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Just some quick League notes before things get hectic:


This week is the tip-off of a busy stretch of four CAA games in eight days to start the conference slate before teams settle into a Thursday/Saturday format for the remainder of the season. Saturday’s schedule is highlighted by defending CAA champion UNCW visiting Towson at Noon. The two teams were picked to finish first and second in the league’s preseason poll.

RPI REPORT: UNCW is ranked #19 in the latest RPI rankings released by Collegiate Basketball News (rpiratings.com) through games of Dec. 25. The Seahawks extended their winning streak to eight with an 81-71 victory over East Carolina last Tuesday and are 6-1 this season away from home. College of Charleston, which is 9-4 overall and has won six of its last seven games, is #55 in the RPI. Towson moved up to #95 after winning four of its last five games. William & Mary sits at 240.
The CAA is ranked #11 among the nation’s 32 Division I conferences.


ROAD VICTORIES: CAA teams have won 26 true road games and are 9-8 on neutral courts against non-conference foes this season. The 26 road wins are the most of any Division I conference through games of Dec. 25. Eight CAA teams have recorded multiple road victories, led by UNCW, Northeastern and Drexel with four each.


NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS: Non-conference play for CAA teams concludes this week and the league’s 10 teams have combined for an impressive 68-53 record.
UNCW is off to a 11-1 start, which is its best 12-game mark in school history. The Seahawks are riding an eight-game winning streak, which is tied for the 14th-longest in the nation currently.
College of Charleston (9-4) has won six of its last seven games after a victory at Western Carolina last Thursday.
Towson has captured five of its last seven contests, Hofstra has won six of its last eight and Northeastern has reeled off three straight road victories, including one at Michigan State.
Nine of the league’s 10 teams have .500 or better overall records.



TRIBE Notes:

• Greg Malinowski had 14 points vs. SSU and is averaging 14.2 ppg over his last five games. He’s 14-of-24 from 3 in that stretch.

• Connor Burchfield hit five treys and had 19 points and a career-high 7 assists vs. SSU. He’s 11-of-20 from three in the past three games and is shooting 50% for the year.

• William & Mary is second in the CAA in Scoring at 82.6 ppg, trailing only UNCW's 88.9 ppg. The Tribe is 7th in defense, allowing 73.9 ppg.



PLAYER OF THE WEEK:

T.J. Williams • Northeastern
Sr., G, 6-3, 205 - Pflugerville, Texas/Pflugerville
Williams filled the stat sheet with 22 points, a career-high tying 11 rebounds, six assists and a career-best five steals in Northeastern’s 61-59 victory at Oakland last Tuesday. Williams leads the CAA in scoring (21.5 ppg) and assists (5.8 apg) and is fifth in steals (1.4 spg).


ROOKIE OF THE WEEK:

Kari Jonsson • Drexel
Fr., G, 6-3, 170 - Hafnarfjordur, Iceland/Flensborg
Jonsson scored 17 points and dished out a career-high eight assists in Drexel’s 91-74 victory at Quinnipiac last Wednesday.



Happy New Year to all.
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Thanks for the update, billymac.

Sent from my SM-N910V using CSNbbs mobile app

This is particularly impressive:

Quote:ROAD VICTORIES: CAA teams have won 26 true road games and are 9-8 on neutral courts against non-conference foes this season. The 26 road wins are the most of any Division I conference through games of Dec. 25. Eight CAA teams have recorded multiple road victories, led by UNCW, Northeastern and Drexel with four each.

League play is going to be grueling, far more than anyone would have thought before the season.

(12-28-2016 09:00 AM)Seahawk Nation 08 Wrote:  This is particularly impressive:

Quote:ROAD VICTORIES: CAA teams have won 26 true road games and are 9-8 on neutral courts against non-conference foes this season. The 26 road wins are the most of any Division I conference through games of Dec. 25. Eight CAA teams have recorded multiple road victories, led by UNCW, Northeastern and Drexel with four each.

League play is going to be grueling, far more than anyone would have thought before the season.

The Tribe has only one more chance to contribute at all to that total. 0-5 on the road has been a disappointing surprise. I did not expect us to win at Rhode Island, Duke or Louisville, but losing at Hampton and Central Michigan was disappointing. Big week for road games for us.

Without a doubt, Northeastern is better than I expected and JMU is worse. So far, we are worse than I expected.

(12-28-2016 09:00 AM)Seahawk Nation 08 Wrote:  This is particularly impressive:

Quote:ROAD VICTORIES: CAA teams have won 26 true road games and are 9-8 on neutral courts against non-conference foes this season. The 26 road wins are the most of any Division I conference through games of Dec. 25. Eight CAA teams have recorded multiple road victories, led by UNCW, Northeastern and Drexel with four each.

League play is going to be grueling, far more than anyone would have thought before the season.

Would be nice if it translated to multiple NCAA bids, but after last year, I doubt it. UNCW certainly has a OOC resume that would work, though.

Solid Clemson team popped UNCW's bubble tonight and really exposed their lack of size. UNCW never really in it. Will be interesting to see if that weakness is exposed again in their CAA opener with Towson.

Very good win for Delaware tonight against Iona.

JMU finally pulled away in the 2nd half against D3 Eastern Mennonite, after being tied at the half. Major meltdown with their fanbase if they had lost this one.

Here's a painful one: Princeton 77, Hampton 49

(12-28-2016 09:06 PM)Tribeheart Wrote:  Solid Clemson team popped UNCW's bubble tonight and really exposed their lack of size. UNCW never really in it. Will be interesting to see if that weakness is exposed again in their CAA opener with Towson.

In games where we can force mismatches with our 4-guard lineup, we're golden. The problem tonight was that nearly all of Clemson's athletic bigs can all handle the rock like they're guards. So yes, while our lack of size was "exposed", it's not a problem we've been unaware of. It's just how the team is built, is all.

I definitely agree we'll struggle with Towson. And Charleston too for that matter (whose coach, Earl Grant, comes from Clemson HC/former UNCW HC Brad Brownell;s coaching tree). Those 4 games should be dogfights.

(12-28-2016 09:00 AM)Seahawk Nation 08 Wrote:  This is particularly impressive:

Quote:ROAD VICTORIES: CAA teams have won 26 true road games and are 9-8 on neutral courts against non-conference foes this season. The 26 road wins are the most of any Division I conference through games of Dec. 25. Eight CAA teams have recorded multiple road victories, led by UNCW, Northeastern and Drexel with four each.

League play is going to be grueling, far more than anyone would have thought before the season.

This is the other Hidden Gem - 3 CAA teams ranked in the Top 100 RPI.

UNCW is ranked #19 in the latest RPI rankings released by Collegiate Basketball News (rpiratings.com) through games of Dec. 25. College of Charleston, which is 9-4 overall and has won six of its last seven games, is #55 in the RPI. Towson moved up to #95 after winning four of its last five games.

That is vitally important as conference play picks up, because there will be chances for "Top 100 Wins" during the season. That is how the stronger conferences build up their resumes, by getting Top 50 and Top 100 games during conference play. The CAA has had few, if any chances, in seasons past.

As irritating as having two home games OOC against non D1 competition may be, I also noticed we are the only CAA team NOT playing 13 OOC games. The Tribe will close this season with just 11.

Why? It can't be money when you look at the other CAA schedules. They aren't packing in P5 teams. Their OOC are completely filled with mid majors.

What is our problem?

With tonight's game we will have had 12 OOC games, not 11. Permits the fact that Savannah State is not on the printed schedules (it was added after printing) misled you.

(12-29-2016 12:30 PM)BigTribe3 Wrote:  With tonight's game we will have had 12 OOC games, not 11. Permits the fact that Savannah State is not on the printed schedules (it was added after printing) misled you.

I don't think so. Our record today is 5-5 (3-5 against D1 teams).

That's ten games with one tonight.

(12-28-2016 09:06 PM)Tribeheart Wrote:  Solid Clemson team popped UNCW's bubble tonight and really exposed their lack of size. UNCW never really in it. Will be interesting to see if that weakness is exposed again in their CAA opener with Towson.

Very good win for Delaware tonight against Iona.

JMU finally pulled away in the 2nd half against D3 Eastern Mennonite, after being tied at the half. Major meltdown with their fanbase if they had lost this one.

Wouldn't say the bubble has burst for UNCW. They defintitely could have used 1 or 2 more power 5/quality mid major teams on their schedle, but they have no bad losses on the season and did play a lot of true road games/neutral court games.

With the team UNCW has, I think they will avoid losses to the below average teams which puts them at anywhere from 13-5 to 15-3 IMO. If they finish the season at 22-7, 23-6, or 24-5 before the CAA tourney and make it to the final and lose (24-8, 25-7, 26-6), they would make a pretty good case with an RPI in the 30-45 range.

The CAA doing so poorly out of conference will come back to hurt UNCW's chances for an at-large. Outside of them, Charleston, Towson, and Northeastern, the rest of the CAA has done poorly which pretty much makes only Charleston as a chance for a top 100 RPI win unless Towson or Northeastern manage to go 13-5 or better.

UNCW fan base has been drinking excessive kool aid, since their CAA tournament win and NCAA loss to Duke last season. Fine line between going home and getting to post season, as we all know, and they were lucky to get through to the final. UNCW lost a valuable, senior PG, and the transfer of their big man left them even more vulnerable inside for this season. The Clemson game did pop the kool aid bubble some. I would fully expect UNCW to be in the thick of things, but it is going to be a very, very competitive conference the rest of the way, and not the runaway many of their supporters seemed to envision.

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If Whitman plays as well or better than the first part of the season we are going to be dangerous. I don't think there are any teams with two centers with as much talent as ours at least on the offensive end. I think we are going to see Malinowski emerge as a big time player as the season goes on and Cohn will start to look for his shot more often. No injuries and we should be in good shape come tournament time.

(12-29-2016 04:30 PM)Tribe32 Wrote:  If Whitman plays as well or better than the first part of the season we are going to be dangerous. I don't think there are any teams with two centers with as much talent as ours at least on the offensive end.

I'll take Jeremy Miller, Anthony Green and Sajon Ford over your guys, thanks.

(12-29-2016 05:53 PM)geewizNU Wrote:  

(12-29-2016 04:30 PM)Tribe32 Wrote:  If Whitman plays as well or better than the first part of the season we are going to be dangerous. I don't think there are any teams with two centers with as much talent as ours at least on the offensive end.

I'll take Jeremy Miller, Anthony Green and Sajon Ford over your guys, thanks.

Good, because that's how it all worked out...we have our guys and you have your guys. No need to say thanks because none of us had anything to do with it.

One Tribe. One Family.

(12-29-2016 04:03 PM)Tribeheart Wrote:  UNCW fan base has been drinking excessive kool aid, since their CAA tournament win and NCAA loss to Duke last season. Fine line between going home and getting to post season, as we all know, and they were lucky to get through to the final. UNCW lost a valuable, senior PG, and the transfer of their big man left them even more vulnerable inside for this season. The Clemson game did pop the kool aid bubble some. I would fully expect UNCW to be in the thick of things, but it is going to be a very, very competitive conference the rest of the way, and not the runaway many of their supporters seemed to envision.

Why shouldn't we be "drinking excessive kool aid"? We're 27-11 in CAA games since Keatts arrived, are 9-2 against D-I so far this year against the # 61 toughest schedule, and have an even better roster than last year (yes, we lost Ponder as you referenced, but our 4-guard unit of Ingram-Mosley-Bryce-Flemmings plus Richmond and Talley off the bench is better overall than last year's unit).

Yes, our frontcourt is vulnerable, but Cacok has been handling things just fine at the 5. He's one of the nation's leaders in field goal % (81.7, ranks 2nd in the country) and is # 52 in rebounding. Not bad for a sophomore. I think he'll struggle against Towson on Saturday and probably Northeastern because of their parade of big men, but it doesn't mean we lack talent down low.

Yes, it's going to be a competitive league, and I'm not anticipating that we'll dominate by any stretch of the imagination. But we are what we are: A team that has finished with at least a share for 1st the last 2 years and are defending champs. Not sure why one pretty bad loss to Clemson on the road should stop our enthusiasm one iota.