It was a team effort at the Colonial Athletic Association’s media day. Coaches pushed aside individual aspirations Wednesday to gush over George Mason’smagical run to the Final Four and success of CAA teams in other preseason and postseason tournaments last season.
The Patriots dominated the spotlight on their home turf. But the competitive undercurrent still resonated.
“People actually thought we would be bitter about Mason’s success and we were everything but,” said Hofstra coach Tom Pecora, who said he got goosebumps when he watched Mason run onto the court at the Final Four. The Pride was ranked first in this year’s CAA preseason poll. “Now ourselves and probably 50 other teams in the country said, ‘That could’ve been us.’ That’s a good thing, and I want my players to be thinking that, as I’m sure that every other coach in this league and coaches of teams all over the country do.”
Hofstra, which has one of the nation’s premier returning backcourts in senior Loren Stokes (17.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.8 spg) and Antoine Agudio (17.2 ppg), advanced to the quarterfinals of the National Invitational Tournament. Old Dominion reached the semifinals.
“One of my favorite quotes last year was by Dick Vitale, who watched Drexel almost beat Duke and almost beat UCLA [in the preseason NIT].” said Patriots coach Jim Larranaga. “He said, ‘This team has so much talent and is so athletic, there’s no way this team could finish seventh in the CAA.’ Which meant to me that he didn’t realize how good the CAA was because Drexel didn’t finish seventh. They finished eighth.”
North Carolina-Wilmington has been to the postseason in five of the last seven years, including four NCAA tournament appearances. But getting there is no longer good enough.
“With what George Mason did, we don’t want to just go any more. We want to win games,” said North Carolina-Wilmington coach Benny Moss. “We want to get out of the first round, get to the second round. Get out of the first weekend, and get to the second weekend. George Mason proved if you get out of the first round games, anything can happen.”
Colonial flair
Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) players with local ties.
» George Mason: Folarin Campbell (Silver Spring/Springbrook), G, 6-4, Jr., Springbrook; John Vaughan, G, 6-3, Soph., Laurel; Charles Makings, G, 6-2, Sr.,
» St. John’s: Chris Fleming, F, 6-8, Soph., Osbourn Park
» Delaware: Matt Hewson, C, 7-2, Soph., Hylton
» James Madison: Terrance Carter, F, 6-5, Jr., Largo
» UNCW: Daniel Fountain, G, 6-4, Jr., Woodbridge
» Towson: Trevan Jackson, G, 6-0, Sr., Friendly
» VCU: James Eversley, F, 6-6, Fr., Hargrave (Centreville, Va.)
» William & Mary: Danny Sumner, F, 6-7, Fr., Paul VI; Chris Stratton, F, 6-6, Jr., Lake Braddock
» CAA predicted order of finish: 1. Hofstra, 2. George Mason, 3. Drexel, 4. Old Dominion, 5. UNC-Wilmington, 6. Virginia Commonwealth, 7. Towson, 8. Georgia State, 9. Northeastern, 10. James Madison, 11. William & Mary, 12. Delaware
