Has the league taken a step back from last year?
Coaches in the Colonial Athletic Association sound resigned to landing just one team in the NCAA Tournament.
GMU at UNC-WilmingtonWhen » Wednesday, 7Where » Trask ColiseumTV/Radio » MASN/1260 AM» The Seahawks (7-22, 3-13) beat Elon, 75-72, in an ESPN BracketBuster game Saturday as junior G Montez Downey (26 points) scored a career high off the bench. Up-tempo UNCW is led by sophomore G Chad Tomko (15.8 ppg, 4.6 apg) and junior G Johnny Wolf (14.1 ppg). Mason blasted UNCW, 101-60, on Jan. 3.
While an 8-4 record last weekend in ESPN BracketBuster games strengthened the CAA’s case, two of the losers were the league’s highest profile teams — George Mason and Virginia Commonwealth.
After placing two teams in the tournament for the first time in CAA history in 2006 (GMU, UNC Wilmington) and again in 2007 (VCU, ODU), the league will likely get just one for the second straight year.
Has the momentum gained from Mason’s stunning run to the Final Four in 2006 and VCU’s upset of Duke in 2007 ground to a halt? George Mason coach Jim Larranaga says no.
“If you go back to 2005, I’d ask you to look at the TV exposures we’ve had,” said Larranaga. “We’ve got more national exposure, more television exposure, and just more recognition. I think there’s more talk about the CAA than ever before.”
This season has seen unprecedented parity in the CAA. No team has reached the 20-win mark. All teams have at least nine losses. Larranaga blames scheduling constraints.
“You listen to some of those other conferences — the ACC, the Big East — they talk about how great they are and everything,” said Larranaga. “If some of the teams in our conference got to play seven or eight non-conference games at home every year, it would be interesting to see what our RPI would be on Dec. 31. But we can’t do that.”
