MBB: University Athletic Association

[Marty Peretz]

You can bet Mark Edwards will pull a page out of Mike Neer's playbook when the Judges come to St. Louis at the end of February. Nading and Thompson slashing + Troy Ruths down low = potential foul trouble for Hollins.

[ILive4This]

Yeah but at the same time, the Judges were able to limit Rob D who has been lights out recently, until the last few minutes when they had no choice but to foul him...9 of his 12 pts i believe were from the line. If they can limit nading's production it might not matter the foul trouble Hollins is in.

However since someone is bound to say it, chances are Wash U will not need to borrow playbook pages when the Judges come to St. Louis, the refs will give out fouls  anyway.

[Jacketfan2011]

Dominiak did get most of his points from the line, but he only took 3 shots.  The box score shows how balanced the guard play for UR was, with Rob D 2/3, Mike C 5/8, Mike L 3/3, Brad R 1/2, Kaplan 2/3 and Juron 2/3.  Brandeis did a great job of double and triple teaming the post, but UR did an equally nice job of hitting the open jumper. 

[Jacketfan2011]

Speaking of Mike L, I thought his effort in the last couple of minutes on the long pass was exceptional and one of the key plays along with Juron going coast to coast in the last minute.  Long inbounds pass from under the Brandeis basket looked for all the world to be going out of bounds on the other end of the court.  Brandeis player was doing a great job of screening Labanowski from the ball, but at the last second Mike went around and tipped the ball off him.  Instead of Brandeis having the ball under their basket, it was UR's under theirs.  Key play and heady for a freshman.  Also he was 3/3 - all from behind the arc.

[formerbant10]

Brandeis did a great job of double and triple teaming the post, but UR did an equally nice job of hitting the open jumper. 

Brandeis didn't really double and never triple teamed the post.  They slacked off a lot when guarding the high-low trying to bate the bigs into shooting 15 footers.  May have looked like they were doubling, but it was more of just playing way off the high big.

Dead on about Mikey Lebanowski's hustle play.  That play ended up sealing the game for them.  He's a very good fit for the offense they run....but I thought his defense yesterday was the best part of his game.  Played Brandeis' wings very well. 

[martin]

Chicago is doing something different this year with recruiting.  It seems to be announcing recruits as they commit.  In the past, the school made one announcement in June of its incoming class.  This year, no announcement was made - only 2 first years joined the program and one already left.

Latest is Tommy Sotos, a 6-3 guard from suburban Chicago (Conant HS).  He is the leading scorer (13 ppg) and captain of the team - which has a 12-4 record.  Conant plays in the same league as Schaumburg HS, Jake Pancratz's alma mater.

The anouncement is on the UofC site as well as a story in the Daily Herald.  From the Herald:
Sotos-fying times: Conant senior Tommy Sotos had a pair of big post-holiday games with 12 points in a 46-23 win over MSL East leader Hersey and a career-high 24 points in a 53-49 win over MSL West rival Schaumburg.
Sotos also made his college choice last Thursday by picking the University of Chicago. Sotos picked the Maroons over Lafayette, Grinnell, St. Norbert's, Oberlin and Emory.

It would make me feel better if he was recruited by CCIW schools.

[Hoop Dreams]

I like these in-season recruiting announcements.  I live about 10 min. from Conant HS, so maybe I'll check out one of their games.

Anyone want to return Martin's volley about whether Jake Pancratz is the best PG in the UAA?  I haven't seen enough UAA teams to say for sure, but Jake is very good.  He can shoot and score in transition and plays excellent D. 

[Marty Peretz]

Kwame Graves Fulgrahm and Andre Roberson, both of Brandeis, are both better than Pancratz, from what I've seen. So too is Wallis, but he of course isn't playing this year.

[ILive4This]

Agreed, but I think they split the minutes too much to be considered the best point guard in the league, they almost cancel each other out because of each of their talents. One might put up 20 in a game while the other only puts up 4, then the next game it nearly reverses. However, one of them may still be good enough to get the nod for best PG in a UAA sans Sean Wallis

[Marty Peretz]

Obviously it's early, but who do people like for first team all league and for POY and ROY?

[ILive4This]

I think its a bit too early to say at this point, but Troy Ruth's name should be in the mix along with Jon O (I am not going to try to spell it) from Rochester. I think Deluca would have been an obvious candidate had he had the year expected of him, same with Sean Wallis, however clearly neither will be in the mix. I think Hollins and Coppins are the two Judges most likely to get onto the first team, although Hollins had a rough time this weekend, he is perhaps a future POY for the UAA and perhaps more.

[dblock]

Personally I'm going wait until we play every team before I make decisions
on POY and ROY and even who the best position players at each spot are.

[Hoop Dreams]

Chicago wins at #2 Brandeis, 79-77!

Matt Corning poured in 27 points, including a 4-point play with Chicago trailing 67-66 that gave the Maroons the lead for good.

Joe Coppens' (27 pts) 3-point shooting kept the Judges in the game, but Chicago dominated the offensive glass.  That was the key to the Maroons' upset, according to the terrific WBRS broadcast.

Rochester-Emory in OT right now...

[Marty Peretz]

Wash.U. wins at NYU, 57-50. This could have HUGE implications, depending on the result of the Rochester game.

[Marty Peretz]

ROCHESTER STUNNED...Biggest upset I've heard of in the UAA in my time following the conference (3+ seasons).