THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 12, 1997 TAG: 9702120803
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 65 lines
The Colonial Athletic Association is often considered a Virginia/Washington league, with a couple of North Carolina schools stuck in as an afterthought.
But they aren't afterthoughts now. UNC Wilmington - picked to finish sixth in the preseason - leads the league while East Carolina is one of two teams a half game back.
``If you asked me at the beginning of the year if I thought we'd be in the position we are, I'd have to honestly say no,'' UNC Wilmington coach Jerry Wainwright said. ``I thought we'd be a pretty good team by the time the CAA tournament came around for two reasons: No. 1, we have some young players and, No. 2, we played a tough nonconference schedule that prepared us.''
The Seahawks are a quintessential team, with six players averaging between 6 1/2 and 10 1/2 points.
``We don't have a lot of guys in individual (statistical) categories in the CAA, but I think our guys play well together and they enjoy each other and they play hard and the chemistry is right,'' Wainwright said.
The thing Wainwright has done right with the Seahawks is stress defense. They are the most difficult team in the league to prepare for because they make opponents play ugly. The Seahawks are last in the CAA in scoring (58.3 points per game) and first in scoring defense (61.2 points per game).
JMU coach Lefty Driesell said the Seahawks' deliberate offense contributes to their defense.
``They're physical and they take pride in their defense,'' said Driesell, whose Dukes are at UNC Wilmington tonight. ``And they make you play defense a long time and what they hope is that you're going to come down and fire up a quick a quick shot and they won't have to play defense a long time.''
HODGE PODGE: ODU senior center Odell Hodge reached the 1,000-rebound plateau Saturday at UNC Wilmington, becoming just the fourth Monarch to hit the milestone. He's 65 points shy of 2,000 and would become the first ODU player and just the third in CAA history to score 2,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds. The others were Navy's David Robinson (1983-87) and George Mason's Kenny Sanders (1986-89).
TRIBE ON RAMPAGE: William and Mary is playing its best basketball of the season. Its three-game winning streak is its first against Division I opponents since the 1991-92 season.
The Tribe has held its last two opponents - Old Dominion, Richmond and American - to combined 32 percent shooting. In CAA games only, William and Mary is first in field goal percentage defense (40.1 percent).
The Tribe has undersized post players in David Grabuloff and Bobby Fitzgibbons, but the key to its defense is perimeter players Shaka Arnold, Randy Bracy and Terence Jennings.
``We have three kids on the perimeter that are quick, strong, jump well and work hard,'' Tribe coach Charlie Woollum said. ``Those are key ingredients to playing good defense.''
William and Mary was picked to finish last in the league, but is tied for fifth place with Old Dominion.
TIP-INS: ODU coach Jeff Capel said sophomore Mark Poag was held out of the starting lineup Saturday at UNC Wilmington because he was injured and not because of his lengthy shooting slump. Capel said Poag injured his foot in the William and Mary game and missed a couple of days of practice. . . . With three league games to play, George Mason (3-10) appears likely to be in the play-in game for the second consecutive year. Richmond (4-7) is in eighth place but with three consecutive home games is hoping to avoid its second consecutive play-in game.