Friday the 13th Haunts the Mid Major Bubble Teams

So why am I doing this article at 1:00 am in the morning. Well after a night that this mid major fan had, how can I sleep. I might as well write. I find it ironic that we have already had two months this year with a Friday the 13th (last month, February also had a Friday the 13th).

So Midmajor teams St Mary's and Creighton had potentially lots to fear today. But the day that Triskaidekaphobiacs fear the most started off peaceful enough if you were the St Mary's Gaels, the Creighton Bluejays or a fellow fan of the mid-majors as several fellow bubble teams lost.

A lot of what you needed from yesterday's posting occurred.

1) Minnesota loses - Check. The Gophers lose 64-56 to the #1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan State. At least puts them in the bubble discussion.
2) Kentucky loses - Check. The Wildcats lose to LSU by nine 67-58. Should be squarely NIT bound.
3) Virginia Tech loses - Check. The Hokies do their best to put up a fight and lead for a good part of the game, but in the end fall to North Carolina 79-76. Hokies with a below .500 conference record are NIT fodder.
4) Ohio State defeats Wisconsin - Check. The Badgers are now another team that's part of the bubble discussion with a 10-8 conference record and under 20 wins.
5) Mississippi State soundly defeats South Carolina 82-68. Getting clocked by 14 points in the SEC quarterfinals is not good news for the bubblicious Gamecocks.

Then just like all horror stories and movies, day turned into evening. The vampires and zombies might have well come out. And there might as well have been Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising" playing. Because we were reminded that yes, today indeed was Friday the 13th....

Don't go around tonight,
Well, its bound to take your life,
There's a bad moon on the rise.

Yes, if you were either a top ranked team/top seeded team in your tournament or St Mary's or Creighton, Friday evening was definitely a horror movie in the making. You might as well had Freddy Krueger anchoring Sportscenter using his claws to work the telestrator.

It first started out ok as Illinois was crushing Michigan by twenty in the second half 54-34 with seven minutes remaining in their Big Ten Quarterfinal matchup. It looked like the Wolverines were certainly playing themselves out of the NCAA tournament. Then the moon must have rose, cause the Wolverines went on a 11-0 run over the next two and half minutes to cut the lead to nine with plenty of time left. Thankfully the Wolverines wouldn't get any closer and lost 60-50 to the Illini in a somewhat more respectable score. So the Wolverines are now definitely part of the bubble discussion, but it could have been a lot worse for the Wolverines had they lost by twenty.

Unfortunately for mid-major fans, the worst was about to come as Freddy sharpens the claws and starts up the highlights...

First, the A10 reared its ugly head. My friend Mal predicted this and it came true. Christmas Time in Atlantic City. Temple's Dionte Christmas was hitting the jackpots. And Xavier rolled snake eyes the entire night. Temple 55 Xavier 53. Give the Owls credit as the held the Musketeers to their lowest point total of the season and their lowest shooting percentage of the season (34.5%). Getting only nine foul shots and hitting only five though if you're a Xavier fan (or a Xavier fan for an evening), certainly not good. And it was "Black Christmas" time (if you remember the movie) for mid major fans as Dionte poured in 20 points and left the Musketeers to fatally fall on their own swords.

That was just part one of the Friday the 13th Atlantic City A10 Massacre. Part two was yet to come.

Meanwhile, in the ACC. Wake Forest should have renamed itself Wake the Hell Up Forest after the debacle I watched this evening. The #9 team in the nation looked more the #1 team most likely to lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Maryland outplayed them the entire game as the Terps rocked the Demon Deacons 74-62.

Wake shot an absolutely horrid 29 percent from the field. And watching this unfold on ESPN2, it was quite apparent that the shots they were putting up were just ridiculous. Their big man, James Johnson who did have 20 points, took four ill advised three point attempts and bricked all four. They rushed down the court often and took off balance shots. It was just bad. Jeff Teague should have been benched for his shoddy point guard play. However, give Maryland's Greivis Vasquez a lot of credit. Kid can play. He had 22 points on the night.

So now the Terps have life and are now part of the bubble discussion. A team that went 7-9 in conference is now getting support for being an at large. Great.

The bad moon continued as another bubble team, San Diego State, got life from the Bad Moon. The Aztecs, who if my history serves me correctly performed sacrificial rituals (how fitting for Friday the 13th), were only seventh in the Mountain West this season in free throw shooting at 69 percent. Yet tonight, the Aztecs shot 19 of 22 from the foul line. Meanwhile the team that was fourth in the Mountain West in free throw shooting at 73.2 percent, the Cougars, only shot 15 of 23 from the foul line. The result, San Diego upset the #1 seed in the Mountain West, BYU 64-62. San Diego State seems to have cemented an at large bid by making the MWC finals. Great.

By the way, is anybody kind of now freaked out that a school named their mascot after people who used to perform human sacrifices? Didn't really think about that till now. Thanks March Madness!

Anyway, we continue on with "Night of the Living Bubble". What's Friday the 13th without a really good scare?! Well, if you were a Bluejays or Gaels fan and you were following the Utah State - New Mexico State game, you got a dandy of a fright. In the seemingly annual battle of the Aggies in the WAC Tournament, Utah State got out to an early ten point lead, 19-9. It was just like those movies, where the young teenagers are playing in the lake, all happy, all having fun, having romantic interludes and the stuff. :-)

Then it happens, the serial killer rises from the lake and starts causing havoc. Or in this case, New Mexico State started making, sorry for the pun, a killer run on the #1 seed in the WAC. As in a 38-15 bloodbath of a run. New Mexico State takes a 13 point lead into the half and mid major fans everywhere are going "NOOOOOOOOOOO!".

Then the second half begins and Utah State starts mounting a comeback. But try as they might, Gary Wilkinson and company seem to be fighting insurmountable odds. With a little over four minutes left, Utah State is still down eight, 68-60. Then just when it looks like Voorhees has them in for the final kill, our heroes Wilkinson, Tai Wesley and Pooh Williams turn the tide on the evil New Mexico Voorhees and go on an 11-2 final run as Tyler Newbold hits a jumper with four seconds left to put Utah State up one 71-70. But just like Jason, New Mexico State leaps back up and attempts a three but misses at the buzzer. The Gaels and Bluejays fans leave the movie theater relieved but with their hearts in their throats. Utah State survives and we don't have to yet worry about the possibility of an at large Aggie team in the mix.

But, meanwhile in the Big 12 we are getting treated to the basketball version of Prom Night, with the Baylor Bears playing the part of the killer slasher. First it was eighth seed Nebraska by 16. Then the big kill, as the Bears knocked off the Prom Queen, #1 seeded defending national champion Kansas in the second round. Then the Friday Night Lights special as Baylor came back late to knock off #4 seed Texas 76-70. You know its Friday the 13th when Baylor finally beats Texas after TWENTY FOUR STRAIGHT LOSSES over TWENTY ONE YEARS. Baylor now only needs to knock off Missouri to get the automatic bid for the Big 12. Still, there is a little calm because Missouri can win tomorrow and make all right for mid major bubble teams.

However, the second half of the Friday the 13th A10 Massacre begins as Dayton, the other A10 at large lock team, takes on Ron Everhart and friends, otherwise known as Duquesne. This one was not going to have a happy ending. Duquesne took the lead for good 16-14 with eight minutes left in the first half. In the second half, the carnage truly took place as "Them Dukes" took it out on the Hazzard County Flyer Police. Duquesne went on a 12-2 run and went up by eighteen 61-43 with 6:45 left. As the fans headed out then to play poker in the Tropicana, them Dukes were on their way to a 77-66 win over the Flyers.

So what Creighton and St Mary's fans feared the most, an A10 final without either Xavier or Dayton. Thus the likelihood of three A10 teams in the tournament - Xavier, Dayton and the winner of the championship game looms large. One less spot.

The news at the end of the night got a little better. Florida lost to Auburn. And Penn State probably played itself off the bubble by getting buried by Purdue 79-65. The game was never close, as the Boilermakers were often up by twenty plus in the second half. Not a good impression to leave in your quarterfinal matchup.

But still after Friday the 13th had ended, the carnage was done. Most likely two guaranteed bubble spots were taken; one by sacrifice practicing Aztecs, the other by Atlantic City gambling A10 uprisers Duquesne or Temple. And a third spot may have been taken by Twerps, I mean Terps. And a fourth spot could be taken up by the Prom Night Baylor Bears.

Wow, what a horrorfest Friday the 13th was. Maybe now I can go to bed. Maybe.

Bubblicious

As I was one of the few people on the planet keeping track of the New Mexico-Wyoming score (more on that in a second), I am proud to say that I did stay up to watch the entire six overtime period masterpiece that was Syracuse - UConn. The great thing is I was chatting with two of my friends on Facebook during the timeouts/commercial breaks. My friends Mike Pomarico, Mo Goldman and I were just dumbfounded. Also, I should have had breakfast right after it was done.

Yes, it's not mid majors, but I love college basketball as a whole, and that folks will go down as one of the all time classics. Little did the refs know that their correct call waving off Devendorf's apparent game winning shot at the buzzer (the ball had not left his fingertips when it hit zero on the shot clock) would result in one for the ages. And it is truly an amazing stat that Syracuse never led for any of the first five overtime periods. You knew however when they took the lead in the sixth that fate was with them.

So most people will remember yesterday and early this morning for all the big teams getting upset. #2 Pitt and #4 UConn in the Big East, #7 Oklahoma and #9 Kansas all got knocked off yesterday. Well, they are all in the tournament, so yeah it's news but not big in the whole grand scheme of things.

What we care about, if you are St Mary's and Creighton's fans, and I know you are, is that several major bubble teams got knocked off yesterday, clearing some space for the Gaels and Bluejays to get back on.

1) Arizona lost to Arizona State by 12 in the PAC 10 Quarterfinals. Sorry Arizona State, but the Moore Selection Committee Primer specifically notes that if you are a .500 conference team during the regular season and you lose in the quarterfinals, you are toast. Arizona was 8-8 in the regular season. Yes they had some non conference wins and a non conference SOS of 73, but actually now being 8-9 in conference after the loss to the Sun Devils doesn't cut the mustard. Also a loss to fellow bubble member UNLV puts you on the bad side. Lunardi has you out. I never had you in. Enjoy the NIT.

2) Providence lost to Louisville 73-55 in Big East Quarters. Providence did finish above .500 in the Big East and does have home wins over Pitt and Syracuse. Problem one - No non conference road wins of note. A win at home by one point over Rhode Island is it. Problem two - Non Conference SOS of 157. Ugh. Problem three - Road/Neutral record of 6-8. Not good. Problem four - 2-7 Record vs. RPI Top 50. Eeek. Nice try Friars - NIT for you.

3) New Mexico lost to Wyoming 75-67 in MWC Quarters. The Lobos losing to a team they swept during the regular season not good. Losing in your quarterfinals when you are a bubble team, a Moore Selection Primer No No. Yes, they were 12-4 in the Mountain West conference, a conference that may get three teams in (but not if I can help it).

However, take a closer look at the Lobos. What I consider their four "big" wins in conference; wins over Utah, BYU, San Diego State, and UNLV, all at home. OK, that's what you're supposed to do.

But then look at their non conference schedule. No non conference wins to speak of. A 9-7 non conference record. A big time HEAD TO HEAD loss to Creighton, fellow bubble member. That's Moore Selection Primer material. Look even closer and their RPI is 58, worse than St Mary's, Creighton, UNLV etc. Non Conference SOS is an ugly 174. Their road/neutral record is 6-9 now after the loss yesterday. Five things that scream...NIT! They are done.

4) UNLV lost to San Diego State 71-57 in MWC Quarters. The battle of the Mountain West bubble teams in the quarters should have done in UNLV. The Rebels lost all three games to the Aztecs in the Mountain West, so that's a huge Moore Selection Committee Primer tiebreaker. Also the 9-7 record in the Mountain West is not something to write home about. They do have that signature non conference win at Louisville and a home win over Arizona, plus a 4-4 record vs the RPI Top 50. But a road/neutral record of 6-7 is not good and neither is the non conference SOS of 154. As Ralph Kramden would say "OUT! GET OUT!"

5)Miami loses to Virginia Tech 65-47 in ACC first round. Notice a trend here. With the exception of the New Mexico-Wyoming game, all our bubble teams lost either in the quarters or first round by DOUBLE DIGITS. Say what you want about Creighton and St Mary's but they had the decency to get blown out in the semis and the finals respectively (in St Mary's case by the #12 team in the nation). A 7-9 record in conference (now 7-10 after the loss to the Hokies) is all you need to know that the Canes are NIT bound. Nothing more to add here. OK, let's pile on. A bubble team worst non Conference SOS of 219. TWO NINETEEN. Goodbye!

OK, if you are St Mary's, which has a non conference SOS of 82, better than any team mentioned except Arizona (and that's not by much) or Creighton, you want the following to happen the next three days.

1) Utah State to run the table in the WAC. Can't have any upsets in the WAC. Because if Utah State loses, that will complicate things, especially for St Mary's. Hope the Aggies run the table, then St Mary's can hang their hat on their bracketbuster win over them.

2) Need SEC help. Need Kentucky and Florida to lose in the quarters. Need LSU and Auburn to beat down these two teams. Kentucky is right now out. Florida is on the bubble. Also, Tennessee needs to end any hopes Alabama has. Miss State beating South Carolina might help too, but we don't want the Bulldogs to go any further than that.

3) Maryland needs to get crushed by Wake Forest. Yes the Terps have a 7-9 record, but we don't want them to complicate things by starting to win big games in the ACC tourney. Sorry Matt Melnick (a friend of mine who went to Maryland) but we want the Terps to get blown out.

4) Likewise, need another ACC crushing by North Carolina over VA Tech. Can't have a 7-9 conference Hokies team causing havoc. They did us a favor crushing Miami. But enough, Heels get them out.

5) Need Michigan, Penn State, Minnesota and Wisconsin all to lose in the quarters. Could happen. There is no way their should be eight Big Ten teams. Sorry the conference is not that good. Ideally, Michigan and Minnesota losing by a big score respectively to Illinois and Michigan State would be lovely.

6) Need chalk in the Big 12. Baylor looks like its causing havoc here. Need Texas to step up here and take out the Bears now.

7) Need chalk in the A10. Yes, folks you want a Xavier-Dayton final. Both teams are considered in now. Last thing you need is Christmas Time to come to Atlantic City as in Dionte Christmas. Today's Temple-Xavier game is huge. And Dayton beating Duquesne is almost as huge.

8) Finally, if you are St Mary's, you hope that San Diego State's run ends today against BYU. A loss here, and then you hope the committee remembers the HEAD TO HEAD win over San Diego State on a neutral site.

Sounds easy, right? Well, a lot of fingernails in Omaha and Moraga are going to get chewed off the next few days. Stay tuned. It truly is March Madness.

Robert Morris and Portland State Go Dancing

Kudos to Robert Morris and Portland State for winning their respective tournaments on last second baskets to get an automatic bid to the dance. On their home court, Robert Morris defeated Mount Saint Mary's 48-46 to win the Northeast Championship. This was the second game in the past week that featured a player's only points came off the game winning basket. In this Dallas Green(NOT the former Mets and Phillies manager) picked up a loose ball and hit a jumper with 2.5 seconds left to win the game for the Colonials. Last Saturday, Morehead State's Steve Peterson hit a late game winning jumper for his only basket of the game. Again, March Madness gives us the unlikeliest of heroes.

Meanwhile in Ogden, Utah, Portland State got a last second basket from Julius Thomas to beat Montana State 79-77 to win the Big Sky Tournament. After the Bobcats' Branden Johnson buried a three to tie the game at 77, the Vikings' Dominic Waters barreled down the lane, drew contact with a Montana State defender (watching the game I was cringing for the charge to be called but it wasn't) and dished it to Thomas for a thunderous dunk with 3.5 seconds left.

Then came the strangest thing as I watched the game on ESPN2. Montana State first calls timeout. Then they inbound the ball to midcourt...and call a timeout again! Huh? What, they didn't have a set play ready so the coach said "Throw the pass to midcourt, call timeout. By that time, we should figure a play out". I am still scratching my head on that one.

Then guess who they setup a play for....

1) Their guard, Branden Johnson, who hit the tying three and was the second leading scorer on the night with 17 points
2) Their center, Divaldo Mbunga, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds on the evening.
3) Their guard, Erik Rush, who had 16 points
4) Their leading scorer on the year, Will Bynum who had 10 points on the night
5) Their forward Bobby Howard who had zero points on the night and was averaging the second lowest FG percentage of our five choices.

If you guessed #5, you were correct. However you must have been in the huddle with the Montana State coaches during the timeout, because no other person in their right mind would have guessed that. Yes Johnson is their third leading scorer and averages 10 points per game, but he attempted two shots the entire night. Well anyway, Johnson got the ball with 2.5 seconds left and was immediately stuffed by a Vikings defender. Never got a shot off. Ball game.

My favorite 5 foot 6 point guard in the nation, Jeremiah Dominguez had 22 points to lead the way for the Vikings who made the dance for the second season in a row. Congrats!

Hilltoppers Tame Jaguars

Congratulations to Western Kentucky, who won the Sun Belt championship last night defeating South Alabama 64-56 in a battle of two NCAA Tournament teams from last season. A.J. Slaughter had 18 points to lead the Hilltoppers back from a second half deficit. The Hilltoppers had been up by as many as 15 points in the first half before the Jaguars came back to take a second half lead. This is Western Kentucky's 21st appearance in the dance and their second year in a row.

Last year, Western Kentucky went to the sweet 16 after defeating fellow mid majors Drake and San Diego in the first two rounds. The Hilltoppers are one of the few teams with a win over highly ranked Louisville this season, defeating the Cardinals at "neutral site" Freedom Hall.

Meanwhile the MAC tournament got under way as Akron, Kent State, Ohio, and Central Michigan all won first round games. For you MAC fans keeping score that's the MAC East division with three wins and the MAC West with one win in the first round. Unfortunately for the MAC West, it was cannibalization as Central Michigan beat fellow West Division team Eastern Michigan. For those of you who don't know, check the Mid American Standings and now you will be in on the joke that is the MAC West Division.

If you are asking me to pick a winner in the MAC, well folks the MAC has been wackier than the CAA, if that is all possible this season. You had five teams in the East division within a game of each other from first place. So you could put those five teams in a hat and pick a winner from there and be just as accurate. However, I think unlike VCU, who held up as chalk during the conference tournament, I think you're going to get a sleeper out of here. And I'll take Kent State, a team that has won eleven of its last thirteen games, and has veteran tourney experience in Al Fisher and Chris Singletary to lead them to another 20 win season and to the big dance again.

March Madness claimed another victim last night in the Big Sky as #1 seed Weber State, who had lost only one game in conference all year lost to Montana State, who was 6-10 in conference this season, 70-61 in the Big Sky semifinals. However, Montana State was the only team to beat the Wildcats in conference during the regular season. This means our old friend, Portland State with the great Jeremiah Dominguez has a chance to go dancing for the second season in a row after they knocked off Idaho State in the other semi.

The Vikings Go Dancin and There Be Bison at the Dance Too!

The Cleveland State Vikings, in part due to a great defensive play at the end of the game by Norris Cole, knocked off #17 Butler on their home Hinkle Fieldhouse court 57-54. This was not a surprise to me in my Horizon Tournament preview as I predicted Cleveland State to win. I knew Butler had been playing with fire in those first two games. Very proud of Gary Waters and his very defensive minded Vikings. And we all know Butler is going already based on their wins at Xavier and Davidson. Two from the Horizon!

And congratulations to the North Dakota State Bison who came back from a double digit deficit against the Oakland Grizzlies (a preseason favorite of mine) to win 66-64 on a shot by Ben Woodside with three seconds left. The Grizzlies were up by as many as 14 in the game and were up by 10 with a little more than seven minutes left before the Bison rumbled back. Dr J's herd could be very dangerous in the dance!

Finally, I see Lunardi put San Diego State in over St Mary's. Ok, yes it was a bad loss, but you can't put San Diego State in over St Mary's. It's called HEAD TO HEAD. Or otherwise known as St Mary's beat San Diego State this season on a neutral court. If you want to remove St Mary's because of the bad loss, fine put Butler now in as an at large after their loss. But San Diego State can't be put in over St Mary's. That's a violation of the nth degree in our Selection Committee Primer. For shame, Joe, for shame.

Night of the Routs - Part Deux

So, like many others anticipating the start of the Gonzaga - St Mary's WCC championship game at the Orleans Casino in Las Vegas, I wondered how effective will Patty Mills be. Can he help the Gaels hit the jackpot and lead them out of Sin City with a championship and an automatic bid? Or will he roll snake eyes and St Mary's would have to rest their last chips on a charitable NCAA Selection Committee?

Well if the warmups were any indication, and alas they eventually were, it was going to be a long night for the Gaels on ESPN. During warmups, Omar "Enter the Sandman" Samhan suffered a brain cramp and dunked, which is a violation, resulting in a technical foul and free throws. So before the tip, Matt Bouldin, the second coming of Dan Majerle, shot two free throws, hitting only one and the Zags were up 1-0 before the teams lined up for the ball toss.

It seems that St Mary's was dazed as a result or perhaps it was the immediate Gonzaga assault on the scoreboard. Barely two minutes in and the Gaels were down 8-0, then 11-2 as Micah Downs, Josh Heytvelt, Stephen Gray and Austin Daye all took turns scoring. St Mary's would come back to cut it to 17-13 as Diamon Simpson and Samhan scored all 13 of the Gaels points (a tell tale sign of things to come). The lead would swell back to nine, 24-15, as Bouldin channeled Majerle and hit a long three.

The Gaels would cut the lead to five, 27-22 with five minutes left on a Mickey McConnell three but that's as close as they would ever come for the rest of the game. The Zags would finish on a 11-3 run punctuated by a three point play by Heytvelt. As the mostly pro Gonzaga crowd was whipped into a frenzy like at a Wayne Newton Concert (hey this is a Vegas themed column), the Gaels stared at a 38-25 halftime deficit, an empty wallet and a bus ticket back to Moraga, California.

Gonzaga came out and didn't score on their first three possessions. The Gaels scored the first four points of the half to cut it to nine but needed two three throws and Patty Mills to hit one of four shots to do so. Gonzaga played the role of the house and immediately dashed the hopes of whatever Gaels fans' were there at the Orleans with a 10-1 run to go up 48-30. The Gaels would never get closer than 17 points the rest of the way as the Zags cruised to an 85-58 win. Not exactly the score you want if you're St Mary's in front of a national audience including some NCAA committee members.

The stats were telling. Patty Mills and the St Mary's guards rolled snake eyes all night. Mills shot an awful 2 of 16 from the field for five points and was clearly cognizant of his recently healed broken hand. The rest of the guards shot an underwhelming 5 of 17. Only Samhan and Simpson kept the Gaels in the game with 36 points and 18 rebounds.

Much of the credit for the Gaels off night should go to the best field goal percentage defensive team in the country, Gonzaga, who held St Mary's to 28.8 percent from the field. On the offensive end, the Zags smoked the Gaels, shooting 54.8 percent from the field including 9 of 18 from three. Six Zags had double figures led by Heytvelt's 17 points and Majerle Bouldin's 14. Tournament MVP Downs had 12 points and 12 rebounds. Gray had 10 points, Jeremy Pargo 10, and Demetri Goodson added 11.

While the Gaels were getting torched more than Foster Brooks in an open bar, a barnburner was brewing over on ESPN2 as Niagara and Siena battled for the MAAC Championship. The semifinal games that Siena and Niagara played on Sunday were as far apart as you can get. Siena was up by as many as 28 before coasting to a 15 point win over Fairfield as the Saints rested most of their players at the end. Meanwhile in the second semifinal, Niagara needed a prayer of a three point bank shot by Tyrone Lewis just to tie Rider, then endured two overtimes to beat the Broncs 93-89. Four Purple Eagles played 44 minutes or more during that game.

So, you would think a relatively fresh Siena team would come out and roll over a dog tired Niagara, especially considering that both teams love an up and down pace. Would this be the fourth of four routs?

However, both teams had split the season series and this looked like the best matchup of the night. It was Ali and Frazier, the third time, the Thrilla in Manila, with an Albany flavor. And it lived up to the billing.

Niagara looked like the team that won in regulation the night before as the Purple Eagles jumped out with jabs to a 15-5 lead. But just like a champion prizefighter that was wobbled by a series of would be knockout punches, the Saints stormed back with uppercuts of their own. Siena went on a 22-6 run and went up 27-21. The Purple Eagles though came back with left hooks of their own as Demetrius Williamson nailed two threes to tie the game at 33 at the half.

Then came the second half. Both teams would trade equal blows to each other. For the first eleven minutes, Siena would have a lead no larger than four points. Niagara would never have a lead during this time. But four times, Niagara came back and tied the game. The last of which was at 50 all with nine minutes left. Then Siena called timeout. And then it happened. Siena nailed Niagara with several body blows, with the 19-6 run culminated by a Ryan Rossiter right hook layup. Only 3:29 remained after the five minute carnage with the score 69-56 Siena.

Niagara, led by Bilal Benn and Lewis, like Frazier made on last frenzied comeback. A 14-6 run was capped by a Lewis three point right hook put the Purple Eagles down five, 75-70. But only
15 seconds remained. Kenny Hasbrouck who was downright dominant in the second half would hit one free throw and Ronald Moore's free throw would seal the scoring for the Saints. A hard fought 77-70 unanimous decision for Siena.

Hasbrouck led Siena with 19. Rossiter and Alex Frankin each had 16 with Rossiter adding 14 rebounds. Lewis led the way with 22 points. However, the night before claimed a victim as Bilal Benn shot an unseemly 2 of 15 from the field for six points, eight under his average. Thus Siena moves on with the automatic bid, thus easing the minds of bubble teams everywhere. Meanwhile Niagara will likely play in the NIT, lurking in the shadows waiting to knock off a mediocre major conference team.

Championship Monday - Night of the Routs - Part I

There were four mid major championship games last night. Three that involved the number one seed facing the #2 seed and another where a #3 seed was playing a #5 seed (and those seeds should have been reversed). Only one game was relatively close until the end.

Let's start with the CAA. It was a battle of the last two CAA champions; George Mason, who won last season and VCU, who won the prior season. Coming into the tournament, I really thought George Mason was the most balanced team. VCU, so I thought, was too reliant on Eric Maynor and if Maynor had an off night, VCU would be in trouble. And I also thought if Larry Sanders, their only other real scoring option got into foul trouble, VCU would be in trouble.

Eric Maynor, was Eric Maynor the entire tournament. Larry Sanders, never got into foul trouble the entire tournament . Thus the rest of the CAA was in trouble. And tonight, George Mason was in trouble.

Much to the delight of the crowd, mostly VCU fans, the Rams came out and shellacked George Mason 71-50. You could tell early that Mason was in for it. Darryl Monroe, the CAA leader in FG percentage, struggled on his first two shot attempts, missing both. In fact, Monroe would only attempt four shots the entire night. Meanwhile the Rams were able to get the ball into Sanders who had six of the first eleven VCU points.

Then up 11-7, the two time CAA player of the year, Eric Maynor, took over. Maynor scored ten straight points then assisted on the next three pointer by Bradford Burgess and VCU was up ten, 24-14 with 6:57 left in the first half. Also during this time, Larry Sanders already had eight rebounds and a block shot. It was one and done for Mason, as in one shot, miss, VCU rebound. Monroe had been so ineffective that he was taken out for freshman Michael Morrison who matched up somewhat better to Sanders but it still didn't matter. Sanders would add four more rebounds and a blocked shot (a total of 12 rebounds and 2 blocks) before the half ended, with VCU up 30-19.

If Mason fans had any hope of a comeback, they were immediately dashed as the second half opened. VCU outscored George Mason 13-1 and you could have switched to the SoCon championship game (to see Chattanooga also come out to a large second half run too). The score was 43-20. Ball game.

The Rams, shut down Mason's inside game as they did to ODU's Gerald Lee in the semis (Lee was 1 of 7 from the field for 5 points). As mentioned, Monroe had only four FG attempts and 3 points over all. The other Patriots big men, Louis Birdsong, Michael Morrison and Ryan Pearson combined for only twelve points. Mason shot 30 percent overall.

Much of that had to do with Sanders, who was just flat out dominant in the game. He had five blocks and another eight rebounds in the second half. Chip in a 7-12 shooting night and Sanders had 17 points, 18 rebounds and 7 blocks on the night. And he altered several more. Just ask Monroe.

And Maynor, was simply Maynor. Len Elmore who was doing the color in last night's game said they should rename Maynor's floater in the lane, "The Maynor". Maynor had 25 points on 9 of 20 shooting from the field and 8 assists. Just dominant. If he is not a first round NBA pick, I don't know who is.

So, one 7:00 PM Eastern start championship game was decided by 8:15 pm Eastern. Another championship game, the Southern Conference, or SoCon, was facing a similar fate.

Chattanooga, the #2 overall seed was facing Charleston, the #5 overall seed, despite Charleston (15-5 SoCon) having a much better record than Chattanooga (11-9 SoCon). This is due to the wacky idea the SoCon has of putting teams in separate divisions even though the teams still basically play everybody twice during the season (sans two teams). Thus, Chattanooga, who finished first in the SoCon North got the #2 seed and a first round bye, while Charleston finished third in the SoCon South got the #5 seed and had to play an extra game. Makes sense to me! Another key factor. The SoCon tournament was being played on the Moccasins' home court.

The teams battled back and forth in the first half, with no team claiming more than a seven point lead. After several ties and lead changes, the game was tied at 34. Tony White Jr did most of the first half damage for Charleston with 15 points on three bombs from beyond the arc. Meanwhile Chattanooga was much more balanced with Stephen McDowell, Ty Patterson and Kevron Sheard all chipping in.

The second half started much different than the first. Over the span of nearly six and half minutes, the Moccasins forced six Cougar turnovers and held Charleston to 0 of 6 from the field. Meanwhile the Mocs went 6 of 9 during that stretch. The result, a 20-0 Chattanooga run and the Mocs up 54-34.

Charleston, behind Tony White Jr, and Andrew Goudelock did not give up. They would counter with a 14-0 run of their own to cut the lead to 54-48 with 10:47 left. The Cougars would trim the lead down to five points at 56-51 with a little over eight minutes left. But that seemed to be the point where the Cougars ran out of gas. The Mocs would outscore the Cougars 13-4 over the next nearly five minutes and the game was over.

Tony White Jr. led all scorers with 31 points and Goudelock added 15 for Charleston. Chattanooga had four double digit scorers led by Sheard with 18, McDowell 15, Patterson 12 and Kevin Goffney with 10. The Mocs were also an impressive 22 of 27 from the line.

Later today will be Part 2, featuring Siena-Niagara and Gonzaga-St Mary's. Tonight, you have three championships being decided; the Summit - North Dakota St vs. Oakland, the Sun Belt - Western Kentucky vs. South Alabama and the Horizon - Butler vs. Cleveland State.

Quick Thoughts from Sunday's Tournament Action

A lot of entertaining games yesterday involving mid major teams. Quick thoughts from them.

Don't underestimate George Mason's chances against VCU tonight. The Rams played flawed teams in Georgia State and ODU. ODU especially has no guards that can hit from the outside and eventually when VCU clamped down on the inside play of the Monarchs, it was all she wrote. The Patriots have much better outside shooting guards in Cam Long, Jon Vaughan and yes even Dre Smith. I still like Mason to win tonight. And kudos to Towson for really putting in a great effort in the tournament. One question. Where was this all year???

Niagara and Rider was a very exciting game. One wonders how much is left in the Purple Eagles' tank for the championship game after a double overtime win last night. Combine that with the fact that Siena sat their starters at the end of a rout of Fairfield last night and tonight might not be a fair indicator of how close the teams are.

I sure hope College of Charleston wins tonight. But they have an extremely tough task beating Chattanooga on their home court. Remember, I had a major problem in Saturday's column about the seedings of the SoCon tournament and the divisions. The Cougars again shut down Stephen Curry and the Wildcats in the second half. The Cougars are a good team.

Nice work by Northern Iowa surviving regulation against Illinois State and winning in overtime. Osiris Eldridge was having such a nice game and such a great tournament until that ridiculous shot that he chucked up and missed that forced overtime. Oguchi missing that easy layup that he usually hits also hurt.

Patty Mills was rusty but St Mary's beat Portland 71-61 early this morning to face Gonzaga in the finals tonight. Gonzaga pasted Santa Clara in the first game. Even though Mills only shot 3 of 12, his mere presence on the court and his ability to distribute the ball make such a huge difference. Should be a great game tonight.

Finally, kudos to Tony Bozzella's Lady Gaels. They lost a tough game to Marist in the MAAC semifinals. Marist would go on to win the championship game yesterday when they beat Canisius. Bo's team kept the score close, but they couldn't any closer than six points at the end. He basically returns his entire team including two medical redshirts. Look for great things from the Lady Gaels next season. I have a hunch that the Marist Red Foxes' reign ends next season.

Lots of good championship games tonight. Enjoy.

A Day With the CAA - The Quarterfinals

Yesterday had that familiar feeling for me. Just like Friday, I hooked up the online streaming feed from the CAA Sports web site. Just like Friday, the CAA had another day of four games on Saturday. And just like Friday, all three favorites won and one team was upset. But that's where the familiarity ended. Unlike Friday, there were no double digit wins. All the games were decided by nine points or less. And the games were far more entertaining, well sans perhaps the first one.

The first game was VCU vs Georgia State. The Rams had won their previous matchup by twenty eight, 69-41. As the game started, the pace was very similar to Georgia State's game vs. Delaware on Friday. Slow, methodical. Just the way the Panthers, the lowest scoring team in the CAA, like it. The score was tied at 15 with five and half minutes left in the first half. If Georgia State had any sort of offense, they could have had a seven to ten point lead. Then the Rams went on a 9-0 run to end the first half, and you could have turned your computer feed there with VCU up 24-15.

The Rams shut down the Panthers from the outside, holding the Panthers to 4 of 15 from the line and 35 percent overall. The nine point lead swelled to 17, 44-27 with twelve minutes left. Somehow Georgia State, led by Joe Dukes, found their offensive rhythm and a 16-6 run actually cut the lead to seven 50-43 with 6:19 left. But the Panthers would never get any closer, not with Eric Maynor around. Maynor led VCU with 18 points, but also got help from guards Brandon Rozzell and Bradford Burgess who combined for 23 points. The Rams shot nearly 55 percent from the field. Joe Dukes led all scorers with 24 points for the Panthers.

The 7500 fans in attendance for the afternoon session were treated to a dandy in the second game of the afternoon session. #4 seed ODU took on #5 seed Hofstra. It turned out to be a battle of the All CAA First Team Members, the Monarch's Gerald "General" Lee and Charles "Call me Mister" Jenkins. And what a battle it was.

It didn't look that way early on as ODU stormed out to a 9-2 lead with Lee scoring seven of the first nine points. It was evident that Blaine Taylor's game plan was to get it to Lee at all costs. Meanwhile Hofstra's offense struggled during this time and there was the possibility that this could be a blowout. But it was going to be a game of runs. Hofstra went on a stunning 20-2 run as Jenkins got hot and got help from Nathaniel Lester, Zygis Sestokas, Cornelius Vines and Miklos Szabo. Hofstra had the lead 22-11 and I remember telling Tony Terentieff, who was over my house watching the game with me on MSG Plus 2, that they need to keep this lead at going into the half.

But remember, this was a game of runs and thus a 13-2 Monarch run, led by who else but the General Lee, the game was tied at 24. Lee scored seven of the thirteen points during that run. Hofstra would pull ahead and lead by one, 29-28 at the half. Lee had 18 of the Monarchs 28 points while Jenkins had 14 of the 29.

The second half saw both teams struggle. In the first six minutes, only six points were scored, five by ODU. The lead was 33-30 with 14 minutes left before ODU outscored Hofstra 9-2 over the next four plus minutes to take a 42-32 lead. Hofstra during this time missed eleven of twelve shots. But, once again, this was a game of runs. And the Pride, led by Jenkins and Lester, had one more run. Hofstra would outscore ODU 15-4 and take the lead on a Jenkins three pointer, 47-46 with a little more than two minutes left. Of course, Lee would answer for ODU with four consecutive points and the Monarchs were up 50-47 with 39 seconds left. Jenkins and ODU's Darius James traded free throws and the Monarchs were up 52-49 20 seconds left.

This setup the big ending. Jenkins hit a jumper to cut it to 52-51 with 1o seconds left. Hofstra called a 30 second timeout to setup a press defense off the inbounds. It worked, as James lost the ball and Cornelius Vines recovered the ball as Coach Tom Pecora called time out. Hofstra ball, 3.8 seconds left in the game with a chance to win.

As everyone in the building and watching on TV or video streaming feed knew, Jenkins got the ball. But as he went up to shoot a jumper, Jonathan Adams blocked the shot to save the day for ODU and gave them a one point win, 52-51. It is ironic that Adams saved the day, considering it was Adams that saved ODU in their previous win over Northeastern. Adams hit a game tying three in regulation that sent the game into overtime, then won the game on two free throws.

As for the battle of the CAA First Team players, Lee had 30 points and 1o rebounds. Jenkins had 27 points for Hofstra. Neither team had any other players score in double figures.

Then it was onto the evening session and back to the video feed, while watching the championship games on ESPN2 as well (and later the Horizon semis on ESPNU). The first game was James Madison and George Mason, the defending CAA champions. Early on, James Madison tried to dictate the pace and jumped out to a 14-7 lead as "Them Dukes" guards Devon Moore and Pierre Curtis showed how quick they are. But Mason went to their bread and butter, the inside game. Second Team All CAA Darryl Monroe (who should have been First Team All CAA) and super frosh forward Michael Morrison scored eight of the next eleven points for the Patriots and Mason went up 18-14.

The Dukes were not fazed and scored the next seven points as Moore and Kyle "Hungry Man Dinner" Swanston put Them Dukes back up 21-18. The teams would go back and forth and Madison went up one, 25-24 at the half. The second half saw Mason pull out to an early lead, with the largest being six, 35-29 with 16:26 left. The Dukes would battle back as Curtis and Andrei Semenov, part of the Madison freshman trifecta (along with Moore and CAA rookie of the year Julius Wells) would put the Dukes up for the final time 42-41 with 10:43 left on a layup by Curtis.

George Mason would immediately take the lead back on two foul shots by Monroe, 43-42 . Juwann James hit only one of two to tie it up at 43. Then again it was the inside game for Mason as Birdsong hit a layup to put Mason up to stay 45-43. Moore and Curtis would keep Madison in it as the Dukes still within one, 51-50, with 4:12 left. Them Dukes would get no closer, as Mason, without Monroe (who fouled out with 5:41 left), outscored JMU 10-3 the rest of the way.

It was a typical Mason outing. The Patriots held JMU to 27 percent from the field including 4 of 21 from beyond the three point arc. Curtis and Moore combined for 10 of 20 shooting for 29 points but the rest of the team shot a dismal 7 for 42 from the field. This included Wells, Swanston and James shooting a combined 3 of 28. Monroe of course led Mason with 12 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the field. Cam Long also had 12 points on 4 of 8 shooting (Monroe led the CAA in FG percentage for this season and Long was fifth). Vaughan also had 10 points.

So that left the final game, Towson vs. Northeastern. As I mentioned, there was one upset on the day and as I predicted, Northeastern was going to be the victim. I just never thought it would be Towson doing the dirty deed for the second day in a row.

The game was certainly unlike the Friday game where Towson jumped out to 24-4 and 39-15 leads. This was much closer. In fact Northeastern scored six of the first eight points and it looked like midnight and Cinderella's coach was about to turn into that pumpkin. But the Tigers responded with a 12-2 run and were up 14-8 thanks to again Junior Hairston, star of the Drexel rout.

Northeastern would hang in the game thanks to Manny Adako and the Huskies would actually lead 21-20. The game would be tied up at 24 until Towson's Calvin Lee would put the Tigers ahead. The Tigers would actually score eight of the last nine points over the final three minutes of the half and were up 32-25 at halftime.

At the start of the second half, Northeastern would respond immediately with a 14-2 run led by Adako and Nkem Ojougboh. The Huskies were up 39-34 and finally it looked like the end of the dream run for Towson.

But as has been the case with Northeastern the latter half of this season, the Huskies had a cold shooting spell in the second half. More like an arctic front. After hitting six of their first nine shots in the second half, Northeastern would hit on only 6 of 15 for the rest of the game, including 2 for 6 over the last five minutes. During this time, Towson would catch Northeastern as Hairston and Troy Franklin hit back to back threes to put the Tigers up 50-48 with 5:49 left. The Tigers would take the lead for good at 52-50 when Robert Nwanko dunked a rebound off a missed layup by Franklin with 2:26 left. The Tigers would make it 56-50 on a Hairston dunk and Brian Morris' two free throws with 36 seconds left.

But the game was not over yet. Chaisson Allen buried a three pointer with 20 seconds left to cut it to three. Then the Huskies fouled Franklin who missed the front end of a one and one. Now with a chance to tie the game with a three at 56, Baptiste Bataille was fouled as he went up for the tying attempt with a little more than 5 seconds left.

Three shots with an 89 percent free throw shooter at the line. So what happened?

He clanked the first free throw.

Bataille made the second then purposely missed the third. Rebound by Nwanko and an immediate foul by Allen on Nwanko put Nwanko on the line with 5 seconds left with Towson up two, 56-54.

One and one free throw attempts with a 52 percent free throw shooter on the line. So what happened?

Nwanko hit both free throws.

Is the CAA wacky or what? Adako led all scorers with 24. Hairston had 14 and Franklin had 13 points for the Tigers. Matt Janning, all CAA first team (more on that in a later post) went 3 of 13 from the field for a total of nine points (he was also only 2 of 4 from the charity stripe).

Towson now has upset Drexel and Northeastern and looks for the trifecta against Mason? Unlikely? Yes. But this is the CAA.

Upset Saturday and Some Teams Go Dancing

The first few days of conference tournament action were basically chalk. Saturday though proved that again this was March Madness. Just about every conference tournament had what considered to be an upset (except the WCC where Santa Clara and Portland both won) and one specifically, may have cost a team an at large berth.

In the Missouri Valley, the first semifinal game saw Northern Iowa defeat Bradley 76-62. After Friday's near loss to the Sycamores, and a halftime tie with the Braves, the Panthers did not want to test fate again. Up one with 11:57 left, Northern Iowa went on a 10-0 run over the next three and half minutes to go up 55-44 and never looked back. Adam Koch had 22 points and Kwadzo Ahelegbe added 21 for the Panthers, as the number one seed advances to the Valley finals.

Then came the Creighton-Illinois State game and it reminded us why this is the Bizarro Valley. The Redbirds had come into Arch Madness on a seemingly downward spiral, having lost three in a row, one of which was to the Bluejays. More importantly, the preseason MVC player of the year, Redbird guard Osiris Eldridge had been struggling. In those three losses, Eldridge shot only 9 of 29 from the field.

But Eldridge has found his stroke in St Louis. Against Evansville, he shot 6 of 12 from the field for 14 points in a win over the Aces. Then Eldridge topped himself against Creighton, scoring 21 points on 8 of 14 from the field, including 4 of 5 from beyond the arc as the Redbirds demolished Creighton and most likely the Bluejays' hopes for an at large bid 73-49.

As much as Eldridge and Champ Oguchi (18 points on 6 of 8 shooting from beyond the arc) were responsible for shooting down the Bluejays, Creighton themselves helped revoke their dance ticket. A combination of the Redbirds defense and awful shooting resulted in Creighton's 27 percent field goal percentage, including an ugly 4 of 22 from beyond the arc. Friday's hero, Booker Woodfox had a rough day shooting 4 of 13 from the field (including 2 of 8 from beyond the arc). Illinois State now faces Northern Iowa in the Valley championship game today on CBS.

This is the kind of loss the committee remembers. Illinois State suffered a similar fate in last season's Valley championship at the hands of Drake. This is even worse because it happened in the semis and was a day after the miracle shot at the buzzer that saved Creighton from losing to Wichita State. It doesn't look good for the Bluejays.

It wasn't just the Jays who got upset. In the America East, both the second seed, Vermont, and the third seed, Boston University lost in overtime. The Catamounts, my pick to win the America East title, lost to the host team for the tournament, Albany. It was Vermont's second loss to the Great Danes this season. Should Binghamton beat New Hampshire today, the Bearcats will either host a six or seven seed in the final.

In the Summit, there were nearly two upsets in the first quarterfinal round. #1 seed North Dakota State blew a 19 point halftime lead but came back to beat those Gentlemen of Centenary 83-77. The last fourteen Bison points came on free throws. However Oral Roberts couldn't avoid an upset and the second seeded Golden Eagles lost to the tournament host Jackrabbits of South Dakota State 72-69.

The SoCon had the re-emergence of Steph Curry and one major upset. Davidson struggled with Appalachian State for a good part of the game. In fact, the Wildcats were only up one 56-55 before a 10-0 run sealed the game for Davidson. Curry, who only played 10 minutes of the first half would score the final 13 Wildcats' points and end up with 43 on the day. The Wildcats will now play College of Charleston in the much-anticipated semifinal matchup. The Cougars shot 10 of 20 from beyond the arc and easily handled Western Carolina 67-48 as Andrew Goudelock led the way with 16. The Cougars ended the Wildcats SoCon winning streak earlier this season on Davidson's home floor.

The other side of the SoCon bracket saw Chattanooga barely hold off Elon 79-78. However, the other game was the major upset in the SoCon tourney as Samford 76-67 handled #3 seed The Citadel, the other SoCon team to beat Davidson this season. "Hey Lamont, the Big One's coming" - I know I know, that's Sanford, but hey it sounded funny to me.

The MAAC had only one minor upset, as #5 Fairfield, without three starters from the beginning of the year beat #4 Manhattan. The other games were won by chalk handily. Siena crushed Canisius by 25, Niagara smoked Marist by 29 and Rider beat St Peters by 9.

ESPN2's trio of conference championships started with the Big South Championship as #2 VMI played #1 seed Radford on the Highlanders' home court. Did you know the over/under for the game was 170 points? That's pittance when you have VMI playing. Ten players on both sides would score in double digits. In a usual VMI high paced entertaining game, where defense is at a premium. Radford would win 108-94, as the frontcourt of the Highlanders was too much for the Keydets. Artsiom Parakhouski and Joey Lynch-Flohr would combine for 43 points and 28 rebounds as the Highlanders outrebounded the Keydets 56-24. VMI would stay in the game by forcing 27 turnovers and shooting 16 of 50 from beyond the arc. Yes, you read correctly. FIFTY field goal attempts beyond the arc. Austin Kenon led VMI with 34 points while the Holmes twins, Chavis and Travis combined for 33 points. Chris McEachin had five of Radford's ten blocks and 18 points.

Afterwards, I watched the championship of the Atlantic Sun yesterday on ESPN2. As predicted by me prior to the start of the tournament, which is further proof that blind squirrels can find nuts, #2 seeded East Tennessee State came out and jumped on #1 Jacksonville and won 85-68. The Bucs went out to a fifteen-point halftime lead and the Dolphins were done there. ETSU's Miami Vice combination of Smith and Tiggs, otherwise known as Mike Smith (22 points, 12 rebounds) and Kevin Tiggs (21 points) had the Bucs up by as many as TWENTY NINE, 71-42 before the Dolphins cut the final score under twenty. Jacksonville's Ben Smith led all scorers with 28 points.

Then if you were still watching ESPN2, after the ASun game, you got treated to an absolutely dandy of a March Madness game in the Ohio Valley championship. Austin Peay and Morehead State treated the fans in Nashville to an exciting finish in regulation, then to two overtime periods to boot. Morehead State came back from a ten point second half deficit to tie the game late at 55 on four straight free throws. Then with eight second left in regulation, off a timeout, Brandon Shingles found Austin Faried for an alley oop dunk to put Morehead State up two. But Caleb Brown hit a bank shot with no time left on the clock to send the game to overtime.

In the first overtime, the Eagles and the Governors traded six points over the first four minutes and eight seconds. However neither team could score over the last 52 seconds, thus double overtime tied at 63. In the second overtime, the teams seemed to be offensively tired and for the first four minutes and fifty eight seconds, the teams scored a whopping four points combined and the game was tied at 58. But as is often the case, March Madness makes heroes out of role players. In this case, Steve Peterson, a rarely used freshman forward who averages less than 2 points per game hit a jumper with two seconds left for his only points of the game, and the Eagles of Morehead State won the OVC Championship. It's their first NCAA tournament appearance in 26 years for Morehead State.

Finally ESPNU had both games of the Horizon League semifinals at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. First Butler took on Wright State. The Bulldogs had swept the season series from the Raiders, winning the games handily by 16 and 18 points respectively. With that in mind, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 12-3 lead and it looked like the Butler was about to put a third beat down on Wright State.

But this is March Madness and this is the Horizon League, so the regular season often means squat. Throw in the fact that the Raiders are coached by one of the best minds in basketball, Brad Brownell, and there's always reason for hope. Wright State responded with a 13-4 run and the game was tied at sixteen. Butler would go up four at the half 32-28 and then with the lead still at four, 46-42, a mini 7-0 run by the Bulldogs would put Butler up eleven, 53-42 with eight minutes left. The Raiders would chip away at the lead, outscoring the Bulldogs 14-5 over the next nearly seven minutes, and the lead stood 58-56 with 41 seconds left. Butler's Gordon Hayward hit only one of two free throws and the Raiders had a chance to tie the game down three. But N'Gai Evans missed a three-point attempt and the Bulldogs would prevail 62-57.

Matt Howard led Butler with 24 points on 14 of 15 free throw shooting, Cory Cooperwood led the Raiders with 11 points. Both teams shot 41 percent from the field but the big difference was Butler was 24 of 31 from the line while Wright State was only 5 of 8 from the line.

In the second game, two twenty plus win teams, Wisconsin Green Bay and Cleveland State faced each other. Early on, it looked the Phoenix were going to run the Vikings out of Hinkle Fieldhouse as the Wisconsin Green Bay jumped out to a 16-4 lead as Ryan Tilemma nailed two three pointers. But led by eleven points from Cedric Jackson, the Vikings trimmed the lead to 23-19. The Phoenix would extend the lead back to ten before the Vikings cut it to six, 39-33 at the half.

The second half saw Cleveland State slowly chipped away on Green Bay's lead and when Jackson nailed another three, the Vikings were finally in the lead for the first time in the game, 52-50 with 10:48 left. During this time, the Vikings showed their trademark defense and locked down on the Phoenix inside. Cleveland State would never trail again and go on to a hard fought 73-67 win over Green Bay. Norris Cole led the Vikings with 23 points, J'Nathan Bullock added 16 points and 8 rebounds, and Jackson had 14 points and 8 rebounds for Cleveland State who outrebounded Green Bay 36-25. The Phoenix were led by Tilemma's 21 points, Green Bay shot 5o percent from three, 9 of 18, but only shot 14 of 39 from the rest of the field as Cleveland State controlled inside.

Cleveland State will now face Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse, home of the Bulldogs on Tuesday night for the Horizon championship. The Vikings lost both games to the Bulldogs by a total of three points. Could three times be the charm for Cleveland State? Can't wait to find out.

I'll be back later with my review of the second day of the CAA.

Friday House of Fun Review, CAA is Fun For the Crowd and a Quick SoCon Note

First, I am just going to make a quick side note. As I had my early morning shift for Jonathan I was watching the World Baseball Classic on ESPN2. What does this have to do with college basketball? Well, the game was South Korea, the 2008 olympic champs vs. Japan. Add a sold out 53,000 seat stadium in Japan that was ROCKIN as the Japanese team was scoring runs and after runs and you had a college basketball atmosphere. It was really amazing and there's a lot of talent on both teams. Ichiro, Dice K, Fukudome, Iwamura the second basemen on the Rayes and Kenji Johjima, the catcher for the Mariners, all major league starters (and of course Ichiro is a superstar) were playing this game.

Since I live in on Long Island, I get to hear Michael Kay, that bastion of knowledge, rant and rave that the WBC is meaningless, players will get hurt etc etc. Tell that to the 53,000 Japanese and Korean fans watching the game today. Tell that to Chinese Taipei, where baseball is the ONLY real sport there. Tell that to the Latin American countries that love this stuff. What Michael, you would rather have spring training baseball? Let's face it, as much as I love baseball, after a few innings of spring training baseball and I want to take a nap. YAWN! Sometimes we need to see there is more to a sport that our own national culture. Kudos to WBC. It sure beats soccer.

Good news on the local front. The Iona Lady Gaels rallied from a five point halftime deficit and beat St Peter's 63-57. All MAAC first team Thazina Cook had 18 points, including 10 of 12 from the line to lead the Lady Gaels. Coach Anthony Bozzella's Lady Gaels get rewarded by playing #1 seed Marist who absolutely crushed Loyola yesterday 81-27. That's some reward. Iona will have now played Marist for the fourth consecutive year in the MAAC tournament. The two seasons prior were in the championship game. I was listening to the game late yesterday afternoon after the Hofstra game was over and I will be watching the 11:30 am game this morning on MSG 2.

Bad news on the local front. St Joseph's College lost their first round Division III game at DeSales University Thursday night. The Golden Eagles finished the season at 24-4, a very successful year for Coach John Mateyko.

So, for the first time in seven years, I spent the first Friday in March at home. So between watching my youngest son recovery surgery, what else was there to do? Watch conference tournament basketball!!

First, there were a couple of upsets and nearly one catastrophic upset. Let's take care of the near catastrophe first. I was keeping track of the Creighton game yesterday while watching the live streaming feeds of the first round of the CAA. I noticed with about 15 minutes in the second half, Creighton was up twenty on Wichita State, 47-27 in the Valley Quarterfinals. I figured ball game, so I didn't pay attention to it.

Not so fast. Later, I got a text message from my friend Mal saying, did you see the end of that game? I was like "Huh?". So, I quickly checked the score. 63-62 Creighton. I went "What?" Then I checked the play by play. Booker Woodfox hits a jumper with 1 second left. WHAT?

Well, Wichita State tried their best to play up to their team name, Shockers. The Shockers outscored the Bluejays 35-14 over the next 14 minutes and 50 seconds, culimating in a three pointer by Toure' Murray with nine seconds left to take a one point lead, 62-61. The Bluejays went down the court and nearly lost the ball to Wichita State, but one of the shockers knocked the ball out of bounds. Off the inbounds play, Woodfox, member of the All Valley Name Team, avoided two defenders and nailed a 16 footer at the buzzer. The game winning shot helped Creighton avoid an absolutely nigthmarish end to their NCAA tournament at large hopes. Remember Moore's NCAA Tournament Selection Committee Primer;

Rule Number 3 - If you are a mid major or non major conference team and you lose in your quarterfinal round, you should be for the most part out of the tournament selection bid (process). Mid major teams must get to at least the conference semis to be considered worthy of a tournament selection bid. If you can't beat a low seed in the quarterfinals of your own tournament, what makes the committee think you can win a first round NCAA tournament game.

So Creighton thankfully avoided Rule #3. It would have been the NIT for them for sure had they lost. Considering Northern Iowa also had to comeback from five points down with seven minutes left against Indiana State to win their game 73-69 and Kyle Whelliston had a hell of a second day in St Louis.

There was one big time upset in the non-CAA land. Ohio Valley's #1 seed Tennessee Martin, featuring Lester Hudson, went down to Morehead State yesterday in the semifinals despite Hudson's 32 point 10 rebound performance. Looks like the OVC may be ruled by the Governors again...the Austin Peay Governors. Austin Peay defeated Murray State in their seemingly annual matcup yesterday in the other semifinal. Who needs the Hatfields and McCoys when you have the Governors and the Racers!

Ok, on to my homefront, the CAA. There were four games yesterday. Basically all blowouts, with no final score margin less than 10 points. However, there was one major upset. One that screwed up my entire CAA pool. Ok, I don't have a pool, but it messed up my bracket big time.

I started watching the Delaware - Georgia State yesterday, which was the first game in the tournament and the first game using the online streaming feed. Before I get into the game, I need to talk about the online streaming feed. Mind you, I was very happy to have it, but I am sorry, for $14.95 a day couldn't we have had a more professional feed. Putting a picture in picture of the scoreboard on top of the main picture was just downright cheesy. Also, how could those cameramen not get good angles of the Delaware and UNC Wilmington dance teams during the timeouts. That's just wrong. :-)

And best yet, was when the referees needed to review a play, this was the feed they used. So yes, you guessed it, you got to see them rewind the play to see what they were looking at. Interesting from an analyst's perspective, but not exactly Comcastic! Also, we got the Hofstra announcers doing the afternoon session, so that was kind of neat in a homey college kind of way.

So back to that first game. I said yesterday in the begining of my CAA preview, #8 Georgia State always plays a good first game. So idiot me picks #9 Delaware to win in my preview. Watching the first half unfold, you could see it was not Delaware's day. Not that Georgia State shot the lights out either, but Delaware couldn't hit the side of barn in the first half. Marc Egerson was just off. Way off. And in what was a harbinger for the entire day, one team dictated the pace. And it was obvious, the pace was slow, methodical, very much a MAC feel and much to the liking of the Panthers, the lowest scoring team in the CAA. Advantage Georgia State and the Panthers were up 22-18 at the half.

The second half did not get much better for the Blue Hens and I was longing for more shots of the Delaware Dance Team. Once Georgia State went on a 10-0 run to go up 37-24, you could have just walked away from your computer right there (unless you wanted more of the Delaware Dance Team, thus you stayed just like me). The Blue Hens shot a season low of 28 percent. Eek. Even better, the foursome of Marc Egerson, Jawan Carter, Alphonso Dawson and Brian Johnson, who all average double figures in scoring, shot a collective NINE FOR FOURTY TWO (21 percent folks). Mister CAA Double Double Egerson was rebound short of a double double, another indication it wasnt' Delaware's day. And thus the game was a microcosm of the Blue Hens' season; disappointing. Joe Dukes led the Panthers with 15 points, 11 in the second half and Leonard Mendez had 12 for Georgia State. Egerson and Dawson each had 11 for Delaware.

Then came Game #2, #5 Hofstra vs. #12 UNCW. Hofstra had won the previous two matchups but they were very close. The Pride played with fire in both games, playing UNCW's frenetic style of basketball. I thought a third time would be fatal for the Pride.

It was immediate that Hofstra was going to play their own pace, setup in half court, look inside, if not there, drive and perhaps kick for an open three. It worked. The Pride went ahead 4-2 then never looked back. UNCW would get as close as 14-11 before Hofstra went on a 17-4 run to go up 31-15 as they went into the half up 39-29. The Pride were very balance in their scoring in the first half and it showed as they shot 53 percent from the field.

At the start of the second half, the Seahawks showed they were not going to go away just yet. UNCW came out in a press and forced several Hofstra turnovers. The Seahawks would score six of the first eight points in the second half to cut the lead to 41-35. But that's as close as they would come as Hofstra would go on an 8-0 run and that would be the ball game as the lead was as much as 17 in the second half, 67-50. The Pride shot 52 percent in the second half and shot 52. 7 percent on the game. Hofstra had four players in double figure scoring led by Charles Jenkins with 27 points, Greg Washington had 14 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks, Cornelius Vines had 13 points and Nathaniel Lester had 10 points.

Well, apparently Hofstra spent their entire practice Thursday on defense, the defense that was second in CAA in FG percentage defense. The practice worked wonders. The Pride held the Seahawks to 18 of 57 from the field, including Chad Tomko's 2 of 14. Johnny Wolf led UNCW with 21 points.

The evening session had James Madison #7 vs #10 William and Mary. The game started in a slow pace which favored the Mary. The game was tied at 22 before Madison scored 10 of the next 13 points to end the half up seven. The game got as close as five in the second half before 'Them Dukes" went on a 17-2 run to put the game away.

James Madison found their D after it had gone missing for their past three conference games. Them Dukes held the Mary to 1 of 18 shooting from three. Yes 1 of 18. The Mary shot 35 percent overall. The Dukes shot 53 percent from the field including Pierre Curtis' seven of eight from the field. This included several drives to the basket, as the Mary guards couldn't keep up with the much quicker JMU guards.

So, as chalk prevailed in the first three games, all by double digit margins, it looked like it would be the canasta. Drexel had swept Towson during the season and the previous three games showed that seed was in form. Plus Towson had looked like they mailed in their season. The Tigers had lost four of five, seven of their last nine and were one of the worst defenses in the CAA this season. So it looked like we would get our fourth blowout of the day. Oh, we did, we did.

This is the Wacky CAA and things happen and boy did something happen..the Perfect Storm. As I watched this game unfold online, I could see all the ingredients for an upset were coming together. First, Towson came out with a passion I hadn't seen all season. They took it to Drexel and were physical and blowing by the Dragons who seemed a step slow. Second, the Tigers were capitalizing on their opportunties by pressing the Dragons into turning the ball over and scoring off them . Third, throw in the Bruiser Flint Gang that Couldn't Shoot Straight coming out firing up brick after brick. Fourth, add in an actually brilliant Pat Kennedy move to put 6 foot 8 Junior Hairston on the Dragons leading scorer 6 foot 3 Scott Rodger. Stir these ingredients fiercely, cause this is the CAA, and voila! Upset City!

Towson went out to a 13-0 lead. I texted a very knowledgable friend and I asked "Is this Towson?" And he replied, Drexel came back from a 14-0 lead vs. Northeastern. I replied "Did
Drexel play that in a cavern?", which is a reference to the always cold and now mostly empty Richmond Coliseum (as opposed to the DAC where the Dragons came back from that 14-0 lead on).

The Junior Hairston show didn't let up. It was 24-4 Towson. I texted my friend again and he only had the score at 19-2. Before you know it was 39-15 Towson at the half with Hairston scoring a third of those points for the Tigers. Turn off the computer and play with the kids there, it was over. Drexel, the worst FG shooting team in the CAA couldn't possibly come back from that. By the way, Drexel shot a catastrophic 4 of 23 from the field in the first half and not much better 6 of 12 from the line.

Well, you know me, couldn't play too long with the kids, besides they were watching PBS Sprout. I was watching, waiting for Towson to realize they're Towson and Drexel to try to make an incredible comeback. They did their best scoring 48 points in the second half. Heck, Drexel is lucky if they score 48 points in a game (in fact several times this season they haven't!). The Dragons got the lead down to eight 49-41 with six minutes left. But that's as close as they got the rest of the way.

Hairston had 24 points and Jarrel Smith, Rocky Coleman and Troy Franklin also scored in double figures for Towson. Rodgers, Tramayne Hawthorne and Jamie Harris each had 11 points for Drexel. Rodgers shot a God awful 2 of 15 from the field as Hairston hounded him all day with that five inch reach advantage

So at noon starts all the fun - VCU vs. Georgia State, then Hofstra vs. ODU. The evening contests are George Mason- James Madison and Northeastern vs. Towson. Expect at least one upset today.

The SoCon really got going yesterday with first round action, with no major upsets. Davidson and the Citadel start play today. I like Davidson to win still, but their road won't be easy. Chances are they will face Charleston in the semifinals and the Citadel in the finals, two teams that have beaten Davidson..at the Wildcats home court no less.

Also, I have a problem with the SoCon. Why is the conference split up into two different divsions when all the teams basically play each other twice? The idea is that when you have divisions, like the NFL, each of the teams in the divsion play each other twice then play teams outside of the division once. In the SoCon, teams basically play each other twice, sans two teams. And the point is?

The reason I have a problem is that it leads often to unbalanced divsions. Look at the MAC, they do the same thing. The running joke is when has a West Divsion team been in the final of the MAC tournament (turns out only four times out of nine times since 2000). And the SoCon this year, the best three teams are all in the South Divsion - Davidson 18-2, Citadel 15-5 and Charleston 15-5). Yet, Charleston is seeded as South #3, which ends up basically as a five seed, and they have to play a first round game and Davidson in the semis! They should be a #3 seed overall and get to play Citadel in the semis instead of Chattanooga (the most likely outcome). Its just not fair. Wait till I talk about the MAC next week.

Well, lots of college ball today. Horizon semis with Butler- Wright State and Green Bay- Cleveland State (Vikings had to come back to win yesterday). A Sun final is today with Jacksonville vs ETSU (saw the game with Belmont on ESPN 360 - Kevin Tiggs is a stud!). The Valley semis are today - Northern Iowa vs. Bradley and Creighton vs. Illinois State - two good games. And of course, the MAAC, SoCon, America East and yes the CAA. Ah, good to be a hoops fan. Enjoy!

The Big One - The CAA Preview

In December of 2005, I started this blog out covering the CAA. Prior to that, I have followed this conference religiously since the 2002-03 season when I first got season tickets for the Hofstra Pride. As much as I now write about other mid major teams, this is my passion, covering the CAA.

For each of the past six years, I have gone to the CAA tournament with my very dear friend Tony Terentieff and for a couple of times, with our dear friend Mal Galletta III. I have seen so many things. So many memories.

Georgia State guarantees you at least one good game every tournament since they joined the league in 2005-06. I remember that George Mason had to come from behind late in the game to force overtime against the Panthers that first season of 12 teams. I saw the heartbreak the Panthers' Leonard Mendez gave the Mary with a 3o foot three point buzzer shot in 2006-07 to win the game. David Schneider got revenge for the Mary last season when the guard for the #5 seed hit a trifecta to win the game and avoid another Georgia State upset.

I was there when the Mary gave some heartbreak to VCU and played the perfect game to beat the vaunted Rams trap last season. I was at the game when Tony Skinn punched Loren Stokes in 2006 in an area no one should be punched in. I remember thinking excitedly after Hofstra beat George Mason for the second time that season that the CAA was definitely going to get two maybe even three teams in (setting myself and many others for the vaunted debate of how Hofstra got passed over by Mason on Selection Sunday). Little did I know that I knew about George Mason better than most before their vaunted final four run.

I got to see several of the vaunted UNCW teams with both Jerry Wainright and Brad Brownell as coaches. Both good, but Brownell's teams I liked better due to their fundamentals. I got to see how much of a rock star Anthony Grant had become last season. Little did I know how one win over Duke would make this guy a legend. We loved the Larranaga whistle. Got to see so many Bruiser Flint stomps and how he nearly lost it three seasons ago when the referees made one of the most bizarre calls I had ever seen.

I have seen some of the best players the CAA offered over the past six years; Jose Juan Barea, Brett Blizzard, Shawn James, Alex Loughton, Isaiah Hunter, Loren Stokes, Antoine Agudio, Nick George, Eric Maynor, Gary Neal, Phil Goss, Jai Lewis, Will Thomas, Tony Skinn, Folarin Campbell, Kenny Adeleke, Rick Apodaca, John Goldsberry and others who I apologize ahead of time for forgetting their names since time doesn't allow me to remember more.

And it wasn't just the games we would pay attention to at the Richmond Coliseum. We rejoiced in seeing, albeit briefly, the best pep band in the CAA, James Madison. We reveled in the witty signs the Drexel student section would whip up. I remember the back and forth between the ODU fans and the Hofstra fans in 2005. We would debate which school had the best looking dance team; VCU, UNC Wilmington or the lesser known but still good looking Delaware dance team. You always brought a hooded sweatshirt because the Richmond Coliseum, especially on Fridays is downright cold.

And it wasn't just the basketball, it was the road trips. There were the golf outings on Friday mornings/afternoons when the league only had an evening session on Fridays since they only had 10 teams until the 2005-06 season. In 2006, it was the memorable stopover to Atlantic City the night before. I still remember the old guy at the poker table telling my friend Mal after Mal beat him in a hand "Do you think I play crap hands!". Still hilarious to this day. The annual trek to Pasta Luna, the best Italian restaurant in Richmond and perhaps in Virginia. The many trips to Aunt Sarah's and Waffle House. Always looking for a Dairy Queen. The running joke that on the Jersey Turnpike, "the right lane is open"

So why am I waxing nostalgic? Well as I aforementioned in an column last week, this will be the first time in seven years that I won't be going to the CAA tournament. As I type this, my youngest son Jonathan is still crying from being sore from his surgery. He got home yesterday and we were warned that the recovery might take a little while and that he would be uncomfortable. Well that's been an understatement, the poor little guy can't sleep.

So I will be watching the first few rounds via the CAA online streaming video feed. I am going to borrow a VGA cable from work, hook up my laptop and watch it on my 40 inch screen. But as always I am giving a preview, albeit close to the noon starting time for the first game.

Well, now my preview and predictions are about to start. How accurate have I been? Well, I have been wrong before. And before that too. And after that too. Anyway, it is still fun to do it.

Speaking of that first game, its #8 Georgia State vs. #9 Delaware. The teams split their season series, each winning their home game. It's been tale of two disappointments here. Georgia State got a lot of early publicity for their redshirted transfers who beat the starters in practice last season with regularity. However, the Panthers struggled from the get go, unable to get any offense as the lowest scoring team in the CAA during the season. The Panthers were at one time 4-8 in conference and 6-17 overall before winning five of their last six including four in conference to finish the regular season at 11-18 overall. Meanwhile, Delaware finished seventh in conference last season with a .500 record and better things were expected. However a lack of a frontcourt doomed the Blue Hens defense and Delaware struggled to a 6-12 record in conference and 13-18 overall.

The Panthers had won four in a row prior to their spanking by VCU last Saturday. Part of that reason is the re-emergence of Leonard Mendez, well sort of. Mendez who averaged exactly 16 points per game last season is barely averaging over that at 8.8 this season. However, in two of his last five games, the Mendez of old is coming out, scoring 22 vs. Wilmington and 27 vs. Hofstra, both wins. The Panthers really need Mendez to complement leading scorer Joe Dukes and three point bomber Trae Goldston.

Meanwhile, the Blue Hens are a very guard oriented team led by CAA's Mr Double Double, Marc Egerson, the only player to average double figures in scoring (15.5 ppg) and rebounding (10.4). Jawan Carter (15.3), Alphonso Dawson (14.2) and quick as a hiccup Brian Johnson 10.2 round out the double figure scorers.

The winner of this game gets #1 seeded VCU (14-4 CAA, 21-9 overall), one of four teams to get a bye in the first round. The Rams have Eric Maynor, the CAA player of the year for the second year in a row. The future NBA star (yes, you read this correctly) averaged 22 points and 6 assists per game for VCU. The Rams won twenty games for the third season in a row but at times it was a struggle. The Rams were only 7-5 non conference, with their best non conference win a neutral site tournament game win over New Mexico.

The reason it has been a struggle is that often the Rams lack a second scoring option. Larry Sanders has tried to fill Jamal Shuler's shoes, averaging 11.2 points per game, 8 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game (which leads the CAA). However, Sanders gets into foul trouble often, averageing 3.7 fouls per game, and that has lead to problems for VCU (see the last six minutes of their loss to Nevada on Bracketbuster weekend). Still, the Rams lead the CAA in FG percentage at 46 percent, first in scoring offense and scoring margin, three point FG percentage, first in steals and turnover margin. The vaunted press, the atheticism, and Anthony Grant's trademark scowl are all still there. VCU swept Georgia State during the season but only split with Delaware. In fact in the game that VCU won at home vs. the Blue Hens, they had to come back from a 30-17 deficit.

The #5-#12 game that follows #8-#9 game features the Denver Nuggets of the CAA, #12 seeded UNCW vs. the defensive minded but basket challenged #5 seeded Hofstra Pride. The Seahawks have struggled all year with the concept of defense, giving up an average of 83 points per game. Scoring offense has not been exactly the Pride's strong suit this year. The Pride (11-7 CAA, 20-10 overall) are next to last in FG percentage at 39.1 percent. But the reason the Pride won eleven games in conference is due to their defense. The Pride led the CAA in FG percentage defense for the entire season until Drexel caught them at the end. The Pride also average the most blocks and are second in rebounding.

The Seahawks are led by the triumverate of Chad Tomko, Johnny Wolf and Dominique Lacy who combine for 4o points per game. The Seahawks lead the CAA in three point field goals made at 8.5 per game. They are also third in the CAA in scoring offense. However, the Seahawks get outscored by an average 12 points per game, easily the worst in the CAA, in fact almost double the margin of the next team, Towson. It is amazing that UNCW actually won three games in conference all year, including an upset of VCU at the Trask Center.

The Pride are led by all CAA first team Charles Jenkins who averages 19.2 points per game and is first in the CAA in free throw attempts. The problem is finding a second scoring option. Early on it was Cornelius Vines, but then Vines, who is often so erratic with his shooting, went so cold, he was relegated to the bench. Nathaniel Lester picked up the slack the second half of the season. One of them has to step up during the conference tourney. Thankfully, the Pride have this knack for close games having won 12 out of 14 games when the final score margin is five points or less.

Hofstra swept the season series from UNCW. But it wasn't easy as Hofstra won at the buzzer in Wilmington, then won in overtime at Hempstead. Both games were high scoring affairs, 80-78 and 88-81.

The Friday evening session features the #7-#10 game and the #6-#11 matchup. In the #7-#10 matchup it is James Madison (18-13, 9-9 CAA), who faltered at the end taking on William and Mary (10-19, 5-13 CAA) who actually played well at the end. JMU was at one time 9-6 and seriously had a chance for a first round bye before losing their last three games in conference. The Mary moved into tenth by knocking off Drexel at home 48-47.

The Dukes are led by all CAA second team Juwann James who averaged 15.8 points per game and shot 59.4 percent from the field. James, who I feel should have been first team CAA (more on that later), gets double digit scoring help from Kyle Swanston, CAA rookie of the year Julius Wells, and fellow freshman Devon Moore. Moore however was injured in a late season game against Hofstra and is questionable for tonight's game. The Dukes lead the CAA in free throw shooting at 75 percent which is outstanding and they are second in free throw attempts behind Hofstra.

The Mary have been a disappointment. Better things were supposed to occur this season after finishing fifth in conference last season and making it to the CAA Tournament finals. However, the Tribe lost a lot in their graduating seniors and couldn't make up the talent loss. David Schneider and Danny Sumner are by far the best players on the team. Thus the reason why the Mary are at the bottom of most CAA offensive categories.

The winner of this game takes on #2 seed George Mason (20-9, 13-5 CAA). The Patriots have won 20 games for the third time in the past four seasons. It's due to their trademark defense. The Patriots are third in the CAA in FG percentage defense at 39.9 percent and second in scoring defense. But Mason is also solid on offense. The Patriots are second in field goal percentage at 45.8 percent.

George Mason is a mix of veteran players and young studs. The Patriots start three seniors, Jon Vaughan, Darryl Monroe and Dre Smith. However their leading scorer is sophomore Cam Long at 11.8 points per game. Monroe leads the CAA in field goal percentage 57.9 percent (Juwann James missed eleven games due to injury and didn't have enough FG attempts to qualify). Monroe surprisingly only averages seven field goal attempts per game. Compare that to Gerald Lee, who finished second in FG percentage. Lee has 82 more field goal attempts in one less game, which averages to eleven attempts per game. More reason for the Patriots to kick into the big fellow and keep Dre Smith from chucking threes.

What I also like about Mason is those young studs; Andre Cornelius, Ryan Pearson and Michael Morrison. Morrison has really come on at the end of the season and Cornelius and Pearson play quality minutes along with Isaiah Tate. This team will be good for years to come.

Finally the last first round game features #6 Drexel vs. #11 Towson. The Bruiser Flint Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight vs. the Ole Defense of Pat Kennedy. It really is a contrast of styles. Drexel (15-13, 10-8 CAA) plays a physical defensive style that works. Towson (10-21, 5-13 CAA) plays a loose transition style game that doesn't. The Tigers have given up the second most total points in the CAA while Drexel has given up the fewest.

Drexel struggled early on, going 2-6 in their first eight games while trying to find an identity. It looked like the Dragons were going to live up to the low expectations the CAA prognosticators and I had for them (Drexel was picked to finish next to last in the CAA preseason poll) Then the Dragons found their identity, winning ten of their next twelve games, eight of which were in conference. The Dragons were right in the hunt for a top seed in the CAA tourney until they lost five of their last seven to finish in seventh. Still Bruiser Flint was named CAA Coach of the year for his efforts.

The Dragons are led by Scott Rodgers, their only double digit scorer averaging 13.5 points per game. However Drexel has six other players who average between 5.6 and 9.1 points per game and average 20 minutes per game. Still the Dragons are not a good offensive club. They are dead last in FG shooting percentage, three point FG shooting percentage, last in assists, surprisingly last in steals.

A lot has been talked about Georgia State's struggles the last several years. Well, the Towson Tigers are a Groundhog Day team. For the past several seasons, look at Towson's overall record

2001-02 10-17
2002-03 4-23
2003-04 7-20
2004-05 5-23
2005-06 12-15
2006-07 14-16
2007-08 12-17
2008-09 10-21

They are stuck in a holding pattern of mediocrity. There were the brief glimpses of hope when Gary Neal was around in the 05-06 and 06-07 seasons. But they were still under .500. Why?
Perhaps bad recruiting, perhaps it's a sense of gloom. Certainly could be a lack of discipline based on the way they play defense. The Tigers are second to last in scoring defense and FG percentage defense at 45 percent (only UNCW is worse at get this, 50.7 percent). You can't win games playing Ole defense. If you play good defense, but can't shoot straight you can still win (see Hofstra and Drexel for proof).

The Tigers, who lost both games to Drexel handily, are led by Junior Hairston who averages 13 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Josh Thornton and Jarrel Smith also average double figures in scoring for Towson.

Northeastern gets the winner of this game. Talk about a team that has some serious Jekyll and Hyde issues. The Huskies started off the season 4-4. I watched their game against Michigan in the Preseason NIT, a twenty point blowout by the Wolverines and I thought, “This is the team that’s supposed to finish second in the CAA?” Then the Huskies got hot, winning twelve of their next fourteen games. This included an truly outstanding effort vs. VCU at the always difficult Spiegel Center. The Huskies beat the Rams there 68-63 and they were for a good part a top of the CAA. They had the defense, the solid inside scoring of Manny Adako, outside shooting with Eugene Spates and Matt Janning.

Then they hit a bump in the road. Ok., maybe a really large crater of a pothole. The Huskies would lose four of their next five and drop into a tie with VCU for first in the CAA. Northeastern “wrighted” themselves by beating Wright State on Bracketbuster Saturday in an impressive effort, then squeaked one by Drexel. This setup their final regular season home game with a chance to clinch the first seed in the CAA. They played another close game and got burned, as ODU tied the game with a late three then won in overtime.

The Huskies are first in scoring defense and second in free throw percentage. Janning was surprisingly first team All CAA, despite being down in every offensive category from last season. Janning gets able help from the solid Adako along with Spates and Chaisson Allen. They are a handful for any team.

Predictions - Well, its been a wacky year in the CAA, so why not some wackiness in the conference tournament. Yes, Parity, Thy Name is the CAA

First Round

Georgia State vs. Delaware - Past tournament wisdom dictates that Georgia State will win this based on their knack for seemingly playing a good first round game and often winning. However, the Panthers lack a quality big man which plays perfectly into the hands of the frontcourt challenged Blue Hens. The Blue Hens win this game by about seven points with Egerson having his usual double double.

Hofstra vs. UNCW - Tom Pecora is saying all the right things about how his defense has struggled in their last three conference games, and it has. For Hofstra to be successful, its all about the D, cause their offense is not very good. Hofstra swept the two games from UNCW. But the Pride are playing with fire, because both games were at UNCW’s style of pace. The Pride were very lucky to win either game. For Hofstra to win today, they HAVE to play their style, a slugfest game in the 60s. Anything higher, and it’s a major Seahawk upset. I think Hofstra will actually get the pace they want, but it still will be close say six points, just because Hofstra is not a good offensive team.

James Madison vs. the Mary - The Dukes are too athletic for the Tribe and can shoot the three, so the Mary won’t be able to pack it in on the Dukes. Don’t look for any William and Mary magic like last year. Juwann James should have a field day. Look for the Dukes to win by double digits. Finally the best pep band in the CAA makes it to the second round. Too bad I won’t be there to hear them.

Drexel vs Towson - Drexel won both games handily during the regular season. The Tigers are playing out the string and certainly not playing the defense. Dragons win by double digits.

Quarterfinals.

Ok, Gar. You said this was going to be wacky and so far all I have seen in your first round predictions is chalk. But ah, that’s what the second round is for.

Delaware vs. VCU - You would think that VCU playing in front of a home crowd, this game will be a blow out. But Delaware plays VCU very well. Their guards can handle the vaunted VCU press and love a transition style game. This game should be high scoring and closer than the experts think. The key will be Larry Sanders and Kirill Pishchalnikov. If they can stay out of foul trouble, specifically Sanders, they will have a distinct advantage on Delaware. The Rams win, but it’s closer than you think

ODU vs. Hofstra - I can see Hofstra winning this game. I really can. Don’t be surprised if they do. In the past four conference tournaments, the five seed has beaten the four seed three times. In fact ODU twice was victim to this, in 2005-06 to Northeastern and last season to the Mary. Hofstra matches up really well with them and the Pride handled ODU in Hempstead winning 60-51.

However, I like ODU to win this game. First, Hofstra always plays close games. So even if the Monarchs come out flat, they should keep it close. Second, Jonathan Adams was missing from that regular season loss in Hempstead. As Northeastern knows, Adams is a very important sixth man for the Monarchs. Third, ODU is much better at ball control than the Pride. The Pride are at the bottom of the CAA in turnover margin and assists to turnover ratio while ODU ranks at the top. Fourth, if you live by the close game, you die by the close game. The law of averages is going to catch up to Hofstra in this game. Finally, I need ODU to win to play out my scenario. :-)
Monarchs win a very close game, due in large part that ODU can’t hit free throws (last in the CAA) and that will keep Hofstra enticingly in the game.

James Madison vs. George Mason - The two teams split their season series, each winning on their home court. I want to see Monroe and James just go add it. Post player vs. post player. It should be the “Feed the Beast” game with two of the best post players in the CAA. Madison has enough firepower to keep this interesting.

But, I think Mason plays the better defense by far and that will be enough for the Patriots to win. The only thing I am concerned about is Mason is their terrible free throw shooting specifically from Monroe. If I am Madison, Dazz Thornton and James should be playing “Hack a Shaq” on Monroe in the second half. Also, Madison is terrific on the line and if the Patriots foul a lot, there could be trouble in Dodge. Still Mason is the best balanced team in this tourney and they win a close one.

Gar, that’s still chalk so far. Wait for it. Wait for it.

Northeastern vs. Drexel - Say hello to upset #1. This is so perfect for an upset. You have a struggling Northeastern squad, losers of five of their past eight games. Northeastern split with Drexel and only won the second game with a layup with 2 seconds left, because Drexel couldn’t score a point in the last 3:43 seconds of the game.

What makes matters even better is that Drexel will already have a game in hand against a team that hasn’t played in a week in one of the coldest arenas to play in the country. Not good for the shooting stroke. Drexel wins this in a close slugfest and we have our first upset.


Semifinals

VCU vs. ODU - Ok, we had one upset. The only team that knocked off VCU in Richmond, Northeastern is gone. VCU has a game under its belt and should be ready to go to reclaim the CAA title in an arena in its home town. Everything looks good for the Rams, right?

As Lee Corso would say “Not so fast my friend”. In Old Dominion, you have the perfect team to beat VCU. First, the Monarchs have the frontcourt, all CAA first team Gerald Lee, Ben Finney and Frank Haskell, plus Adams off the bench to get Sanders and Pishchalnikov in foul trouble. Second ODU is an excellent ball control team; first in assists, first in assist to turnover ratio and in the top third in turnover margin. Thus the Monarchs can handle the VCU press.

Maynor will do his best to keep the Rams in the game. But with Sanders in foul trouble and ODU having split the season series with VCU, the Monarchs will smell blood in the water and the big shark, Gerald Lee will get the job done. ODU pulls off the big upset.

George Mason vs. Drexel - The name of the game is defense. Two of the best field goal percentage defensive teams go at it. A game in the low to mid fifties? Count on it. Jim Larranaga’s whistle vs. Bruiser Flint’s stomp. Priceless. Truly, the CAA at its finest.

The difference here is George Mason can shoot the ball. Drexel can’t. Drexel can’t hold onto the ball either. That’s going to be big in this game too. Monroe will be too much for the Drexel big guys to handle. The lack of depth for Drexel playing their third game will be too much for the Dragons as the Patriots wear them down. Look for a 55-47 win for George Mason.

Finals

ODU vs. George Mason - Two of the best coaches in the CAA, Blaine Taylor and Jim Larranaga battle it out. Two physical front lines knock heads. Two of the best big men, Gerald Lee and Darryl Monroe remind us that old school post play is still the best over the three point shot.

The teams split their season series with each team winning on their home court. I think the key is how the Mason guards do against the ODU guards. I think the frontcourts will cancel each other out. However, the Mason guards are better I think than ODU’s as far as shooting from the field. Also Mason leads the CAA in three point FG percentage defense, which I think is key here.

I think Mason wins this one based on the ODU guards inability in this game to shoot from three. Monroe and Birdsong will limit Lee somewhat and that will be the difference. The more balanced Patriots win and go to another dance.

Should be an entertaining two sessions today. Nap time comes in between sessions after Jonathan again being up early today.. He is getting better. Maybe I can bring him to the CAA tourney with me next season!