League Championship Update
The Washington University men’s basketball team’s loss Sunday at the hands of Rochester does not have league-title-ending implications.
In fact, the 66-61 defeat only ensures that next Saturday’s season finale against current league leader Chicago will be for the UAA championship. The UAA has no conference tournament, as the victor of the regular season crown gains the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
The Maroons currently stand at 11-2 in conference play, with the Bears being one game off the pace at 10-3. When the two teams played in early January in Lincoln Park, Wash. U. emerged victorious, 70-59. That win is the lone reason that Wash. U. remains in the championship hunt in the final week.
A win by the Red and Green on Saturday would mean that the teams would each finish the conference season at 11-3, but Wash. U. would gain the automatic bid to the Big Dance. Official UAA rules turn to head-to-head match-ups as the first factor to settle a tie-breaker; a season sweep would thus give the Bears the bid.
The second UAA tie-breaker, however, is a team’s results against fellow league opponents in descending order of finish. That tie-breaker currently would favor Chicago, since the Bears and Maroons both split the season series with NYU, but Chicago swept both Brandeis and Rochester, two teams which each dealt Wash. U. losses.
This means that whichever squad wins Saturday will have the right to call itself the 2006-2007 UAA champion. Game time is set for 3 p.m. at the Field House. Look for coverage of the game throughout the week in Student Life.
NOTES: On Friday, the Bears defeated Carnegie Mellon 94-73. Junior big man Troy Ruths tallied a career-high 33 points and became the 16th player in Wash. U. history to eclipse the 1,000 mark.
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