#1

Just look at that for awhile and think about all the things it means. It means that no one is better than you. It means that everyone wishes they were you. It means you are in cruise control for the 1st round of a tournament. It means that you don't have to lie in wait in a Coliseum all day just to watch your game. It means you are playing at noon.

That's right. UNCW, who was picked to finish 5th in the pre-season polls, has finished in a tie for 1st in the CAA with GMU. However UNCW gets the tiebreaker for the 1 seed after Hofstra defeated Drexel. UNCW accomplished this by defeating GSU on saturday behind a solid all around effort by the seniors and of course TJ Carter who had an off shooting night, but did have 2 electrifying dunks. UNCW struggled early but ended up with a 68-56 win over the CAA newcomers who were making their 1st trip to Trask.

So your Play in round pairings for Friday in Richmond are:

#8 Drexel vs. #9 Delaware Noon
#5 Northeastern vs. #12 JMU 2:30
#7 Towson vs. #10 GSU 6:00
#6 VCU vs. #11 William and Mary 8:30

Saturday Quarterfinals:

#1 UNCW vs. #8 Drexel/#9 Delaware Noon
#4 ODU vs. #5 Northeastern/ #12 JMU 2:30
#2 GMU vs. # 7 Towson/ #10 GSU 6:00
#3 Hofstra vs. #6 VCU/ #11 William and Mary 8:30

The semi's and the finals are on Sunday and Monday but the pairings are too undecided to delve into them now. Suffice to say that UNCW will beat somebody Monday night. (wink, wink)

In other CAA news this weeks polls had 3, count em, 3 CAA teams in the fold on the national stage:

31 GMU
37 UNCW
40 Hofstra

GMU and UNCW also made an appearnce in the AP poll but Hofstra did not.

In the latest RPI rankings yada yada yada:

24 GMU
37 UNCW
38 Hofstra
55 ODU
77 VCU
100 Northeastern

In the latest Mid Major Top 25 on collegeinsider.com:

3 GMU
5 UNCW
8 Hofstra
17 ODU
29 VCU
36 Northeastern

Also on collegeinsider.com there is a an article about at large bids for mid major conferences. Here is the part about the CAA where we are compared to the MVC (as I did in an earlier blog entry):

"I was overrun with emails from Missouri Valley Conference fans, making their case for multiple bids and claiming the crown of best mid-major conference. It’s difficult to argue either point, but I do think a case can be made for the Colonial Athletic Association. You can make a pretty compelling argument that the CAA deserves multiple bids to the dance as well.

Jim Larranaga (Head Coach, George Mason): Kyle, the CAA has earned respect the old fashion way...it wins games. Four teams from the CAA - George Mason, Hofstra, UNCW and Old Dominion have 20 wins already. We are the only league in the country with four teams recording 20 wins ore more as of Friday February 24th. The RPI for three teams is in the top 40. George Mason is 19, UNCW is 34, Hofstra is 38 and ODU is 57.

If the MVC deserves multiple bids so does the CAA. George Mason went to Wichita State, the MVC league leader, and won. In fact, the CAA went 6-2 in the Bracket Buster with the top four teams beating top teams from other conferences. The CAA has more talented players and teams than ever before. The only thing it doesn't have is an abundance of non-conference home games like many conferences ranked higher. If we did, it would drastically improve our non-conference RPI. If the CAA played as many home games as the MVC and better still had guarantee games that they didn't have to return, than the CAA's RPI would be considerably higher. There is no question that the MVC is a great league this year, and there is no doubt in my mind "The CAA" is just as good. Both leagues deserve multiple bids. It is that simple.

There is a lot of national support for the Valley to get multiple bids and at least one recent article made a case for George Mason to get into the dance, regardless of how things play out in the CAA tournament. Here are a few articles worth reading:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/21/sports/ncaabasketball/21valley.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/othersports/story/293BF4618574A7BF8625711C002241B1?OpenDocument

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/college_basketball/20060214-2332-bkc-georgemasonschances.html

Teams from both the CAA and the Valley could open some eyes in the coming weeks, but Cinderella isn’t relegated to just two conferences. A few people emailed, wanting to know how good Delaware State is. Last year’s MEAC tournament champion had a good showing in the NCAA tournament against Duke. This year they have dominated the conference regular season, losing just once. I turned to one of my fellow Mid-Major Top 25 voters for a scouting report."
-Kyle Macy for collegeinsider.com


That's all for now. Except that I must remind you to come out for the baseball tomorrow at 3:00 vs. Duke at Brooks Field. After that rest up until Saturday in Richmond. See you then.

Ahhh. #1. #1 seed. Automatic postseason berth. (Worst case scenario NIT.) #9 in latest bracketology. Basically a lock in the latest Bubble Watch. Life is good.

Shed a Tear

More about all of this later as I need to write this and then head to Trask.

In case you didn't know UNCW defeated VCU on Thursday night in a big game in Richmond. TJ Carter of course led the way in scoring. And Mr. Goldsberry notched 5 assists putting him at 496 for his career. So if he reaches his average assist total today (4.8apg) Then he will have over 1,000 points and 500 assists for his career. I could think of no better way for his last game at Trask to end then by him reaching this plateau. I think they might as well have his jersey hanging up in the rafters beside Blizzard's before he does his postgame senior day speech.

Due to technical difficulties the game will not be on Time Warner Cable today. But it is being broadcast on several comcast channels throughout the country so they can see the magic that is Trask. But as always you can tune in to 980AM to listen or check out the live stats.

(sniff, sniff)

Oh I'm no good at senior days...

What Changes a Week Will Bring

Well over the weekend VCU, ODU, and GMU played televised BracketBuster matchups. VCU had a 3 point win over Albany on ESPNU in Richmond. ODU blew out Marist on senior day in Norfolk. And most notably GMU went on the road and beat Witchita State in Witchita. This made GMU all but a lock for the NCAA tourney unless they lose the next 3 games against JMU, Hofstra and the quaterfinal matchup in the CAA tourney. That is the only way I can see them moving back onto the bubble. The interesting thing about this is that they are a lock for the NCAA tourney but not a lock for the 1st seed in the CAA tourney. If they lose to Hofstra on Thursday night in NYC and then beat JMU in Fairfax on senior day they could finish in a regular season championship tie with UNCW. The game in NYC is a tossup while the game in Fairfax should easily go to the Patriots. This takes us to the main bubble team in the conference...

The UNCW Seahawks are currently 20-7 overall and 13-3 in the CAA. They follow GMU (21-5, 14-2) by 1 game for first place in the CAA. In the latest bracketology on espn.com UNCW is figured to be a 10 seed as an at large. Lunardi gives GMU the conference title and a 7 seed to go along with it. Incidentally he has Witchita State as a 7 seed and he has the Seahawks facing off against them. GMU's matchup in his bracket is 10 seed Bucknell. Most bracket pundits figure UNCW to be in if they can snag at least a share of the regular season title and win at least 1 game in the CAA tourney. This makes Thursday's trip to Richmond to take on VCU very interesting for the Seahawks. If UNCW can beat VCU again, they did so by 20 earlier this season in Wilmington, and beat GSU on Saturday in Wilmington; they will finish 15-3. If GMU loses to Hofstra and beats JMU they will finish 15-3. If UNCW and GMU are the 1 and 2 seeds in the tournament their road to a matchup in the finals would go like this:

UNCW (Record vs. opponents in regular season 3-1)
Quarterfinals-Drexel (UNCW won both matchups)
Semis- Hofstra (Season Split)

GMU (Record vs. opponents in regular season 2-1)
Quarterfinals-Towson (GMU won only matchup in Fairfax)
Semis- ODU (Season Split)

Both teams could very easliy make it to the finals against these opponents. However these semifinal matchups would be basically a tossup. Don't be suprised if you see ODU vs. Hofstra in the tourney finals. And for that matter if ODU finishes 4th with VCU 5th. You could have one of the better quarterfinal matchups in the tourney's history by having a rematch of last years sold out tourney finals. And keep in mind the tourney is in Richmond and the Coliseium is a total of 2 blocks from VCU's campus. So the concept of this tournament being on a neutral court is quite laughable. But the fact that VCU will not get a bye really works against them and it would be quite a feat for them to make it to the finals even with homecourt advantage.

On to the rankings...

The big news is of course that GMU cracked the top 25 in the espn/usa today coaches poll making them the first CAA team to do so since Navy was #18 back in 1986. UNCW also received 3 votes putting them in a tie for 40th.

In the latest RPI rankings several teams remain in the top 100:

GMU 20
UNCW 38
Hofstra 47
ODU 52
VCU 69

And in the latest collegeinsider.com mid major top 25 several CAA teams are holding strong:

GMU 2
UNCW 7
Hofstra 10
ODU 19
VCU 24
Northeastern 42

Till next time...

GO SEAHAWKS!

Jarmusch and Genres

Film genres help viewers form expectations for what it is they are watching. A genre is always made known to the viewer when they are watching the trailer for a film. This helps market the film to a certain demographic that is most likely to pay money to see this film. That is why a film must neatly fit into a given genre in order to be profitable to a mass audience. The word genre conjures the word generic, and that is just what most movies are. Some romantic comedies are better written than others, but the viewer still knows what to expect when they are told a movie is a romantic comedy. Fitting a movie into a genre helps the viewer feel safe in knowing what to expect. But what happens when a director does not make a film that fits cleanly into a given genre? This typically scares an audience and keeps them out of theatres; that is why most films that play with genre conventions are typically independent films. The work of Jim Jarmusch never fits neatly into a genre, and that is what makes his fans love him and makes others wary of his work. It is also why the typical multiplex would never, or rarely, play one of his films.

Stranger than Paradise is best described as a drama with bits of comedy packaged into a road movie. The bulk of the story involves a road trip to Cleveland and then to Florida. This helps put it into the road movie category. The film would most likely be put into the drama category at a video store but there are many elements of comedy in it, and anyone who enjoys a good comedy would enjoy this film. However it moves to slowly to be considered a comedy. Comedies almost need to take place like action movies, the jokes and gags need to fly at the viewer like bullets would.

Down by Law is at heart a comedy, but it once again doesn’t neatly fit into that category. First of all it is a black comedy which pushes it towards the drama section in a video store. Second of all there are quite a few serious moments in the film and it is another quiet and slow moving film. This takes it further away from the comedy genre as mentioned earlier. It is not a crime mystery because there are crimes that take place, but the viewer doesn’t witness the trials. The crimes are there to get the central characters together so they can escape. The escape and flight from justice give some moments of suspense but these are broken by comedy. So I would place this film into the comedy genre, even though this may not be the most mainstream category to put it in.

Mystery Train fits more into the drama category in my opinion, though it too has elements of comedy. It does not have as many comedy elements as it could have if Jarmusch had wanted it to be this way. The film focuses on character development and the everyday lives of its characters. Jarmusch captures small moments in these people’s lives and shows how they interact. These moments are not necessarily the most dramatic or funny times in these people’s lives. But they are the events that happened at these particular moments. The film is once again to slow and thoughtful to be considered a comedy.

Dead Man fits most neatly into the western genre. Western’s grew out of drama so obviously that is there as well. However Jarmusch could not make a conventional western. The film gets its plot moving around the fact that the main character needs a job. He is not a loner or a cowboy like a typical western “hero”. The film does however lead into the hero’s interactions with a Native American character. Native American’s are of course a big part of westerns, but usually they are caricatures of their true selves which is not the case here. This film fits most neatly into a genre of the four mentioned but it does not fit as neatly as a multiplex would think it should. Jarmusch shows his technique and mastery of filmmaking by playing with genres and forming his own new ones.

The Moment You Have All Been Waiting For

Today I am going to start a new series of film essays. I admit this is a way for me to fiddle with these essays as most of them will be essays that I have to work on anyway. Therefore some may be a little thick with film studies terminology but I don't plan on venturing into some of the outlandish critical studies concepts that occupy some of my classes. So enjoy these essays, some will be rough drafts but what do you care. No professors read this, or do they?

Anyway enjoy the first essay on Jim Jarmusch which you can read above. It is about 4 of his films and how he steers away from generic conventions.

Enjoy...

UNCW Baptizes Deacons

Since the last post UNCW's baseball team played twice more and this time they took both games in a row over Wake Forest. The Seahawks used strong hitting to counteract errors and at times subpar pitching to tally a 10-8 victory during the rain on Saturday and a 10-5 victory on a sunny cold Sunday. The victories moved the Seahawks to 5-1 on the young season.

UNCW now travels to Greenville this weekend for a 3 day tournament against Virginia Tech, East Carolina, and NC State. NC State is currently ranked as high as 18th in the nation in some baseball polls so this could be a big road weekend for the Hawks.

In other CAA news ODU currently stands at 1st in the league with a 7-1 mark. UNCW is 2nd at 5-1 and VCU is 3rd at 3-1. GSU stands in 4th at 2-2. Check the complete baseball standings for the rest.

Deacons Take Down Seahawks

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons took down UNCW 9-7 on Friday on a beautiful at Brooks Field. The game was a tough loss for UNCW behind errors and subpar pitching. But hopefully we will pick it up to take the next 2. The loss drops UNCW to 3-1 on the young season.

The next game in the series is Saturday and Sunday at 2:00.

Safe at Last

With UNCW's 77-68 victory of Hofstra on Wednesday night from a boisterous Trask Coliseum the Seahawks ensured a spot in the top 4 in the conference come Tourney time therefore giving them a bye from the play in round that will be held on the first Friday. The Hawks used a 11-0 run early in the 1st half to take the lead for good and held on to it with clutch shooting and hard nosed defense. Hofstra's Carlos Rivera turned his ankle early in the game and The Pride never seemed to recover. Even though Hofstra head coach Tom Pecora complained a little about the physical play, most of his hurt players were self inflicted. Aurimas Kieza ran into Loren Stokes in the 2nd half causing Kieza to go the sideline for stitches. But back to the actual game.

TJ Carter led the way for the Seahawks with 20. (Do I even have to type that anymore?) And Antoine Agudio led the way for Hofstra scoring a game high 26. Vlad Kuljanin answered the bell when he came off the bench hitting all 6 of his field goals and both of his FT's for a grand total of 14 points in 18 minutes. For complete game stats...

In other CAA news GMU defeated Drexel easily in Fairfax to retain 1st place in the conference at 14-2. UNCW remains a game back 13-3. UNCW reached 20 wins on Wednesday for just the 2nd time in school history in the regular season. This has been accomplished in the past several times with the help of the CAA and NCAA tourney's. But the only other time it has been done in the regular season is back in 2002-2003 in Brownell's first year as head coach. GMU also reached the 20th win mark for I believe the 7th time in school history, but don't quote me on that.

Current CAA Standings.

As we speak VCU has just dispatched with their American East foe Albany to kick off the Bracketbuster's. The game was broadcast on ESPNU so I'm sure upwards of 5 people saw it throughout the country. But national TV is national TV. So congrats to the VCU rams for kicking off the Bracketbuster right.

Tomorrow ODU hosts Marist at 4:00 on ESPN2. And in the primetime slot GMU travels to Witchita State at 8:00 on ESPN2.

The other CAA bracketbuster games are:

Rider @ Northeastern
JMU @ Longwood
Siena @ Hofstra
Vermont @ Drexel
Delaware @ Clevland State
GSU @ College of Charleston

In other NCAA news be sure to watch the marquee Bracketbuster matchup between Bucknell @ Northern Iowa at noon on ESPN2.

The next game for the Seahawks is @ VCU on Thursday at 7:30. The game will be broadcast on Channel 17 on Time Warner Cable and as always on 980 AM.

Fun Stuff on ESPN.com

If you haven't seen the latest bracketology then you wouldn't know that UNCW is currently being picked to go as an at large bid with an 11 seed. The current opponent being placed as a 6 in the same region is a certain school that plays just a couple hours away up I-40 in a cavernous light blue hole filled with wine and cheese and perenially ungrateful fans. The Tar Heels of UNC. While this would be a fun matchup the odds of it being a 1st round game are pretty much zero. But still I like where your head is at Joe Lunardi. By the way GMU is currently placed as a 9th seed.

The Hawks are also in the bubble watch placed in the others with at large chance category along with GMU and Hofstra.

"NC Wilmington [19-7 (12-3), RPI: 45, SOS: 120] Worth mentioning if UNCW can win the CAA regular-season crown. RPI is dicey for a mid-major at-large. 9-6 road/neutral record helps, but two sub-150 losses don't.

George Mason [19-5 (13-2), RPI: 27, SOS: 81] GMU looking more and more like a legit at-large team, especially if the Patriots can hold off UNCW and Hofstra in the CAA. 4-5 vs RPI Top 100. Game at Wichita State could be an at-large play-in game.

Hofstra [18-4 (11-3), RPI: 56, SOS: 252] Probably not real likely with such a weak SOS, but Pride are one loss behind George Mason and could still snag the CAA crown; would the Committee show some mid-major Pride?"

And Kyle Whelliston had this to say about us in his latest blog entry:

"Top-five Tuesday

When I chat on ESPN.com or browse through my mailbag, the most common sentence-opening phrase is, "Where's the love for … " Don't get me wrong, I have love for all my mid-major brothers and sisters, but please keep in mind that part of my job is to simplify and distill a chaotic world of over 220 teams that play outside the power conferences. There's only so much love to go around.

That being said, there are definitely some teams that haven't received the column inches they've deserved here at The Mid Life, and it's time to correct that. They might play in the long second-place shadow of a league-leading team, or they may be just now starting to peak after a rough stretch. Or maybe they've simply dropped a couple of games at inopportune junctures, games that won't mean anything come tourney time. Here are the top five slept-on teams that may be best positioned to earn some national love in March...

1. UNC Wilmington (Colonial) -- The Seahawks earned some early headlines when they swept the Laramie, Wyo., pod of the BCA Invitational, but they fell off the radar when they lost three straight over Christmas to Charleston, East Carolina and Old Dominion. While that streak (and no BracketBusters participation) have likely killed the Seahawks' NCAA at-large chances, their seven wins in eight games have positioned them just one game behind George Mason for the league lead. While UNCW isn't that impressive shooting-wise, its defense is stifling, only allowing 58.9 points per game (58.2 in conference tilts), and its .874 points allowed per opponent's possession gives them the 10th-best defensive rating in the country. And like Butler, ball control is key: Despite UNCW's lackluster 42.7 percent field-goal percentage, the Seahawks lead the CAA in A/TO (1.2), turnover rate (18.6 percent percent) and assisted-basket percentage (62.2 percent)."

And about Hofstra:

"K-Dub's krazy fact of the day

Speaking of the Colonial, Tom Pecora's Hofstra squad is currently in third place, bubbling under at 11-3. In justifying my "sell" position, I've often pointed to the Pride's one glaring weakness: free throws. Hofstra is the worst team in the CAA at the line, with a 65.1 percent freebie percentage, which places them in the bottom 50 nationally.

But the scoreboard says Hofstra wins games: six in a row at the moment, and 18 overall. So the question has to be asked: how important is free-throw percentage, anyway?

Obviously, there are more important stats when it comes to winning basketball, the ones that have to do with shooting and rebounds and a team's ability to actually get to the line. Out of context, FT percent doesn't tell you much: the current upper echelon includes teams that win a lot of games (21-3 Gonzaga shoots 79.3 percent) as well as squads that don't (New Hampshire, 77.3 percent). Two of the top five in the category have losing records: 9-15 UNH and 10-11 St. Joseph's, putting a new twist on the term "charity stripe."

Yesterday we looked at what happens when you make more free throws than your opponent shoots (answer: an 80 percent chance of victory), but let's take it from a simpler perspective today. If you have a better percentage from the line than the other team, will you win?

Yes, but certainly not all the time. In 2005-06, teams that have outshot their opponents percentage-wise from the line have won at a .577 clip. The schools that sit atop the polls are the ones who have done it most often, stretching this particular statistical spectrum: Connecticut's done it 11 times so far, and have won every one of those games. Gonzaga is at 17-2 (21-3 overall), Villanova's 16-2 (20-2), and Memphis is 10-0 (22-2). Duke (23-1 overall), no strangers to the stripe late in ball games, are 18-1 when they enjoy a better free-throw percentage.

In Mid-Majorville, we have Birmingham-Southern at 9-2 (17-6 overall) when it shoots better from the line, which has helped them share the precipice of the Big South with Winthrop (which is 8-1). Delaware State also is 9-2 and it has risen to the top of the MEAC. In-game foul shooting supremacy is a good leading indicator among the four Missouri Valley teams that currently own 11-4 league records: Southern Illinois (9-3), Wichita State (13-5), Creighton (8-4) and Northern Iowa (13-1).

And of course, there are the oddballs -- each with their own reasons for not being able to win despite good foul shooting. St. Francis (Pa.) and Morehead State have been the better team from the line 14 times, but they're both 3-11 in those games -- in both cases, it's cold shooting from everywhere else on the floor that does them in. Eastern Illinois (least efficient offense in the OVC) is an even worse 3-12, and Dartmouth (Ivy-worst D) is 1-10.

Hofstra, for its part, has managed to outshoot the other guys at the stripe six times in 22 ball games; in those games, the Pride are undefeated. But when they find themselves in Richmond next month, engaged in a close win-or-go-home CAA playoff game, Pride fans should bite their nails and hope the other team doesn't foul them. Just remember the fact that they score on 52.9 percent of their possessions, the 29th-best floor percentage in the country … best to win it while the clock's running."
-Kyle Whelliston for ESPN.com

See you Wednesday at Trask.

Welcome to the CAA Georgia State

The GSU Panthers were formally introduced to the UNCW Seahawks over the weeekend and I think the Hawks made a good impression with a 69-57 victory over the new foes during a Saturday matinee.

Leading the way for the Seahawks in scoring, get ready for a shocker, was TJ Carter who led all scorers with 21 points. Mitch Laue followed with 16 points and 5 boards in only 17 minutes of play. And John Goldsberry regained his shooting touch going 4-6 from the field for 11 points and 4 assists. Temi Soyebo took the assist category with 5. On the GSU side Herman Favors and Malcom Manier led their team with 13 points apiece.

An interesting side note, GSU coach Michael Perry is a member of the Richmond Athletic Hall of Fame. He was a 4 year standout for the old conference foe of UNCW before playing professionally and then coming back as an assistant leaving just as former UNCW coach Jerry Wainwright arrived. Perry took over the GSU program after legendary coach Lefty Dreisell stepped down after taking his 4th team to the big dance. Another interesting side note, Michael Perry is from my home town of Oxford NC.

In other CAA news GMU defeated Towson and Hofstra held of Northeastern to keep the top of the standings just as they were. GMU remains in 1st at 13-2. UNCW in 2nd at 12-3. And Hofstra in 3rd at 11-3. Here are the complete standings.

The big news as of now is that we take on Hofstra Wednesday night at 7 in Trask. In case you don't remember Hofstra took down UNCW by 6 earlier this year in NYC in an triple OT instant classic. This time I see the home team winning in the form of a close victory to keep UNCW within grasp of GMU. Loren Stokes and Antoine Agudio could be 2 of the best players in the league. But John Goldsberry and TJ Carter are right up there with them. And if Todd, Mitch, and Beckham can get it going inside this should be no sweat for UNCW. If they don't, the best guards will win. UNCW by 4.

The other marquee matchup is Drexel at GMU. Drexel has the ability to trip teams up. Just look at their near defeat of Duke, and their shoulda-won game against UCLA. But they can also lose games that they should never dream of losing. GMU is not a team that Drexel should beat, especially in Fairfax. GMU by double digits.

The Hofstra game will unfortunately not be on TV. So if you can't make it to Trask you can tune into 980 AM as always. Or failing that here is a link to the live stats.

Weekend Seahawk Baseball series was Definitely a UMES

Over the weekend the Seahawk Baseball team took down Maryland-Eastern Shore in a 3 game series. It is not much use even discussing these 3 games, as UNCW completely annihilated the UMES Hawks and any hopes of going back to that horrid state with a W.

Here are the box scores from the weekend see for yourself they are just plain old ugly:

Game 1 (19-2)

Game 2 (18-0)

Game 3 (20-1)

The Seahawks remain at home this weekend for a 3 game series against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Wake is 1-1 currently and UNCW is of course 3-0. The game on Friday is at 3. And the Saturday and Sunday matchups are at 2.

In other CAA news UNCW sits in a tie for 1st with ODU at 3-0. In a tie for 3rd are VCU and William and Mary at 1-0. GMU and Hofstra are the only other 2 teams to start play so far, they both are 0-3. Here are the complete conference standings.

Blue Hens Feeling Blue Once Again

The Delaware Blue Hens took yet another setback in Wilmington Thursday night falling to the Seahawks behind Beckham Wyrick's 16 points and 7 rebounds. UNCW took control of the game midway throught the first half with a 24-2 run. The Hawks took the game 70-54. A few things worth noting from the game are the fact that there were 28 fouls called on Delaware and 26 on UNCW. The officials decided at halftime that they would try to make the 2nd half as slow as possible. It worked as the final 20 minutes took around an hour and 10 minutes. The top scorers for both teams, TJ Carter and Harding Nana, were in foul trouble for most of the game. TJ finished with 7 points but did provide some electricity when sorely needed. And Harding Nana toiled his way to a quiet double-double, 14 points and 10 boards, in 27 minutes before foulding out.

In other CAA news GMU remains in first with their 12-2 league mark thanks to VCU squandering a 17 point lead in Richmond. The Seahawks remain in 2nd at 11-3 and Hofstra is a 1/2 game back at 10-3. Here are the current CAA standings.

That's all for now, more analysis tomorrow.

Just a Quickie

OK folks quick news update for the CAA.

Bracket Buster Matchup's:

Albany @ VCU 7 on Friday Feb. 17th on ESPNU

Marist @ ODU 4 on Saturday Feb. 18th on ESPN2

GMU @ Witchita State 8 on Saturday Feb. 18th on ESPN2

Interesting CAA hoops blog post.

Here is the section from Greg Doyle's article on CBS sportsline about Hofstra:

"Hofstra: The Colonial has a good shot at bids for NC-Wilmington and George Mason, and while three bids is a reach, it's not out of the question. This is where Hofstra (16-4, 9-3; No. 58) comes into play. Old Dominion has a better RPI (No. 47), but Hofstra swept the Monarchs. The Pride sit third in what looks like a two-bid league, but if they finish off a season sweep at NC-Wilmington on Feb. 15 ... then beat George Mason on Feb. 23 ... and avoid a first-round loss in the CAA Tournament ... they'd be difficult for the selection committee to turn down."

And he mentions UNCW as one of Colorado's quality wins:

" Colorado: Any mock bracket that includes Colorado isn't a mock bracket at all. It's a joke bracket. Forget its record. The Buffaloes (15-4, 5-3; No. 48) aren't NCAA-worthy ... yet. Right now, Colorado's best wins are against three other bubble teams (NC-Wilmington, Nebraska, Oklahoma State). That's a resume in dire need of bold print -- and the Buffs will get two chances at that. Oklahoma visits on Feb. 15, Colorado plays at Kansas on March 1. Here's the deal, and it's the best (accurate) deal you're going to get, Colorado: Beat Oklahoma or Kansas, and win four of the other six games on your schedule. That's a 5-3 finish that would put Colorado at 20-7 entering the Big 12 Tournament. Win a game there -- against anyone -- and the Buffaloes are in."

And here is a clip of Hofstra's game winning shot over ODU. I know this is old news but I just found it.

And also compare and contrast to VCU gamewinner over Drexel.

Gotta love this league.

Another 8 Man Team

The UNCW Seahawks took a setback on Saturday night as they were not able to close out the crucial matchup in Fairfax. After trailing most of the game. The Patriots of GMU were able to shut down UNCW late in the game to come away with a victory. TJ Carter led all scorers with 21 points. Mitch Laue tallied a double-double for the Hawks with 10 points and boards. Jai Lewis led the way for GMU with 19 points. (Even though a lot of those were handed to him by the officials, because apparently the opposing player is not allowed to impede his progress to the basket. Completely unacceptable. If you put a hand in his face you are getting a foul.) And on that same topic how does Isiah Hunter get a Technical foul late in ODU's loss to Richmond for flapping his jaw, and Jai Lewis does not. He seemed to be having very in depth discussions with Todd Hendley after every shot he made, with an assist from the ref, and I don't think he was complementing Todd on his haircut. The officiating seemed completely one sided to me, even though every Mason fan will say the same thing, just that it was one sided towards us. But enough of making excuses, when you come right down to it we still could have won the game. The victory came down to the team that executed at the end, GMU, and the team that loss was the one that panicked and settled for bad shots, UNCW. However, I really don't believe GMU would have been close at the end if it wasn't for the one sided officiating. I mean look at the boxscore, Mason scored 69 points, they shot 28 FT's. And very few of those came within the last minute when we were trying to send them to the line. On the other hand UNCW shot 75% at the line. The problem is we only shot 8.

In other CAA news JMU finally picked up their first conference victory last night against Delaware. So congrats to them.

With their win Saturday, GMU is now in first by themselves at 11-2. They are followed by UNCW at 10-3. Hofstra is a half game back in 3rd at 9-3. Here are the complete CAA standings.

In the latest RPI Rankings several teams remain in the top 100:

32 GMU
43 UNCW
47 ODU
59 Hofstra
64 VCU
96 Northeastern

In the latest national rankings GMU and Hofstra are receiving votes. GMU is as high as 33 in the Coaches Poll and Hofstra received votes in the AP poll putting them at 45th with Stanford and UW Milwaukee.

In the latest Mid Major Top 25 poll several teams remain up in the top 15:

6 GMU
10 Hofstra
12 UNCW
13 ODU
24 VCU
30 Northeastern

The Seahawks take on Delaware on Thursday at 7:00 in Trask. The game will be broadcast as always on 980 AM. Here is a link to the live stats.

PS. More about this later but the reigning CAA Regular season baseball champs, UNCW, start off their season on Friday with a 3 day weekend series against MD Eastern Shore. They play at 3 on Friday and at 2 on Saturday and Sunday. So come out to Brooks Field this weekend, after coming out to Trask on Thursday to watch the action.

Bracket Buster or Bust

As most of you may know by now the Bracket Buster matchups have been announced for the weekend of Feb. 17th/18th. More analysis on this later but here are the TV matchups from the CAA. Channel designations will be announced on Feb. 7th:

GMU @ Witchita State
Albany @ VCU
Marist @ ODU

The other non-televised matchups from the CAA are:

GSU @ College of Charelston
Delaware @ Clevland State
Rider @ Northeastern
Vermont @ Drexel
Siena @ Hofstra

More talk on this later but reagardless see you at Trask Thursday at 7:00 for UNCW vs. Drexel.