Colonial Athletic Association Notebook
by Jay Pearlman
As the dust settles following a second full week of CAA play, a bit of normalcy had returned to the conference. Defending champion and preseason favorite VCU has bounced back from an earlier one-point loss at James Madison with three straight wins, this week against improved Georgia State and Hofstra, to post a healthy 4-1 mark after five games. And following a hard-fought overtime loss to Delaware, George Mason rebounded at home with its best all around performance of the season, defeating Northeastern 80-52 despite Will Thomas having been held without a field goal in the first half, and scoring just six points in the game; GMU is now 3-2. Likewise, James Madison rebounded from a three-point loss at William and Mary to soundly defeat UNC-Wilmington at home 93-74, to also move to 3-2. Despite a seven-point loss at Delaware Sunday, Blaine Taylor’s well-coached ODU Monarchs join GMU and JMU at 3-2, as does William and Mary.
And as was the case earlier in this conference than any other (after 3 games, in fact), every team in the conference has at least one win.
But not everything has gone as scripted. Take last year’s last-place team, a team that posted a 3-7 non-conference mark and a team that this reporter saw lose to Central Connecticut State by 33 with its two transfers playing (and it could just as easily have been 63). Well, the Fightin’ Blue Hens of the University of Delaware sit atop the CAA standings at 5-0. This week, Delaware continued to impress, with home wins over perennial powerhouses George Mason and Old Dominion, 73-68 over GMU in overtime, and 81-74 over ODU in double overtime.
Now, sometimes the schedule-maker is kind, and it is true that to date Delaware has faced Drexel and William & Mary away, and GMU, ODU and improved Towson at home. Of course, it’s easy to say the schedule has been kind after 5 wins in 5 outings, and no one writing or reading in this space would have been shocked by losses in any or all of those five games. But if you’re thinking it’s the schedule that has placed Delaware on top, just get ready for this Wednesday night’s game against VCU in Richmond. More than winning in that rarified atmosphere, I’ll be most interested to see just how competitive the Blue Hens are on the road against the champion VCU Rams.
The afternoon this writer saw Delaware play in New Britain, freshman Alphonso Dawson had the first bucket of the game and nothing thereafter (ok, 2 rebounds and 1 assist), newly eligible guard Marc Egerson from Georgetown shot 3-12 for 14 points (most after the game was long decided), with 2 rebounds and 0 assists, and newly eligible center Jim Ledsome from Nebraska shot 3-6 and 3-9 from the line for 9 points (again most after the issue was decided), with 3 rebounds. There was snow that afternoon in New Britain and the visitor media session was canceled, but I managed to track down Coach Monte Ross before boarding his bus to Vermont to compliment him on his job last season with that injury-ridden depleted roster. Without knowing him well enough to be sure, I found myself telling him “you’ll figure it out with these newcomers,” but I hardly expected this kind of turnaround as I headed into the snow back to Boston.
Now it’s seven games later, six of them wins to go with a loss at College Park, Maryland. After that woeful start, Egerson’s shooting is up to 37 percent, including 32 percent from long range, and he’s averaging 14 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal. Ledsome is shooting 64 percent, averaging 6 points and 5 rebounds. Last week’s Rookie of the Week in the conference, Dawson is now shooting 39 percent, averaging 11 points, 5 rebounds, an assist and a steal. And all of that complements Player of the Year candidate Herb Courtney, shooting 42 percent, averaging 15 points, 6 rebounds, an assist, two blocks and a steal.
Last Tuesday, before this week’s two monster wins, I asked Ross what happened since each of us left New Britain in the snow last month. In a self-effacing, humble way, Ross told me that he didn’t do a good enough job preparing his team for the two transfers to join, and that that he treated them a bit too much like saviors, a role neither they nor the team were ready for them to assume.
In the seven games since then, Coach backtracked from the savior assignment, made the transfers role players within the team, and allowed the team to mature naturally rather than forcing a brave new world upon them. In that time, Dawson has emerged as potentially the league’s best freshman, Courtney has become comfortable with more and better complimentary players, and former starting forward Sam McMahon has become more comfortable with his new role and begun to contribute from the bench.
With a date in the Rams’ den Wednesday night, Delaware is in the best position it has been since joining this conference. The Blue Hens don’t have to win on Wednesday night, but if they’re competitive, that’ll show everyone in the CAA that they’re in the race for the long haul.
