The box score lists Sarah Hayes '06 as a forward. Anyone who's seen a women's basketball games knows she's a guard, although she rebounds as if she is at least half a foot taller than her listed 5'8".
Either way, after earning Ivy League Player of the Week honors for the third time this season, Hayes has to be considered the frontrunner for conference Player of the Year, especially if the first-place Bears win their remaining four games to clinch a share of the Ivy title.
Hayes is third in the Ivy League in scoring (15.0 points per game), sixth in rebounding (6.8 rpg), first in steals (2.74 spg), fourth in field goal percentage (.470) and 10th in free throw percentage (.717). She leads the Bears in all those categories - except free throw percentage - and also in assists (2.39 apg). Of course, this is nothing new, as she has been putting up these numbers for the past four years. Hayes is only the second Ivy Leaguer ever to have over 1,000 points, 600 rebounds, 250 assists and 250 steals in a career.
The best part of Hayes' success is that she also gets it done in the classroom. She has a 3.43 grade point average and is double concentrating in history and psychology. Accordingly, she was named a second team District I College Sports Information Directors Association Academic All-American. That must be one impressive first team, though.
But the numbers, as impressive as they are, don't even tell the whole story. With all apologies to Colleen Kelly '06, whose deadly three-point stroke makes her the perfect complement to Hayes in Head Coach Jean Marie Burr's system, the team goes as Hayes does.
Hayes has performed so well in clutch situations in the past that it's more surprising when she doesn't come through at the end of games now. She has killed Harvard late in games twice this season, hitting the game-winner with four-tenths of a second left in the first game and drilling only the seventh three-pointer of her career to seal a 66-61 victory in the rematch. Though she barely missed the game-winning jumper over a double-team with four seconds left in regulation Saturday against Dartmouth, she went 5-for-6 from the line in overtime to close out the Big Green.
The team succeeds when Hayes does and it struggles when she struggles. In the Ivy opener against Yale, a four-point victory over a team that is now 2-21 overall, Hayes got into foul trouble early and fouled out with about five minutes to go. It took a superlative performance from Kelly and clutch play by Catherine Schaper '09 and Lena McAfee '07 to save the day.
Against Harvard last weekend, Hayes' late-game heroics were required largely because of a 21-4 Harvard run while she sat with four fouls. Against the University of Pennsylvania last season, Hayes' 3-for-12 shooting performance at the Pizzitola Center contributed to a loss that had the Bears playing catch-up in the standings the rest of the season.
At the beginning of this season, the notoriously inaccurate voters in the Ivy League Preseason Media Poll had Brown tabbed for fourth place, giving Dartmouth all 16 first-place votes.
Once the season ends, the only thing that should be unanimous is Hayes' selection to become the fourth Brown player, and first since 1993, to win the league's top individual honor.
Searching for a silver lining
The men's basketball team has been without a healthy senior since the double-overtime win over Dartmouth back on Jan. 27. While few thought the Bears had a shot at dethroning yet another dominant Penn team this season, it's been difficult to see the team struggle as it has.
The first blow came in the always difficult Penn-Princeton road weekend, when Brown combined for 25 points in the first halves of the two games.
The second came this past weekend. After dominating a Harvard team that had completely outplayed them at the Pitz just a few weeks prior, the Bears were yanked back down to earth by a Dartmouth squad that had just one win heading into that weekend's games.
Certainly the lack of a strong senior leader out on the floor is contributing to this inconsistency. However, this current situation could have a big payoff next year for Head Coach Glen Miller's squad.
First of all, his entire current rotation will return next season. Keenan Jeppesen '08 should become the type of player capable of taking over a game that the team has lacked all year once he starts hitting his free throws (he's shooting just 60 percent on the year despite having a game that would thrive on scoring at the line). Mark MacDonald '08 is developing into a nice player underneath, although it would be nice to get more rebounds from your center than 3.9 a game. Chris Skrelja '09 finally showed something on offense, dropping 19 points in the Harvard rematch to earn Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors.
If Scott Friske '09 can rediscover the game he displayed when he averaged 19.5 points and 8.8 rebounds during a four-game span in January and tri-captain Marcus Becker '07 becomes the emotional senior leader this team has lacked since 2004 - no, Jason Forte '05 was most definitely not an emotional leader - the Bears could regain the promise they had in Miller's first five seasons.
Coming out of hibernation
Thirty-seven degrees. Cloudy. Chance of snow.
Yup, feels like ... spring?
Last weekend saw the 2006 debut of the women's water polo team, which at least makes some sense since its games are indoors. However, the same weekend saw the first "spring" competition for the equestrian team, and this weekend both the men's and women's lacrosse teams open their seasons.
Did I mention that all three of those teams played or will play their games in bright, sunny New England?
If you're thinking it seems a bit early for lacrosse, or at least for lacrosse games that count, you're not going crazy. Each of the past three years, the team's opened their regular seasons in March. However, with the installation of the FieldTurf playing surface behind the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center, the lacrosse teams can play earlier without worrying about tearing up Stevenson Field, their normal home.
As for equestrian, I'm not at all sure how that would work in colder temperatures. Do horses get cold? Do they make Under Armour Cold Gear for our equine friends? Lord knows what it would cost if they did - it's expensive enough for humans already.
At least the baseball team is smart enough to open in Florida.
Sports Editor Chris Hatfield '06 co-hosts the Brown Sports Report on BSR 88.1 FM tonight at 7 p.m.
