After an "off" year, the Colonial Athletic Association is once again a threat to send multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament. Virginia Commonwealth is currently the favorite to win the conference title, but George Mason, Northeastern, Old Dominion, Hofstra, and James Madison have also caught the eye of the college basketball world with their impressive records.
James Madison, who was picked to finish ninth according to a preseason coaches' poll, and Hofstra, picked seventh, are most likely to slip.
The Dukes, under first-year coach Matt Brady, have a scorer in Juwann James, but they also have too many freshmen with big roles. Freshman Julius Wells is third on the team in scoring, averaging 11.6 points per game on 41.3 percent from long range.
Devon Moore scores 10.1 points per night, and Andrey Semenov adds 7.5 per game.
The good news for James Madison is that their top two scorers are seniors. James drops 16.3 points per game, and Kyle Swanston adds 10.4. However, you can expect the combination of having a new coach and so many freshmen will lose a handful of games down the road.
After suffering a 98-69 loss to Clemson to open the season, Hofstra won eight games in a row before losing by 16 to UMass. During the eight-game winning streak, the Pride's only win against a team with a reputable record came by one point against Eastern Tennessee State (10-4, 4-0 Atlantic Sun).
Charles Jenkins has declared himself as the leader of this Hofstra team, which suffered last year while Antoine Agudio was hurt and was expected to continue to lose after his graduation.
Without Agudio, who is now playing in Turkey, Tom Pecora's squad is 10-5 and is second in the nation with 44.2 rebounds per game—Greg Washington, Dane Johnson, and Miklos Szabo are three big, in every meaning of the word, reasons why.
Rebounding is required to win games, but it won't win games by itself. Hofstra has shot 35.1 percent from the field during losses and is shooting 38 percent on the season. Their free-throw shooting is poor and so is their three-point percentage at 30.6 percent.
By the end of the season, Hofstra won't be considered for the at-large bid that was spoken about during the eight game winning streak, but they have potential to be a tough team in the conference tournament and maybe, just maybe, find a way to sneak into the NCAA Tournament by winning the CAA championship.
Old Dominion is always dangerous. They were picked to finish third, but with the help of All-CAA junior Gerald Lee, the Monarchs can compete with anyone in the conference.
After making the NCAA Tournament in 2007, the Monarchs declined to finish 18-16 last year. Now, they are 9-5, but three of their losses were by less than five points and four were by less than eight. Their only double-digit loss was by 15 against a revered UAB team, which is expected to give Memphis a run for its money in Conference USA.
Old Dominion's production is created by a handful of sophomores, two juniors, and a senior. Only Gerald Lee, Jonathan Adams, and Marcus Neely experienced the run to the Tournament, but that could be all the experience that is needed to will this team to the top of the conference.
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