Bad Start for CAA?

getSmart

getSmart

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Maybe I am over reacting a little, but outside of our expected win the CAA looked pretty bad last night.

1. JMU lost by 28 at Ohio State (Big 10) (Thursday game)
2. W & M, lost by 9 at UCONN (Big East)
3. Drexel lost by 10 (in OT) at St. Joes (A-10)
4. UNCW lost at Appy State by 11 :oops:
5. Georgia State lost by 16 at NC State (ACC)
6. Hofstra lost by 36 at Kansas :o

1. Towson won by 9 at home over Miami Oh
2. George Mason won by 4 at home over Liberty
3. Of course VCU beat the sh!t out of the classless coached BC Wildcats :lol:

But the CAA has gone 3-6 this weekend. I was hoping for at least one upset or some good showings. Most of the losing games were nationally televised. Not a pretty picture.
 
Would have liked to have seen a better performance overall in the CAA but many of those teams were ranked including Kansas #1, CT #12, Ohio State #16. Considering where W&M is ranked in the CAA sounds like they did a pretty good job of acually hanging with that team and not getting too blown out. We'll get our test against the #17th ranked Sooners soon. Hopefully we'll fare better. Don't want to overlook WMU though.
 
I think W&M showed some grit keeping it below double digits...
Surprised GMU only won by 4 over what I assumed was a down year for Liberty...
Hofstra...ouch...turned ESPN on after our game in time to see the highlight from that game...ugly..

...I'm afraid it's gonna get worse for the CAA come Sunday when the Norfolk Butterfly's fall to the Wildcats... ;)
 
yeah I thought W&M did a pretty good job...they were certainly in that game. CT is ranked high and a really good team and it is W&M, so that's a great outing for them lol
 
My knee jerk reaction is that this may be a top heavy league once again. I understand JMU lost Moore, but you still hope they do a little better than they did against Ohio State. W&M and Drexel played well under tough conditions...but yeah, overall I'd have to agree with this post.

If I'm George Mason I'm a little worried about only beating Liberty (without Seth Curry) by 4 in Fairfax.

Wanna see this conference raise it's profile and weekend's like these isn't gonna do that.
 
Personally, I think people have been overselling the CAA all preseason, so I'm not sure why people thought the league would do better in any of these games than they did. If the team picked by most (although not by most around here) to win the regular season couldn't even make the NIT (or 3rd tier tournament for that matter) last season, and returns basically the same players, I'm not sure why that should be seen as a bright sign for the league. I realize that part of any preseason drumbeat is spin and advocacy, and that it's in everyones' interest to talk things up, but it's sounded like mostly puffery to me.

But, it's early yet, and one round of games does not a season make.

Plus, what merc said.
 
Agreed the CAA is really not that strong as we think. When you have a team winning a 4th-tier tournament involving only mid-majors as the pre-season favorite, we don't have much as a league to hang our hats on. I'm sure ODU will be good, but I doubt top to bottom that we are any better than last year as a league. We may see some shuffling of the order of teams, but that's about it.

Mason looked incredibly young and inexperienced winning by 4 to a very young and inexperienced Liberty team decimated by the transfer of Seth Curry and their head coach leaving for the UVA assistant coach position at home. They will likely improve a great deal due to their youth, and Coach L always develops his players well...but they aren't doing too much OOC to help us this year.

Towson looked good beating Miami (Ohio) out of the MAC and could be a sleeper in the CAA.

UNCW lost by 11 to Appalachian State. It's gonna take time to rebuild that once-proud program. They are not going to help the CAA OOC-wise.

Hofstra got pistol-whipped by Kansas and showed they are one-dimensional for the most part with Charles Jenkins.

Drexel lost to a down St. Joes team who lost a couple of their best players including Ahmad Nivins. St. Joes is definitely rebuilding. Not a great sign for the Dragons who were actually favored going into this game.

William and Mary looked good losing by 9 to UCONN. I have to employ healthy skepticism because they have never really been relevant in basketball ever (except that CAA tournament run). Let's hope they keep it up, but I don't see it. They had a great shooting night from 3 which kept them in the game. W&M has always been live and die by the 3...and they will die from it often enough.

James Madison got DESTROYED by Ohio St. (again expected). They would have been decent with Devon Moore, but without him they are mediocre at best. They aren't helping us OOC at all, but of course should be stronger in the CAA conference schedule when their transfer is eligible and Dazz Thornton comes back from injury.

Georgia St. hung with NC State for much of the game before the Wolfpack pulled away late winning by 16. Only problem is NC State is picked last in the ACC in the preseason. State of course may have super-recruit Rashanti Harris in time to give problems come CAA conference time and not help the league at all OOC.

ODU and NU have not played yet, but I suspect they will be fairly strong. ODU plays B-CU (who they should demolish), and NU plays Siena (a very good game that NU could win). I have no confidence that anyone outside ODU, NU, VCU and possibly Mason will be relevant.
 
the intriguing one is the Tribe vs Uconn as is it W&M being good or a sign of decline in Uconn?
 
mwalvlior said:
the intriguing one is the Tribe vs Uconn as is it W&M being good or a sign of decline in Uconn?
Click to expand...

It was only one game. It could mean nothing at all.
 
When W&M is shooting threes and making them, they can stick around with anybody, because that's all they do. They had a good shooting night. I wouldn't peg it up to anything more than that. Live by the 3, and you will die by the 3. They have to be more multi-dimensional to be a factor in the CAA.
 
ShoeSh1ne said:
Every dog has its day.
Click to expand...

Let's hope BCU has its day tomorrow. :lol:

As for the CAA, it is what I thought it would be. That's one of the reasons I'm confident we're gonna be hoisting another Championship banner in the rafters this season. Of course, we also have bigger fish to fry.
 
................ and Temple already leads at Delaware by a score of 31-13 ....... :roll:
 
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