CAA versus A10 Tonight

[Rambunctious]

There are three CAA versus A10 games tonight...good games too.

- Mason takes on GW in a DC/NoVA showdown
- ODU takes on a hot UR team
- VCU takes on Rhode Island (we know the Rams will win ;-)

Personally I think Mason takes GW, UR takes ODU and VCU takes URI. 2 out of 3 wouldn't be bad.

The CAA has a chance to make a case that they are every bit as good as the A10...good luck to all the CAA teams tonight.

 

[Wolfpack Ram]

The only problem is it's 3 out of the top 4 CAA schools vs. only 1 out of the top 4 A10 schools. The one loss you are projecting is to that top 4 A10 school. ODU beating Richmond would be more of a statement regarding the CAA than the other two wins would be. I think Rhode Island is pre-season 7th and GW is probably below Rhode Island.

 

[districtballer]

Mason has both Andre Cornelius and Ryan Pearson suspended for tonight's game against George Washington, so it's very far from a sure thing that Mason will pull out the win. I expect the Spiders to beat ODU considering they just won the tournament ODU was in, beating both the teams that ODU lost to. Not to mention ODU rarely wins at the Robins Center as of late. Rhode Island is preseason #8 in the conference and you would expect the #3 preseason CAA team to beat the #8 A-10 team, especially at home.

When comparing the A-10 and the CAA, the impartial observer will take the A-10 everytime, it's not even close. Our best years coincided with their worst years. Xavier and Dayton are perennial top 25-type programs. The CAA doesn't have any teams that can claim that. UMass, St. Joes, Temple, Richmond, Charlotte and URI are all programs with rich basketball history, success, NBA players, and deep runs into the NCAA tournaments. They are always a top 10 conference with multiple bids to the NCAA tournament. The CAA is around 14 or so and have had 2 at-large bids in something like 25 years. We are something like 1-4 against the A-10 right now.

 

[Rambunctious]

Good point about the A10. I think the top team or two in the CAA can compete with the top few teams in the CAA and the A10 has had better (minus GMU's final four run) tournament and top 25 success. Still, interesting games tonight for various reasons - - and pre-season projections don't mean much.