The CAA Hoops conference schedule is halfway over and JMU is tracking towards another Keener round appearance at the tourney. When is the last time JMU played in the Keener round in consecutive seasons? That’s right, when dear ol’ Dean Keener was the coach. Jeepers and golly, he was such a nice guy.

2017-18 Men's Basketball Standings

SCHOOL CAA OVERALL
Northeastern 7-2 14-7
Charleston 6-3 15-6
William & Mary 6-3 13-7
Towson 5-4 15-7
Hofstra 5-4 12-9
Elon 4-5 12-10
Delaware 4-5 11-11
UNCW 4-5 7-14
Drexel 2-7 8-14
James Madison 2-7 6-16

I think we will see CoC and Towson rise to the top by the end of the season.
The problem for JMU is that they haven’t played either of them yet and that could be 4 likely losses. The other problem is that JMU plays 5 of their last 9 games on the road. The Dukes are going to have to pull multiple upsets to get out of the Keener round. Can they do it?

Winning 4 games in 4 days coming out of the Keener round has never been done in the CAA tourney.

but how do you really feel about Dean Keener?

JMU needs to beat UNCW, UD, Elon and Drexel. Period. 2-2 so far and could easily be 4-0. Really let one slip last night. Not a ton of talent on that UNCW team, but 3x more grit.

(01-26-2018 09:09 AM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  The CAA Hoops conference schedule is halfway over and JMU is tracking towards another Keener round appearance at the tourney. When is the last time JMU played in the Keener round in consecutive seasons? That’s right, when dear ol’ Dean Keener was the coach. Jeepers and golly, he was such a nice guy.

2017-18 Men's Basketball Standings

SCHOOL CAA OVERALL
Northeastern 7-2 14-7
Charleston 6-3 15-6
William & Mary 6-3 13-7
Towson 5-4 15-7
Hofstra 5-4 12-9
Elon 4-5 12-10
Delaware 4-5 11-11
UNCW 4-5 7-14
Drexel 2-7 8-14
James Madison 2-7 6-16

I think we will see CoC and Towson rise to the top by the end of the season.
The problem for JMU is that they haven’t played either of them yet and that could be 4 likely losses. The other problem is that JMU plays 5 of their last 9 games on the road. The Dukes are going to have to pull multiple upsets to get out of the Keener round. Can they do it?

Winning 4 games in 4 days coming out of the Keener round has never been done in the CAA tourney.

Both Kenpom and BPI are great predictors of future performance. They both like Towson and Northeastern to separate themselves from the rest of the Colonial pack. Then there is a second tier of (in some order) CoC, Hofstra, W&M, and Elon. The third tier is projected to be the four teams in the first rounds games which are (in some order) JMU, Delaware, Drexel, and UNCW.

Kenpom currently has the CAA as:
101 Towson
106 Northeastern
145 CoC
166 Hofstra
173 W&M
206 Elon
247 JMU
261 Delaware
266 Drexel
269 UNCW

ESPN BPI has:
96 Towson
101 Northeastern
136 CoC
151 W&M
154 Hofstra
188 Elon
232 JMU
257 UNCW
262 Drexel
279 Delaware

Those are interesting numbers. Does Kenpom factor in all-CAA PF Jarrell Brantley missing the first 10 games due to injury? They haven’t hit their stride yet and Grant’s trademark ball deflating defense isn’t quite as good as past years despite returning almost everyone. Of course, that means they will hold JMU to 49 points tomorrow.

CoC will be very hard to beat in the tourney at North Charleston just 15 minutes from campus.

Edit- as for Dean Keener I feel he was the worst basketball coach in JMU history.
Career winning percentage of 27%. The program was on the trash heap with Dillard and Keener kept it there.

Speaking of taking a look at the midpoint of the conference schedule, a few random observations/notes...

1. In ESPN's Joe Lunardi Bracketology, he has only 1 team (Rhode Island) from the Atlantic 10+4 making the field. St. Bonny is one of his "Next 4 Out" so they are bubbly I guess. Tough year for a conference that normally gets around 4 teams in.

2. Virginia at Duke Saturday at 2pm should be interesting. Talk about 2 polar opposite approaches, though both proven to be successful. Both head coaches struggled their first 2 seasons in their current roles. And, both had fanbases after 2 seasons questioning why he was there and some wanted him gone immediately. They're awfully glad the AD at each university didn't listen to the miserable crybabies.

3. Last I looked the CAA official site showed the CAAT quarterfinals being streamed live via caa.tv. Matt Sarzyniak's excellent website shows all 4 games (on Sunday) being televised via NBC Sports Washington (formerly Comcast Sports Net Mid Atlantic). Perhaps they will be on both. The semifinals and championship will of course be televised via CBS Sports Network.

4. I think the upper half (seeds 1-5) of the CAA will be in some order: NE, CoC, Towson, W&M, Hofstra. I expect Elon and Delaware to struggle in the 2nd half. JMU needs to obviously have a strong February to get out of the first night.

5. Dukes will be a tough out for anybody in the CAAT regardless of what seed we are.

(01-26-2018 03:57 PM)Wear Purple Wrote:  1. In ESPN's Joe Lunardi Bracketology, he has only 1 team (Rhode Island) from the Atlantic 10+4 making the field. St. Bonny is one of his "Next 4 Out" so they are bubbly I guess. Tough year for a conference that normally gets around 4 teams in.

Yep, noticed this too...would love to see the A10 as a 1-bid conference this year, but I bet Rhody won't win the conference tourney and they'll steal a 2nd bid

(01-26-2018 03:57 PM)Wear Purple Wrote:  2. Virginia at Duke Saturday at 2pm should be interesting. Talk about 2 polar opposite approaches, though both proven to be successful. Both head coaches struggled their first 2 seasons in their current roles. And, both had fanbases after 2 seasons questioning why he was there and some wanted him gone immediately. They're awfully glad the AD at each university didn't listen to the miserable crybabies.

Regarding point 2, Bennett and Kryzyewski were 31-31 and 27-30 in their first 2 years of the ACC after they were established winnng coaches elsewhere. In their 1st 2 years as a head coach, Bennett was 52-17 at Washington State and Kryzyewski was 31-22 at Army.

Is Rowe is a good comparison to these guys at 16-39 in the CAA? The “everyone gets a 3rd year” argument doesn’t float. Any other examples?

(01-26-2018 03:57 PM)Wear Purple Wrote:  3. Last I looked the CAA official site showed the CAAT quarterfinals being streamed live via caa.tv. Matt Sarzyniak's excellent website shows all 4 games (on Sunday) being televised via NBC Sports Washington (formerly Comcast Sports Net Mid Atlantic). Perhaps they will be on both. The semifinals and championship will of course be televised via CBS Sports Network.

Where does it say the Quarterfinals will be on NBC Sports? http://mattsarzsports.com/Schedule/Weekl...m1Le5M-e8o just says CAA.TV

(01-27-2018 11:06 PM)EvanJ Wrote:  

(01-26-2018 03:57 PM)Wear Purple Wrote:  3. Last I looked the CAA official site showed the CAAT quarterfinals being streamed live via caa.tv. Matt Sarzyniak's excellent website shows all 4 games (on Sunday) being televised via NBC Sports Washington (formerly Comcast Sports Net Mid Atlantic). Perhaps they will be on both. The semifinals and championship will of course be televised via CBS Sports Network.

Where does it say the Quarterfinals will be on NBC Sports? http://mattsarzsports.com/Schedule/Weekl...m1Le5M-e8o just says CAA.TV

Thanks. Matt must have updated/changed it. I know it said NBCSW last I saw it.

(01-26-2018 09:01 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  

(01-26-2018 03:57 PM)Wear Purple Wrote:  2. Virginia at Duke Saturday at 2pm should be interesting. Talk about 2 polar opposite approaches, though both proven to be successful. Both head coaches struggled their first 2 seasons in their current roles. And, both had fanbases after 2 seasons questioning why he was there and some wanted him gone immediately. They're awfully glad the AD at each university didn't listen to the miserable crybabies.

Regarding point 2, Bennett and Kryzyewski were 31-31 and 27-30 in their first 2 years of the ACC after they were established winnng coaches elsewhere. In their 1st 2 years as a head coach, Bennett was 52-17 at Washington State and Kryzyewski was 31-22 at Army.

Is Rowe is a good comparison to these guys at 16-39 in the CAA? The “everyone gets a 3rd year” argument doesn’t float. Any other examples?

let's ignore that Duke made the Elite Eight the year before coach k's first season and that they played for the title 3 years before.

not exactly the same as taking over JMU.