As far as JMU, this is by far the best team they have had in years. They are 9-3 (and should be 10-2 had they not blown a huge lead to Seton Hall). Nine wins is the most the Dukes have had since the 2002-03 season when they went 13-17 (in the past 4 seasons, they had 7,6,5, and 7 respectively). The dukes are an up tempo high scoring (80 points per game), balanced team with four players in double figures (Abdulai Jalloh, Terrence Carter, Juwann James and Pierre Curtis) and a fifth just missing double figures (Kyle Swanston). They already have a signature CAA win over VCU at home, 62-61 this past Wednesday and they won a tough come from behind road game over Northeastern. They have a chance today to go 3-0 vs a struggling Hofstra team. Jalloh, a transfer from St Joe’s, in particular has been a huge help for the Dukes’ shooting 48 percent from the field on the season.
Speaking of Hofstra, they have lost four in a row, including their last three without star guard Antoine Agudio, who injured his ankle in practice before the Holiday Festival. In their 75-54 loss to ODU on Wednesday, Zygis Sestokas and Nathaniel Lester combined to shoot 2 of 18 from the field,. Worse yet, did any of the coaches bother telling Zygis Sestokas to stop shooting threes. He went 1 of 9 from the 3 point arc, including missing his first five three point attempts. I have watched Sestokas many times and my friend Anthony Terentieff and I agree that he does not have the proper shooting form to be a consistent three point shooter. He is also quite slow on defense and I have never seen him once (not once), drive to the basket. Thankfully Agudio is set to return against JMU today and hopefully that means a lot less playing time for Sestokas and point guard Greg Johnson. Johnson, who was my key to the Hofstra season, has combined to not only shoot poorly from the field (21 percent on the season) but to be careless with the ball as well (averages a 1 to 1 turnover per assist per game). The bright side during Agudio’s absence is the emergence of Darren Townes as an inside scoring threat. Townes had 19 points and 11 rebounds vs. ODU. Hofstra needs to have a low post option as they have struggled scoring, averaging 65 points per game as opposed to allowing opponents to average 74 a game.
What’s with George Mason and free throw shooting? Yes, give Georgia State credit for bouncing back from a 13 point halftime deficit to win on Leonard Mendez’ shot at the buzzer 66-64. But the Patriots have had an extremely difficult time shooting from the charity stripe. In the game against the Panthers, they shot 11 of 19 from the line (57 percent). They have shot overall 67.7 percent overall from the line, but their free throw shooting has been extremely poor in other games they have lost. Against Kent State, they were 9 of 19 from the line in an 18 point loss to the Golden Flashes. In a bad 68-65 loss to East Carolina, their free throw shooting cost them the game as they shot 13 of 25 from the field. The big culprit has been surprisingly scoring guard Dre Smith, who is shooting a poor 56 percent from the charity stripe. Not far behind him though is leading scorer Will Thomas, who is shooting only 64 percent from the line. Teams will start fouling Thomas more often in the paint if he continues his poor free throw shooting.
Delaware has been a nice surprise in conference going 2-0. The reason is that its no longer the Herb Courtney show. Marc Egerson, Brian Johnson and Alphonzo Dawson have contributed in the scoring. Mind you the wins were over Towson and William and Mary, but definitely an improvement already. Speaking of William and Mary, outside of Hofstra, there has been no bigger disappointment so far than the Tribe. The Tribe looked to be an up and coming team coming off last year’s conference play where they won 8 games in conference and 15-15 overall. But with the loss of star guard Adam Payton to graduation, the Tribe have struggled to score. Leading scorer David Schneider is only shooting 32 percent from the field and second leading scorer Laimus Kisielius is only shooting 39 percent from the field. Not going to win many games that way.
I can’t figure out UNCW for the life of me. On paper, they seem to be a really well balanced team with TJ Carter, Vladmir Kuljanin, Todd Hendley and Daniel Fountain. Having watched their 87-83 overtime win at Hofstra, they can look terrific at times, then asleep at the wheel at other times. Another case in point was their game vs. Drexel Wednesday night. The Seahawks started off to an 11-0 lead, increased that to a 32-18 lead and led 34-25 at halftime. Then Drexel goes on a 15-2 run to start the second half and pulls away and wins by 10, 70-60. Huh? The big culprit was inside play. The big Seahawks line had no answer for Frank Elegar and fouled consistently, so much so that Elegar had TWENTY free throw attempts (the Dragons had 40 overall) with Elegar only making 13 of them (Scott Rodgers also missed on 5 of 10 free throw attempts). Prior to the loss to Drexel, UNCW also had an inexplicable 17 point loss at home to UNC Greensboro -not a bad team, who has won games over Georgia Tech and Fordham, but still. Do Seahawks fans miss Brad Brownell? I bet they do.
Finally, will VCU and ODU start playing more consistently. I thought VCU had turned the corner after winning 5 in a row, including wins over Maryland and at Bradley but against James Madison, the Rams shot 3 of 11 from the three point arc and Eric Maynor was only 6 of 18 from the field. The Rams need to have a strong conference record and can not afford another road loss to UNCW tonite if they want a case as an NCAA at large team (likewise George Mason). ODU has really been inconsistent as their 7-7 record indicates. Here’s a guess why. In their consecutive road losses to Richmond, Winthrop and UAB, the Monarchs shot from the three point line respectively 6 of 22, 5 of 21, and 7 of 32. Way too many outside shots and of course a terrible shooting percentage. Against Hofstra, the Monarchs only shot 13 three point attempts (making 4) and got their big guy, Gerald Lee going with 7 of 11 from the field for 20 points. The Monarchs need to look inside more to be successful.
The games in the CAA today are Georgia State at Northeastern, JMU at Hofstra, Delaware at Drexel, Towson at George Mason, VCU at UNCW and William and Mary at ODU.
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