The Observer, February 1, 2008
Volume XL, Issue 15
"Judgment" day for women's basketball team
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As far as mascots go, Case's Spartan is pretty mediocre. It's ordinary and it fails to capture the essence of a university with co-ed suites and a student body that owns thousands of The North Face jackets. So you may be surprised to learn that the Spartan is looking really good today.
We can thank Ollie, the mascot of the Brandeis University Judges, a smug-looking owl who wears a sweater and carries around a gavel. Ollie is awful.
Case's women's basketball team will have it a lot harder than their mascot tonight when they face a tough Brandeis squad.
The Judges are coming off an impressive 20-win season last year, their fourth straight. They also finished last season ranked 21st in Div. III. It marked Brandeis' fourth straight year in the top 25. This year, Brandeis is led by Jaime Capra, who averages a team-high 13.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Capra, a 5-10 senior guard, was an All-American last year.
The Judges are coached by Carol Simon, who is in the midst of her 21st season at the helm of Brandeis' women's basketball program. Simon has recorded 294 career wins over that span.
Simon's team is coming off a huge 66-48 win over WashU. Capra scored 14 points and had a career-high 15 rebounds. The victory marked the first time in a decade that the Judges beat WashU. That win also put them in a tie with Chicago for third in the UAA. Brandeis is 3-2 in the UAA and 12-4 overall.
The Spartans (2-3 UAA, 9-7 overall) are also carrying some momentum into this game. They beat up on a struggling Carnegie Mellon a week ago, then narrowly lost to Rochester, the No. 10 team in the nation, on Sunday by five points, and led by eight early in the second half.
"Our team realizes that we're a good team right now," said head women's coach Jennifer Reimer. She also recognizes that her team will be up against a talented Brandeis squad. "They're bigger in stature than us. They have good quality and depth."
Reimer plans to defend against the Judges' good low-post game by changing their defensive scheme, mixing some zone in with their usual man-to-man.
"When we play well, it starts with our defense, playing smart, aggressive man-to-man," said Reimer.
Because this is her first year coaching in the UAA, Reimer hadn't seen Brandeis in action until she received video of two of the Judges' games last Wednesday. She's in the same boat as more than half of her team. "So far I've noticed that [Brandeis] plays an up-tempo style. They have a lot of kids that can shoot off the dribble," said Reimer.
Less is…the same
One piece of data that sticks out in my mind is the roster size. The Spartans have 11 on the roster. The UAA average is right around 16. I thought that would mean that the Spartans would struggle in the second half. But that really hasn't happened. In the first half, against UAA opponents, they've averaged 33.2 points and given up 33.8. In the second half, they've scored 34.4 and allowed 36.2. The difference really isn't significant.
According to Reimer, a focus of the coaching staff this year has been to be the "best conditioned team around." Because there aren't many people on the team, everyone is always involved in practice. Reimer said that she emphasizes quality over quantity.
Where the fatigue can become a factor is when they play a Friday game, then play again on Sunday. That was the situation last weekend, and the Spartans faded down the stretch on Sunday against Rochester.
