CAA Notes: Men’s Basketball

Wild Week In The CAA: It was a wild week of action in the CAA as the top four teams in the league standings all suffered losses to squads below them. Only Old Dominion and James Madison were a perfect 2-0 last week and eight teams posted 1-1 marks. Last Wednesday (Feb. 4), William & […]

February 10, 2009; 12:27 PM • by FTRea

Wild Week In The CAA: It was a wild week of action in the CAA as the top four teams in the league standings all suffered losses to squads below them. Only Old Dominion and James Madison were a perfect 2-0 last week and eight teams posted 1-1 marks. Last Wednesday (Feb. 4), William & Mary snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 68-63 win over first-place Northeastern, UNC Wilmington defeated second-place VCU 81-72, avenging a 29-point setback to the Rams last month, and Delaware edged rival Drexel 73-70 in overtime, ending the Dragons’ seven-game winning streak. On Saturday, JMU knocked off George Mason 68-66, stopping the Patriots’ 10-game winning streak against their longtime rival.

Times/Networks Set For BracketBuster Games: ESPN has announced the times and networks for the 7th annual ESPNU BracketBusters. The CAA had five teams chosen for televised games, which was the most of any of the participating 17 conferences. VCU travels to Nevada on Friday, Feb. 20 at 9 p.m. in a contest shown on ESPNU. On Saturday, Feb. 21, Northeastern visits Wright State in an 11 a.m. game on ESPN2, while Old Dominion hosts Liberty at 11 a.m. on ESPNU. At 7 p.m., Hofstra at Fairfield will be shown on ESPN360.com, followed by George Mason at Creighton at 9:30 p.m. on ESPNU. In non-TV matchups involving CAA teams on Feb. 21, Delaware visits Bucknell, Drexel hosts Loyola (Md.), Georgia State travels to Eastern Michigan, James Madison entertains Gardner-Webb, UNC Wilmington is at home against Elon, Towson welcomes Morgan State and William & Mary hosts Manhattan.

Tight Race Atop CAA Standings: The battle atop the CAA standings grew even tighter last week with five games remaining on the conference schedule. Northeastern (11-2) maintained a one-game lead over VCU (10-3), with George Mason sitting alone in third at 9-4. Drexel slipped into a three-way tie for fourth at 8-5 with Old Dominion and James Madison, and Hofstra is close behind at 7-6. The top four teams in the conference standings receive first-round byes in the CAA Men’s Basketball Championship.

Road Teams Have Success In CAA Play: Home teams went 10-2 in CAA action last week, but road squads have had impressive success this season. Home teams have won only 57.7% (45-33) of the conference contests played thus far. Five teams have a .500 or better road record in CAA play and nine squads have already posted two league road victories. Last year, 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.

Maynor Named Cousy Award Finalist: VCU senior guard Eric Maynor has been named one of 17 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, which is given annually to the nation’s top collegiate point guard. It’s the second year in a row that Maynor has made the list of finalists, which also includes Davidson’s Stephen Curry, UCLA’s Darren Collison, Wake Forest’s Jeff Teague and North Carolina’s Ty Lawson.

Streaking: George Mason’s 13-game home court winning streak is tied for the 12th-longest in Division I along with Florida, Western Kentucky and UAB. Kansas owns the nation’s longest home court winning streak at 37 games.

Four CAA Teams In Top 100 Of Latest RPI: Four CAA teams are ranked in the top 100 of the most recent RPI report released by Collegiate Basketball News through games of Feb. 8. George Mason tops the list of CAA squads at #57, followed by Northeastern at #64, VCU at #73 and Hofstra at #98. The CAA is ranked #14 among the nation’s 31 Division I conferences.

Delaware’s Egerson Leads In Double-Doubles: Delaware senior guard Marc Egerson has recorded a league-best 11 doubles-doubles this season. Egerson leads the CAA in rebounding with 10.3 per game and is seventh in the conference in scoring (15.0 ppg). Egerson is one of 19 players nationally to be averaging a double-double for the season and he and Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin are the only players in Division I to be averaging at least 10.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.

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 Feb. 9. VCU leads the CAA teams at #10, while Northeastern is ranked #15 and George Mason is ranked #16. James Madison was among other teams receiving votes. The CAA was one of only two conferences with three squads among the top 16.

Northeastern Receives Votes In AP Top 25: For the second straight week, Northeastern received votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. The Huskies picked up two points this week after getting three on Feb. 2. It’s the first time since 1986-87 that Northeastern has received votes in the national rankings.

Maynor Ranked Nationally In Scoring And Assists: VCU’s Eric Maynor is ranked 9th in Division I in scoring (22.7 ppg) and 21st in assists (5.9 apg) according to the latest NCAA statistics through games of Feb. 8. In other individual categories, Delaware’s Marc Egerson is 15th nationally in rebounding (10.3 rpg), ODU’s Gerald Lee is 31st in FG percentage (57%) and VCU’s Larry Sanders ranks 21st in blocks (2.5 bpg).

– The information above was provided by Rob Washburn with the CAA.

February 10, 2009 12:27 PM 0