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Messages - deiscanton

#3661
Hoosier Titan--

Illinois Wesleyan is having a great season, and going undefeated up to this point is big enough in and of itself.  I did forget to mention the victory at Chicago and the other wins, but no slight on those wins-- I was just more impressed with the early victory at Wash U.  :)

Illinois Wesleyan probably is a slight favorite to win out the sectional pod at the Shirk Center and get to Holland, Michigan, but that sectional at the Shirk Center is going to be a very tough one, with the Titans having to defeat Shirley Egner's UW-Stevens Point Pointers on Friday, and then probably having to defeat Wash U in a rematch on Saturday assuming that Ill. Wesleyan wins on Friday.

The sectional pod at LeFrak Gym in Amherst is going to be a very interesting one as well.  I took a quick peek at Muhlenberg's season stats and after seeing those stats, I was not too surprised that the Mules were able to defeat Bowdoin up in Maine.  The leading scorer for the Mules is a rookie named Alex Chili who already has over 100 assists on the season and is nearing the 100 trey mark for her career-- and she still has 3 more years to go after this!  The Centennial Conference has gotten a lot better recently on the women's side-- there was a 5 way tie for 2nd in that league (I bet that our former UAA member Johns Hopkins was one of the teams in that 5 way tie) and Muhlenberg was able to get a perfect 18-0 record in conference play in the Centennial, which is the first time ever for that league.  Muhlenberg is a very tough opponent and I would not be surprised to see Muhlenberg winning this sectional-- as a matter of fact, Brandeis could win the sectional, and so could Amherst and NYU under the right circumstances.

(PS-- Please listen to Ron Rohn of Muhlenberg talk about his team in the Hoopsville archives from Feb. 26.  He had some very interesting things to say about the Mules.)

NYU plays Amherst in the second game on Friday at LeFrak Gym.  Amherst is coached by G.P. Gromacki, who came within 6 inches of a national championship in 2002-- anyone remember Cara Barbieri and her shot that almost went in-- Barbieri almost had a miracle finish that would have given St. Lawrence the national championship against the UW-Stevens Point Pointers.

Amherst has a young but very talented team who is peaking at just the right time, as seen by those 2 blowout victories over Babson and Emmanuel.  Since NYU has never won a road NCAA tournament game-- to my knowledge-- it would not be surprising for Amherst to win out the sectional and advance.

Brandeis's chances of winning the sectional improve if 'Deis is able to beat Muhlenberg on Friday and have Amherst win the game against NYU.  However, Muhlenberg is going to give Brandeis everything that the Judges can handle, and even if 'Deis wins on Friday, the Elite Eight game will be very difficult against either Amherst or NYU, but I'm not sure that Brandeis can beat NYU if both teams advance on Friday.

If NYU can beat Amherst on Friday, then NYU would be favored to win out the sectional and advance to Holland, Michigan, against either Muhlenberg or Brandeis.

As for Rochester, I like Rochester's chances of making it to Holland, Michigan.  As a matter of fact, I give Rochester the best shot of any of the 4 UAA women's teams of winning out next weekend and making it to Hope College.  Rochester should be able to defeat TCNJ on Friday, and then if Scranton is the opponent on Saturday, then Rochester should be able to win that game as well.  York (PA) will be a more difficult matchup on Saturday if both Rochester and York (PA) meet, but I think that Rochester will pull it out.
#3662
I'll probably be talking to Zach Aranow of WBRS around midnight tonight about the past weekend, but if CMU's loss in the second round was heartbreaking, then I believe that Brandeis's loss at Franklin & Marshall was even more heartbreaking.  F & M was putting up big leads over the Judges, and Brandeis tried to counter, but every time Brandeis got close, F & M would expand the lead again.  The biggest heartbreaker was that Brandeis was down by 20 in the second half, and then the Judges were able to rally.  Brandeis got the deficit down to 1 point and had the ball with a chance to either send it to overtime or get the win outright, but Brandeis could not get that last shot to fall in-- the deficit was just too deep.

I saw a little bit of the video from F & M-- it was a nice touch calling their die-hard fan base section the "Dip Zone."  :) 

Great job, Brandeis-- I did not think that even getting to the NCAAs would be possible when the Judges started 0-3, but this was the best season out of an 0-3 start that I could ever have imagined.  Best of luck in the future to Steve DeLuca and Kevin Olson-- I hope that the Brandeis men can go to Amherst and support our women this weekend-- to return the favor from last season when the Brandeis women's team went to Plattsburgh, NY to support the men.
#3663
Sectional hosts were announced just a little while ago...

Brandeis and NYU will go to LeFrak Gym in Amherst, MA, where Brandeis will play Muhlenberg in the first game on Friday and NYU will play the host school, Amherst in the nightcap.  Winners advances to Saturday's Elite Eight match in Amherst, MA.

Rochester gets to host a sectional this weekend, as Scranton will play York (PA) in the first game at the Palestra on Friday, and then TCNJ will play Rochester.

Wash U has to go to the Shirk Center a few hours up the road from St. Louis, as the Illinois Wesleyan victory over Wash U in the tip-off tourney helped the Titans land a sectional.  Wash U will play St. Benedict in the opening game on Friday, followed by UW-Stevens Point at Illinois Wesleyan.

I'm a little relieved that my sectional is not in New York City, as it will be easier for Brandeis to send fan buses for the short 2 to 2 1/2 hour ride to western Mass and the Pioneer Valley.  I was a little afraid when Muhlenberg won yesterday that NYU would land the sectional on geographic concerns-- travel expenses notwithstanding. 
#3664
Well, it certainly has been a busy weekend.    The UAA got 4 teams in last week, all 4 hosted games this weekend, and all 4 UAA schools in the NCAAs made the Sweet 16, with Brandeis getting the honor of making it to the Sweet 16 first due to the start times of the games!  Congrats to the Judges on a job well done this weekend and Brandeis will prepare for a very tough Muhlenberg Mules squad which went up to Bowdoin's famed Morrell Gym and took care of business over the weekend.  The other Friday game in that sectional will pit Jessica McEntee and the NYU Violets against the G.P. Gromacki coached Amherst Lord Jeffs in "The Battle of the Purple and Violet."  Site and times TBD.

Also next Friday, the Rochester Yellowjackets will take on The College of New Jersey Lions in a sectional that also includes the Scranton Lady Royals and York College (PA.)'s    The Wash U Bears will take on the St. Benedict Blazers on Friday in a "sectional group of death" that also includes the Illinois Wesleyan Titans and the UW-Stevens Point Pointers.  Sites and times also TBD.

Now that I have time to post, I will do my personal recap of my weekend at Auerbach Arena.   I got to see Mt. St. Mary take on Brockport first.  Mt. St. Mary won that game, as I expected, but Brockport hung on in the second half to make it interesting, although Brockport could not complete a comeback.

While that game was going on, the second half of the Emmanuel/S.Maine match was being played just a few hours to the west in Amherst.  That game ended around halftime of our first game, so I checked for a final and found out that Emmanuel had upset S. Maine.  The W. Conn team was sitting around, so I informed their players of the S. Maine loss.  That may have been a mistake, :)because W. Conn knew that if they lost to Brandeis next, the Little East would probably be eliminated in the first round.  That allowed W. Conn to throw everything at Brandeis that they possibly could.  :)

Looking back on the weekend, the Friday game against W. Conn was the tougher of the two for me.  Brandeis jumped out to an early lead, but went cold in the middle of the first half and allowed W. Conn to get back into the game and take a 1 point lead at the half.  Brandeis's record when trailing at the half going into the NCAAs was a measly 1-5 this season before Friday's comeback, so I was a little concerned and a little peeved.

At Friday's halftime, one of the Brandeis fans actually said to me that I was not cheering hard enough.  Of course, that got me a little mad but also got me very fired up as well.  The second half of that game was probably the toughest half of the season that I ever worked because of the elimination factor now present.  I faced too much this season to go down in the first round to a scrappy mid-level DIII team not of the same caliber as the UAA.  Brandeis was down by 10 (W.Conn 40, 'Deis 30) with 13:09 left and then the rally happened to put Brandeis back in the lead to stay.  Brandeis went on an 11-1 run to tie the game at 41 with 9:05 left, then W. Conn hit a trey to take a 44-41 lead.  A jumper by Orlando cut the deficit to 1, and then an Orlando to Cincotta play for another jumper gave Brandeis the lead for good with 7:21 left.  Brandeis pulled away by sinking free throws at the charity stripe for the win.  In the first half, Jessica Chapin's efforts kept Brandeis in the game-- in the second half, Lauren Orlando and Diana Cincotta arguably had their best second halves of the season to lead Brandeis's comeback.

Lauren Orlando scored all of her 15 pts. and Diana Cincotta scored 12 of her career high 14 pts in the second half, with the winning bucket coming on that Orlando to Cincotta play. 

Brandeis did set up designated fan sections, but the crowd size was small enough that most fans sat wherever they wanted to sit.  In the second game on Friday-- and also during Saturday's game, you had some of the Mt. St. Mary fans sitting in the middle of what should have been the Brandeis fan section because they did not want to go to the other side of the court to sit in their designated fan section.  Of course, that did open them up to some "fan action" by me throughout the weekend.  Of course, the Mt. St. Mary fans actually thought that Brandeis would go down on Saturday to their Blue Knights!  That just fired me up even more--not only on Friday when Brandeis won and I said to them that they were next to be eliminated, but also during Saturday's game when Brandeis jumped out to the big early lead.  Once Brandeis got the early lead on Saturday, I yelled out "Take that!" at the Mt. St. Mary fans-- a la what the old scoreboard at the former Shapiro Gym would have stated then.

I had so much fun on Saturday's second round that I may have rattled the Blue Knight fans and offended them a little bit.  I apologize to the Mt. St. Mary fans if I offended you or the team in any way on Saturday, but I felt that I was reacting in the spirit of the tournament competition.

I'm looking forward to playing the Mules and their star rookie Alex Chili on Friday-- (yes, her last name is pronounced "chilly" like the food and not "Cheye-lie" like the name of the Rochester, NY suburb.)  Chili may be the first DIII women's player to have 100 treys and 100 assists in her first season-- I will have to check the Muhlenberg season stats to see what happened this weekend.
#3665
Region 1 women's basketball / Re: GNAC Women's Hoop.
March 07, 2009, 02:37:02 PM
... and I was wrong about last night's game as well.

Congrats to Emmanuel on advancing to the second round vs. Amherst.  Another outstanding defensive performance from the Saints,  holding S. Maine's Stacey Kent to 3 of 13 shooting.

My Judges took care of business against W. Conn, and Messiah crushed E. Conn, so it's bye, bye, Little East for the season....

Emmanuel playing Amherst today-- if the Saints pull off the upset, they most likely will get a rematch of the 2001 Elite Eight game vs. NYU on Friday.
#3666
Which is why Mark Simon will do the games live, and for those wanting to hear a Brandeis crew do the women's game, they can listen to it after hearing Mark Simon do our game live..... :)

(Of course, for those who want to listen to the Brandeis men's game live and who are not near the Brandeis campus, you can do so too.....  However, I will be at Auerbach Arena supported the Brandeis women this weekend.

After this weekend, I financially may not be able to do any travelling, however....  This would have to be the year that Brandeis is predicted to make a deep run-- both men and women! :)
#3667
Yesterday, the UAA announced their honors:

http://www.uaa.rochester.edu/Basketball/09_All-UAA_BKB_List.pdf

Player of the Year:  Jessica McEntee, NYU

Rookie of the Year:  Jacki Cortese, Carnegie Mellon

(Wow, a close 3-way race, and Cortese beats out Erin Hollinger of Case and Bryanne Halfhill of Chicago for the honor!  I'm impressed-- Cortese would have been third on my picks.-- all 3 of the mentioned players made second team all UAA.)

Coaching Staff of the Year: Wash U (any doubt on that one?)

As for Brandeis players,  Jessica Chapin made first team all UAA, while Diana Cincotta, Cassidy Dadaos, and Lauren Orlando made Honorable Mention all-UAA.    Congrats to Chapin, Cincotta, Dadaos, and Orlando for receiving these respective honors.
#3668
Hello, Atnwriter...

Glad to see that you will be at Auerbach Arena this weekend, especially with WBRS making the trip to Pennsylvania to do the Brandeis men.

With both the Brandeis men and women making the NCAA, I may have to make some financial sacrifices to save money for upcoming purchases.  For example, I did buy T-shirts from the NCAA that had the names of the teams in the field in the past, but in order to save money for future weeks, I may not be able to buy these T-shirts right now.   The company that sells these T-shirts for the NCAA charges up to $30 a pop for these T-shirts!  Unfortunately, although the NCAA has an on-line shop, I do not know if the Division III tournament shirts will be made available on the shop in the future, or whether the t-shirts will be sold exclusively to people who personally attend the NCAA games at the tournament sites.   I would like some of these ready made T-shirts to be sold through the NCAA shop just in case there are some people who financially can't afford these shirts right now in this economy.

#3669
Thanks for the correction, ichouse.  My mistake.  :)
#3670
Thanks, ichouse.  Looks to be a great match if Brandeis plays second round against Mt. St. Mary. 

I like this Brandeis first/second round pod.  It looks to be the same quality field as Brandeis had for the Tip-Off Tournament, except the stakes are much higher this time around.

Brandeis faces W. Conn St. in the first round-- W. Conn is the third place team from this year's Brandeis Tip-Off Tournament--  W. Conn lost to Bowdoin in the opening game of the Brandeis Tip-Off Tournament in November, but beat Widener in the consolation game.  When W. Conn played RI College earlier this season, both games were very close.  On the other hand, Brandeis blew out RI College by 30 in the meeting in Providence, RI earlier this season.  (Not to be an indicator of how Brandeis v. W. Conn will go, as each game is unique.)

Mt. St. Mary played NYU earlier this year and lost to them by over 20.  Brockport played Rochester and NYU earlier this season and lost to each by at least 25.  Either Mt. St. Mary or Brockport will be challenging second round opponents, but I like Brandeis's chances to advance to sectionals this go-around.

PS-- I am reading the NESCAC board and it looks like my foe FecesMonkey is pulling for a S. Maine/Mary Washington/Brandeis/Bowdoin sectional at Bowdoin's Morrell Gym.

I want an Amherst/NYU/Brandeis/Bowdoin potential sectional myself,-- preferably at LeFrak Gym in Amherst, but I will take Coles Center in Manhattan again if NYU advances as I like the NYU Pep Band when they play.  I did not go to New York last week, but for NCAAs, I can go to New York if I have to.  I don't think that Brandeis will be hosting next weekend if the Judges advance based on the performance in the UAA this season, but I will gladly take being a first weekend host.

But enough of that.  We have to take care of business this weekend.  Pulling for Amherst and NYU to take care of business in their pods.  I know that Bowdoin can take care of business, and I will do my best to see that Brandeis advances as well.



#3671
Region 1 women's basketball / Re: GNAC Women's Hoop.
March 02, 2009, 03:46:35 PM
Well, I was right in that the Saints will be facing a tough first round opponent.  Fortunately for Emmanuel, they will not be at Coles Center in New York going up against Jessica McEntee and the NYU Violets.   (The honor of being NYU's first victim... I mean opponent... went to Salve Regina.)

Emmanuel does go to LeFrak Gym in Amherst to face Stacey Kent and the Southern Maine Huskies-- sorry, Emmanuel, I will have to pick S. Maine in my bracket this time around.  Maybe these young Saints will prove me wrong and pull off an upset, but I don't see it happening from the GNAC Title game box score and based on Emmanuel's performance against regionally ranked opponents from earlier this season.  The Saints will be able to play enough defense to make the game interesting, but S. Maine should be able to advance.

The winner of the S. Maine/Emmanuel game will probably play Amherst, who should not have too much of a problem getting by Babson.  Amherst probably wins this weekend's particular pod to advance to the Sweet 16.

All of the same, I was wrong in 2001 about Emmanuel losing to NYU in the Elite Eight.....
#3672
I'm sure that Bobby DeMartino of New Jersey is shocked as well.  He is the father of former Brandeis point guard and current Northwood (Fla) (NAIA-2) head coach Amanda DeMartino, and Mr. DeMartino was saying all season that Brandeis was not going to get a break playing in the UAA and taking all of those losses.  For once, playing in one of the top conferences in Division III means something, and I'm glad that all of the UAA women's basketball teams will host this weekend. 

Sorry that Chicago couldn't make it in to the NCAAs, but the loss to Carroll earlier this season probably doomed the Maroons.
#3673
I have been listening to Hoopsville all day, so I have not been able to post on this board yet, but congrats to Brian Meehan and Brandeis on landing a Pool C at-large bid to the NCAAs.  I did not think that it was possible after going 0-3 to start the season, losing to Framingham St., and then losing to Chicago, but this bid into the NCAAs makes up for all of those years from the late 80s to the early 90s and forward where Brandeis never got a break from any NCAA selection committee for an NCAA basketball tournament.

To Zach Aronow of WBRS, how would you like your crow?  Rare, medium, or well done?  :)  (Read this week's edition of the Brandeis Hoot at http://thehoot.net to see what I mean.)

Good luck to Brandeis against Scranton on Friday-- naturally, I have to be fair and support the Brandeis women in their run this year since the Brandeis women are playing at home this weekend and I went to all of the Brandeis men's NCAA tournament games last season.  I will be checking up on the progress of the Brandeis men this weekend, however-- hopefully, Brandeis can make it to another Sweet 16.

I'm dedicating this post to my friend Mr. Robert Paul of Sharon, MA, a classmate of former Brandeis athletic director Nick Rodis, who is terminally ill and is expected to pass away shortly.  Hopefully, he can live past one more weekend at the very least.....  He is a great friend of Brandeis athletics and he will be sorely missed when he passes away.  Mr. Paul has driven me to a lot of Brandeis home games over the past few years.

(Note as to modification:  I mistakenly assumed that Mr. Paul was an old Brandeis alum.  He is not, as he is much older than the 2 Brandeis alumni named Robert Paul.  Mr. Paul went to Harvard and is a member of the Harvard class of 1944, although he did not get his bachelor's degree until 1947 due to World War II.   Mr. Paul went to school with former Brandeis athletic director Nick Rodis-- Mr. Rodis was the Brandeis athletic director from 1967 to 1984, and Rodis is also a member of the 2000 class of the Brandeis Athletics Hall of Fame.  I will post more about my friend's connection to Brandeis Athletics later in the day.)



#3674
Nate Novosel is also my pick for UAA Rookie of the Year, and when I talked with Wash U sports information director Chris Mitchell the week that Wash U was at Brandeis, Mitchell said that Novosel would probably win the UAA Rookie of the Year award this season, but that Richter is a future candidate for UAA Player of the Year once he reaches his junior and senior seasons at Wash U.
#3675
Dylan Richter of Wash U is a good pick for UAA Rookie of the Year despite the fact that he is not the highest scoring rookie in the UAA-- but that is because Wash U has a talented class of frosh, and Richter tends to defer to the other players as well.

The Emory frosh get consideration, but I think that Nate Novosel of Rochester also deserves consideration too, despite the fact that Rochester did not finish as strong as people would have liked them to finish.