WBRS Sports Blog

The Brandeis men's basketball team's dream season came to an end on Saturday, as the squad fell on the road to Williams College, 71-57. Despite the 14-point loss, Brandeis was within 1 point with 3:47 left to go before Williams pulled away. The Elite Eight appearance for Brandeis was the fourth in school history, and just the second time since the D3 NCAA Tournament field expanded to 61 teams (2008 was the other). The Class of 2010 consisting of Terrell Hollins, Kenny Small, Andre Roberson and Rich Magee is the winningest class in team history, finishing at 83 wins for their careers.

In case you missed any of the games, here is the audio of the WBRS live broadcasts from all four of Brandeis' NCAA Tournament games:


Elite Eight (March 13, 2010): Williams 71, Brandeis 57
Leading by as much as 9 points in the first half, Brandeis loses its lead, and ultimately the game, as Williams pulls away in the final 3:47 to advance to the Final Four
PxP: Adam Rosen (Right, pictured above)
Color: Jeff Pickette (Center), Ravi Kotecha (Left)

Sweet 16 (March 12, 2010): Brandeis 76, Rhode Island Col. 65
Small scores 15 of his 20 points in second half as Brandeis advances to second Elite 8 in three years
PxP: Ravi Kotecha
Color: Adam Rosen, Jeff Pickette

Second Round (March 6, 2010): Brandeis 66, St. John Fisher 52
Four Brandeis players score in double figures including Hollins (16 points and career-high 21 rebounds) as Judges move on to the Sweet 16
PxP: Jeff Pickette
Color: Adam Rosen

First Round (March 5, 2010): Brandeis 76, St. Lawrence 64
Kriskus scores a career-high 29 points as Judges advance to second round for fourth consecutive season
PxP: Adam Rosen
Color: Jeff Pickette

The NCAA just announced a few moments ago that the Brandeis men's basketball team is going back to the NCAA tournament for the fourth consecutive season.

The Judges (19-6) are on the left-hand side of the bracket according to the NCAA and will be traveling to St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y. to take on the 16-11 St. Lawrence Saints, the Liberty League Champions in the first round of the Division III tournament.

St. Lawrence is riding a 5-game winning streak. Once again the Judges are sent out of region in the NCAA tournament's opening round.

Brandeis's part of the bracket includes St. Lawrence (Canton, N.Y.), St. John's Fisher (Rochester, N.Y.) and Brooklyn College (Brooklyn, N.Y.)

The winner of the Brandeis-St. Lawrence game will face the winner of the St. John Fisher-Brooklyn College game in the second round.

As of 10:30 this morning, game times are unknown.

WBRS Sports will be broadcasting every Brandeis Judges' basketball game the rest of the way--including all 4 of both teams' remaining UAA road games! Ravi Kotecha and Jeffrey Pickette will be broadcasting the games tonight at Case Western Reserve, and this coming Sunday at Carnegie Mellon, while Adam Rosen and Matthew Kessler will be doing the games at Rochester and Emory on Feb. 19 & Feb. 21. The trips to Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta are all unprecedented in the history of WBRS Sports. As always, listen live right here at wbrs.org or at 100.1FM for those in the Waltham area.

Men's basketball coach Brian Meehan called in to Jury Duty on 11/16 to preview the upcoming season for his team.

Coach Meehan touches on everything from concerns over going into the season with a 10-man roster to which players he thinks will step-up and have a big season to what he thought of Bill Belichick's controversial 4th and 2 call late in the 4th quarter of the Pats-Colts game last Sunday night.

Jury Duty is on every Monday from 5pm to 6pm. Be sure to tune in!

Fri. Nov. 20 @ 6pm HOME vs. Wentworth (Women) 
PxP: Adam Rosen 
Color: Dan Podair, Matt Fowler
 
Sat. Nov. 21 @ 12noon OR 2pm (TBD) HOME vs. Bates/Mt. Holyoke (Women) 
PxP: Matt Baron 
Color: Adam Rosen, Matt Fowler
 
Sat. Nov. 21 @ 5pm HOME vs. Emerson (Men) 
PxP: Jeff Pickette 
Color: Matt Baron, Adam Rosen
 
Sun. Nov. 29 @ 1pm HOME vs. Tufts (Women) 
PxP: Matt Baron 
Color: Jeff Pickette, Matt Kessler
 
Sun. Nov 29 @ 3pm HOME vs. Vassar (Men) 
PxP: Ian Cutler 
Color: Matt Fowler, Matt Baron
 
Thurs. Dec. 3 @ 6pm AWAY @ Framingham State (Men) 
PxP: Mike Weil 
Color: Ian Cutler, Matt Kessler
 
Saturday Dec. 5 @ 5pm AWAY @ Tufts (vs. Salem State) 
PxP: Ravi Kotecha 
Color: Jeff Pickette, Adam Rosen

Here's what you missed on this week's Jury Duty (Monday's 5pm-6pm):

* Brian Lowe '00 of Patriots Today and Patriots This Week called in to the show to help breakdown last Sunday's 27-17 Patriots win over the Dolphins and preview the big Patriots-Colts showdown this Sunday night in Indy.

Lowe, who graduated from Brandeis in 2000, also chimed in on some Brandeis-related topics and offered some valuable career advice for those looking to crack the sports journalism field.




* Superfan Allen Karon called in to the show and shared some of his thoughts on the upcoming season for the Brandeis men's and women's basketball teams.

Shameless plug alert: I interviewed Karon for a feature story that ran in the Canton Citizen last February. Check it out by clicking here!

Jury Duty previews NBA season

NBA-writer Peter May called in to Jury Duty (WBRS, Mondays 5pm-6pm) this week to help preview the NBA season.

May covered the NBA and the Celtics for nearly 25 years for the Boston Globe and the Hartford Courant. His 2008 book, Top of the World, told the inside story of the Boston Celtics' 2007-2008 championship run.

Check out the interview right here!




Brandeis student reflects on marathon experience

Dan Litwok '10 called in to Jury Duty this week to talk about running the Cape Cod Marathon in Falmouth, MA this past Sunday (10/25). Litwok and seven others with Brandeis ties took part in the 26.2 mile race.

Check out the interview right here!

Both Brandeis teams in Top 25

By Jeffrey Pickette

Kevin Olson and Steve DeLuca are not walking through that door. And Cassidy Dadaos and Lauren Orlando are not walking through that door. Yet, this didn't stop the folks at d3hoops.com from including both the men's and women's teams in their Top 25 preseason poll, released earlier this evening.

Both teams have lost significant leadership and talent from last year's NCAA tournament squads, but evidently the 25 coaches, Sports Information Directors and media members from across the nation who vote in this poll felt that the men and women would both be able to overcome these losses, with players like Andre Roberson '10, Kenny Small '10, Jessica Chapin '10 and Morgan Kendrew '12, among others, stepping up for their respective teams.

The men are ranked 22nd. Washington University in St. Louis, the two-time defending D-III national champions, received all 25 first-place votes in the men's poll.

The women are ranked 9th. The top four women's teams (Wash U, Amherst, Hope and George Fox) all split the 25 first-place votes.

As always, take these preseason rankings with a grain of salt.

"I don't take rankings too seriously. Rankings don't win you games," men's head coach Brian Meehan told me before the start of the 2007-2008 season.

"It's a nice thing, but ultimately, as I always say, it doesn't really matter [where you are ranked] 'til the end of the year," Meehan added before the start of last season.

The men open up their season November 17 at home against Lasell College. Meanwhile, the women kick things off November 15 at WPI.

For the complete preseason rankings for both the men and the women, click here.