Spring Break
Basketball: Both teams ranked to start season
by Ian Cutler
Sports Editor
Sports | 10/27/09
Posted online at 1:10 AM EST on 10/27/09
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The men's team is ranked 22nd while the women's team is ranked ninth as both squads enter the season with hopes of advancing to the Final Four.
"I think it's a nice honor that people respect our program, but [preseason rankings] have a lot to do with last year's team, so it is what it is," women's head coach Carol Simon said. "To us, we look at it as everybody is 0-0 and we all start in the same place, but it is nice to be honored this way."
Men's head coach Brian Meehan expressed similar sentiments on the preseason rankings.
"It's nice to be ranked because it means they respect your program and you're a team that should always be watched," he said. "As far as saying its an indication as how we'll do [throughout the season], I'm not even sure what we can do this year."
Last season, the women's team advanced further in the NCAA Tournament than it had in any previous season by reaching the Round of 8 before losing to Amherst College 68-54 on March 14. The men's team was eliminated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament by Franklin & Marshall University.
University Athletic Association opponent Washington University in St. Louis sits atop both the men's and women's preseason polls after both its men's and women's teams reached the NCAA Division III National Championship last season. The men's team won the title last season over Richard Stockton College while the women's team lost to George Fox University.
On the men's side, WashU and Brandeis are the only two UAA teams in the poll after as many as six UAA teams spent time in the top 25 last season, The Judges will play two other top-25 teams this season: No. 8 University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Nov. 24 and No. 25 Amherst College on Feb. 9, 2010. Last season, the men's team finished with the 11th-toughest schedule in the country.
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