THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 8, 1997 TAG: 9701080529
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 161 lines
It's early to talk March Madness, but March may hold promise for the Colonial Athletic Association that hasn't existed in years.
Perhaps two CAA teams will be included in the NCAA tournament field.
The league hasn't had an at-large entry since 1986, but that string of futility could be nearing an end. In the latest RPI Report, which simulates the computer rankings used by the NCAA, the CAA is the 12th-ranked league among the 30 Division I basketball conferences. Three of the last four years, No. 12 was good for two spots in the 64-team tournament field.
``If we have two or three teams that can pretty well do the job in the conference regular season and play into the conference tournament fairly deeply, hey, it would seem we're positioned,'' CAA commissioner Tom Yeager said. ``But there isn't any guarantee saying the 12th-place league gets two teams.
``But it usually breaks on 12 or 13 on a consistent basis.''
The CAA was 17th a year ago and finished 18 games under .500 in non-conference play against Division I opponents. So far this year, the league is five games over .500 against Division I opponents, and everyone but UNC Wilmington has at least one more non-conference game. The RPI's conference rankings won't change much from here on out.
But individual team rankings can. Old Dominion is the highest-ranked team in the league at No. 66, followed by Virginia Commonwealth (75), East Carolina (82) and UNC Wilmington (116).
Last year the lowest-ranked at-large team to make the NCAA tournament was California at No. 52. The key for the CAA to earn multiple tournament entries is to continue to play well out of conference, have a couple of teams amass a lot of wins to keep climbing in the rankings and then play well in the conference tournament.
``Teams in the league have had some great wins, that's how you get points in the RPI,'' Richmond coach Bill Dooley said. ``I think the strength of the teams in the CAA is greater than it has been maybe ever.''
D-FENCE: George Mason is noted for its offense, but it could meet its match in defense tonight when it hosts Old Dominion at 7:30.
Old Dominion leads the league in field goal percentage defense (37.7 percent), 3-point field goal percentage defense (28 percent) and blocked shots (7.8 per game) and is second in steals (10.3). Coach Jeff Capel called this the best defensive team he's had at Old Dominion.
``What's helped us is the development of the three sophomore big men,'' Capel said. ``Without those guys we wouldn't be able to pressure as much on the perimeter. I think our perimeter players are very comfortable getting out and gambling more than in the past.''
ODU has the league's leading shot blockers in senior Odell Hodge (2.8) and sophomore Reggie Bassette (2.6), while sophomore reserve Cal Bowdler (1.0) ranks seventh. In steals, guards Mike Byers (2.9) - chosen the CAA player of the week for his 17 steals and 58 points in four games last week - and Brion Dunlap (1.9) rank 2-3 in the CAA.
Although the Monarchs still use primarily man-to-man defense, they are playing more zone than in the past. Capel said in the offseason ODU's coaches retooled their defense and talked to coach Dave Robbins at Virginia Union, the staff at Duke and studied film of Jerry Tarkanian's UNLV teams to establish how they wanted to play zone.
``It's not an old-fashioned, stand-around zone,'' Capel said. ``We trap out of it and we match up out of it. We feel we still are playing man principles even though we are in zone.''
INJURY UPDATES: George Mason's second-leading scorer and 3-point specialist Demetrius Somerville broke his right shin against Virginia Commonwealth and had surgery to insert a screw in his tibia. The junior guard is out for the season. ``We don't have a long list of 3-point shooters, and he was at the top of it,'' Patriots coach Paul Westhead said.
Virginia Commonwealth center George Byrd, hampered all season by a stress fracture in his leg, broke a bone in his foot Dec. 28 against Wichita State. He's out for at least a month. ``The problem for George is his recovery period will be hindered a little bit by his weight,'' VCU coach Sonny Smith said. ``He's up in 260-270 range.''
Richmond senior swingman Khaleel Abdul-Malik, who suffered a broken eye socket during practice in early December, is expected to be cleared to begin running Thursday and could return to game action by the middle of the month.
LEFTY MILESTONE: James Madison coach and Norfolk native Lefty Driesell will coach his 1,000th college game tonight when the Dukes meet VCU.
``It's a long time, I guess,'' Driesell said. ``One-thousand games is a lot of games. And that's just in college. I coached about 100 in high school.
``But I haven't thought about it. Someone mentioned it to me the other day. I just want to beat VCU on Wednesday. I'm as fired up about that game as I was my first game at Granby High School.''
Driesell has a 673-326 record in 35 years as a college coach.
It's early to talk March Madness, but March may hold promise for the Colonial Athletic Association that hasn't existed in years.
Perhaps two CAA teams will be included in the NCAA tournament field.
The league hasn't had an at-large entry since 1986, but that string of futility could be nearing an end. In the latest RPI Report, which simulates the computer rankings used by the NCAA, the CAA is the 12th-ranked league among the 30 Division I basketball conferences. Three of the last four years, No. 12 was good for two spots in the 64-team tournament field.
``If we have two or three teams that can pretty well do the job in the conference regular season and play into the conference tournament fairly deeply, hey, it would seem we're positioned,'' CAA commissioner Tom Yeager said. ``But there isn't any guarantee saying the 12th-place league gets two teams.
``But it usually breaks on 12 or 13 on a consistent basis.''
The CAA was 17th a year ago and finished 18 games under .500 in non-conference play against Division I opponents. So far this year, the league is five games over .500 against Division I opponents, and everyone but UNC Wilmington has at least one more non-conference game. The RPI's conference rankings won't change much from here on out.
But individual team rankings can. Old Dominion is the highest-ranked team in the league at No. 66, followed by Virginia Commonwealth (75), East Carolina (82) and UNC Wilmington (116).
Last year the lowest-ranked at-large team to make the NCAA tournament was California at No. 52. The key for the CAA to earn multiple tournament entries is to continue to play well out of conference, have a couple of teams amass a lot of wins to keep climbing in the rankings and then play well in the conference tournament.
``Teams in the league have had some great wins, that's how you get points in the RPI,'' Richmond coach Bill Dooley said. ``I think the strength of the teams in the CAA is greater than it has been maybe ever.''
D-FENCE: George Mason is noted for its offense, but it could meet its match in defense tonight when it hosts Old Dominion at 7:30.
Old Dominion leads the league in field goal percentage defense (37.7 percent), 3-point field goal percentage defense (28 percent) and blocked shots (7.8 per game) and is second in steals (10.3). Coach Jeff Capel called this the best defensive team he's had at Old Dominion.
``What's helped us is the development of the three sophomore big men,'' Capel said. ``Without those guys we wouldn't be able to pressure as much on the perimeter. I think our perimeter players are very comfortable getting out and gambling more than in the past.''
ODU has the league's leading shot blockers in senior Odell Hodge (2.8) and sophomore Reggie Bassette (2.6), while sophomore reserve Cal Bowdler (1.0) ranks seventh. In steals, guards Mike Byers (2.9) - chosen the CAA player of the week for his 17 steals and 58 points in four games last week - and Brion Dunlap (1.9) rank 2-3 in the CAA.
Although the Monarchs still use primarily man-to-man defense, they are playing more zone than in the past. Capel said in the offseason ODU's coaches retooled their defense and talked to coach Dave Robbins at Virginia Union, the staff at Duke and studied film of Jerry Tarkanian's UNLV teams to establish how they wanted to play zone.
``It's not an old-fashioned, stand-around zone,'' Capel said. ``We trap out of it and we match up out of it. We feel we still are playing man principles even though we are in zone.''
INJURY UPDATES:
George Mason's second-leading scorer and 3-point specialist Demetrius Somerville broke his right shin against Virginia Commonwealth and had surgery to insert a screw in his tibia. The junior guard is out for the season. ``We don't have a long list of 3-point shooters, and he was at the top of it,'' Patriots coach Paul Westhead said.
Virginia Commonwealth center George Byrd, hampered all season by a stress fracture in his leg, broke a bone in his foot Dec. 28 against Wichita State. He's out for at least a month. ``The problem for George is his recovery period will be hindered a little bit by his weight,'' VCU coach Sonny Smith said. ``He's up in 260-270 range.''
Richmond senior swingman Khaleel Abdul-Malik, who suffered a broken eye socket during practice in early December, is expected to be cleared to begin running Thursday and could return to game action by the middle of the month.
LEFTY MILESTONE: James Madison coach and Norfolk native Lefty Driesell will coach his 1,000th college game tonight when the Dukes meet VCU.
``It's a long time, I guess,'' Driesell said. ``One-thousand games is a lot of games. And that's just in college. I coached about 100 in high school.
``But I haven't thought about it. Someone mentioned it to me the other day. I just want to beat VCU on Wednesday. I'm as fired up about that game as I was my first game at Granby High School.''
Driesell has a 673-326 record in 35 years as a college coach.