The negative Nellies are down on the CAA, but I'll say it again, this is a better conference than many believe. I was impressed by the quality of Hofstra's team and Drexel's team when I saw them in person recently. Both teams have size, athleticism and skill. The quality of play in the CAA semi between Hofstra and W&M was nothing less than outstanding when I watched that game on TV. Northeastern looked solid in what was a lackluster CAA final, in large part due to the Tribe's evident fatigue. NE's Achilles heel is turnovers, but they pass the ball well and have good size and can score inside and out.

As Matt Brady mentioned the other day, 24 of the CAA's top 30 scorers return next season.

If I were to handicap the league at this early juncture, I might group the teams into three tiers and in no particular order within each tier.

Top would be Hofstra (lose two key guys in Dion Nesmith and Moussa Kane), NE (loses Reggie Spencer and Scott Eatherton), Drexel (lose Wilson, but not much else and return Lee and their point guard, Major Canady, if he's the guy they had lost at point). JMU could join this group if Roland joins the fold and they can add an impact front court player. With a poor offseason, however, JMU could easily fall out of this upper tier to the bottom of the league.

To the dismay of Wilmington fans, I'm going to put UNCW in the middle tier (and I know they add 4 transfers and 4 freshman to a core of Craig Ponder and Jordan Talley [with his low shooting percentages from the field], but they also lose two of the top 7 players in the league in Spruill and Jackson and their starting center, who led them in rebounding), along with Delaware (lose Kyle Anderson) and W&M (lost Thornton and Schalk, but pick up a transfer from CO State).

Bottom tier will be Elon, Charleston and Towson (who loses Four McGlynn but adds a 4 star transfer from Wake). Elon adds a couple of freshman, including one rated three stars if I recall correctly. Charleston loses Baru and Elon also loses a key senior. Charleston, as Brady has pointed out, though, has some good pieces in place, including Rick Barry's son, Canyon.

Probably not a great deal of difference between these groupings and as UNCW showed this season, a team picked at the bottom can finish on top.

Pundits, by the way, have Colonial team (now known as NE, of course) anywhere from 14th to 16th. Hopefully, NE can get a 14th seed, giving them some chance to compete in the first game.

I watched a little bit of Gonzaga and BYU and was not particularly impressed with either team. I agree with JMU Nation that CAA is more comparable to the A-10 than many believe, even though the RPI ratings show a huge disparity (7th versus 19th). JMU and NE both beat Richmond and DE beat St. Bonnie. Both Richmond and St. Bonnie beat VCU, of course.

Dukeman, what say you to VCU's thrashing at the hands of Davidson the other night?

In a weird way keeping Cabarkapa in the fold is a big key to the offseason for JMU. If he graduates with his size and good play at the end of the year you would think that he would be attractive to programs across the country and immediately eligible as a post grad transfer. If he stays not only will he continue to improve and be a valuable and unique rotation player moving forward but it will be an endorsement of Brady and the staff and in a way an endorsement of JMU as an Institution of higher learning.

Regarding the A-10- I was thinking about this the other day. Make no mistake the A-10 is a solid basketball league and at a different level than the CAA however think about how quickly VCU and Davidson came from leagues like the CAA and Southern and finished at the top of the conference. There isn't much difference in the talent level from CAA to A-10. There is no doubt that the current CAA top teams could compete in the middle of the A-10 in my mind- how they fared vs. mid tier Richmond this year is a further indication. What the CAA needs is a team or teams to take the next step from a talent and performance standpoint and get to the level that VCU, ODU, GMU,even some of those Drexel and Hofstra teams a few years back were playing at. I think next year's CAA will be better than this years CAA and you may see a team or two approach that level.

I have had Davidson season tickets for 17 seasons. I was surprised that a Davidson team which we all thought was rebuilding this year performed as well as they did winning the A-10. I really though Davidson's lack of size would kill them, but the A-10 centers weren't as big as I thought they were going to be.
Having said all that, Davidson is way better than both JMU and W&M this season. Davidson did kill VCU, but VCU is really on the ropes now. If they don't turn it around they will be beaten easily in the Big Dance, assuming they still make it.
The A-10 takes scheduling seriously and makes schools play more home non-conference games and get a waiver to play nay non DI games. All this is too boost RPI, but this cost money.
The CAA and SoCon always seem to have one or two schools that play on the road for all of the nonconference season and get lost of losses and this really pulls down the RPI of the entire league, JMUs schedule in 2013-2014 fit that mold, unfortunately.

A one-bid league where the champion is a 15-seed can't be viewed as better than much.

RPI is established primarily in the out of conference record, as all conference records are .500 in aggregate. A-10 does a superb job with scheduling....hence the no. 7 RPI. VCU loses 6 out of 10 conference games and their RPI is still no. 18 nationally. Meanwhile, JMU can win a conference game and their RPI drops. Order of magnitude difference is not as great as suggested by RPI difference. People dissed the CAA before and teams generally fared relatively well in NCAA tournament with low seeds until the conference broke through with two Final Four teams in five years. That certainly wasn't predicted to have happened based on RPI and seeding. Prior to those Final Four teams, Richmond made a Sweet Sixteen run and Navy made it to the Elite Eight. People are myopic in their analysis of this conference.

(03-11-2015 11:39 AM)Dukes84 Wrote:  RPI is established primarily in the out of conference record, as all conference records are .500 in aggregate. A-10 does a superb job with scheduling....hence the no. 7 RPI. VCU loses 6 out of 10 conference games and their RPI is still no. 18 nationally. Meanwhile, JMU can win a conference game and their RPI drops. Order of magnitude difference is not as great as suggested by RPI difference. People dissed the CAA before and teams generally fared relatively well in NCAA tournament with low seeds until the conference broke through with two Final Four teams in five years. That certainly wasn't predicted to have happened based on RPI and seeding. Prior to those Final Four teams, Richmond made a Sweet Sixteen run and Navy made it to the Elite Eight. People are myopic in their analysis of this conference.

After watching the Dukes and a handful of other CAA teams throghout the season, I just can't buy into the theory that this conference is any good. Even with ODU, Mason and VCU, the CAA still wasn't that good. Outside of the 2011 and 2006 seasons, the CAA mostly dwindled in the mid teens in terms of conference quality. I was flipping between the Summit and WCC final and the quality of play difference was staggering between the two. Unfortunately, the CAA final looked much closer to the Summit (usually 17-20th) than the WCC (usually 7th-10th).

Is the WCC the West Coast Conference? It must be. I watched maybe ten minutes of Gonzaga versus BYU last night and was not impressed by either team. Gonzaga has been a high seed for years and hasn't made the Sweet Sixteen in a long time.

Valpo is a team that I thought looked very good versus JMU. They're 28-5 or so and will probably get a 13 seed. I'm guessing not too many teams want to play them in the first game.

I'm of the opinion that there's a discernible difference in terms of athleticism and size typically between the Power 5 conferences and mid and low majors, no question. That difference is much smaller between the A-10 (rated 7) and the CAA (rated 19). That's why Davidson can win the A-10 in the first year coming out of the Southern Conference, which was rated something like no. 27.

And the CAA with two Final Four teams in that five year period surpassed the representation of some of the P5 conferences during that same period; i.e., in terms of Final Four representation.

(03-11-2015 02:04 PM)Dukes84 Wrote:  Is the WCC the West Coast Conference? It must be. I watched maybe ten minutes of Gonzaga versus BYU last night and was not impressed by either team. Gonzaga has been a high seed for years and hasn't made the Sweet Sixteen in a long time.

Valpo is a team that I thought looked very good versus JMU. They're 28-5 or so and will probably get a 13 seed. I'm guessing not too many teams want to play them in the first game.

I'm of the opinion that there's a discernible difference in terms of athleticism and size typically between the Power 5 conferences and mid and low majors, no question. That difference is much smaller between the A-10 (rated 7) and the CAA (rated 19). That's why Davidson can win the A-10 in the first year coming out of the Southern Conference, which was rated something like no. 27.

And the CAA with two Final Four teams in that five year period surpassed the representation of some of the P5 conferences during that same period; i.e., in terms of Final Four representation.

Yes and those two CAA schools are now in the A-10 and the other major player in the CAA now belongs to C-USA. Mason, ODU and VCU were good programs despite being in the CAA, not because they were in the CAA. They've all moved on to greener pastures, although Mason has really turned a corner for the worse. YOu think fans or the admin of any of those schools wish they were still playing in the CAA?

The WCC and A-10 aren't perfect or as good as the P5 but I think they are much closer to them than they are to us.

UR is the 4 seed in the A10 tourney. They beat VCU twice and Davidson. They lost to NE at home and JMU on the road. They barely got past W&M at home. How do you brush that off? Three contest against the CAA by a top A10 team and folks still want to say the A10 is light years ahead of the CAA.

I am not a CAA lover. I just don't get why people have to trash it so much. No objectivity at all.

(03-11-2015 09:49 PM)JMUNation Wrote:  UR is the 4 seed in the A10 tourney. They beat VCU twice and Davidson. They lost to NE at home and JMU on the road. They barely got past W&M at home. How do you brush that off? Three contest against the CAA by a top A10 team and folks still want to say the A10 is light years ahead of the CAA.

I am not a CAA lover. I just don't get why people have to trash it so much.No objectivity at all.

That's because by almost every measure RPI, quality of recruits, TV appearances, facilities, post season participants, heck even location of conference tournament (no the CAA has no chance of getting a venue like Barclays) the A10 trashes the CAA. Yes the CAA has teams that beat A10 teams but that will happen, that's why you play the games. However, I promise if you put a CAA team in the A10 for a season, at best they'll finish 6th or 7th.

So they will be competitive...right? The A10 is getting kicked out of Barclays in favor of the ACC. Should we now bash them for being a second rate league?

We all agree the A10 is a better league but two of their best teams over the last three years are former CAA teams and now a So Con team is one too. What has happened to all of these great A10 schools? They left. The A10 was always Temple and Xavier. Dayton has been good some years. Umass had a few good ones in the 90s. St Joes had a nice run for a couple of years. I predict that league will fade out of the top 10 over time.

There's no denying that the A-10 is better my point was just that the divide in terms of talent isn't as great as people would lead you to believe. Both VCU and Davidson have great coaches as well- they are great programs regardless of conference affiliation. I just think that the top of the CAA could compete with the middle of the A-10. I think the CAA's depth will be better next year. They just need someone to rise to the next level like they have before.

(03-11-2015 11:20 PM)JMUNation Wrote:  So they will be competitive...right? The A10 is getting kicked out of Barclays in favor of the ACC. Should we now bash them for being a second rate league?

We all agree the A10 is a better league but two of their best teams over the last three years are former CAA teams and now a So Con team is one too. What has happened to all of these great A10 schools? They left. The A10 was always Temple and Xavier. Dayton has been good some years. Umass had a few good ones in the 90s. St Joes had a nice run for a couple of years. I predict that league will fade out of the top 10 over time.

When will some on this board accept reality and stop trying to rationalize the situation so they feel better.
The facts are the facts. The A10 is a better league than the CAA - has been for quite a while and will be for the forseeable future.
your rambling reminds me of re arranging deck chairs on the titanic.

(03-11-2015 11:20 PM)JMUNation Wrote:  So they will be competitive...right? The A10 is getting kicked out of Barclays in favor of the ACC. Should we now bash them for being a second rate league?

We all agree the A10 is a better league but two of their best teams over the last three years are former CAA teams and now a So Con team is one too. What has happened to all of these great A10 schools? They left. The A10 was always Temple and Xavier. Dayton has been good some years. Umass had a few good ones in the 90s. St Joes had a nice run for a couple of years. I predict that league will fade out of the top 10 over time.

If you call 6th or 7th place competitive. Yes the A10 is being kicked out for the ACC but that is the pecking order ACC > A10 AND its only for 2 years AND they are still going to facilities the CAA can only have dreams about (Console Energy and Verizon).

And of course the A10 reloaded they were raided by bigger conferences. The argument that their best teams are former CAA/So Con does not mean that the CAA and So Con are conferences of the same caliber. Those teams were too big/good for their old conferences so they moved on. That's where I feel JMU is at (maybe not performance wise though). It's part of the natural cycle of college athletics just like in business; those that are good and prove themselves at the lower levels are promoted (if possible) or poached by bigger better companies.

Lunardi has NE as 14 seed playing 3 seed MD.

If any of you watched some of VA Tech/Miami last night, that was one ugly game. Watched about 10 minutes of it and it was awful. Satchel Pierce, who JMU recruited, looks way overmatched at this point and did not have a particularly good freshman season.

(03-12-2015 09:41 AM)Dukes84 Wrote:  Lunardi has NE as 14 seed playing 3 seed MD.

If any of you watched some of VA Tech/Miami last night, that was one ugly game. Watched about 10 minutes of it and it was awful. Satchel Pierce, who JMU recruited, looks way overmatched at this point and did not have a particularly good freshman season.

Yeah that game was brutal, I tried to watch but the Blazers/Rockets game was about 100x more entertaining.

I hope NE wins (more money for JMU!) no matter who they play, but it would be extra sweet if it was against the Terps. I live in Baltimore and you'd think that UMD was the equivalent of Duke in the way they talk about the Terps here. Sometimes I gently remind them that they haven't made the Tournament since 2011.

(03-12-2015 09:49 AM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  Yeah that game was brutal, I tried to watch but the Blazers/Rockets game was about 100x more entertaining.

I hope NE wins (more money for JMU!) no matter who they play, but it would be extra sweet if it was against the Terps. I live in Baltimore and you'd think that UMD was the equivalent of Duke in the way they talk about the Terps here. Sometimes I gently remind them that they haven't made the Tournament since 2011.

I grew up next to the campus so I am a life long Terp fan as well as JMU. This could be the start of a turn around for Maryland, no they are not like Duke or any of the blue bloods but they do have a very good historical pedigree. I for one am hoping this will be just like when Coach Williams stepped in during the late 80's and the 15 years or so of success they had then. Melo Trimble, Cekovsky, and Wiley will take that team far in the future if they stay. Add in Wells, Layman, Pack and I look for Maryland to make an Elite 8 run at a minimum this year.

(03-12-2015 09:55 AM)CISDuke2014 Wrote:  

(03-12-2015 09:49 AM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  Yeah that game was brutal, I tried to watch but the Blazers/Rockets game was about 100x more entertaining.

I hope NE wins (more money for JMU!) no matter who they play, but it would be extra sweet if it was against the Terps. I live in Baltimore and you'd think that UMD was the equivalent of Duke in the way they talk about the Terps here. Sometimes I gently remind them that they haven't made the Tournament since 2011.

I grew up next to the campus so I am a life long Terp fan as well as JMU. This could be the start of a turn around for Maryland, no they are not like Duke or any of the blue bloods but they do have a very good historical pedigree. I for one am hoping this will be just like when Coach Williams stepped in during the late 80's and the 15 years or so of success they had then. Melo Trimble, Cekovsky, and Wiley will take that team far in the future if they stay. Add in Wells, Layman, Pack and I look for Maryland to make an Elite 8 run at a minimum this year.

Fair enough. You sound like a true fan. However, the bandwagon has been strong here the past two months and it's getting annoying (which is why a first weekend exit is what I'm hoping for).

I might consider pulling for UMD if they were in the ACC, but I don't think I will ever get over the fact that Maryland plays the majority of games against teams from west of Pennsylvania. It was solely a money play and the excuses people make for the move are bordering ridiculous and total kool-aid drinking.

Melo Trimble went to Bishop O'Connell High in Arlington, VA.

(03-12-2015 10:01 AM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  I might consider pulling for UMD if they were in the ACC, but I don't think I will ever get over the fact that Maryland plays the majority of games against teams from west of Pennsylvania. It was solely a money play and the excuses people make for the move are bordering ridiculous and total kool-aid drinking.

I agree 100% that was the biggest mistake UMD has made in a very long time. President Loh burned a lot of bridges with donors I know with that move and a few years ago hiring AD Anderson. It isn't all about the money, the ACC I believe is a much better conference as a whole (basketball, baseball, lacrosse, soccer) and they will see that eventually. I strongly believe though that hell will freeze over before the ACC let's them back in.

(03-12-2015 10:10 AM)Dukes84 Wrote:  Melo Trimble went to Bishop O'Connell High in Arlington, VA.

I think that will be the biggest boost to UMD is starting to retain local talent again. Coach Williams last years he couldn't/wouldn't recruit local talent (he hated the AAU recruiting game). I would love to see Coach Brady get more local talent **HINT HINT** those point guards we talking about on the 2016 recruiting thread we have to get one of them.