feels a little clunky/excessive to give a full score and time update after each scoring play, but do most people agree it's best? Or at least score after each play? I do understand listener frustration after trying to blog three different games this weekend.

dblock · February 06, 2007, 11:23:44 AM

Quote from: Pat Coleman on February 06, 2007, 02:33:34 AM
Benj,

No offense, but while Ray Martel and I were doing the NYU/Wash U games

MR. Coleman, do you mean Sugar Ray Martel from WFAN??

Pat Coleman · February 06, 2007, 02:00:25 PM

Yes. Ray Martel is a founding member of D3hoops.com.

And I think "inaccurate and damaging" is a knee-jerk overreaction, so I'm glad you backed off of that. Consider time/score something to work on, a point of emphasis, so to speak. You may think you gave the information out in a complete and timely manner but the person we had listening -- who passes scores to us fairly often and has done so for years -- didn't think so. So if you're not serving that listener it could stand some improvement.

On an aside, the time that some broadcasters use complaining about the officiating could be better used informing people of the time/score. There are easy ways to sound professional, yet still get the point across that the officiating is being disputed. Tell the listeners who is complaining -- are the fans upset, is the coach complaining, are players griping? That's what's instructive -- not that a color analyst thinks the officiating is awful.

sean-o · February 06, 2007, 03:14:59 PM

Quote from: Pat Coleman on February 06, 2007, 02:00:25 PM
On an aside, the time that some broadcasters use complaining about the officiating could be better used informing people of the time/score. There are easy ways to sound professional, yet still get the point across that the officiating is being disputed. Tell the listeners who is complaining -- are the fans upset, is the coach complaining, are players griping? That's what's instructive -- not that a color analyst thinks the officiating is awful.

I definitely second all of that.

Ralph Turner · February 06, 2007, 06:45:52 PM

Quote from: sean-o on February 06, 2007, 11:17:08 AM
Sometimes it feels a little clunky/excessive to give a full score and time update after each scoring play, but do most people agree it's best? Or at least score after each play? I do understand listener frustration after trying to blog three different games this weekend.

Sean, I really appreciate hearing score and time with each score. In a really close game, I want it as often as one might consider looking at the scoreboard or the second clock if you were sitting in the stands.

I believe that it was Harry Caray among others who used the egg timer/"hour glass" to remind him to give the situation/time/score.

As I was googling that factoid, I came across this webpage. Doesn't that just bring back floods of great memories!

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh · February 06, 2007, 08:23:55 PM

By the way guys... if you have a .wav file... why don't you save a copy of that same file as an mp3 file. The quality hardly disappears, but the size of the file drops dramatically. If you are not sure how to do it, please feel free to email me... I can try and help you out!

As for complaining about refs... I think that is the one thing I do my best to work on. It is also probably the one thing that irritates those listening the most. As posters have said, there are many ways to comment on the refs calls... without sounding like all you are doing is complain.