Mid Major Hoops

Goings on in Mid Major Hoops

Yes, there is one week left in a very interesting major league baseball regular season.  Week three of the NFL is upon us.  And college football is in high gear.  Yet, there are a lot of things going on in mid major college basketball.  Good things.

First, the Annual Wooden Tradition at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on December 20 is going to be a bonanza for mid major hoops fans!  The first game pits hometown Purdue against the Elite Eight Darlings, the Davidson Wildcats with their star player, Stephen Curry.  This will be a difficult test for Davidson as Purdue returns all five of its starting players from its 25-9 2007-08 NCAA tournament team which made the second round of the tournament before losing to Xavier.  Davidson returns senior guard Curry but loses several key players from their team due to graduation, including star point guard Jason Richards.

But its not just the first matchup that should intrigue mid major hoops fans.  The second matchup is all mid major affair as perennial Missouri Valley power Southern Illinois takes on 2007-08 NCAA Tournament at large member St Mary's.    The West Coast Conference Gaels went 25-7 and lost in the first round to Texas.  The Gaels return their dynamic trifecta of sophomore guard Patrick Mills and the inside tandem of junior Omar Samhan and senior Diamon Simpson.  The trio combined to average nearly 39 points per game and 19 rebounds per game.  The Salukis, who despite making the NIT second round, are coming off a disappointing 18-15 season will be in rebuilding mode having graduated eight seniors, including forward standouts Matt Shaw and Randal Falker.  However Saluki coach Chris Lowery will have his new recruits ready playing the standard strangehold Saluki defense the team is famous for.

The Wooden Tradition should be a dandy with what I think are three bonafide Top 25 teams in Purdue, Davidson and St Mary's. 

But there are more goings on in the world of mid major hoops.

Hofstra, East Tennessee State, Western Michigan and perennial Southern conference power College of Charleston will be playing in the inaugural Charleston Classic from November 14-16.  Eight teams will be in this tournament, including NCAA 2007-08 Tournament members Clemson and Temple, along with TCU, and Southern Illinois Edwardsville (not the Salukis of Carbondale - darn!).   

Hofstra is coming off a disappointing season after three straight NIT berths, while East Tennesse State is coming of a loss in the finals of the Atlantic Sun championship to almost Duke buster Belmont.  Western Michigan is coming off a 20 win season and a loss in the MAC semis to Akron.  College of Charleson is coming off their own disappointing season as well.    Hofstra seems to have the worst drawing of the mid majors in this tournament as they face a Clemson team that finished third in the ACC, lost to NC in the ACC tournament final and were 24-10 overall.  The Tigers, who lost to Villanova in the first round of the NCAA tourney, return four of their six leading scorers from last season's team. But it will be a good test for a Pride team that returns four of its five starters from last season.

Two more 2007-08 NCAA tourney members meet when Gonzaga gets its own annual test when it faces Indiana in the Hartford Hall of Fame Showcase on December 6th in the new Lucas Oil Stadium.  Both the Zags (25-8 in 2007-08) and the Hoosiers were in the Raleigh regional bracket that I attended and both were first round losers - Davidson came back to defeat Gonzaga while Indiana was hammered by Arkansas (otherwise known as another Eric Gordon No Show Game).  The Zags return basically their entire starting team, lead by senior guard Jeremy Pargo, sophomore sensation forward Austin Daye, senior center Josh Heytfelt and their leading scorer junior Matt Bouldin.

There is a great article on ESPN , by who else Kyle Whelliston about former major conference players who transferred out and are getting a second chance at the mid-major level.

Finally, CAA Insider has the scoop on Georgia State landing a top 20 national recruit.  Yes, the doormat of the CAA, the Panthers landed the 18th ranked player in the nation by Scout.com.  Check the link above for further details.  Looks like Rod Barnes is going to make the Panthers a player in the CAA.

In October, you will see my pre-season Mid Major Hoops Baker's Dozen and here's a hint.  Three of the teams are listed in this article, including the #1 ranked team on my preseason list. 

Hmm, excuse me while I go make vacation plans for Charleston in November and Indiana in December (Indiana in December..ok, its for good basketball).

Which Was More Balanced CAA 05-06 or CAA 07-08

In March of this year, Kyle Whelliston stated in an ESPN chat that the 2007-08 CAA was more balanced then the 2005-06 CAA.   To get the 2008-09 season started, albeit two months early, I finally have decided to write a column which discusses that. 

In 2005-06, as everyone who follows college basketball knows, George Mason put the CAA on the map by going to the Final Four before losing to eventual champion Florida in the semifinals.  What everyone doesn’t know or remember, the CAA had four teams in the postseason; CAA champion UNC Wilmington, NCAA snub and CAA championship finalist Hofstra who went to the NIT, and the 2004-05 CAA champion, Old Dominion who also went to the NIT.   

In 2007-08, the CAA had three postseason teams; George Mason, who won the CAA championship, VCU, the 2006-07 champ who upset Duke in the first round that year, made the NIT, and Old Dominion who made the inaugural College Basketball Invitational (CBI).

So far, the 2005-06 has a more favorable comparison on the balance scale, with four teams making the postseason as opposed to three for this past season’s teams.   But balance is not determined by the number of postseason teams, its also determined by the strength of teams in the league.

Here’s a look at the regular season overall and conference records of the CAA in 2005-06

UNC Wilmington 25-8, 15-3
George Mason 27-8, 15-3
Hofstra 26-7, 14-4
Old Dominion 24-10, 13-5
Northeastern 19-11, 12-6
VCU 19-10, 11-7
Towson 12-16, 8-10
Drexel 15-16, 8-10
Delaware 8-20, 4-14
William and Mary 8-20, 3-15
Georgia State 7-22, 3-15
James Madison 5-23, 2-16

Compare that with this past season’s CAA

VCU 24-8, 15-3
UNC Wilmington 20-13, 12-6
George Mason 23-11, 12-6
Old Dominion 18-16, 11-7
William and Mary 17-16, 10-8
Northeastern 14-17, 9-9
Delaware 14-17, 9-9
Hofstra 12-18, 8-10
Towson 13-18, 7-11
Drexel 12-20, 5-13
James Madison 13-17, 5-13
Georgia State 9-21, 5-13

At first glance, you could say the 2005-06 was more bottom heavy with four teams with 4-14 records or worse while the worst team in 2007-08 had a 5-13 record (three teams in fact had 5-13 records).  But upon closer look, both seasons had eight teams with 8-10 records or better.  Upon closer review, you had six teams in the 2005-06 season with an 11-7 or better record, which to me is much more balanced.  In fact only four games separated first  (UNC Wilmington) from sixth (VCU) in 2005-06 as opposed to 2007-08 where six games separated first (VCU) from sixth (Northeastern).   You could make a strong argument based on that fact that the 2005-06 season was more balanced, just on those two facts alone.

But there’s more.  A balanced league should show general strength in the postseason.  In the 2005-06 season, the four aforementioned postseason teams combined went an astounding 9-4 (UNC Wilmington 0-1, George Mason 4-1 in the NCAA, Hofstra 2-1, ODU 3-1, both in the NIT).  Only UNC Wilmington lost their first game in a postseason tournament blowing a 20 point lead and losing late to George Washington 88-85.

Compare that with the 2007-08 season postseason teams who went a combined 1-3.  Only ODU won a postseason game, a win over Rider at home in the first round of the CBI (still trying to figure out how ODU got a nod over UNC Wilmington for that tournament). 

So the 2005-06 season is three for three in the balance argument.  Let's use another factor to show how balanced a league is; their record against strong non conference competition.

In 2005-06, the CAA played some very strong non conference competition during the regular season and postseason. George Mason would play the strongest competition. The Patriots started their strong non-conference schedule run of wins by knocking off Manhattan, a NIT participant at Manhattan (Manhattan would knock off Maryland on the road in the first round of the NIT that year). George Mason would defeat fellow Sweet 16 member Wichita State twice, once during Bracket Buster Saturday then in the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament.  Of course, the Patriots along with beating the Shockers knocked off Michigan State, North Carolina and UConn to get to the final four. UNC Wilmington won at Butler by 16 earlier that season (Butler would make the NIT that year and win its first round game at Florida State before losing at Miami of Ohio).  Hofstra beat St Joe’s and Nebraska in the NIT before losing to fellow CAA member ODU in the quarterfinals of the NIT.  ODU won at Colorado, then beat Manhattan and Hofstra before losing to Michigan in the semis of the NIT that season.  VCU also knocked off Albany in their Bracket Buster game that season.  Albany, the America East champs that year, almost knocked off UConn in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Compare that with this season.  VCU’s best wins were over Maryland (lost in second round of NIT to Syracuse), Akron (lost in NIT second round to UMass) and Houston (lost in semifinals of CBI to Tulsa).  George Mason defeated Cleveland State ( a NIT first round loser to Dayton), beat Dayton ( lost in NIT quarters to eventual NIT champ Ohio State) and knocked off Michael Beasley and Kansas State (made the NCAA’s and lost in second round to Wisconsin).   Besides the win over Rider, ODU’s other sole big non conference win was over another NIT quarterfinalist, Virginia Tech. 

So, despite a few nice wins, especially the win by the Patriots over the Wildcats, the 2007-08 season pales in comparison to the 2005-06 season when it comes to strong non conference wins. 

If that’s not enough evidence for you, finally take a look at the players playing in the CAA the 2005-06 season.  You had FOUR CAA most valuable players playing during that season (2004-05 CAA player of the year ODU’s Alex Loughton, 2006-07 player of the year Loren Stokes, 2007-08 player of the year Eric Maynor, and the 2005-06 CAA player of the year, Jose Juan Barea).  Only Maynor played during the 2007-08 season (the others had since graduated).  Throw in other great players like Isaiah Hunter, Antoine Agudio, Michael George, T.J. Carter, John Goldsberry and Towson’s great scorer Gary Neal, and it was no contest what season had the better balance of players.

The evidence clearly shows that it is obvious that the 2005-06 season was a much more balanced league than the 2007-08 season. For some reason,  I just needed nearly six months to show Kyle Whelliston.