Burgess named CAA Rookie of the Week

CAA Men’s Basketball Player of the Week: Jawan Carter, Delaware So., G, 5-11, 175 Carter averaged 23.0 points, 4.5 assists and 2.5 steals in a pair of Delaware victories last week. The sophomore guard scored 21 of his team-high 23 points in the second half of a 75-66 road win at Hampton and then […]

December 15, 2008; 9:06 PM • by FTRea

CAA Men’s Basketball Player of the Week: Jawan Carter, Delaware So., G, 5-11, 175

Carter averaged 23.0 points, 4.5 assists and 2.5 steals in a pair of Delaware victories last week. The sophomore guard scored 21 of his team-high 23 points in the second half of a 75-66 road win at Hampton and then followed with a team-best 23 points and a career-high six assists in a 75-66 victory over Ohio. For the week, Carter shot 57.5% from the floor and made 7-of-13 from three-point range.

CAA Men’s Basketball Rookie of the Week: Bradford Burgess, VCU Fr., F, 6-5, 207

Burgess scored a career-high 12 points, grabbed three rebounds and dished out two assists in VCU’s 77-76 road win at Richmond on Saturday. The freshman forward went 4-for-7 from the floor, including a game-winning three-pointer with 48 seconds left that snapped a 74-74 tie. Burgess is averaging 7.6 ppg for the season.

Two CAA Teams In Top 30 Of Latest RPI: Hofstra moved up to #28 and George Mason is ranked #30 in the most recent RPI report released by Collegiate Basketball News through games of Dec. 14. The CAA is one of only seven conferences with two teams in the top 30, joining the ACC (6), Big Ten (5), Big East (4), Atlantic 10 (2), Big 12 (2) and Conference USA (2). Five CAA teams are currently in the top 125 of the RPI with the Pride and Patriots followed by VCU (#82), Northeastern (#103) and Towson (#124). The CAA jumped three spots to #13 among the nation’s 31 Division I conferences.   Winning Week In Non-Conference Play: The CAA posted a 9-4 record in non-conference play last week, which included a 6-2 mark in road games. For the season, the CAA has a 48-44 non-conference record (.522) with half (24) of those victories coming on either neutral or road courts. Fourteen losses have come against teams from the Big Ten, Big East, Big 12, SEC or ACC.

Streaking: Hofstra increased its winning streak to eight games with a pair of victories last week and is unbeaten since a season-opening loss to Clemson. The Pride’s streak is its longest since starting the 2004-05 campaign with a 9-0 record. Old Dominion and VCU have also won three in a row.

Young Guns: Young players continue to make an impact offensively in the CAA this season as there are only three seniors among the league’s top 17 in scoring. Four of the CAA’s top six scorers are sophomores – Hofstra’s Charles Jenkins (20.6 ppg), UNCW’s Chad Tomko (19.6 ppg) and Delaware’s Jawan Carter (18.6 ppg) and Alphonso Dawson (17.3 ppg). Among the top 17 in points, there are eight juniors, five sophomores, three seniors and one freshman.

Milestone Moments: VCU senior guard Eric Maynor has moved up to ninth on the CAA’s all-time assist chart with 519 and needs eight more to tie former Ram LaMar Taylor for eighth. Northeastern junior Matt Janning went over the 1,000-point mark (1,015) for his career in the Huskies’ win at Harvard last Wednesday. George Mason’s John Vaughan currently has 993 career points.

Four CAA Players Among Top 50 In Scoring: VCU’s Eric Maynor (23.8 ppg/5th), Hofstra’s Charles Jenkins (20.6 ppg/29th), W&M’s Danny Sumner (20.1 ppg/37th) and UNCW’s Chad Tomko (19.6 ppg/46th) are ranked among the top 50 in Division I in scoring according to the latest NCAA statistics through games of Dec. 14. In other individual categories, Delaware’s Marc Egerson is 13th nationally in rebounding (10.7 rpg) and VCU’s Larry Sanders ranks 8th in blocks (3.2 bpg). A complete listing of CAA teams and players in the national stats is included on page 7 of this release.

Road Teams Go 5-1 In CAA Openers: Road teams won five of the six conference games played on Dec. 6 as all 12 squads opened their CAA schedules. Old Dominion was the lone team to pick up a victory at home, while Northeastern, George Mason, Georgia State, VCU and Hofstra earned road triumphs. Last season, home teams finished with a 71-37 (.657) record in CAA play and only two teams – VCU (7-2) and ODU (5-4) – had winning road marks in league action. There will be no more CAA contests until Saturday, January 3.

Piling Up The Points: Six CAA players have scored 30 or more points in a game this season after just seven reached the 30-point mark all of last year. VCU’s Eric Maynor has topped the 30-point plateau twice, including a career-high 35 points at East Carolina on Nov. 25. William & Mary’s David Schneider (31) and Danny Sumner (30) became the second duo in Tribe history to hit the mark in the same game on Nov. 22 against Navy. Also scoring 30 or more this season have been UNCW’s Chad Tomko, Hofstra’s Charles Jenkins and Delaware’s Jawan Carter.

Three CAA Teams In Mid-Major Top 25 Poll: Three CAA teams are ranked in the latest Mid-Major Top 25 poll released by CollegeInsider.com on Dec. 15. VCU jumped three spots to #9 this week, while Hofstra moved eight spots to #11 and George Mason edged up to #13. The CAA was the only conference with three teams ranked in the top 15.

Working Overtime: CAA teams have already been involved in 12 overtime contests this season and are 5-7 in those games. There have also been 35 non-conference games decided by six points or less or in overtime thus far, and the CAA has a combined record of 17-18 in those games.

Double Digit Streaks: Two CAA players are riding lengthy double-figure scoring streaks. VCU guard Eric Maynor has tallied double figures in 25 games in a row and Hofstra guard Charles Jenkins has scored double figures in 24 straight games.

VCU (6-3 overall, 1-0 in CAA): The Rams rallied past rival Richmond 77-76 on Saturday. It was VCU’s third straight win and fourth in its past five outings. Senior guard Eric Maynor paced the Rams with 23 points, seven assists and four steals. He is now 12th on VCU’s all-time scoring list (1,407 pts) and ninth on the CAA’s career assists (519) chart. Maynor is scoring 15.1 of his league-high 23.8 ppg in the second half and is shooting 62.2% from the floor in the final 20 minutes.

Freshman forward Bradford Burgess poured in a career-high 12 points, including a trey with 48 seconds left that broke a 74-74 tie. Sophomore Ed Nixon also tied a career-high with 11 points. Guard Joey Rodriguez leads the CAA in 3-point FG percentage (49%) and steals (2.7 spg). The Rams rank seventh in Division I in 3-point percentage (42.5%) for the season and have hit 32-of-64 treys in the last three games.

– The information above was provided by Rob Washburn, Associate Commissioner/Communications CAA

December 15, 2008 9:06 PM 0