Colonial Athletic Association Notebook
CAA Goes 6-2 in BracketBusters
Highlighting the past week was the conference’s stellar showing in the BracketBusters event. CAA teams went 6-2 on Friday and Saturday, including wins in televised games by VCU (70-67 over Albany on Friday), George Mason (70-67 at Wichita State on Saturday) and Old Dominion (84-71 over Marist on Saturday). Hofstra (76-62 over Siena), Northeastern (92-79 over Rider) and Drexel (56-42 over Vermont) also scored wins.
With this showing, there is certain to be more talk of an at-large bid going to a team from this conference. That talk started over the last couple of weeks, and with more people noticing the conference, more will hopefully see just how good the conference is and not just at the top.
Reaching 20
By the end of the regular season, the conference may have four teams with at least 20 wins. George Mason (21-5), Hofstra (20-5) and UNC-Wilmington (20-7) are already there, while Old Dominion is 19-8 with one game left. VCU could certainly finish the season with 20 wins, as they have 17 with two games left plus the conference tournament.
Battle for the Byes
Entering the last week of the regular season, there is quite a battle brewing for the first round byes in the CAA Tournament. Here’s how it looks.
George Mason (14-2) and UNC-Wilmington (13-3) will each get a bye. The Patriots are in the driver’s seat to take the top seed, but go to Hofstra on Thursday before coming home to play James Madison on Saturday. The Seahawks go to VCU on Thursday before returning home to play Georgia State on Saturday.
The battle for the other two has four players: Hofstra (12-4), Old Dominion (11-5), Northeastern (10-6) and VCU (10-6). The Pride are in the driver’s seat, as they will clinch with a win over George Mason or Drexel, both of whom they play at home.
Of the remaining three, VCU might have the easiest road, as they have one home game (albeit a tough one against UNC-Wilmington) and a road contest at William & Mary. Northeastern (Delaware and Towson) and Old Dominion (James Madison and Delaware) each have two road contests.
Tigers Win Without Star
Towson figured to be at a real disadvantage without star guard Gary Neal, who has missed their last two games with an ankle injury. But instead, the Tigers picked up a big win over VCU last Wednesday. It was Dennard Abraham (27 points on 10-13 shooting, 7 rebounds) who had the big night, while the Tigers held VCU star Nick George to just nine points on 2-14 shooting. Freshman point guard Tim Crossin also helped out, scoring 13 points and dishing out eight assists.
Abraham, a top junior college transfer, hasn’t had a huge season, but he’s talented and can be a very good complement to Lawrence Hamm in the frontcourt. Hamm helped him out with 10 rebounds.
So how did the Tigers knock off one of the top teams without their star guard? Easy: because of Gary Neal.
“He gave this team tremendous confidence,” said head coach Pat Kennedy. “Even in his departure, the confidence level stayed there because he created it with our guys.”
Kennedy said in Tuesday’s teleconference that Neal won’t play on Thursday night and might miss Saturday’s regular season finale against Northeastern. He is confident that Neal will be available for the conference tournament next weekend.
Other Notes From Around the CAA
- Georgia State is having a season of discovery with their younger players, although they have four senior guards. Entering the final week, they have used 11 different starting lineups. Freshman guard Leonard Mendez had his second double figure scoring effort of the season last week, and they’ll need him in the future.
- James Madison dropped two more games last week, but had bright spots from both ends of the class spectrum. Senior David Cooper continues to play well after returning from knee surgery, and classmate Daniel Freeman is averaging 17.2 points per game over his last five games. Meanwhile, Juwann James remains the conference’s top scoring and rebounding freshman at 13.0 points, 7.2 rebounds per game, and classmate Kyle Swanston continues to show promise as well.
