< Back | Home

Guard Joe Coppens '09, right, embraces injured forward Steve DeLuca '08, left, after the Judges' 56-44 win over New York University. David Sheppard-Brick/the Justice

Two triumphant returns

By: Mike Prada and Julie Ganz

Posted: 3/4/08

Prior to last season, the men's and women's basketball teams had never made the NCAA Tournament in the same year. Now, they will do so for the second consecutive season.

Both teams secured at-large berths to the NCAA Tournament, according to the NCAA. This marks the second-straight appearance for the men's squad and the third straight berth for the women.

On the men's side, Brandeis will host first-round and second-round games for the first time since the 1957 to 1958 season. The Judges will play Lasell College Friday at 8 p.m. in the first round, with the winner of that game playing the winner of the first-round matchup between Bowdoin College and Curry College in the second round Saturday.

"The year before [the team's six seniors] came here, we had won six games. Now, we're going on back-to-back 20-win seasons and homecourt advantage for our first tournament games," captain and guard Joe Coppens '08 said.

The women's team will travel to Kean University in Union, N.J. for a first-round contest against the University of Southern Maine Friday at 6 p.m., with the winner to play either Kean or Utica College Saturday. Friday's game marks the first time in Judges history that they will play the Huskies.

"I think it's a great accomplishment, probably the best feeling," captain and guard Jaime Capra '08 said. "This year especially, we were kind of a little unsure whether or not we were going to get in, so it just makes it that much better to hear them call out 'Brandeis.'"

Lasell is the champion of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference, having defeated Emerson College 86-72 in the tournament title game last Saturday. The Judges last played them in the 2005 Tip-off Tournament championship game, and Lasell won 67-64.

"They've won a lot of games they played us a couple of years ago, and they beat us, so we know that it's going to be a good game," men's coach Brian Meehan said.

Southern Maine enters the tournament with a 25-3 record, but settled for an at-large bid after falling to Eastern Connecticut State University 65-60 in the Little East Conference tournament championship game last Saturday.

"I think it's going to be a really good matchup. Southern Maine is a very good team, a big, strong, physical team, a team that can shoot very well, aggressive defensively, so we definitely have our work cut out for us," women's coach Carol Simon said.

Despite missing all-University Athletic Association forward Steve DeLuca '08 for nearly the entire season due to back and hamstring injuries, the men's team finished the season 20-5 and 10-4 in the UAA, both one-game improvements over last year's squad's regular-season records. Last season, the Judges earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament and defeated Trinity College in the first round before losing to Rhode Island College in the second round.

"I think a lot of teams losing their best player would have struggled trying to find a way to win games," Meehan said. "Early on, although we struggled, we kept finding ways to win games, and as the season went on, guys just kind of fell into different roles, and we've had a lot of guys at different times step up and have good games when we've needed them to."

With DeLuca sidelined by injury, Coppens has become the Judges' top offensive threat, averaging 15.1 points per game this season on 48.6 percent shooting from the field and 43.8 percent from three-point range. Forward Terrell Hollins '10 took over DeLuca's starting spot and is averaging 13.6 points and a team-high six rebounds per game, while guard Kevin Olson '09 entered the starting lineup last December and has increased his scoring average from 6.5 to 11 points this season.

After losing to Emmanuel College in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season, the women's team returns despite losing two nonconference games for the first time since the 2002 to 2003 season. Road losses to Washington University in St. Louis Feb. 22 and the University of Chicago Feb. 24 put the Judges' tournament hopes in jeopardy, but they rebounded with a 63-60 win over New York University last Saturday to secure their spot in the field.

"I knew we were a bubble team," Simon said. "I knew after losing WashU and Chicago that NYU was a must win. We had to have it. After that I felt pretty good about it, I thought our chances were probably in the high 90 percent just because of our strength of schedule and where we were in the schedule."

After struggling to score earlier in the season, Capra paces the Judges with an average of 14.7 points per game and 6.8 rebounds. Forward Lauren Orlando '09 and guard Jessica Chapin '10 average 11.4 and 10.6 points, respectively.

Brandeis is one of four UAA schools to send both their men's and women's teams' to the NCAA Tournament. Chicago, who won the league championship in the men's and women's division, WashU and Rochester also did so this season.

"I think the UAA is one of the strongest if not the strongest conferences in the country, and I think it shows in that four teams got in, and you look at other conferences and that's not the case," Capra said.

-Jacob Kamaras contributed reporting.