Mid Major Hoops

An Update on the Site, Hofstra upsets Northeastern and the Bakers Dozen is Back!

Starting tomorrow,my MidMajorHoops.Net site will be temporarily moving from Typepad to Blogger.com.  This is temporary until probably the end of the month.  I am not going to talk about my reasons why, but the move should only be temporary.  I have nothing but high praise for the guys at Typepad but I need to make this move for reasons that will go unexplained.

I was at Hofstra on Saturday where arguably the Pride played their best game of the season as they beat previously unbeaten in conference Northeastern 57-52.  The Pride made a statement early by, I know this is stunning so hold your heart...actually working the ball inside!  Hofstra on the strength of this strategy  led 11-6 early.  But slowly Northeastern crept back into the game, mostly on the strength of Matt Janning's three pointers.  Janning's third three pointer of the half put the Huskies up one, 19-18.  Again the Pride's inside play would be instrumental in a 8-2 run to put the Pride up 26-21.  However Northeastern would end the half with an 8-0 run, finished off by an alley oop play to Manny
Adako off an inbounds pass with 1.1 seconds left.  It was a combination of a nice play run by Northeastern and shoddy defense by Hofstra.

Down by three at halftime, 29-26, Hofstra went on a 14-4 run in the second half to open up a 40-33 lead. During this run, Charles Jenkins finally found his groove, scoring 9 of the 14 points. The game was not over however as Northeastern went on an 11-4 run to tie the game at 44.  The Huskies then actually went up 51-50 with 1:47 left on a Manny Adako layup.  However, the Pride would outscore the Huskies 7-1 down the stretch as the Huskies only answer for the Pride's dribble penetrations to the basket was to foul the player with the ball.  Hofstra's last eleven points in the game were actually scored on free throws as the Pride shot 18 of 25 from the line.  

The keys to the game were first the re-emergence of Charles Jenkins.  As noted here, Jenkins had struggled mightily over his last nine games before Saturday's contest, with his FG percentage going from 47.5 percent to 37 percent.  In fact in his last four games prior to Saturday Jenkins shot 13 of 59 from the field (22 percent).  Saturday, Jenkins was 8 of 16 from the field and 5 of 6 from the line.  Arminas Urbutis (8 points and 9 rebounds) and Tony Dennison (9 points in 20 minutes) provided much needed help from the bench.  The Pride shot over 40 percent (42 percent) for the first time since a 90-79 win at Towson on December 6th, a span of eleven games. 

More importantly, the Pride did an excellent job defensively on Northeastern, holding the Huskies to 38 percent (which is what Hofstra holds teams to on a season average).  Even more impressive, after Janning's the third three pointer of the game with 4:40 left in the first half, Janning did not have a field goal the rest of the game.  Janning in fact only had six field goal attempts over the last 24:40 due in large part to the defense of Charles Jenkins.  

Ok, it's time, finally, for the new Baker's Dozen.

1) Butler (16-1) - As if their impressive first half against Loyola Chicago wasn't enough, I got home on Saturday in time to watch the second half of their game vs. Illinois Chicago.  Down eleven at the half to the Flames at 28-17, the Bulldogs spotted the Flames a three pointer, then roared back and won 59-52.  What was really impressive was that the Bulldogs best player, Matt Howard had only six points on six field goal attempts.  That left it up to freshmen Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack to combine for 43 points.  Hayward, who had 25 points, shot 7 of 13 from beyond the arc.  Hayward entered the game leading the Horizon in three point shooting at 46.4 percent.  Reminder, the Bulldogs start three freshman, a sophomore, and a junior. Amazing.

2) Saint Mary's (17-1) - The Gaels only won by fifty, 96-46.  I say "only won by fifty" because one of the Gaels' best players, Omar Samhan, only had 2 points.  The Gaels shot 15 of 31 from three.  Diamon Simpson, who didn't attempt a three, had 24 points on 7 of 9 shooting and 10 of 11 from the free throw line.  If the Gaels can get Simpson, who has struggled from the field this season, on track, the Gaels will even be more dangerous.  So, would everyone like to see Butler vs Saint Mary's on Bracketbuster Saturday?  I would.

3) Davidson (14-3) - Andrew Lovedale had a monster day with 16 points and 15 rebounds as the Wildcats won easily 89-68 over Georgia Southern.  Stephen Curry had 29 points on 11 of 30 shooting.  The Wildcats are home for their next two games before possibly their toughest game left in the regular season in the SoCon, a road game at UTC.   The Wildcats should have a very good game on BracketBuster Saturday, most likely vs. a CAA team, either George Mason or VCU.

4) Gonzaga (12-4) - The Zags seem to be back in form after a thirty point pasting of San Francisco.  The key - the emergence of Gonzaga sophomore Austin Daye. Daye had twenty five points vs. the Dons on 10 of 14 shooting.  Daye over his last four games, all Bulldogs wins, is shooting 59.5 percent (25 of 42) and is shooting 48 percent on the season.  Daye's other numbers are down, specifically his free throw shooting (from 88 percent as a freshman to 69.8 percent).  As Daye goes, so goes the Zags. 

5) Utah State (17-1) - The Aggies kept sole possession of first place with a solid 79-65 win over Boise State on Saturday.  The Aggies shot 50 percent from the field as Tai Wesley had a season high 26 points.  The Aggies had a 2-1 assist to turnover ratio for the game (18-9).  This is not surprising as the Aggies lead the WAC in this category at 1.46. Also not surprising is that the Aggies lead the WAC in FG percentage at 51.6 percent and free throw shooting at 74.1 percent.  But here are the surprising categories - the Aggies lead the WAC in rebounding margin (+8.6) and scoring defense in 59.9 points per game.  The Aggies are a very balanced team that holds onto the ball well, defends well and scores well - a triple threat if I ever saw one.

6) George Mason (14-3) - The Patriots have sole possession of first place in the CAA after their win over James Madison and Northeastern's loss at Hofstra. GMU, unbeaten in CAA play at 7-0, shot 46 percent from the field in their 71-57 win over the Dukes on Saturday.  The Dukes were held to 31.6 percent from the field including  6 of 26 from beyond the arc.  Typical day at the office for the Patriots as Mason is second to Hofstra in FG percentage defense and first in three point FG percentage defense.Louis Birdsong had 15 points while Cam Long and super frosh Ryan Pearson each had 13 points.  The next two games for the Patriots are big as they play at Northeastern, then at VCU, the two teams tied for second place in the CAA. 

7) Northern Iowa (12-6) -  At the beginning of the season, all the Missouri Valley talk centered on Illinois State and Creighton.  Yet after seven games, the Panthers are leading the Valley with a 7-1 record. This is due in large part to being first in the Valley in field goal percentage at 47 percent and first in assist to turnover ratio.  In their 81-59 drubbing of Drake AT DRAKE, the Panthers shot nearly 52 percent including 11 of 26 from three.  Northern Iowa was up as much as 37, 65-28 in the second half.  The Panthers had 17 assists to only four turnovers.  Johnny Moran had 20 to lead Northern Iowa. The Panthers have won six in a row in the Valley and four of those came on the road, a pretty mean feat in the Valley. 

8) Illinois State (16-2) - The Redbirds seemed to have righted themselves after knocking off Missouri State 68-56.  Emmanuel Holloway and Champ Oguchi each had 15 points for the Redbirds.  Illinois State leads the Valley in scoring offense and in field goal percentage defense (they also lead in three point FG percentage defense), a very important balance.  Makes perfect sense that the Redbirds lead the Valley in scoring margin.  Illinois State will play at Northern Iowa on January 28.  Maybe the game will be on TV.  Can only hope.

9) Siena (14-5) - The Saints improved to 8-0 in the MAAC with an impressive 16 point win, 78-62 at Fairfield.  I know that Kyle Whelliston had the Saints as his most disappointing team of the first part of the season in his Christmas day article.  But if you think about the Saints' losses, only one, vs Wichita State at the Old Spice Classic could be considered a bad loss.  The Saints other losses were to former #1 Pitt, formerly ranked Tennessee in the Old Spice Classic, by seven at formerly ranked Kansas and to 12-4 Oklahoma State at the Old Spice Classic.  The combined record of those four teams - 53-14.  Just think Davidson from last year. Now mind you the Saints aren't as good as Davidson was last year. But remember, the Saints knocked off Vandy in the first round of the NCAA tourney last season with the same cast.  Don't think they can't knock off someone again.

10) Western Kentucky (12-6) - The Hilltoppers lead the East division of the Sun Belt with a 6-1 conference record.  UALR leads the Sun Belt West with the same conference record and a better overall record (13-5).  Why do the Hilltoppers make the list and the Trojans don't?  Two reasons.  One, Western Kentucky has a signature win over Louisville while UALR's best win was a home win over now slumping Creighton.  Second, the Hilltoppers crushed the Trojans 79-47 in their first meeting.

11) VCU (13-5) - The Rams are now tied for second place in the CAA at 6-1 after a very solid 61-44 win at home over ODU.  After the Monarchs lit up Georgia State shooting 62 percent from the field including 10 of 16 from beyond the three point arc, VCU held them to 30 percent from the field including 2 of 11 from beyond the arc.  The maturation of Larry Sanders continues as Sanders led the Rams with 16 points.  Sanders has scored in double figures in seven of the last eight games.  The only game that Sanders did not, the Rams lost that one 81-79 to Delaware, their only conference loss.

12) Portland State (12-5) - The Vikings lead the Big Sky with a 5-1 conference record.  The team that knocked off Gonzaga in Spokane is not just star guard Jeremiah Dominguez.  Dominguez, who is not even the team's leading scorer, is joined by three other players in double figures, led by Dominic Waters' 12.5 points per game.  Their only real blemish is a conference loss at home to second place Weber State.  The rematch at Weber State is still a month away on February 19th.

13) Tie - Wisconsin Green Bay (13-5) and Charleston (14-3) - Wisconsin Green Bay snags the final spot along with the College of Charleston based on their 6-1 record.  Though they are in third in the Horizon a half game behind Wisconsin Milwaukee for second (Wisc Milwaukee is 7-1), they beat the Panthers on their home court.  They also have wins over Cleveland State and Wright State.  The Phoenix have four players that average double digit scoring led by guard Ryan Tilemma.  They have a big game at Butler on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Charleston continues to roll in the SoCon after winning at Furman 78-71. The Cougars are one of the rare teams in the country in which all five starters average double figures in scoring led by Andrew Goudelock's nearly 17 points per game average. The Cougars lead the SoCon in field goal percentage at 48.6 percent, three point FG percentage at 38 percent and assist to turnover ratio at 1.2.  The Cougars who are second in the South Division next to Davidson, have five games in between their rematch at Davidson. 

Saturday Morning Thoughts

I was on ESPN.com this morning and noticed the most recent "Knight Watch".  This time Coach Knight talks about the lack of traveling violations being called by officials.  I have alluded to this before in a previous posting, but the coach is absolutely right.  Especially in the CAA, the traveling violation is not called.  In the game Drexel vs. Hofstra at the Mack Arena, the officials did an amazingly poor job in not calling traveling violations.  In fact, Hofstra coach Tom Pecora got a technical after yelling at an official "That's a f___ walk!"  If you watch this Knight Watch, look for his example of a no walk call with Tyler Hansborough.  Hansborough clearly takes FIVE steps on one play vs. Michigan State with the official looking right at the play.  Holy cow!  Coach Knight is right. The lack of a call here and there can result in the difference in a game.   With all the usually close CAA conference games there are,  CAA officials especially need to start calling the walk.

It seems I have been watching a lot of Horizon League play lately and that's a good thing.  First yesterday morning, I watched the first half of the ESPN replay of Butler vs Loyola Chicago on ESPN360.  It really is a treat watching Butler in action.  Their weave offense is a thing of beauty.  The Bulldog ball and player movement offensive sets are so well done.   And then throw in the fact that Bulldog sophomore forward Matt Howard is such a fundamentally sound post player and that offense just gells.  The Bulldogs got off to a 21-4 start on the Ramblers and with the Bulldogs' terrific half court defense, the game was over right there.  Another key fact for Butler is that they are second in three point FG percentage and it was very evident in that game.  Guard Shelvin Mack nailed several threes in that 21-4 run to begin the game.  Mack had 20 points for the game on 4 of 7 shooting from beyond three.  In fact, Mack is shooting 38.6 percent from beyond the arc, which is 5th in the Horizon and is third in the Horizon at 80.4 percent from the free throw line.  Who leads the Horizon in three point FG percentage?  Mack's teammate, Gordon Hayward at 46.4 percent.  Mack and Hayward are both freshmen.  And Matt Howard is a sophomore.  Just how scary good is Butler going to be the next few years.  Wow.

Last night, I watched the second half of Wright State-Detroit on ESPNU.  The analyst for the game, former NBA great Jim Chones kept noting how disciplined and aggressive Wright State was.  Chones noted how well the Raiders played the passing lanes and how they doubled up each and every time the ball went inside.   Well readers of this blog should not be surprised because this is the signature play of Brad Brownell teams.  Fundamentally solid on offense.  Aggressive and disciplined on defense.  The Raiders used an early second half spurt to coast to a 60-51 win over Detroit.

Wright State was one of my preseason Baker's Dozen members.  Then they went off to an 0-6 start before "Wrighting" the ship and winning 10 of their last 12.  Now I was wondering why Wright State has struggled this year. And a quick look at the Horizon league stats tell why.  Now, no surprise that Wright State leads the Horizon in FG percentage defense along with Butler at 38.4 percent and they are second in turnover margin to Cleveland State with +2.6.  However the Raiders are last in the Horizon in FG percentage at 39.8 percent and last in three point FG percentage at an unseemly 29.2 percent.  This results in the Raiders being next to last in scoring offense at 58 points per game. So despite being second in scoring defense, the average margin for the Raiders is only +1.4.  

However, there is a bigger reason for why Wright State has struggled on offense.  Vaughan Duggins, their leading scorer from last year (averaging 14 points last season) was injured early on in the season and has missed the past 14 games from a broken right ring finger.  Duggins is going to be out a little longer. However, other players have stepped up.  After being injured for most of last season, John David Gardner is averaging 10 points per game.  He had 17 points in last night's win.  Guess where he came from?  He transferred from UNC Wilmington after his freshman year when Brad Brownell moved from UNCW to Wright State.  

Meanwhile in the CAA, there definitely is now some separation between the top four teams and the rest of the conference.  Only four teams are above .500, Northeastern and George Mason at 6-0, VCU at 5-1 and James Madison at 4-2.  The rest of the league is .500 (ODU and Drexel at 3-3) or below.  I watched Tuesday night's impressive performance by Old Dominion in their win over Georgia State and the Monarchs might have the best chance of joining the other four teams in that first pack (however, the Monarchs are at Mason today so that may have to wait).  The Monarchs shot nearly 62 percent from the field, including 10 of 16 from beyond the three point arc.  That's going to be a key for ODU.  If the guards can consistently hit the three, it will force teams to lessen their double teams on the Monarch forwards in the post, particularly Gerald Lee.

I listened to the Hofstra game on Wednesday night and it was another terrible performance by the Pride.  Just like the first game when they met at Hofstra, Drexel jumped on the Pride early and never trailed.  In this case, the game was much more lopsided.  The Dragons were up by as many as twenty, 34-14 in the first half on their way to a 70-52 win.  Give the Dragons credit, they did shoot 7 of 17 from three and shot 21 of 26 from the line.  However, the Dragons overall did not shoot well from the field at 39 percent.  However, the Pride shot far worse, shooting 29 percent from the field including 3 of 18 from beyond the three point arc.  Scott Rodgers probably wishes he could play Hofstra more often.  Rodgers had a career high 26 points on 8 of 13 shooting and 8 of 10 from the line.  His previous career high was the 25 points he had against the Pride in their first contest.  

Charles Jenkins, however, is not in a shooting groove for Hofstra.  After his first eight games of the season, Jenkins was shooting 47.5 percent from the field and the Pride was 7-1.  Now after the last nine games, Jenkins is now shooting 37 percent from the field, including an ugly an 23 percent from beyond the arc.  Now an interesting point might be that Jenkins is shooting way too many threes.  Last season Jenkins attempted 62 three pointers for the entire season (29 games).  In 17 games this season, he has already attempted 52 three pointers.  Hofstra as a team is next to last in three point FG percentage and last in assists to turnover ratio.  Again, my suggestion, work the ball inside more.

Meanwhile a team that must be butter, because they are on a roll is Northeastern.  The Huskies absolutely waxed Delaware 67-47 on Wednesday. What was really impressive was that it was at the Hens home court, the Bob Carpenter Center, a tough place to play at for a road team (just ask VCU).  The Huskies, who are second in the CAA in scoring defense and first in steals, held Delaware to 30.9 percent from the field.  Mind you the Hens didn't help out shooting 8 of 19 from the free throw line. But what has really impressed me is the Huskies' balance. In the win over the Hens, four Huskies scored in double figures. What really is impressive has been the play of Huskies forward Manny Adako.  Adako has scored in double figures in 10 of his last 11 games.  Adako is shooting 56.3 percent from the field, which is third in the CAA and an even more impressive 85 percent from the line (23 of 27).  Also, just to note one thing.  The top four players in FG percentage in the CAA are George Mason's Darryl Monroe, Gerald Lee, Manny Adako and VCU's Larry Sanders.  All big men, all with at least 100 FG attempts.  Dane Johnson, who leads Hofstra in FG percentage at 53 percent only has 44 attempts.  44 attempts???Are you listening Hofstra??  Work it inside more!

Today is a big day in the CAA with four of the top five teams playing each other in what seems to be a CAA tripleheader.  First, James Madison is at George Mason at 2pm, then VCU is home to ODU at 4pm.  I'll be at the early CAA televised game, Northeastern at Hofstra, noon start time.   Also in televised action on ESPN2 at noon in the Missouri Valley it's Northern Iowa, tied for first place in the MVC at Drake, tied for third place.  ESPN2 also has a Horizon contest as #18 Butler is at Illinois Chicago at 2pm.  The best Horizon contest though is Cleveland State at UW Milwaukee tonight.  Finally late tonight in the WAC, it's the battle for first as Utah State travels to Boise State.  Should be a good day of Hoops all around.

ODU's Taylor May Be the Answer for St John's

After watching ODU-Georgia State, I turned on the end of the Kentucky-Tennessee game to see that Jodie Meeks scored 54 points against the Vols.  I am sure it was an absolutely terrific performance by Meeks, and I will have to see if I can watch it on ESPN 360. However, my first thought was to a great comment made by Jay Bilas in the second Gonzaga vs. Tennessee matchup this season.  Bilas noted that Tennessee could still win the SEC but stated "They have to learn how to guard someone".  Meeks' performance no doubt was in part to shoddy defense and  reinforces my belief that Bilas is the best TV analyst in college basketball.

My friend Mal is looking for the next coach of St John's. He believes Norm Roberts is on his way out, which could be the case after the Jonnies have not made the NCAA tournament since he got there several seasons ago and Roberts is definitely on the hot seat. Well after watching ODU pull away from Georgia State, I texted Mal last night. I told him, if the Jonnies want a coach, they should look no further than the very underrated coach of the Momarchs, Blaine Taylor.  Think about it.  Taylor is now in his eighth year as coach for the Monarchs.  In the past four years, Taylor's team has won 94 games.  NINETY FOUR.  That's 23.5 wins per season.  In those four seasons, Taylor's team has gone to two NCAA tournaments, a semifinal NIT berth, and a CBI berth.  Three of those four seasons saw twenty plus win seasons, the best of which was the 2004-05 team that won the CAA tournament and went 28-6. He had 136 wins going into this season with ODU and now with 10 more this season, he has 146 wins.  This gives him at least 140 wins for two different schools.

Taylor has a significant background as a coach having been a head coach at Montana for eight seasons, after which he was an assistant at Stanford under Mike Montgomery.  His record at Montana - 142-65.  Two NCAA tournaments, one NIT.  In 1992, Montana went 27-4.  Five of his Grizzlies' teams won twenty games.

Taylor can recruit.  Among several of his players at ODU were Alex Loughton, a former CAA player of the year, who was drafted in the second round of the NBA draft.  Loughton was found in Australia. Isaiah Hunter was a terrific scoring guard for the Monarchs during his time there.  Current Monarch Gerald Lee is a terrific post player with a deft scoring touch.  Taylor found Lee in Finland.

Taylor is an absolute terrific game manager, with the ability to make adjustments and his ability to ably rotate players into the game.  His teams' style is very physical and grinds opponents down late in the game while his players keep fresh.  This is due in large part to Taylor giving nine, ten, even eleven players significant minutes during games.

A great example of Taylor as a game manager was last night's win over Georgia State, televised on ESPNU.  In the first half, the game was very close as the Panthers' Joe Dukes was lighting up the scoreboard with 16 first half points, often on dribble drive penetration.  In the second half, the Monarchs held him to five points.  So thus what was a two point game at halftime turned out to a 17 point win, 73-56.  And Taylor's trademark with ODU, player depth again showed last night.  Nine players averaged at least 11 minutes last night.  Eight of those nine contributed at least seven points.

Think about it. In fourteen years of coaching, eight 20 win or more seasons with two different teams.  Has the pedigree of  being an assistant coach at a big time program (Stanford made the Elite Eight in 2001, Taylor's last season as an assistant there).  He has the ability to recruit around the world and find gems.  He is an excellent game manager.  And if you have eight 20 win seasons in fourteen years, you are also a good game preparer.  St John's needs all these things.  An experienced coach who is a good recruiter but more importantly someone who is good with Xs and Os and game management.  Blaine Taylor is that man. 

Week in Review - Plus The CAA after 5 Games

It was another interesting week in Mid Majors Basketball.  Three teams separated themselves from the rest of the pack in the CAA.  The Missouri Valley looks like a free-for-all.  In the West Coast Conference, Gonzaga and Saint Mary's will not have as easy a run as they might have thought.  And the Horizon looks to be very entertaining.  And finally, Davidson runs into another Top Ten team. 

I will get to the CAA in depth later.  First, the Missouri Valley looks to be back to its wild wild self.  In the span of a week, Illinois State went from an undefeated team to a two loss fourth place team, tied along with Creighton and Evansville at 3-2 in conference.  The Redbirds first lost at Bradley 56-52 on Tuesday, then lost in overtime at Indiana State yesterday 75-70.  Bradley, who entered yesterday's home game with Creighton undefeated in conference, left with a 4-1 record after the Blue Jays came away with a 73-64 road win.  Meanwhile, Northern Iowa continues to fly under the radar with a 78-64 win over Missouri State. The Panthers have won four straight conference games after losing their first of the season to Indiana State, in no surprise with the Sycamores, in overtime.  Drake tries to make it a three way tie for first when they host Wichita State this evening.

I was able to stay up late Friday night and after watching an entertaining overtime battle of Wisconsin in the Horizon on ESPNU (more on that later), I was treated to an absolute dandy.  In the first WCC conference game of the season, St Mary's had to battle from behind to beat a pesky Santa Clara team, 63-62.  Patty Mills drained a three with 2.6 seconds left to win the game for the Gaels.  It was a battle between Mills and Broncos super freshman Kevin Foster, each of whom had 31 points.  Foster, who hit big shot after big shot, had nailed his own three point shot with 12 seconds left to put the Broncos up 62-60 to setup the climatic ending.  

The now 14-1 Gaels probably didn't expect such a battle from now 7-10 Santa Clara.  But upon closer examination, the Broncos lost several close games to Arizona, Georgia, and UAB.  The Broncos not only have super frosh Foster, who went 11 of 19 from the field including 5 of 9 from beyond the arc, but also all conference big man John Bryant who averages 17 points and 12 rebounds per game.  However, Bryant ran into the Gaels' own terrific big man, Omar "Mr. Sandman" Samhan.  Samhan held Bryant to only 8 points and 9 rebounds, both below his season averages.  Samhan himself was held to 8 points but had 15 rebounds (seven of them offensive rebounds) and 4 blocks.  Samhan was often double teamed by Bryant and another Bronco. Fellow Gael big man, Diamon Simpson again struggled, with only 9 points on 2 of 9 shooting, but Simpson did add 11 rebounds.  Samhan and Simpson each now average double doubles on the season.

As I mentioned, prior to the Gaels/Broncos game, I got a chance to watch the second half of the battle of Horizon Wisconsin as Wisconsin Green Bay outlasted Wisconsin Milwaukee 77-75 in overtime.  It was the first loss in conference for the Panthers who are now 5-1 in conference.  In fairness to the Phoenix, the Panthers were lucky to even get to overtime. Wisc-Green Bay led for almost the entire game, often by double digits. In fact, when Wisconsin Milwaukee made an 11-1 run in the last 5 minutes capped by "Big Lumber" James Eayers three pointer with 13 seconds left, that was the first time all game that the Panthers had actually were even with the Phoenix.  After the Panthers missed a chance to win the game in regulation, the teams traded the lead for the next four minutes until the Phoenix' hit the final four free throws to win the game.  By the way, Eayers is 6 foot 7 340 pounds and can shoot the three (37.5 percent from three).  He is huge!  But he can shoot!

The Horizon looks to be a very competitive league with Butler atop in first and Wisconsin- Milwaukee, Wisconsin Green Bay and Cleveland State not far behind. Don't forget about Brad Brownell's Wright State who are 3-3 in conference but have won seven of their last eight.  With five competitive teams, the Horizon tournament could be a real treat for the league's fans.

Davidson met Duke this Wednesday in a nationally televised game.  Duke held off Davidson 79-67.  Stephen Curry, despite shooting 1 of 8 from beyond the arc, scored 29 points on 10 of 22 from the field and eight of nine from the line.  That was the most points given up by Duke to a player this year. Curry almost singlehandedly brought the Wildcats back in the game.  Down 57-31 with 14:34 left, Curry scored 14 points and had 4 assists in a ten minute stretch to bring the Wildcats back to within eight

The funny thing is that one of the analysts covering this game for ESPN actually questioned how successful Stephen Curry would be in the NBA.  Even funnier, earlier in the day, that analyst, Jeff Van Gundy, was on ESPN 1050 in New York with Michael Kay.  Van Gundy and Kay especially compared Curry to JJ Redding on Duke.  JJ Redding?  I watched Redding a lot while at Duke.  He was a great long range three point shooter who could come off screens and hit a shot.  But I rarely ever saw him drive the lane, create his own shot or handle the ball as a point guard.  Curry can do all that.  Curry can create his own shot, drive the lane and handle the point.  I watched Curry perform the sickest crossover dribble against Gonzaga in the NCAA tournament that resulted in two Zags defenders colliding together.  Redding could never do that. Curry will be a very successful NBA player and to compare him to JJ Redding is ludicrous.  Then again, I shouldn't expect anything less from Michael Kay.

So finally, onto the CAA, my home base.  It has been a very interesting week in the CAA.  All the teams played four games in seven days.  Those seven days turned out to be an excellent barometer of about all the teams.  Right now in the CAA, you have the top three teams; George Mason, Northeastern and VCU and the rest of the CAA.  Yes, there is a big difference. Let's take a look at all the teams.

The Top Three

1) George Mason (5-0 CAA, 12-3 overall) - A great week for the Patriots.  It started with a 41 point home smoking of UNCW 101-60.  Then Mason actually had to come back from a second half deficit to defeat pesky Georgia State 58-52.  The Patriots then followed with a very solid 71-59 road win over Towson.  Finally, George Mason held off ODU 61-53.  The key player during this run - senior forward Darryl Monroe.  Monroe had a double double in each of the last three games.  For the season, Monroe averages nearly 11 points and 9 rebounds a game as well as shooting 64.6 percent from the field. The  Patriots lead the CAA in scoring defense, limiting opponents to 59 points per game, second in FG defense at 39.9 percent and second in three point FG percentage defense at 30.9 percent. 

2) Northeastern (5-0 CAA, 10-5 overall) - The Huskies were absolutely dominant this past week, winning all four games by double digit margins.  It started with a 16 point win over William and Mary as Matt Janning hit five three pointers scoring 22 points.  Then the Huskies absolutely pasted Hofstra 73-50 as Manny Adako scored 16 points.  Northeastern forced 17 first half Pride turnovers.  The Huskies followed that up with an impressive 14 point road win at Georgia State. Finally, the Huskies beat Towson 68-53 as Adako had 24 points and 12 rebounds.  The key during this 4-0 week run was the Huskies starting frontcourt.  In the last three games, Adako, Eugene Spates and Nkem Ojougboh scored half of the Huskies points in the three games combined, shooting 45 of 67 from the field (67 percent).  Hofstra should take a page from Northeastern's notes.  The Huskies no longer just rely on Matt Janning
and that makes them very dangerous.

3) VCU (4-1 CAA, 11-5 overall) - The week didn't start well for the Rams as Delaware scorched them from beyond the arc (Hens shot 10 of 18 from three) and the line (27 of 35 free throws).  That loss woke up VCU as they blitzed UNCW 88-59 shooting 52 percent from the field including 10 of 19 from beyond the arc.  The Rams then absolutely overwhelmed Drexel in the second half of their game, outscoring the Dragons 40-18 as Joey Rodriguez hit 4 of 5 from three.  VCU won 75-46.  Finally, Eric Maynor scored 21 points, 12 in the second half as VCU pulled away from Hofstra 68-60.  The key during their three game win streak was the Rams balance.  Larry Sanders, who is becoming a dangerous post presence averaged 15 points in the three wins, while Joey Rodriguez averaged 17 points during the three game stretch.  So Eric Maynor now has help on the scoring end as the Rams lead the CAA in scoring offense and field goal percentage.

The Rest of the CAA

4) James Madison (3-2 CAA, 11-6 overall) - The week started off with a disappointment.  Ahead 47-39 with 11:45 left, the Dukes went 4 of 9 from the free throw line as the Tigers outscored JMU 19-10 the rest of the way to eek out a one point win, 58-57.  The Dukes righted the ship, winning their first CAA game over Drexel 66-60.  It was the Dukes first win ever against Drexel.  It almost didn't happen as JMU trailed for the entire game before rallying to go up to stay with 1:16 left.  Then the Dukes won two impressive road games in a row.  The first one was a solid 70-62 win over ODU as JMU shot 66.7 percent from the field with Juwann James leading the way with 24 points.  Finally, the Dukes beat William and Mary in Williamsburg 74-65.  Madison has been very balanced. They are second in FG percentage at 46.6 percent, first in free throw percentage at 75 percent, second in three point FG percentage,  third in three point FG percentage defense and fourth overall in FG percentage defense.  The defense is a marked improvement from last year's swiss cheese defense which was last in scoring defense and last in FG percentage defense.

5) Hofstra (2-3 CAA, 10-6 overall) - It was a disappointing week for the Pride as they lost 3 of 4 in the seven days. First Drexel led start to finish in a 63-56 win over Hofstra at Hofstra's Mack Arena.  Then came the absolute drubbing by Northeastern 73-50.  Then the Pride started playing with better effort, first in a 66-61 win over Delaware.  Then despite losing 68-60 to VCU, the Pride stayed close for most of the game, trailing only by one at half and only by four with six minutes left. The Pride held the Rams, who lead the CAA in FG percentage at 47 percent, to 40 percent from the field.  The Pride are very good defensively, leading the CAA in FG percentage defense at 38.5 percent and second in rebounding margin and first in blocks. The problem is scoring.  The Pride are next to last in the CAA in FG percentage, assists, turnover margin and last in assists to turnover ratio.  The Pride need to work the ball more inside, plain and simple.

6) ODU (2-3 CAA, 9-6 overall) - It was an equally disappointing week for the team picked to finish third in the CAA.  The Monarchs lost three of four games, starting with a one point loss at Georgia State 55-54.  Old Dominion came back to win at William and Mary 62-50.  Then came that loss to JMU where the Monarchs were scorched by the Dukes shooting 66.7 percent from the field.  Finally the Monarchs lost at Mason 61-53.  ODU is first in assists, first in assist to turnover ratio, first in rebounding margin and second to last in free throw percentage.  They are the middle of the pack in all other categories which might explain why they are in the middle of the pack.  Gerald Lee however, is not in the middle of the pack.  Lee averages 15 points per game on 59 percent shooting from the field which is second to Monroe on Mason.  The funny thing is that Lee doesn't even average 10 FG attempts a game. Lee also is second in the CAA in free throw percentage.  Lee needs to get more touches for ODU to be successful.

7) Drexel (2-3 CAA, 6-8 overall) - Drexel had an up and down seven days. Two wins, two losses. It started with a very solid 63-56 win over Hofstra as Scott Rodgers scored 25 points.  Then the Dragons had a chance to make it two in a row vs. JMU. Drexel led the entire way until the very end and the Dukes won.  Then came the beatdown at home at the hands of VCU, losing by 29 points.  Then Drexel came back with a nice road win 53-50 over Georgia State.  The good news for the Dragons is the coming out party of forward Evan Neisler.  In the games vs. JMU and Georgia State, Neisler had double doubles and shot over 50 percent in the four games. The bad news is the Dragons can't score. Last in the CAA in scoring offense, FG percentage, three point FG percentage and next to last in free throw percentage.  It's amazing they won two games this week.  Well considering how Hofstra and Georgia State struggle to score, maybe its not.

8) Towson (2-3 CAA, 7-10 overall) - The Tigers had a good start to their week, winning their first two games, squeakers over JMU and Delaware.  In both games, the Tigers came from behind to win.  Against JMU, they trailed by as many as eight points in the second half, only to go on a 19-10 run to win the game.  Against Delaware, they were also down eight midway through the second half only to come back and win.  However, the Tigers would lose their last two games against the two best teams in the CAA, George Mason and Northeastern, by double digits.  In fact, the Tigers never led in either game.  Towson has one of the stranger stats.  They are first in three point field goal percentage defense (30.9 percent) yet they are at the bottom in the field goal percentage defense at 44.2 percent.  My guess is that their frontcourt defense is not very good.  Also the shooting percentages of Junior Hairston and Josh Thornton are down significantly from last season. Not a good sign for Pat Kennedy and crew.

9) Georgia State (2-3, 4-12 overall) - The Panthers are coming off a 1-3 week.  It started off well with their one point win over ODU as Trae Goldston hit a three with 11 seconds left to win the game.  It all went down hill after that as the Panthers lost a tough game at Mason by six, then lost two home games in a row to Northeastern and Drexel.   The Panthers just struggle to score.  The Panthers have not scored more than 68 points since a 80-73 loss to Jacksonville State, a span of eleven games.  Their record in those games is 2-9.  The Panthers, the chic pick in the CAA due to the article in ESPN touting their all transfer starting lineup, are last in the CAA in free throw percentage, next to last in scoring offense and next to last in three point field goal percentage. 

10) William and Mary (1-4 CAA, 6-9 overall) - The Mary had a very tough 1-3 week.  Three losses by nine or more points while their only solstice was a 14 point road win over the Denver Nuggets of the CAA, UNCW.  The Mary lost by 16 at Northeastern, 12 at home to ODU and 9 at JMU.  The Tribe are basically two players - guard David Schneider and forward Danny Sumner, who combined average 30 points per game. Unfortunately the rest of the team only scored 36 points per game.  The Mary are in the middle of the road in every CAA category.  That results in mediocrity, thus the 1-4 conference record. It doesn't get any easier for last season's darlings as they are home to first place Mason.

11) UNCW (1-4 CAA, 4-13 overall) - The Seahawks had a very rough first three games of the week. UNCW lost their first three games by 41, 29, and 14 points.  The Seahawks allowed their opponents to shoot 52, 62 and 57 percent respectively in those three losses.  UNCW is last in the CAA in scoring defense at 89 points per game, last in FG percentage defense at 51.8 percent, last in scoring margin at -14 points per game and last in three point FG percentage with 38.8 percent.  The next three stats are the most telling however; last in rebounding margin, last in blocked shots and last in turnover margin.  The reason they are telling is having watched UNCW vs. Mason, I can tell you the Seahawks have no post presence on defense and are very careless with the ball.  Somehow despite all that, the Seahawks came from 12 points behind and beat Delaware at home yesterday 75-72.  The reason for that is simple; Delaware has no post presence either.  Thus UNCW matches up well with the Fighting Blue Hens. However, they don't match up well with any other team.  It will be a long season for Seahawks fans.

12) Delaware (1-4 CAA, 7-10 overall) - The Fighting Blue Hens had the opposite week of the Seahawks.  It started out with a great 81-79 win over VCU.  Four players scored in double figures as Delaware shot 10 of 18 from beyond the arc and 27 of 35 from the line.  Then it all went down hill from there.  Three games with leads in all three, resulted in three losses.  First was the letdown loss to Towson after winning most of the game.  Then, against Hofstra, the Blue Hens won out in the battle of who could play worse, losing 66-61.  Then the coup de gras, losing a 12 point lead and the game to the worst defensive team in the CAA, UNCW.  The Blue Hens, who rank up with Georgia State as the biggest disappointment in the CAA simply do not have a inside presence.  It showed against Hofstra and especially showed against UNCW.  Against Hofstra, Delaware's only true post players Jim Ledsome and Adam Pegg had eight points and nine rebounds combined.  Against UNCW, the worst team in rebounding, the Seahawks, outrebounded Delaware 33-31. 

So it was an interesting week for the CAA.  It's only going to get more interesting over the next few weeks.  Will Mason, Northeastern and VCU continue to separate themselves from the rest of the CAA? Will JMU move up to the elite group or go back to the pack?  Will Hofstra ever learn to work it inside?  Will ODU get more guard production?  Can the Mary get others to score besides Sumner and Schneider?   Will Drexel learn how to shoot?  Will Delaware get inside help?  Can Georgia State score more than 70 points?  Can UNCW give up less than 70 points (HA HA HA)?  Tune in to find out.

Quick Observations

I was at the Mack Arena on Saturday where Drexel led start to finish in a 63-56 win over Hofstra.  Scott Rodgers had a terrific day scoring 25 points on 7 of 15 from the field including 4 of 6 from three.  Last year, Rodgers couldn't hit the side of a barn for the Dragons, shooting 33 percent from the field including 29 percent from beyond the arc.  He has improved his shooting to 35 percent from the field but more importantly he has improved his shooting from the free throw line from 63 percent to 74 percent.  Until a bad performance in a loss to JMU where he shot 2 of 11 from the field and had no free throw attempts, Rodgers was averaging 7 free throw attempts a game compared to not even averaging 4 last season.  One of the reasons why Drexel is playing better than I thought.

Now one of the reasons why Hofstra is not playing so well is the struggles of Charles Jenkins.  Jenkins was in foul trouble on Saturday (more on that in a second) and only finished with ten points before fouling out.  It was actually one of his better shooting days going 5 of 10 from the field.  In a 23 point drubbing at the hands of Northeastern on the road on Monday, Jenkins shot 1 of 9 from the field. In Jenkins' first eight games, he was shooting 47 percent from the field.  Consequently Hofstra's record was 7-1.  In Jenkins' last six games, he is shooting 29 percent from the field. Consequently, Hofstra's record is 2-4.  The team as a whole is shooting 38.7 percent from the field.   This may be a reason why Hofstra had been leading the NCAA in rebounding; they are rebounding their own shots.  

By the way in that Northeastern game, won by the Huskies 73-50, Hofstra had SEVENTEEN turnovers in the first half.  They had almost as many turnovers as points (18).  Talk about a team that was not prepared.  Hofstra had twenty five on the game and shot their average, 38 percent.  Northeastern actually outrebounded the Pride 39-32 and had 15 more field goal attempts in the game.  It was also the first game that I noticed where Matt Janning had a bad game, yet Northeastern still won. Janning only shot 4 of 12 from the field (and I believe he was 0-4 the first half).  Yet the Huskies went out to an 11-0 lead on the strength of their frontcourt; Manny Adako, Eugene Spates and Nkem Ojougboh.  Combined, they scored 38 points on the game. Imagine that Hofstra fans, the frontcourt had more than half the team's points.  Bet you won't see that for Hofstra in a game this season.

By the way, back to that Drexel game. Well, I already broke my New Year's Resolution not to yell at the CAA refs.  They were bad..for both teams.  Remember in a previous posting where I said Bobby Knight would have a cardiac watching CAA games because of the traveling calls not made.  Well, this was a classic example of it.  At one point, my friends and I saw Drexel Coach Bruiser Flint with such an incredulous look on his face to the refs after one non call.  But to top that, after another non traveling call, Hofstra coach Tom Pecora yelled 'That's a ___ walk!" Result - technical foul.  Two of the foul calls on Jenkins, especially the fifth foul charge call where the Drexel player was moving his feet were very questionable.  All in all the officiating was bad. Really really bad.

Saturday night I watched much of the second half of George Mason - UNC Wilmington, which was easily won by the Patriots 101-60.  Very simply put - Mason is very good, Wilmington is very bad.  In fact, I thought last season's James Madison team was the worst defensive team I had ever seen.  Nope, not even close to this year's Seahawks team.  No post presence.  Open threes.  It was bad.  No wonder they give up on average 90 points per game.  Now mind you George Mason is on the verge of being very good.  They have four seniors in their lineup who are very solid, led by Jon Vaughn who had a terrific night against UNCW with 20 points on 5 of 6 shooting from beyond the arc.  But the Patriots also have three terrific freshmen; Andre Cornelius, Ryan Pearson and John Morrison, who combined to shoot 16 of 4 from the field for 33 points.  The Patriots are talented and deep. 

I have some thoughts already on the CAA season but I want to wait until after Saturday to write about them.  I will say this so far.  Outside of a couple of teams on one end of the spectrum - Northeastern and George Mason and one team on the other end of the spectrum - UNCW, I really don't know where the rest of the teams are going to end up.  Notice I didn't put VCU in with Mason and Northeastern.  I'll have more on that after the weekend.

Here's something for the "You Don't Often See This" category.  The Manhattan women and men's basketball teams pulled off a unique feat Sunday and Monday.  The Lady Jaspers were down 56-52 to the Iona Lady Gaels in New Rochelle Sunday afternoon with five minutes left in the game.  The Lady Jaspers then scored the five final points (and think about that - five points scored in five minutes) including a layup with two seconds left to beat Iona 57-56.  If that wasn't an impressive feat alone, then the men's team went out and topped that the next night.  Down 57-50 at Canisius with 3:17 left, Manhattan scored the last nine points to win 59-57 Monday night. How often do you see that, especially with both games being road games.  Impressive.

As for the rest of the mid majors, I was all set to come out with a new Baker's Dozen, then Ilinois State went to Bradley and lost their first game of the season.  That's just life on the road in the Missouri Valley.  Then Creighton followed that up by getting beat at home to Northern Iowa after getting drubbed by the Redbirds on Saturday. So, the two top teams in the MVC now are Bradley and Northern Iowa.  Ah the Valley. 

As for redoing the Baker's Dozen, I am going to wait till the smoke clears tonight.  Gonzaga needs to bounce back after bad shooting performances doomed them against Portland State and Utah.  However, it won't be easy as they go to Knoxville tonight in what is a revenge game for Tennessee. The Zags knocked off the Volunteers earlier in the season at the Old Spice Classic.  Also, because of Portland State's win over Gonzaga, everyone now knows who Jeremiah Dominguez is - one of the best guards in the country.   Davidson also has a tough game tonight..at #2 Duke. 

Siena lost another game last night to a very good opponent, Kansas, in a respectable 91-83 loss.  The Saints will only be stronger for the non conference schedule they have played.  Remember, Davidson had a similar schedule last season early on and they ended up in the Elite Eight.  Now, mind you the Saints aren't that good.  But considering they won a first round game over Vandy last season in the NCAA tournament, if they get to the Dance again, they will do damage.

As for the top team in the mid majors, that's easy..for now.  Given their impressive 12-1 record, their wins at Xavier, Cleveland State and Drake, topped with the #2 ranking in the RPI, the Butler Bulldogs are the best mid major team in the country. 

Miscellaneous News and Notes

I got to watch the Davidson-Charleston game earlier this week.  It was a very entertaining game from a sold out Carolina First Arena.  Having been there earlier this season for the Charleston Classic, I can tell you that the Charleston student section can be very raucous which results in a very loud arena and a great atmosphere.  The two teams didn't disappoint. The Cougars were up early 16-10 before Davidson finally caught up and went on a 12-2 run to end the first half up eleven as Curry had 17 points in the first half.

However led by Jermaine Johnson, the Cougars plugged away, whittling the Wildcats' lead until the game was tied at 59 with 10:41 left.  The game remained tied until 8:10 left when Will Archambault hit a three to put Davidson up 66-63.  The Wildcats would extend the lead to eleven, 75-64 on a Stephen Curry jumper with 4:30 left.  However Johnson and Andrew Goudelock would lead one last charge for the Cougars, a 11-2 run to cut the Wildcat lead to 77-75 with 57 seconds left.  After Curry hit one of two free throws to put the Wildcats up three, Goudelock missed a potential game tying three and Davidson held on for a 79-75 win. 

Curry scored 29 points, along with 9 assists and 7 rebounds for the Wildcats but he did get some help from others.  Archambault had 14 points on four three pointers.  Steven Rossiter had 11 points and Andrew Lovedale added 9.  For the Cougars, Goudelock had 22 points and Johnson had 16 points and 13 rebounds.   However, Davidson did a good job of holding Johnson down in the second half as he only scored five in the second period. Charleston played well, but it was too three point happy as it went 7 of 29 from beyond the arc.  Expect these two teams to meet again in the finals of the SoCon. 

There are some dandy games this weekend for mid major fans.  First, the biggest game is tomorrow night in the Missouri Valley as undefeated Illinois State hosts 12-2 Creighton.  This is by far the biggest test this season for the 13-0 Redbirds.  The second game in the Missouri Valley of interest is Sunday night when 10-4 Drake travels to a struggling 5-8 Southern Illinois.  The funny thing is that the Sunday game is the one televised nationally on ESPNU.  But you should be able to catch the Creighton/Southern Illinois game online via Creighton TV.  Another non televised dandy of a game features 9-4 UALR at 8-4 Western Kentucky.  Both teams are 2-0 and have signature wins.  UALR gave Creighton one of their two losses while Western Kentucky knocked off then top ten Louisville earlier in the season.  

And just to needle some Kentucky fans, we have a battle of the two Big South teams to have last beat Kentucky as VMI travels to as Gardner Webb.  The Keydets knocked off the Wildcats this season while the Runnin Bulldogs beat the Wildcats last season. 

It's time to check on two of my favorite mid major player watches.

The Chris Gadley Resurrection Watch continued on Tuesday as Gadley had his best game of the season with 18 points and 25, yes twenty-five, rebounds as Canisius defeated Maine 56-43.  Gadley was 8 of 13 from the field including 2 of 5 from three. By the way Gadley is listed on ESPN at 320 pounds.  After watching the Cuse game, I'd have to concur on that.

As for the Tim Crossin Burial Watch, well Timmy is still buried.  In a loss to Lafayette, Crossin played one minute with no stats.  Crossin didn't even play in a 20 point loss to NC State.  The former 2005-06 All CAA Rookie team member has appeared in only 8 games for a total of 25 minutes.  Just to show you how far Crossin has plummeted, here's some food for thought.  The former two time first team All State Class A player for Bishop Reilly in PA has seen his average minutes go from 34 minutes when he was a freshman, to 17 minutes as a sophomore , to 15 minutes as a junior, to now three minutes as a senior.  The 2005 AP Class A Player of the Year in Pennsylvania was third in the CAA in assists and averaged a 1.9 assist to turnover ratio. 

And if you remember as a freshman, on a weekly basis, Crossin was facing the likes of Eric Maynor, Lindsay Hunter, Carlos River, John Goldsberry,  and Jose Juan Barea.  So those players are certainly as good or better than the guards currently in the CAA. And Crossin made the all rookie team that season. As for why Crossin's minutes dropped. Well, in the two prior seasons, Crossin lost playing time to C.C. Williams, a JUCO.  In his two seasons at Towson, Williams was certainly was a capable point guard.  Williams averaged a 1.7 assist to turnover ratio as a junior, then a 2.23 assist to turnover ratio as a senior.  However, Williams averaged less points per game in his two seasons than Crossin did as a freshman.  This year, Troy Franklin has the point guard responsibilities and averages 1.5 assist to turnover ratio.  Despite the presence of Franklin, surely there is more playing time for Crossin.  Oh well.

Funny, one day after I named St Mary's Omar Samhan "The Best Mid Major Player You May Not Have Heard of But You Will Soon", Kyle Whelliston in an ESPN chat names Samhan's teammate, Diamon Simpson, the mid major player outside of Stephen Curry with the best chance of making the NBA.  Interesting.  I have seen several of Simpson's games, and he is a good player.  He averages a double double per night with 12.8 points , 11.9 rebounds per game and 2 blocks per game.  But so far, his shooting percentage is down significantly from 54.5 percent last season to 45.5 percent this season and his points per game is down slightly.  I saw two of his games in the 76 Classic tournament.  He got into quick foul trouble against UTEP and only had four FG attempts.  He played significantly more minutes against Cal State Fullerton and I wasn't impressed with his shot selection as he went 4-11 from the field.  Samhan had double doubles in both games and was by far the best Gaels player in their loss to UTEP, the only loss for St Mary's this season.  I like Samhan better.

New Year's Recommended Resolutions/Wishes and Predictions

Happy New Year Everyone. I wanted to start the new year with a new Mid Major's Baker's Dozen, then Gonzaga, Cleveland State and Evansville had to go out and wreck it.  Oh well, perhaps tomorrow.  For now it's a New Year's list of top ten recommended resolutions/wishes and some predictions for the rest of the 2008-09 season.

Top Ten Mid Major Resolutions/Wishes

1) More Touches for the Hofstra Frontcourt - Cmon, you knew this was coming after my previous posting.  May Greg Washington and Dane Johnson get 16-20 touches a game. Cmon, when you are shooting 38 percent from the field perhaps two players shooting 58 and 50 percent respectively should get more than eight field goal attempts combined per game.

2) Gonzaga gets over its UConn Loss - Cmon Zags, you had UConn beat but AJ Price hit a remarkable three to send the game into overtime where the Huskies won.  Since then, the Bulldogs have lost two more games in a row to Portland State and Utah. Throw in the loss to Arizona, and the Zags have lost four of their last five games.  Gonzaga is too good to be playing this way.  They need to right their mental state fast because a rematch with Tennessee from the Old Spice Classic looms in Knoxville on January 7th.

3) May Butler Finally Get the Respect It Deserves - Hell, even I thought this was a rebuilding year for the Bulldogs, but a 11-1 start with wins at Cleveland State, at Xavier and at Drake is pretty damn good for a team supposedly rebuilding.  Onlhy a tough loss to Ohio State kept the Bulldogs from being undefeated.  In the past two seasons, 29 and 30 wins respectively with three NCAA tournament wins (and before that a NIT berth).  Gonzaga and Davidson may get more publicity but Butler may be the bst mid major team the past three-four years.  They are ranked #25 in the AP but look for them to move up.

4) A More Consistent Matt Janning - As Janning goes, so do the Huskies.  So when you see Northeastern has a 6-5 record, chances are Janning hasn't been consistent.  The stats mirror that.  In the Huskies' six wins, Janning is shooting 37 of 73 from the field - 50.7 percent.  In their five losses, Janning is shooting 21 of 66 - 31.8 percent.  In fact, if you remove his 10 of 17 performance in a loss to Boston
University, Janning is shooting 11 of 49 in the other four losses - 22 percent.  Ugh.  

5) The Continued Re-emergence of Wright State - One of my preseason Mid Majors Baker's Dozen teams went dud early.  The Raiders started off the season 0-6 before "Wrighting" the ship.  Wright State won seven of their next eight including wins at UALR (which beat Creighton), going 3-0 in the San Juan Shootout and recently knocking off Cleveland State.  Oh yeah, that only loss in the past eight games was a 13 point loss to #14 Wake Forest.  Would love to see Coach Brad Brownell's Raiders being a force in the Horizon the second half of the year. To get back to .500 after an 0-6 start is a testimonial to how good Brownell is.

6) Kent State Finds a Groove - The Golden Flashes are in jeopardy of ending their ten year consecutive 20 win season streak.  Kent State is the Rodney Dangerfield of the Mid Majors.  No respect, no respect.  Yet, 10 straight 20 win seasons.  How many teams have done that ? However, this season the Flashes have struggled going 6-6.  What's the cause of it?  Its not Al Fisher.  He is actually shooting better from the field last season at 42 percent and averaging two points per game more than last season. The team itself is actually averaging 5 points more per game than last season.   So what is it.  I think its their non conference schedule.  In five of their six losses, the Golden Flashes lost to teams (Cleveland State, Kansas, Illinois, St Mary's and Texas A&M) with a combined record of 56-11 (still trying to figure out how Kent State lost to 5-5 Western Carolina).  I think in a season of mediocre MAC teams, Kent State should find a good number of wins.  Will they get the 14 needed to keep their 20 win streak going?  Its going to be close.

7) The Missouri Valley Becomes a Multiple Bid Conference Again - After several years of multiple bids, the Missouri Valley only had one team make the NCAA tournament last season, Drake.  Though three teams made the NIT, this had to be a major disappointment to the Missouri Valley Conference officials.  However, there is significant hope for this season.  Already the MVC has three teams with ten or more wins, undefeated 13-0 Illinois State, 11-2 Creighton and 10-4 Drake.  The concern will be of course how will their strengths of schedule affect their at large bid hopes.  Creighton has a better resume being the only team to beat A-10 power Dayton this year. Neither Illinois State nor Drake have that signature win.  The MVC's best bet would be two MVC teams with 25 or more wins plus wins in the February Bracket Buster Games.

8) St Mary's Emerges from Gonzaga's Shadow - The Gaels have some of the most talented players in the Mid Majors with Patty Mills, Omar Samhan and Diamon Simpson.  They only have one loss, made the NCAA tournament as an at large team last season, and have wins at Oregon, at Kent State, at Southern Illinois  and over Providence on a neutral site.  But until they can finish ahead of Gonzaga in the WCC regular season and beat Gonzaga in the WCC Tourney, then maybe they will get some respect. A big bracket buster win would help as well.

9) At Least Two Mid Major Conferences Get Multiple Bids - Last season, the WCC was the only mid major conference that got multiple bids (three with Gonzaga, St Mary's and San Diego).  The season before that, the MVC, the Horizon and the CAA all had multiple bids.  Remember, the A10 is not considered a mid major here (and in the next week or so, I will be coming out with my definitive posting on that).  There is a good chance that the WCC, the MVC and perhaps even the Southern Conference (if someone knocks off Davidson in the SoCon Tourney) will get multiple bids.

10) To Not Yell at CAA Officials As Much As Prior Seasons - Since this is my own resolution, its going to be difficult to keep, simply because the CAA officiating is often not very good (Bobby Knight would have a cardiac on how many walks are NOT called in the CAA conference games).  But I will try. :-)

Predictions for the New Year

CAA Team Most Likely to Get a Reality Check - Hofstra.  The Pride's 9-3 record is deceiving. They are very good defensively.   They out rebound their opponents on average 45-36, average 5.3 blocks per game and only allow 39 percent shooting from the field.  In all three categories, they lead the CAA.  However, they only shoot 38.8 percent from the field, shoot 30.9 percent from three and only shoot 62.5 percent from the line.  In those categories, they are either next to last or second to last in the CAA.  The combined record of the D I teams that Hofstra has beaten this season is 38-57.  So if you can only shoot 38.8 percent against teams like that, how will you perform against better CAA teams like VCU, George Mason and ODU?  Again, start working that inside game.

CAA Team Most Likely Better Than I Thought - ODU - The Monarchs have been on an absolute roll. They have won six straight games by an average of 19 points, including two wins over A10 teams Duquesne and Richmond. ODU is balanced, shooting 44 percent from the field (3rd in the CAA), tied for second in FG defense 40.6 percent and second in rebounding margin.  Unlike Hofstra, ODU believes in frontcourt scoring. The Monarchs are led by forwards Gerald Lee and Ben Finney who average nearly 26 points and 12.5 rebounds a game. Lee leads the CAA in FG percentage at 61 percent (Lee averages 9 FG attempts a game) and is second in the CAA free throw percentage at 86.3 percent (Lee averages nearly 5 free throw attempts a game).

The Fan Base Mostly Likely to Miss Their Old Coach - UNCW.  If they haven't already, the Seahawks' fans might want to run their AD out of town (who as I have noted in the past was probably responsible for running Brad Brownell out of town).  The Seahawks give up on average 90 points per game and on average lose their games by 12 (they average 78 points per game).  The Seahawks have given up 89 points or more in eight games and are 2-6 in those games (3-10 overall).  Curious to see what the spread is for their game at George Mason on Saturday.  Eek.

The Mid Major Team Other Than Gonzaga Most Likely to Win Multiple Games in the NCAA Tournament - Butler.  I really think the Bulldogs have balance with three scorers in double figures led by Matt Howard.  They play defense, shoot the three pretty well (38 percent and 42 FG percentage overall) and have shown they can beat good teams on the road (Xavier, Cleveland State) or on neutral sites.  They are pretty young (no seniors and mostly sophomores and freshmen) yet seemingly have no fear, so they should actually get better.  Also, Brad Stevens is one of the best young coaches in the country and he should be up for coach of the year if Butler continues to play this well.  As for other teams, I am not sure still about St Mary's defense and Davidson hasn't shown me enough balance yet (but the season is still young).

The Best Mid Major Player You May Not Have Heard of But You Will Soon - Well I just mentioned him.  Omar Samhan. Patty Mills gets all the accolades on St Mary's but all Omar does is nearly average a double double with 14.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and two blocks per game while shooting 58 percent from the field and 71 percent from the line. And he is only a junior.  Expect Omar to have a big second half.

The Mid Major Team Most Likely To Improve in the Second Half - As I noted above, I think Kent State will have a very solid second half of the season once they get into MAC play.  Honorable Mention - Siena. They had an equally brutal non conference schedule and the Saints should do well in a weak MAAC (Fairfield gets to find out today).

The Mid Major That Will Come Down to Earth - VMI - I know they are 9-2 and they won at Kentucky, but their run and gun style is not conducive to winning consistently (see UNCW).  Will be curious to see how Liberty plays the Keydets. 

The Mid Major Most Likely to Disappoint - Drake - I know the Bulldogs are 10-4 and they are very very quick as I noted in the game I saw against Iowa.  But the best team they may have beaten all year was New Mexico and they have struggled against as good or better competition (losses to Butler, Stephen A Austin, Evansville and Vandy).  The MVC is really tough on the road so we'll see how they do.

Points are Your Friend and the Pride Needs to Look Inside

I was at the Hofstra game Tuesday night vs. Iona, a home contest at the David Mack Arena.  The Pride had battled back from a second half deficit to go ahead 61-58 with 2:32 left and had the ball.  What happened then is what I have called in this blog before "Pulling a Hofstra".  I started saying this back in 2007, where Hofstra up late with the ball in a close game decides to run down the clock and start their offense with about 8 seconds left on the shot clock.  This is the strategy that Tom Pecora utilizes in a close game.  Put the ball in the hands of your best player, let him run down the clock and have your best player create a play.  It's a strategy that sometimes works, but often doesn't.  Time and time again, I have noted that in these situations, points are your friend, not time, and that you should run the play with 15 seconds left on the shot clock.  It has burned Hofstra before as noted in my link to my post from February where it killed them against George Mason.  It burned them again on Tuesday night.

So back to Hofstra and the ball with 2:32 left.  Hofstra wound the clock down to one second left on the clock before Cornelius Vines missed a jumper and Hofstra lost the ball on a turnover.  Iona would cut the lead to one 61-60 before Hofstra actually ran their normal offense and Charles Jenkins hit a jumper to make it 63-60.  Jenkins would hit one of two free throws to make it 64-60 before Iona again scored to cut the lead to 64-62.  Then with 50 seconds left, Hofstra had the ball.  My friend Mal, who was at the game with me, then predicted to us that Iona would get the ball back with 15 seconds left on the clock down only two.  So again, Hofstra ran the clock down to about 8 seconds on the shot clock before having the ball knocked out of bounds with 2 seconds left on the shot clock.  The Pride then ran an inbounds play where Cornelis Vines tried an off balance three pointer in the corner.  The shot was an airball and Iona got the ball back on the 35 second clock expiring.  So Iona had the ball back as Mal correctly predicted with 15 seconds left on the clock.  Jonathan Huffman, a seven foot center who leads Iona in three point attempts,  would then hit a three pointer to put Iona up 65-64. Iona would hit two free throws to go up three before Cornelius Vines' desperation half court shot went in and out at the buzzer as the Gaels scored the last seven points to win 67-64. 

Well, a friend that I have talked about in this column many times before happened to be at this game as well. My friend noted two things watching this game.  First, in two out of the last three Hofstra possessions, the best player on the Pride, Charles Jenkins did not shoot the ball.  That my friend said was a huge mistake.  You always want your best player having the ball at the end of the game.  This is unusual for Hofstra.  During Coach Pecora's career, he has always had the ball in the hands of his best player at the end of the game, whether it was Loren Stokes or Antoine Agudio.  Even in other games this year, Jenkins has had the ball at the end of the game.  Not in this case. 

The second thing was that my friend correctly noted as I have stated as well, points are your friend in a close game, not time.  His reasoning for this is that when you are playing an inferior opponent you do not want to shorten the game, especially when its close.  This was Hofstra's mistake.  They were up late in a close game against a team that going in was 4-7 on the season and just recently lost to a team that Hofstra had beat earlier in the season (Western Michigan).

There was also a third thing that my friend and I both noted during the game.  Hofstra rarely ever looks inside during an offensive possession.  Its actually common knowledge from the Hofstra season ticket holders during games.  Another friend and Hofstra Law School colleague, Jeff Silberfeld saw me at half time.  He noted to me that they weren't looking inside whatsoever.  Late in the game, I actually yelled "Work it inside!".  The fan across the aisle  from me turned and said something like "Exactly!".  We then joked that they never look inside. I have noted this several times before in this blog.  Last season, the Hofstra guards took about 80 percent of the shots on the season.  A Hofstra recruit, Yves Jules even said that one of the reasons he will be coming here next season is that "Hofstra guards take 78 percent" of the shots. I have stated several times that the more the Pride looks inside the more successful they will be.

So, let's look at the stat sheet from the game on Tuesday night.  Hofstra attempted sixty two field goals from the field.  How many were from the forwards/centers?  Thirteen.  Barely over 20 percent of the attempts were taken by the frontcourt.  How many did they make?  Eight.  That's over 60 percent.  Now compare that with the guards who shot 12 of 49.  That's barely 20 percent from the field from a group that was taking 80 percent of the shots.  So if you wonder why Hofstra shot 32 percent from the field, now you know why.  Not enough high percentage inside shots.

So Hofstra had a chance to bounce back yesterday against New Hampshire up in Durham, New Hampshire.  The Pride stormed out to a 17-1 lead against the Wildcats.  Then a combination of the Wildcats hitting their shots and the Pride going cold resulted in UNH cutting the lead to 30-24 at halftime. The Wildcats came out and went on a 16-4 second half run to go ahead 40-34 with 12:48 left. 

During this time, Charles Jenkins had picked up three fouls quickly in the first half and sat for most of the first half.  It was probably just as well because Jenkins only hit on one of his first nine field goal attempts.  In fact after Hofstra had hit on seven of its first twelve field goal attempts, the Pride would only hit on eleven on its next forty attempts and shoot 34.6 percent from the field for the entire game. But down the stretch Jenkins and Greg Washington would score eight of the last eleven Hofstra points as the Pride came from behind to win 62-57. 

Again in this game, the Pride did not look inside enough. Of the fifty two field goal attempts the Pride had, fifteen only came from the frontcourt, not even 30 percent.  This is a disturbing trend for the Pride.  Take a statistical look at the Pride's last five games to see the trend;

vs. UNH, 52 FG attempts, 15 attempts by frontcourt, percentage made by frontcourt - 40%, team FG percentage -34.6%

vs. Iona, 62 FG attempts, 13 attempts by frontcourt, percentage made by frontcourt - 61.5%, team FG percenage - 32.3%

vs. UMass, 85 FG attempts (no that's not a typo), 28 attempts by frontcourt, percentage made by frontcourt 35.7%, team FG percentage - 36.5% - note that Miklos Szabo went 0 of 4 from the three point arc

vs. St Francis, 69 FG attempts, 24 attempts by frontcourt, percentage by frontcourt 45.8%, team FG percentage 36.2%

vs. Stony Brook, 52 FG attempts,10 attempts by frontcourt, percentage by frontcourt 40%, team FG percentage 39%

So, in four of the last five games, the Pride frontcourt had at most 34.7 percent of the field goal attempts. In two of the games they had less than 20 percent of the field goal attempts.  When your team is shooting in the thirties overall percentage wise, its not wise to limit your team's frontcourt scoring opportunities.  Even if you look at their win over Towson, which was prior to this five game stretch, the Pride had 57 FG attempts and only 17 came from their frontcourt. The frontcourt hit on THIRTEEN of those seventeen FG attempts and shot 49 percent as a team from the field. 

So why not more looks inside, Coach Pecora? You have a six foot ten agile forward in Greg Washington who is shooting 58 percent from the field and shooting 70 percent from the line.  Why is he not averaging at least 10 field goal attempts a game instead of the not even five per game he attempts?  Dane Johnson averaged 54.5 percent from the field last year and is averaging 50 percent from the field this season.  Why is he averaging barely over three field goal attempts per game? 

Note to Coach Pecora - When your team shoots only 38 percent from the field on the season, you need to start looking inside more.  Much more. 

Sunday News and Notes

There were by my count five nationally televised basketball games that involved mid major teams (and no  I am not including Temple -Kansas..remember here A10 teams are not mid majors) and only one of them, Drake, ended up winning their game.  And the ironic thing is that three of the games started around the same time.

The first game involved #2 UConn vs. #8 Gonzaga in the Battle of Seattle and it was a battle.  UConn got out to an early 13-2 lead before the Bulldogs bounced back to cut the deficit to one, 38-37 at the half.  The Zags then went on an early 20-8 run to go ahead 57-46 led largely by the play of reserve guard Stephen Gray who had 23 points on the game. But despite Hasheem Thabeet being in foul trouble, the Huskies rallied back behind guard AJ Price and reserve forward Gavin Edwards to cut the lead to one 72-71 with 33 seconds left.

Matt Bouldin hit two free throws to make it 74-71.  Then after getting an offensive rebound, the Huskies got the ball to Price.  With Jeremy Pargo all over him, Price hit an off balance three to tie the game at 74.  Price then stripped the ball from Pargo to force overtime.  In overtime, a combination of several Bulldogs fouling out and the Huskies hitting big shots resulted in an 88-83 overtime win for UConn.

It really was a NCAA Elite Eight tournament quality game with a raucous Key Arena crowd cheering on the Zags (and yes this was considered a neutral site game - and thanks Stan for pointing out some other neutral site games to me after my post yesterday).  You had back and forth swings, excellent basketball from two very talented teams with some very talented players.  Austin Daye, Pargo and Gray had solid games or the Bulldogs, while Price, Edwards and Jerome Dyson did as well for the Huskies.   Gonzaga shot 50 percent from the field for the game, but led by Price, UConn stayed in the game by shooting 7 of 14 from three and 29 of 38 from the line).

CBS was showing regional action on Saturday. The early game shown in the NY area, Duke-Xavier was such a rout, they switched to Texas-Michigan State in the second half.  We got the UConn-Gonzaga game here in NY for the second game, while other regions of the country got Purdue vs. Davidson in the Wooden Classic in Indiana.  They were not switching to that game as the Boilermakers went out to a 25-2 lead enroute to a 76-58 drubbing of the Wildcats.  When I saw the 25-2 score originally on ESPN's online scores, I thought it was a typo.  Nope, Purdue went out to a 21-0 lead as all world Davidson guard Stephen Curry missed his first eight shots and went 3 of 18 from the field in the first half including 1 of 9 from three.  Purdue hit 7 of 11 three pointers and shot 56 percent from the field in the first half.

Curry was held to 13 points on 5 of 26 shooting.  A lot of the credit goes to the Big Ten defensive player of the year last season, Chris Kramer.  Curry noted that, saying "He did a great job, just attacking and staying on me the whole game. I haven't seen that all year, just the constant pressure of the ball."  The Wildcats only shot 35 percent from the field and only attempted seven free throws.

Meanwhile, the third game on around the same time featured top ranked North Carolina vs Valpo in Chicago on ESPNU. It started off competitive with Valpo actually moving out to an early 12-3 lead as Howard Little scored 5 of the first 12 Crusader points.  Then North Carolina remembered they were North Carolina and went on a 14-2 run to go ahead 17-14.  Valpo actually came back to take the lead at 19-17 before the Tar Heels went back ahead to stay.  The lead was only one, 24-23 with 5:20 left before NC went on a 17-8 lead to go up 10 at the half.  The Tar Heels never looked back winning 86-63.

The fourth game on at the same time featured Drake vs. Iowa on ESPN2 as Drake looked to win the state of Iowa Bball bragging rights after beating Iowa State earlier in the season.  This game was also never really that close as the Bulldogs were much too quick for the Hawkeyes.  Drake went out to a 32-18 halftime lead on their way to a 60-43 win.  Josh Young, one of the remaining starters from last year's Missouri Valley Champions, had 23 points including 14 of 15 from the line as Drake shot 23 of 29 from the line.  Drake held Iowa to 31 percent shooting from the field and outrebounded the Hawkeyes 37-21.

Finally late last night on ESPN, VCU went to Norman to take on Oklahoma and former VCU now Sooner coach Jeff Capel.  Unfortunately, Eric Maynor picked a bad time to have his worse game of the season as Maynor was held to 15 points on 5 of 18 shooting including 2 of 9 from three  with 8 turnovers as Oklahoma downed VCU 81-70. 

In other news, Hofstra had won eight straight games going into their road game at UMass yesterday.  The game against the Minutemen, who had come off a recent big road win against #25 Kansas, was their biggest test since their opening season loss to undefeated Clemson.  Well, the Pride flunked the test as UMass stormed out to a 28-10 lead on their way to a 97-81 win over Hofstra.  Hofstra would only come as close as 35-25 the rest of the game.  The Pride outrebounded the Minutemen 61-37 but that was due in large part to grabbing rebounds off their own missed shots.  UMass torched the Pride by shooting 15 of 26 from three and shooting 52 percent overall.  The Pride shot 32 percent from the field and only 12 of 24 from the free throw line. 

The good news for Hofstra; Cornelius Vines had 22 points (18 in the first half) and Greg Washington continued his improved play with a career high 13 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks.  The bad news for Hofstra; Charles Jenkins was held to 13 points on 4 of 13 shooting and 7 turnovers.  NIT finalists from a year ago, UMass forced 19 Pride turnovers. Hofstra coach Tom Pecora noted at the post game press conference that his team would be more focused for their next opponent, Iona. " Pecora stated "Trust me, I don't know if we'll win or lose, but I'll get them focused for Iona."   Here's the problem with that.  If you can't be "focused" for a road game against a team that made the NIT finals last season and had recently beat Kansas, how can you be "focused" for Iona?  I'll be there Tuesday night to see if the Pride will be more "focused".

Chris Gadley Resurrection Update - Chris has struggled in his last three games.  He did have a double double vs Navy with 10 points and 11 rebounds.  However Gadley only shot 4 of 11 from the line and 3 of 8 from the field.  He had his worst game of the season as the Cuse crushed the Golden Grifs 82-60 in a Big East televised matchup.  Gadley picked up three quick early fouls and only played 13 minutes with zero points and one rebounded.  The couple of minutes of the second half that I watched was like watching Gadley from two years ago.  He seemed unfocused and lost.  I could see why coach Tom Parotta benched him for the rest of the second half.  He still has the same body he had two seasons ago, in fact he looks a little heavier (and looks more like Omar Alston, if Hofstra fans remember that name).  Previously Gadley struggled against Albany, Gadley again struggled scoring only 3 points on 1 of 4 shooting and 1 of 4 from the line with 7 rebounds in 26 minutes.  Gadley's scoring average has dropped three points to 11 points per game.  Gadley must be more "focused", as Tom Pecora would say, and work on his game and his body if he ever wants to be truly successful. 

Friday News and Notes

The CAA seems to love spoiling the A10's perfect days.  On Saturday, when the A10 won in two big upsets (Temple trouncing Tennessee and UMass beating Kansas in Kansas City) and won just about every other non conference game, VCU came from behind and beat Richmond on its home court 77-76.  Eric Maynor led the way with 23 points as the Rams shot 53 percent from the field including 52 percent 10 of 19 from beyond the three point arc.  VCU overcame a second half ten point deficit.  The A10 was undefeated in their nine other non conference games.

Then last night, when the A10 won their other three non conference games, again a CAA team spoiled the A10 party as Old Dominion drubbed Duquesne on the Dukes' home court 86-60.  All five starters for the Monarchs scored in double figures led by Gerald Lee's 15.  In fact, the Monarchs' eight players each had 7 points or more.  ODU shot 70 percent from the field in the second half and 56 percent for the game.  Old Dominion is 3-0 vs the A10 (wins over Charlotte, Richmond and now Duquesne). 

The CAA is currently 7-3 vs the A10 with several games left between members of the two conferences.  Speaking of the CAA, I saw Hofstra give a terrific defensive effort against St. Francis last Saturday afternoon.  The Pride held the Terriers to 33 percent from the field and outrebounded them 57-33.  Charles Jenkins nearly had a triple double with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists.  Greg Washington continued his impressive play with 9 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks. The Pride are now 8-1 and face, guess what, an A10 team on the road, when they travel to UMass tomorrow.

I always love when they call a game a neutral game in one team's home state.  Even better is when they call a site neutral, when its located 90 minutes from the one team's campus.  Such was the case when #4 Gonzaga played Arizona in Phoneix on Sunday.  The Zags could not overcome a horrendous 6 of 20 day from beyond three and lost to the Wildcats 69-64.  Austin Daye led Gonzaga with 22 points but Jeremy Pargo and Josh Heytvelt combined to shoot only 3 of 14 from the field and only had 10 points between them.  Gonzaga won a tuneup game last night, downing winless Texas Southern 84-42.  The tuneup game is in preparation for their showdown against #2 UConn tomorrow.

Finally give some major credit to Coach Gary Waters and Cleveland State.  The Vikings finally got their signature win when Cedric Jackson hit a three pointer from 60 feet to beat #11 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome 72-69.  Waters wasn't even looking at the shot when it was going in.  In an interview with ESPN, Waters stated he turned to one of his assistants and said that he guessed it was time to prepare for overtime.  After suffering a heartbreaking buzzer beater loss at home to Butler, and after being ahead at West Virginia at half only to lose that game, the Vikings finally closed out a big win.  Waters has done a tremendous job with Cleveland State as the Vikings won 20 games last season for the first time in ages and made the NIT.  Its not surprising, since Waters built up Kent State, leaving right for Rutgers before the Golden Flashes made the Elite Eight.  In his tenure at Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights made the NIT three times in his five seasons.  Notice Rutgers has not been very good since he left.  And if you think about it, Waters is also responsible for putting Antonio Gates and Quincy Douby on the national scene (Gates is more well known obviously for being an all pro with the Chargers, but he was a major force on that Kent State team that made the Elite Eight in 2001-02).  Pretty good coach if you ask me.

A Tale of Two NY Locals

When the basketball season started for the two teams I follow the most - the Hofstra Pride and the Iona Lady Gaels, there was much uncertainty for both teams.  For the Pride, they lost their best player, Antoine Agudio due to graduation.  For Iona, not only did they lose three starters to graduation, they also lost their best returning player, Anna McLean, due to medical reasons.  Hofstra had brought in three JUCO players; Cornelius Vines, Tony Dennison and Miklos Szabo.  By the sixth game of the season, all three were in the starting lineup.  For Iona, they had an entire team of underclassmen, of which the starters consisted of one junior, two sophomores and two freshman.   How they have done so far is an attestment to their coaches, Tom Pecora and Tony Bozzella.

For Hofstra, Tom Pecora has always believed in guard play.  Its been that way since he was an assistant coach on Jay Wright's teams.  He has been involved in the recruiting and coaching of some of Hofstra's all time great guards; Speedy Claxton, Norman Richardson, Jason Hernandez, Rick Apodaca, Mike Radziejeski, Loren Stokes, Antoine Agudio, Carlos Rivera and now Charles Jenkins.  The philosophy is simple; let your guards take advantage of one on one matchups, often drive to the basket and create scoring opportunities from there.  And there has been a great amount of success.  In the past ten seasons under Pecora and previously Wright, the Pride have made the postseason six times - two NCAA berths (should have been three) and four NIT appearances.  

Hofstra was picked to finish seventh in the CAA in the preseason poll. Then Hofstra started their season at the Charleston Classic.  After getting clobbered by Clemson, where the Pride seemed unprepared to face the Tigers, the Pride have rebounded to win their next two games in the tournament, albeit by close fashion in both games.  This would become a consistent theme as they would win an additional five games in a row, none of them really that easy, including a win at Manhattan that may qualify for "Ugliest Game of the Year".  

There has been inconsistent play as you would expect from a team with three new starters. But somehow Hofstra guts out their wins.  It all starts with Jenkins, the 2007-08 CAA Rookie of the Year. Jenkins has upped his game this year to average nearly 22 points per game.  As for the concern where Hofstra was going to get other scoring from, one of the JUCOS, Cornelius Vines has stepped up to average 13 points per game.  The Pride on average score 70 points per game.

Now, even though the Pride are 7-1, their play as aforementioned has been far from stellar.  There is still too much, as my friend Tieff would say, "dribble, dribble, dribble" by the Hofstra guards.  There needs to be more passing, more movement.   However, there are signs of improvement.  The first thing you may have noticed this season with the Pride is that eleven players play significant minutes for the Pride.  In fact those eleven players average 10 or minutes per game.  If you looked back at just two seasons ago, the Pride would go seven-eight players deep.  The Pride are starting to get their big men involved.  Unlike the two previous seasons where 80 percent of the scoring came from their guards, this team gets about 30 percent scoring from their forwards (this was very evident from their win over Towson).  However, the Pride still need to get their big men involved more consistently and need to look inside more first before shooting the three. Their first real test may come at UMass, though the Minutemen are struggling.  However the conference season gets in full swing in early January, and that should tell soon enough just how good the Pride are.

The Lady Gaels were picked sixth by the MAAC Preseason Poll. This despite having finished second in the MAAC two years in a row and having gone to the WNIT also two years in a row.  This was probably due to losing four starters from last season's team.  However, this didn't phase the Lady Gaels.  They immediately won their first three games including a ten point winner over West Virginia, who won a first round NCAA tournament game last year, in Morgantown.  That has been the Mountaineers' only loss so far this season.  The Lady Gaels would lose their first game, a tough two point loss at Wichita State, without starting forward Kristina Ford.   Then the Gaels would win two more including a 33 point blowout over UMES in the first day of the Iona Thanksgiving Classic, a game that I talked about in a previous posting. 

Then, as young teams do, a letdown occurred the next day, a ten point loss to Western Michigan on the second day of the tournament.  The question would be, going into two conference road games, how would the Lady Gaels respond to a disappointing loss.  The answer would be provided in their second half vs. Rider.  Having blown a fourteen point lead by the end of the first half, the Lady Gaels would come out against the Broncs with their best half of the season.  After giving up 48 points in the first half, Iona held Rider to 28 percent shooting from the field, including 3 of 17 from beyond the three point arc.  After having shot only 58 percent from the line in the first half, Iona shot 12 of 15 for 85 percent from the charity stripe.  The Lady Gaels also shot 50 percent from the field winning 82-71. 

The Lady Gaels then followed that up with another impressive road win, a 62-44 drubbing of Fairfield, the team picked to finish second in the MAAC preseason poll.  The Lady Gaels got off to a quick lead and never trailed after the 18:38 mark of the first half and led by as many as 22.  Finally, the Lady Gaels had their biggest test of the year.  At home against Fordham on Wednesday, the Lady Gaels trailed for most of the game. In fact, twice the Rams had double digit leads in the second half.  The second time was the largest lead, 60-47.  A good number of young teams might have called it a night. Not the Lady Gaels.  They started forcing turnovers and hitting threes.  With a little over two minutes left, Thazina Cook, who had 21 points, hit a three to time the game at 64.  Cook would then hit another three to put Iona up to stay 69-66 en route to a 72-69 win.  Ivkovic led the way again with 22.   As the Gaels have run out to an 8-2 start, its been different players picking up the slack.  Against Rider, it was sophomore Suzi Fregosi who led the way with 21 points.  Ivkovic had 18 points vs Fairfield, but 17 were in the first half. Kristina Ford picked up the slack in the second half and added 16 for the game.   It shows in the statistics as Cook, Ivkovic, and Ford each average double figures and nine Lady Gaels average 10 or more minutes (it will be ten once Milica Paligoric works her way into the rotation).

The Lady Gaels face three tough road games, the toughest a game against perennial women's power Purdue at West Lafayette.  And of course, Marist, the best team in the MAAC and winner of three games in the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons, stands in their way with a veteran team. But don't underestimate coach Tony Bozzella and this Lady Gaels team.  The MAAC has a history of doing that. Last season, the Lady Gaels were also picked to finish sixth.  They finished second and won their first round WNIT Game over Quinnipiac before losing to St John's.   This team might just be the best Lady Gaels team yet.  Just ask West Virginia. :-)

Misc News and Notes

I had a chance to go to the Garden last night for the Jimmy V Classic.  Unfortunately, its that Toys R Us time of year for me known as computer exams and basically I have to be near the Law School and on call (in fact I did get called last night and solved a quick problem).  But the Jimmy V Classic was of course being broadcasted on ESPN. And I got to a see another episode of the Stephen Curry show as Curry and Davidson pulled out another game late, beating West Virginia 68-65.

Curry struggled for most of the game as the Mountaineers kept switching off screens to guard him and kept putting 6-7, 6-8 guards/forwards on him.  At one time he was 1 of 14 from three.  However, Curry had 10 assists in the game and he was able to find open teammates such as Andrew Lovedale (15 points) and Ben Allison (10 points).  The Wildcats led for most of the game, in fact up seven at half and as much as eleven in the game.  However, the Mountaineers size overwhelmed the Wildcats on the boards as West Virginia outrebounded Davidson 51-28.  This led to many second and third chance opportunities for West Virginia and they climbed back and took a 62-58 lead with 1:32 left. 

During the game, I was texting my friend Mal who was at the game.  He noted to me that Curry was struggling but I noted to him "Don't worry, he will pick it up".  And Curry did.  During West Virginia's run, he kept the Wildcats in the game with a three and then an absolutely sick step back jumper to tie the game at 58.  Then after West Virginia went up four, Curry then did his best work.  He first hit a three pointer to cut it to one with 1:14 left.  Then after a Lovedale block, Curry buried another three to put Davidson up two, 64-62 with 37 seconds left.  After helping to force a turnover, Curry hit two more free throws and the Wildcats held the lead to win.   Curry would score 13 of the final 15 points for Davidson. 

But to be fair to Davidson, they played well while Curry struggled.  Lovedale and Allison showed the MSG crowd they have some game. Bryant Barr (9 points) can bury a three if left open.  Jay Bilas, who was analyzing the game for ESPN, noted that Brent McKillop had "active hands" on defense.  They forced 17 Mountaineer turnovers, had six blocks (three by Lovedale) and held West Virginia 33 percent shooting from the field.  Curry, though he had 27 points, was only 9 of 27 from the field.  The more the Wildcats play well when Curry doesn't, the more dangerous they become.

But there is even more Curry news.  Did you know that there is another Curry, Stephen's little brother Seth?  He is a freshman at...Liberty!  Yes that's the Curry who buried George Mason in overtime.  That's the Curry who helped the Flames beat Virginia at Charlottesville.  And Curry had 24 points as the Flames gave Clemson fits, before the Tigers came from behind late and won 80-75.  Oh yeah, that was a home game for Clemson.  Remember, this is an undefeated Clemson team I saw impressively win twice at the Charleston Classic.  And Liberty nearly beat them (in fact the Flames led most the game, were up by as many as ten points and were up four with four minutes left in the game).  No wonder the Flames are in my Baker's Dozen.   But here's the thing.  How come Seth is at Liberty?  If you are a major conference school, and you know how good Stephen turned out to be (and lets not forget dad Dell played in the NBA for 16 years), how do you not offer Seth a scholarship.  By the way, it was noted last night on ESPN that Stephen said Seth is more developed as a freshman than he was.  EEk!  Well, Davidson did offer Seth a scholarship, but Seth decided to go his own way and went to Liberty (imagine Davidson if Seth was on the Wildcats..wow).   Its amazing, the big boys goofed up twice.  Hey, better for us mid major fans.

Well, unfortunately, us mid major fans won't get to see Brandon Johnson the rest of the year.  Johnson, San Diego's star player and all West Conference First Team player last season, ruptured his achilles tendon in a game vs. San Diego State over the weekend.  He is out for the season and most likely the Toreros chances to make the NCAA tournament went with him (they lost to San Diego State, then lost to San Jose State).  I saw a lot of the UConn game vs San Diego in March and I was really impressed with Johnson.

One last mid major note.  After struggling a little bit to start the year, Drake has won five in a row including a 66-63 win at Iowa State last night.  Two remmants from last year's NCAA tournament team, Josh Young (19 points) and Jonathan Cox (14 points and 14 rebounds) led the way.  Here's hoping the Bulldogs make the Missouri Valley a three team bid conference again this season along with Illinois State and Creighton. 

Last Few Days in Review

I was at the Hofstra game Wednesday night and I might have seen the worse team in the Atlantic 10 this year, Fordham.  Now don't get me wrong, Hofstra played very well at times and won handily 60-40. But the Rams have very little talent after several players graduated last season.  And the effort they showed in the second half didn't help matters.  After only being down four at halftime, the Rams shot 25 percent from the field (as if 28 percent in the first half wasn't bad enough) and shot 1 of 5 from the line.  The Rams really did not look inside whatsoever.  The Rams are now 0-6 and I really honestly believe that they will go 0 for the Atlantic 10.

Now as I stated, Hofstra did play well in the second half especially.  And one of the things I was most impressed with was the balance of their offense.  Charles Jenkins led four double digit scorers with only 11 points, but he only took 11 shots (making 5 of them) and more importantly he had 9 assists.  This is critical because Jenkins is the Pride's leading scorer, averaging nearly 22 points per game. However, teams will be keying on Jenkins and he will need to distribute the ball more since he is also doubling as their point guard.  He often found Zygis Sestokas for open threes (Ziggy had 11 points).  Another key was the emergence of the Hofstra big men.  Greg Washington had his first of two double doubles (more on that in a second) with 10 points and 11 rebounds (and 4 blocks).  Miklos Szabo added 10 points and 8 rebounds. 

That balance continued to last night when the Hofstra frontcourt combined for 37 points in an impressive 90-79 road win over Towson in the opening CAA conference game for both teams.   Now Charles Jenkins and fellow guard Cornelius Vines scored 24 and 21 points respectively.  But it is getting the big men involved that has helped Hofstra.  Washington again had a double double with 11 points, 10 rebounds and blocks.  Dane Johnson had 9 points and 6 rebounds in only 16 minutes of playing time.  Szabo had 9 points.  The Pride Frontcourt combined to shoot 13 of 17 from the field as the Pride as a whole shot 49 percent from the field (subtract Nathaniel Lester and Sestokas' combined 0 of 9 and the Pride shot over 60 percent).  The Pride also had a great night from the line shooting 25 of 31 for 80 percent (compare that with their 5 of 11 for 45 percent vs. Fordham).  If the Pride can continue to have their frontcourt score a third or more of their points, it only opens up their guards for more scoring opportunities. Finally, the Pride had 19 assists to 11 turnovers.  If they keep that ratio up, the Pride (6-1) will be very competitive in the CAA this year.

Towson (4-4) was led by Josh Thornton's 20 points. The Tigers shot 45 percent from the field but they killed themselves from the free throw line shooting 16 of 29 for 55 percent.  They were also outrebounded 34-27 by the Pride.  As for the Tim Crossin Burial Watch, Crossin did not play vs. Hofstra.  He did play one minute in the Tigers'  82-61 win over UMBC.  Crossin was 0 of 1 from the field.

Speaking of watches, the Chris Gadley Resurrection Watch continues, albeit with much better results than the Crossin Burial Watch.  Gadley had another double double with 15 points and 10 rebounds but Canisius lost to Manhattan 81-63 Friday night at Draddy Gym.  It was Gadley's third double double of the season. On the season, Gadley is averaging 14.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

Thursday night showcased two big mid major basketball games.  First, in a surprisingly non televised rematch of a major Bracket Buster game from last season, St Mary's traveled to Kent State. The Gaels returned the favor from last season defeating the Golden Flashes 75-69.  Patrick Mills scored 19 of his 26 points in the second half as St Mary's held Kent State to 39 percent from the field including 22 percent from beyond the three point arc.  Omar Samhan had 19 points, Carlin Hughes had 14 points and Diamon Simpson had 15 rebounds (which made up for his 2 for 8 shooting from the field for only 6 points). Chris Singletary and Brandon Parks each had 16 points for the Golden Flashes, while Al Fisher added 14.  St Mary's is now 6-1 while Kent State is now 3-5, with five straight losses after losing to Western Carolina in overtime yesterday.

The other Thursday night game was televised on ESPNU and featured the top two teams in the Horizon; Butler and Cleveland State.  I got to watch a lot of this game and to borrow a phrase from WWE announcer Jim Ross, it was a slobberknocker.  Very tough, physical grind out it out play.  Typical Horizon game..and I loved it.  The Bulldogs would win this road game from the Vikings 50-48 when Zach Hahn hit a three pointer with one second left.  This was after J'Nathan Bullock hit a bank shot for two of his only seven points with only five seconds to give Cleveland State a won point lead.  This was after Butler's Shawn Vanzant had hit a three to put Butler a 47-46 lead with 19 seconds left. Get the picture? 

Like I said, it was a slobberknocker.  After those 19 seconds, I was like "Damn!"  The game was close throughout with the largest lead being 7 by Cleveland State (and Butler's largest lead was two).  Both teams played outstanding defense. The Vikings only shot 26 percent from the field (including 1 of 11 from beyond three) and the Bulldogs only shot 31 percent.  Bullock, who was an all conference first team selection last season and who averages 14 points per game, only shot 2 of 11 from the field including that go ahead basket. Matt Howard, Butler's leading scorer at 12 points a game, only had 7 points with only 6 field goal attempts.  Butler is now 7-0 after winning their second Horizon conference game a 79-71 win over Youngstown State.  Cleveland State is now 5-4 after losing at West Virginia after having a halftime lead over the Mountaineers.

Then there was Davidson.  Playing at a neutral site game in Charlotte, Stephen Curry only had 44 points in leading the #24 Wildcats to a thrilling 72-67 win over previously undefeated NC State with LeBron James in attendance.  Curry had the final ten points of the game including an absolutely sick 30 foot set shot of a three with one second left on the shot clock to put Davidson up four 70-66.  The shot had the crowd and especially James on their feet.  Curry was 15 of 33 from the field and 10 of 13 from the line. Andrew Lovedale added 12 points and 9 rebounds as the Wildcats outrebounded the Wolfpack 41-33.

In other midmajor action, fellow Southern Conference member Charleston continued to roll with a 77-62 win over UNC Greensboro.  The now 7-1 Cougars shot 55 percent from the field and had four players in double figures led by Jermaine Johnson and Antwaine Wiggins each with 12 points.  Miami Ohio's incredibly tough road schedule seems to have helped the Red Hawks.  Miami scored an impressive 68-52 win over Temple on Wednesday night, then followed it up with a 94-66 shellacking of Northwestern State yesterday.  Michael Bramos had 26 points in the win over Temple then 31 in the win over NSU. Miami shot 52 percent in the win over Temple and held the Owls to 7 of 24 from beyond three.  Especially impressive was the Red Hawks' holding Dionte Christmas to 11 points on 3 of 12 shooting.  Before that game, Christmas was averaging over 22 points per game (and as noted in a previous posting, I have seen Christmas play a couple of games in the Charleston Classic and he is very very good).  

#5 Gonzaga got off to a slow start at Indiana, but the Zags picked it up in the second half and drubbed Indiana 70-54.  Jeremy Pargo, Josh Heytvelt and Matt Bouldin combined for for 43 points in the win. The Zags forced 24 Hoosier turnovers.

Finally, the Iona Lady Gaels had their first MAAC conference game Friday night at Rider.  The Lady Gaels were up fourteen in the first half against the Broncs, 33-19 before a Bronc 27 to 15 run tied the game at 48 at halftime.  Now this was a true test of a young Lady Gaels team. They had lost their previous game in by far their worst game of the season at home vs. Western Michigan.  Now a team with no seniors had just seen a fourteen point first half lead melt away in a seemingly high scoring game. How would they respond in the second half. They came out and perhaps played their best half of the season as the Lady Gaels would down Rider 92-81.   After the Broncs shot 58 percent in the first half, the Lady Gaels held them to 28 percent in the second half including 3 of 17 from the field.  Iona also forced 29 Rider turnovers. The Gaels who also only shot 7 of 12 from the line in the first half shot 12 of 14 in the second half.  Suzi Fregosi led the Lady Gaels with 21 points, with 8 of 8 from the line and shooting 3 of 4 from beyond three.  Thazina Cook had 15 points, Kristina Ford had 14 and Naeemah Ricketts added 11 points.  Pretty good response from a team that starts two freshmen, two sophomores and one junior.

Next posting will be a review of the week for the CAA.

Mid Majors Baker's Dozen for the Week of December 1st

Can't believe it is December already.  A few teams have already played as many as eight games. So we have a little bit of indication of who is playing up to potential and who, um, isn't (Oakland, Wright State, where are you?!!, Earth to San Diego, come in Toreros!)

There was a huge amount of turnover in the Baker's Dozen as four teams left the Baker's Dozen -Kent State went from 3-0 to 3-3 in the span of four days, Siena went 0 for the Old Spice Classic, Ohio couldn't make it two years straight over George Mason and VCU lost two of three for the week.

1) Gonzaga (5-0) - Did you watch the Old Spice Classic over the span of three days?  If so, enough said about the Zags. 
2) Davidson (5-1) - Bob McKillop should thank Jimmy Patsos for helping his team develop in the span of 40 minutes.  Now the Wildcats know how to play without Stephen Curry.  Uh oh.
3) Illinois State (7-0) - Impressive seven game win streak.  Wish the competition was a little better for the Redbirds.
4) Butler (5-0) - Amazing.  Supposed to be a rebuilding year and the Bulldogs are back atop the Horizon.
5) Western Kentucky (4-2) - An absolutely huge win over #3 Louisville, followed up by a solid win over the defending SEC tournament champions, Georgia.  Throw in a win over Southern Illinois and that puts the Hilltoppers, a Sweet Sixteen team from a season ago, back into the Baker's Dozen.
6) St Mary’s (5-1)- Bounced back after first round loss to UTEP in 76 classic to win next two games.  However, they need serious work in their help defense.  Still too many easy baskets given up the Gaels.
7) Charleston (5-1) - First win in 78 years over the Gamecocks.  Cougars are getting better and better.
8) UALR (5-0) - Big time win over Creighton puts another Sun Belt team in the Dozen.
9) Cleveland State (5-2) - A twenty four point crushing of Valpo gives the Vikings four wins in a row and a return to the Baker's Dozen.
10) George Mason (5-2) - Nice win over Ohio only slightly tainted by overtime loss to newest Baker's Dozen member Liberty.  See why its not so bad of a loss down below.
11) Mercer (6-2) - Only losses are to 7-0 Dayton and 4-0 Georgia Tech.  Came back to win their next two games.  Remember they have two wins over Auburn and Alabama.  The top team in the Atlantic Sun.
12) Creighton (4-2) - Tough road losses to UALR and Nebraska.  Had big leads in both games but let them both slip away.  Rebounded with easy win over Mississippi Valley State.  Much tougher game at St Joe's on Saturday.
13) Liberty (5-1) - Big comeback win vs. Mason is not the only feather in the Flames' cap.  Early season win vs. Virginia AT CHARLOTTESVILLE puts Liberty on the map. It is ironic that they are 0-1 in the Big South.  Won't be for long though.

Two teams not far off the list are Niagara and Utah State. Both have tough contests in their next games;Niagara faces Akron while Utah State takes on BYU. 

Mid Major Weekend in Review

It was a very busy weekend for the CAA and mid major teams in general.  But first, a day after playing perhaps their best game of the year, the Iona Lady Gaels played their worst game of the year, a 54-44 home loss to Western Michigan in the Iona Thanksgiving Classic.  The Lady Gaels only shot 32 percent from the field, including a horrific 2 of 15 from three.  The Lady Gaels only had one double digit scorer, freshman sensation Kristina Ford who had 13 points and 10 rebounds.  Ford and sophomore Anda Ivkovic  combined to shoot 9 of 21 from the field while the rest of the team shot 7 of 29.  The Lady Gaels also were outrebounded 43-34 and committed 26 turnovers.  I was there on Saturday when the Lady Gaels shot 55 percent in the first half (and 45 percent overall) in rout to a 80-47 drubbing of Maryland Eastern Shore.  Thazina Cook led four Lady Gaels' scorers in double figures with 18. Ford added 13, Ikvovic had 10 and freshman Tomica Bacic had 11 points.  The Lady Gaels also forced 37 Hawks turnovers.

My friend Tieff and I left the Iona game Saturday night with 10 minutes left and went to the Hofstra-Manhattan game.  First, it is very hard to park at Manhattan for a men's basketball game unless you get there very early, which we did not.  The lot was full and we ended up parking on a side street which resulted in a ten minute walk.  We brought some toys because it was Toys for Tots night and bringing a toy resulted in a free ticket.  The Draddy Gymnasium is actually a very nice gym, quite large actually and is a nice place to watch a game. 

As for the game itself, well it quite possibly might have been the ugliest played and officiated game I will see all season.  The Pride and the Jaspers each committed 17 turnovers (it seemed like more than that) and both shot poorly from the line;Manhattan went 17 of 27 - 63 percent, Hofstra 7 of 17- an abysmal 47 percent.  Despite all that, it was an entertaining game which was only decided in the final minute when Charles Jenkins stole a pass with seven seconds left and hit a free throw to seal the win for the Pride 65-61. Jenkins had a terrific second half scoring 21 of his 23 points in the second half.  Cornelius Vines had 12 points and Tony Dennison added 10.  The key player for the Pride (4-1) was Darren Townes (8 points) who along with Jenkins provided much needed energy in the second half.  The Jaspers (3-2) were led by Chris Smith with 15, Devon Austin added 11 and Brandon Adams had 10.

In CAA action, VCU (3-3) lost the championship game of the Cancun classic 71-66 to Vanderbilt.  Eric Maynor scored 31 points and Larry Sanders added 10 in the losing cause. Maynor and Sanders, the only double figure scorers for the Rams, combined to shoot 16 of 28.  Unfortunately, the rest of the VCU team shot only 9 of 30.  The Rams had defeated New Mexico the night before 67-55 as Maynor had 18, Joey Rodriguez added 12 points and Lance Kearse came off the bench to add 11. 

George Mason (5-1) continues to roll with a 74-65 win over Ohio. The game was a rematch of last season's Bracketbuster won by Ohio (2-1).  The Patriots had five players in double figures with Dre Smith and Cam Long each scoring 15 points, Ryan Pearson had 13, Andre Cornelius 12 and Darryl Monroe added 11.  Ohio was led by Jerome Tillman's 22 points and 16 rebounds.

ODU (1-3) lost another close game to Marshall 68-64.  Despite shooting 57 percent from the field, the Monarchs only had five free throw attempts (the Thundering Herd had 14, only hitting 8 of them),  were outrebounded 28-22 and had 16 turnovers to Marshall's 12.  This resulted in Marshall having four more field goal attempts from the field and the Herd shot 50 percent from the field.  Ben Finney led the Monarchs with 16 points. The Herd (2-3) were led by Tirrell Baines' 15 points.

Northeastern (2-3) had another ugly road game on Saturday night. Northeastern scored only 11 first half points on their way to a 55-37 loss to South Florida.  The Huskies shot 4 of 29 in the first half and 13 of 54 for the game (24 percent) including 1 of 9 from beyond the three point arc.  Huskies star Matt Janning shot 1 of 11 from the field for 3 points.

Towson (3-3) also had a rough weekend in Philly as first noted on Saturday, #22 ranked Villanova waxed the Tigers 64-47 Friday night.  Then on Saturday night in the consolation game, Penn State trounced Towson 78-54.  Troy Franklin was the only Tiger in double figures with 12 points as Towson shot 29 percent including 5 of 20 from three.  As for the Tim Crossin Burial Watch, Crossin actually played some quality minutes..ok, quality minutes for him.  In the Penn State game, Crossin played 5 minutes, scored three points on 1 of 2 shooting (both from three), with a rebound and a steal!

UNC Wilmington (3-4) had an up and down weekend.  Friday night, UNC Wilmington coasted to 79-64 win over NC Central in the South Padre Invitational.  Dominique Lacy had 20 points and 11 rebounds to lead the way for the Seahawks. Then on Saturday, the Seahakws got pasted by Texas A&M Corpus Christi 97-64.  The Islanders, only ahead by 1 at the half, proceeded to outscore UNCW FIFTY EIGHT to twenty six in the second half.  It was the fourth time this year that the Seahawks gave up 95 or more points in a game. Lacy again led UNCW with 16 points and 8 rebounds.

It was a better weekend for William and Mary (3-4), though they also split their games in the Liberty Classic.  In the first game, the Mary knocked off South Carolina State as David Schneider had 22 points and Danny Sumner added 20 to lead the way for the Tribe. In the championship game vs. Liberty, again Schneider and Sumner led the way with 23 points each, but the Mary lost in overtime to the Flames 80-74 in front of a paltry 934 people in Lynchburg (and trust me I have been to Lynchburg, not much to do there, so why not go see some good college basketball- Liberty has beaten Virginia this season). Sumner and Schneider are making quite the duo for the Tribe.

Delaware (2-4) had an early eleven point second half lead, but Seton Hall came back on its own home court to win 75-70.  Four Blue Hens players had double figures, including two that had double doubles, Marc Egerson with 20 points and 13 rebounds, while Jim Ledsome had 13 points and 10 rebounds.  The difference was Delaware had 19 turnovers to Seton Hall's 11.

Matt Brady seems to have righted the James Madison ship as the Dukes (4-2) have now two in a row.  At the Davidson Tip Off classic, JMU first lost to the now infamous Loyola Maryland 64-54.  JMU was led by freshman Julian Wells with 13 points. Then the Dukes came back to beat Florida Atlantic 81-64 as another freshman, Andrey Semanov led the five JMU scorers in double figures with 17 points. Wells had 15 points, Dazzmond Thornton had 11 points, and Kyle Swanston and Pierre Curtis each had 10.  The Dukes then followed up with a 73-53 pasting of Fordham at Rosedale.  Swanston led the way with 21 points including five three pointers.

Earlier in the week, Georgia State (2-4) lost to Troy 68-63 (a team UNCW beat earlier in the season 101-95). Leonard Mendez had 21 in a losing cause for the Panthers who allowed the Trojans to hit 10 three pointers in the game.

Drexel (1-2) has not played since November 22, when they got smoked by Georgetown 81-53. The Dragons shot 24 percent from the field (surprisingly they shot 38 percent from beyond three).   Four Dragons players scored in double figures and accounted for 46 of the 53 points led by Scott Rodgers 13. The six Drexel big men combined to score the other seven points on seven free throws as they shot 0 for 16 from the field.  UGH!

In other mid major action over the weekend, there was one major upset.  Western Kentucky shutdown #3 Louisville 78-64 at neutral site Freedom Hall (which is really a home game for Louisville) . A sweet sixteen team from a season ago, the Hilltoppers held the Cardinals to 27 percent shooting including 5 of 20 from beyond the three point arc. AJ Slaughter led the way for Western Kentucky with 25 points.  The Hilltoppers also outrebounded the Cardinals 48-34 as Stephen Pettigrew had 12 rebounds to go with his 17 points for Western Kentucky.  It was the Hilltoppers first win over a Top 3 ranked team in 40 years.

In other mid major games, #10 ranked Gonzaga ran the table impressively at the Old Spice Classic, winning the championship game from #12 ranked Tennessee 83-74. Stephen Gray led five Zags in double figures with 19 points as Gonzaga shot 52 percent from the field, including 11 of 20 from beyond the three point arc.  Matt Bouldin added 17, Josh Heytvelt had 15, Micah Downs 12 and Jeremy Pargo had 10.  The Zags get the Vols in a rematch at Tennessee on January 7.

Kent State had a rough weekend.  After losing to Illinois in overtime Friday night, the Golden Flashes lost to a very solid Texas A&M squad in the South Padre Invitational 77-71.   Kent State was up two at the half but couldn't contain A&M.  The Aggies shot 58 percent from the field for the game and went 16 of 19 from the charity stripe.  Al Fisher led the way for the Golden Flashes with 24 points.  It doesn't get any easier for Kent State tonight as they go into Lawrence and face Kansas.

After losing to soon to be new member of the Bakers Dozen Arkansas Little Rock, Creighton lost a tough 58-56 game to Nebraska.  It was a similar game to the UALR contest in that Creighton jumped out to a thirteen point halftime lead vs the Cornhuskers, only to see Nebraska come back and win the game on a shot with 3 seconds left (against UALR, the Bluejays had a 7 point halftime lead and lost at the end of the game as well).  The difference was 24 Bluejays' turnovers which counteracted a 36-25 rebounding edge for Creighton. Kenny Lawson Jr was the only Bluejay in double figures with 10 points.

Saint Mary's finished the 76 classic with a 2-1 record winning the 5th place game from Providence 81-75.  Patty Mills led four Gaels scorers in double figures with 24.  Finally, Butler continues to roll as they bounced Evansville 75-59.  Shelvin Mack led the Bulldogs with 18 points as Butler shot 52 percent from the field to now go 5-0 on the season.

Finally, we end with the Chris Gadley Resurrection Watch.   Gadley had 13 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks as Canisius defeated Saint Bonaventure 68-66 Saturday night.  In fact the former Pride player had almost as many  points as all of Hofstra's big men combined vs Manhattan (15 points from six forwards/centers).

Next post will be a new Baker's Dozen, with a couple of new members.