Chicago couldn't keep Rochester in its rearview mirror for long, as Taylor Simpson and the Maroons head to New York on Sunday. Chicago athletics photo

The University of Chicago, like the rest of the University Athletic Association, sees something eerily familiar when it looks at its schedule - the same two teams in back-to-back weeks. The second-ranked Maroons will travel to Emory tonight to play the Eagles again. The Maroons topped the Eagles at home 68-49 Jan. 27. Then on Sunday, Chicago will play at No. 5 Rochester, the same team they topped 75-59 at home this past Sunday.

The reason behind the mirror schedule, according to Chicago coach Aaron Roussell, is so teams do not have to travel three straight weekends.

"We've tried to do everything we can to make it a positive," said Rousell, whose team is a flawless 18-0. It's the same stuff doing we were doing last week, it helps them. We're not redoing anything this week."

On the flip side, he sees it being competitive between the coaches in preparing for the same teams twice in a row.

"I think the coaches in this league so good and they'll be prepared," Roussell said. "It'll be a little chess match."

The kingly fashion of the Maroons' season has mainly been due to its balance. From the top scorer Taylor Simpson, 13.1 points a game to the fifth player in points — Joann Torres, there is just a five point differential between them. The second through fourth ranked scorers are Morgan Herrick (10.5), Meghan Herrick (9.8) and Bryanne Halfhill (8.4). All five are seniors.

"There definitely is a balance here," Roussell said. "There are eight to nine kids that have have 12 to 14 points in a game this year, it does show that we have talented kids. We buy into making the extra pass, us playing our system, try to get what we want. We play well together. Those five seniors have been through a lot. There's familiarity out there and they know how to play with each other and play well together. most of our baskets there is an assist on every basket."

The Maroons also have been a powerhouse over the last two regular seasons as they have won 36 straight games. Roussell said it is key for his team to focus on the task at hand and also reiterates that when going through scouting reports

e"We always find two to three ways we can potentially lose each game," Roussell said. "You always have that in your head that yes there is a possibility of losing, if you are conscience of those then hopefully those aren't the reasons that you get tripped."

New life in the SLIAC

Stefan Whittingham stands just 6-3 but leads Webster in scoring and shoots almost 50 percent from the floor. Webster athletics photo by Dave Preston

Webster men's basketball coach Chris Bunch had a fair assessment of his team this season.

"It's been a year that has been very strange," Bunch said.

He would be correct. The Gorloks are 9-1 in the SLIAC, but 0-9 in their non-conference contests. A pair of those losses have been to current 24th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan and No. 25 Washington University. Despite those losses, Bunch has been pleased with the way his team has managed to stay on top of most of the conference schedule.

"You always worry that your kids are going to get beaten down," Bunch said. "There's always a concern that they may not shake out of this. We realized we can do this got on a roll. January was good to us. We stubbed our toe at Westminister (Wednesday), which was tough. Our conference was tough. We're happy with where we are at so far."

Bunch could opt for a less-daunting schedule, but chooses to schedule a lot of teams in close travel proximity and are sometimes much tougher.

"It helps in regards, as my dad used to say 'It shows your warts early.' It shows you things you need to do better, playing easier teams gives you a false sense of security. Finding that out and when we got to our conference, historically helped us."

Another thing that may hamper the Gorloks in the non-conference slate is the lack of size. Webster's tallest player that sees the floor on a regular basis is 6-5 Jarrod Huskey, their center.

"We're not very big, at times matching up with people presents a problem," Bunch said. "We'll be at Eureka Saturday; their center (6-7 Mark Lessen) is going to present problems."

What the Gorloks do have is balance and they are very athletic. The top four scorers all average double digits. Stephan Whittingham leads the Gorloks with 14.1 per game, followed by Roman Robinson (12.4), Dietrick Sooter (10.8) and Cody Bradfish (10.1).

"We have good scoring balance, I think that helps," Bunch said. "If you rely on one guy to get 25, one guy gets in foul trouble. You have others that are averaging four to try and score 18 to make up for it. Our guys pick up the slack. I think our quickness and offensive balance has been the key for us."