We're still three weeks away from March, but one thing is clear: The ACC and the Big East are the elite conferences in men's college basketball.
The women's basketball team secured its 18th victory of the season last night with a 62-46 victory over the Trinity Bantams. The Jumbos moved to 18-3 overall but stayed at 6-2 in the NESCAC with the win, as the game did not count for the conference standings. The game was the second between the two teams within the last five days, as the Jumbos defeated the Bantams by a similar score Friday night, winning 64-42. The Jumbos were led in scoring by senior Katie Tausanovitch with 14 points. Tausanovitch went 5-for-11 from the floor and was 4-for-4 from the charity stripe. She also grabbed four rebounds, three blocks and a steal. As a whole, the Jumbos weren't spectacular offensively but certainly showed their defensive prowess. The Jumbos' 62 points were their fourth-fewest total this season, but their 46 points allowed to the Bantams were also their fifth-fewest on the year. The Jumbos' field goal percentage was a solid 42.3 percent, as they went 22-for-52 from the floor and 3-for-10 from beyond the arc. On the other side, Trinity only went 14-for-53 from the floor for a dismal 26.4 percent and 2-for-12 from the three-point line. Each team had seven steals, and the Jumbos out-blocked Trinity eight to one. The biggest disparity in the statistics was points off the bench: the Jumbos scored 32 bench points to Trinity's 11. The only category in which Trinity bested Tufts was rebounds, by a count of 39 to 34.
The only accolade that eluded the women's basketball team at the end of last season was a title.
Coming off its worst season in five years, the men's basketball team will begin its march toward redemption tonight when it squares off against the Babson Beavers in Cousens Gym.
The accolades just keep coming for Jon Pierce.
With a chance to send its record-breaking season to college basketball's biggest stage, the women's basketball team came up just a little bit short.
The best season in the history of the women's basketball team just got a whole lot sweeter.
In a matter of just eight hours, the women's basketball team went from dwelling on a gut-wrenching loss to looking forward to a history-making opportunity.
It wasn't always pretty, but the second-seeded women's basketball team took care of business Saturday afternoon, winning its NESCAC Tournament opener 71-60 against No. 7 Middlebury at Cousens Gym.
The 2007-08 men's basketball season was one of close games, missed opportunities and bad breaks, all of which all contributed to a disappointing end result: an 11-13 overall record, just a single NESCAC win and a sub-.500 season for the first time in four years.
Ultimately, 2007-2008 was not the year for the men's basketball team.
When Senior Day weekend coincides with the prospects of a program wins record and a visit from the seven-time conference champions, it figures to be an eventful couple of days.
A week ago today, things were not looking up for the men's basketball team.
After a month-long stretch hampered by tough losses and impeding injuries, the seniors of the men's basketball team earned some redemption this weekend.
In the first half of this weekend's NESCAC double-feature, the women's basketball team defeated Middlebury on the road, tying the program's all-time win record and aiding its chances of a top league finish.
With a logjam emerging at the top of the NESCAC standings, Tufts will look to leap toward the top with two important road games this weekend.
It won't be easy, but the men's basketball team can still salvage a NESCAC playoff berth. At 0-5 and in last place in conference play, the Jumbos have lost six of their last seven, including all five conference games, to see a once promising 9-4 record slip to 10-10.
Last night the only undefeated team remaining in Div. III men's basketball, the UMass Dartmouth Corsairs, rode into Cousens Gym fresh off an 88-69 shellacking of Southern Maine Saturday, the 19th win of their perfect season.
It took just two weeks, four conference wins and a little bit of help from fellow NESCAC contenders for the women's basketball team to regain complete command of its fate in the conference.
Coming into the weekend, the men's basketball team knew its season was hinging on the outcomes of the upcoming two games. But what was billed as a must-win weekend turned into a nightmare, as the Jumbos dropped two crucial NESCAC contests against Conn. College and Wesleyan to fall to last place all alone in the conference standings.
