#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.
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.
posted by TAH at 10:28 PM
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