Women
Brock (7-5) at Waterloo (3-9)
The Warriors are coming off of a 21-point win vs. Guelph on Saturday, which saw 5th year forward Erin Button have a big game leading her squad with 14 points. Conversely, the Badgers are coming off of a heartbreaking 1-point overtime loss to Western. These two teams played each other two weeks ago, and the Badgers pummeled the Warriors, winning by 33 points, a game that UW coach Tyler Slipp would like to forget. I don't expect the score to be that dramatic, but I would think the Badgers win by double digits.
Windsor (11-1) at Western (10-2)
Windsor is coming off of their first loss of the season, so a Western win would put them in a tie for first place. Amanda Anderson (the league MVP in my mind) is on a seven-game streak where she has scored 19 or more points, including 53 in her last 2 games. With the top two scorers in the conference in Anderson (19.2 PPG) and Windsor's Jessica Clemencon (18.1 PPG), and the top of the standings on the line, this is definitely the marquee matchup of the week, on either the men's or women's side.
McMaster (8-4) at Laurier (5-7)
McMaster shocked arguably everyone but themselves with their win over the previously undefeated Windsor Lancers, but at 8-4 on the year and looking better every week, the Marauders should have an easy time with the Golden Hawks, who don't have many offensive options outside of Renata Adamczyk.
Men
Brock (5-7) at Waterloo (7-5)
The Badgers defeated Waterloo two weeks ago in St. Catharines, but Waterloo was without head coach Tom Kieswetter. Now, playing at home and coming off of a disappointing loss to the last-place Gryphons, the Warriors are looking to prove that they are indeed the team that beat Windsor last week, and not the disjointed squad that looked lost vs. Guelph. This game could be a shootout with the top two three-point shooters in the conference, in Brock's Didi Mukendi (44.1%) and Waterloo's Cam McIntyre (42.7%). I expect the Warriors to get back on track with a win.
Windsor (9-3) at Western (7-5)
Both of these teams have really impressed me in the last 2 weeks at their high points, and confused the hell out of me in their low points. As strong as Windsor is, I'm going to pick the Mustangs in this one, because Andrew Wedemire is on a tear, and I don't think the Lancers' frontcourt can handle him defensively. But it should be close.
McMaster (6-6) at Laurier (5-7)
The McMaster Marauders have lost 5 of their last 6 games, so how are they still receiving votes in the Top Ten Rankings? They'll be in tough against a Laurier team whose record includes 4 of their 5 wins coming at home. The Golden Hawks showed that they can compete in this tough conference when they handed the Lakehead Thunderwolves their first loss of the season last week, but Kale Harrison and company will need to be firing on all cylinders to keep the Marauders sliding downward. I can't see coach Joe Raso letting that happen.
This is the second time that I can remember a "Lakehead at..." not being Previewed?
ReplyDeleteNot a fan?
To Anon 9:10...
ReplyDeleteIf you notice, the title of Sean's post is OUA West Wednesday Preview.
So Sean is only reviewing the games played games played tonight.
Lakehead of course, because of its unique geographic situation plays two weekend games
against the same team either at home or away.
All other OUA West teams seem to prefer the midweek sked.
If you think Sean isn't a fan of Lakehead, you must not have read his previous posts.
Reviewing a game two or three days in advance might be a bit dodgy,
given injuries or other circumstances could occur in the meantime.
My apologies, was not aware of their different schedule, but it makes sense for travel I suppose.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the clarification.
Windsor matches up well against Western on the men's side. The play an up-tempo game and the Mustangs tend to crumble when their opposition forces the issue -- see: Mustangs cough up 17 point lead in the 4th quarter against Brock last Saturday.
ReplyDeleteOne the women's side, Jacklyn Selfe will debut for the Mustangs tonight, which is big. The former Troy Trojan is the real deal and should have an immediate impact on the OUA. However, she hasn't played a game in over a year and has battled injuries so her minutes might be limited. Regardless, agree with Sean that this will be the best game of the night.
Shameless plug: see my Jacklyn Selfe article here:
http://www.uwogazette.ca/2010/01/19/jacklyn-of-all-trades/
4 out of 6 isn't bad.
ReplyDeleteI was right about the Lady Golden Hawks not having many scoring options outside of Renata Adamczyk, but I didn't count on her going off for a career-high 29 points. Great win for WLU.
I wish I could have been at the Windsor-Western games tonight. By all accounts, it was a fantastic night of basketball with two outstanding games. Big night for the Lancers.
Clinton Springer-Williams looked very ordinary vs. Waterloo tonight. 19 points, but 9 of those were free throws as he went 5-13 from the field. None of those field goals were at any key points in the game, and he added 7 turnovers.
Jesse Tipping scores a career-high 21 points against his old team as the Warriors blow out the Badgers by 19. Matt Hayes of Waterloo also ties his career-high of 18 points, going 9-10 from the field.
Just out of curiosity, is Jesse Tipping enrolled in a Masters program at Waterloo?
ReplyDeleteI thought he had already graduated from Brock a couple of years ago.
The OUA Eligibility Certificate (from the Waterloo website) lists both eligibility year and course/year. For Jesse Tipping it lists Honours Arts - Year 4.
ReplyDelete