With the lone exception of a makeup game between Drexel and W&M, 8 of the 10 CAA teams have hit the midway point in the CAA slate. It's now time to look at where the league is and what we can expect in the 2nd half.

First, let's look at the standings:

1. UNCW 9-0 (# 30 RPI)
2. Charleston 7-2 (# 69)
3. Towson 5-4 (# 94)
Northeastern 5-4 (# 145)
Elon 5-4 (# 149)
6. W&M 4-4 (# 135)
7. JMU 4-5 (# 267)
8. Drexel 2-6 (# 231)
9. Hofstra 2-7 (# 202)
10. Delaware 1-8 (# 260)

There's no surprise at who's up top and who is in last place. UNCW and Charleston were the league favorites, and everyone knew Delaware would be terrible in spite of the efforts of their new Head Coach.

The middle is where the surprises lie. This much parity was not expected in the middle. Elon is performing above expectations despite a tough first half schedule, including last night's road win over Northeastern. W&M is underperforming, as is Hofstra.

When you look at scoring margin, it reveals that teams are basically where they should be in the standings:

1. UNCW +12.8 ppg
2. Northeastern +7.4
3. Charleston +5.0
4. Elon +2.9
5. Towson +2.0
6. JMU +0.3
7. W&M -4.1
8. Hofstra -4.4
9. Drexel -8.4
10. Delaware -14.9

Northeastern, though inconsistent, SHOULD be better than 5-4 right now. But having had chances to prove it and missing those opportunities will hurt them down the stretch. Their 2nd half schedule includes both games against both UNCW and Charleston, road games against Elon and W&M and a home game with Towson. They appear to have the toughest remaining schedule.

Everyone else is more or less what their record says they are.


Now let's look at individual accolades. Below are the players who have won Player-of-the-Week and Rookie-of-the-Week honors so far this season:

(Note, players with an * asterisk earned at least one of the honors during CAA play)

Player-of-the-Week Honors

Devontae Cacok, UNCW (2x)
T.J. Williams, Northeastern (2x)
Tyler Seibring*, Elon
Justin Wright-Foreman*, Hofstra
William Adala Moto*, Towson
Chris Flemmings*, UNCW
Joe Chealey*, Charleston
Daniel Dixon*, W&M
Alex Murphy, Northeastern
Denzel Ingram, UNCW
Rodney Williams, Drexel
Jarrell Brantley, Charleston
Brian Dawkins, Elon
Luke Eddy, Elon


Rookie-of-the-Week Honors

Ryan Daly*, Delaware (4x)
Eli Pemberton, Hofstra (3x)
Grant Riller*, Charleston (2x)
Kari Jonsson, Drexel
Max Bourisquot, Northeastern
Kurk Lee, Drexel


Wow. CAA Player-of-the-Year is never going to be a more difficult decision than it will be this season.

First off, we've only had two 2x-winner of Player-of-the-Week in Cacok and Williams. However, neither of those honors occurred during CAA play. To separate from the rest of the pack, earning a POW honor during CAA play will be crucial for Cacok and Williams.

Rookie of the Week seems a lot clearer. Daly is starting to separate himself from Pemberton for the award.

To help determine our midseason honors, let's also look at some of the stat leaders through the first half in CAA-only games:

SCORING

1. Justin Wright-Foreman, Hofstra (21.7 ppg)
2. T.J. Williams, Northeastern, Northeastern (21.3)
3. Daniel Dixon, W&M (19.7)
4. Ryan Daly, Delaware (18.1)
5. Denzel Ingram, UNCW (18.0)
6. Joe Chealey, Charleston (17.9)
7. Jackson Kent, JMU (17.1)
8. Tyler Seibring, Elon (16.3)
9. Rodney Williams, Drexel (15.1)
10. C.J. Bryce, UNCW (15.1)
11. Chris Flemmings, UNCW (14.9)
12. Alex Murphy, Northeastern (14.8)
13. Grant Riller, Charleston (14.4)
14. Omar Prewitt, W&M (13.6)
15. Steven Santa Ana, Elon (13.2)
16. Jarrell Brantley, Charleston (12.9)
John Davis, Towson (12.9)
18. Dainan Swoope, Elon (12.8)
19. Devontae Cacok, UNCW (12.4)
20. Deron Powers, Hofstra (12.3)


REBOUNDING

1. Devontae Cacok, UNCW (12.4 rpg)
2. Rokas Gustys, Hofstra (9.8)
3. Jarrell Brantley, Charleston (8.3)
4. Rodney Williams, Drexel (7.9)
5. William Adala Moto, Towson (7.4)
6. John Davis, Towson (7.0)
7. Ryan Daly, Delaware (6.9)
C.J. Bryce, UNCW (6.9)
9. Yohanny Dalembert, JMU (6.9)
10. Tyler Seibreing, Elon (6.6)


ASSISTS

1. Denzel Ingram, UNCW (5.6 apg)
Deron Powers, Hofstra (5.6)
3. T.J. Williams, Northeastern (4.6)
4. David Cohn, W&M (4.3)
5. Kurk Lee, Drexel (4.0)
6. C.J. Bryce, UNCW (3.9)
Devon Begley, Northeastern (3.9)
8. Joe Chealey, Charleston (3.8)
Luke Eddy, Elon (3.8)
10. Sammy Mojica, Drexel (3.8)


STEALS

1. Devon Begley, Northeastern (2.0 spg)
2. Joey McLean, JMU (1.9)
3. Devontae Cacok, UNCW (1.8)
4. Anthony Mosley, Delaware (1.6)
Deshaun Morman, Towson (1.6)
6. Kurk Lee, Drexel (1.5)
7. Steven Santa Ana, Elon (1.4)
Chris Flemmings, UNCW (1.4)
9. Denzel Ingram, UNCW (1.2)
Dainan Swoope, Elon (1.2)
Shawn Occeus, Northeastern (1.2)


BLOCKS

1. Yohanny Dalembert, JMU (1.6 bpg)
2. Cazmon Hayes, Delaware (1.2)
Jarrell Brantley, Charleston (1.2)
Devontae Cacok, UNCW (1.2)
5. 6 tied at 1.0

For more stats, visit: http://static.caasports.com/custompages/...nfonly.htm


Combining 3 criteria (weekly honors, stats, and "eye test"), my midseason awards would be as follows:


Midseason Coach of the Year: Kevin Keatts, UNCW

It's hard to argue with 9-0. And with no other team in the CAA outperforming their season expectations significantly, it has to be Keatts by default at the midway point.


Midseason All-Rookie Team

Ryan Daly, Delaware
Eli Pemberton, Hofstra
Grant Riller, Charleston
Kurk Lee, Drexel
Kari Jonsson, Drexel


Midseason Rookie of the Year: Ryan Daly, Delaware

No surprise here. Daly is among the CAA leaders in a multitude of categories and is arguably the lone bright spot for a 1-8 Blue Hens team


Midseason Defensive Player of the Year: Jarrell Brantley, Charleston

Brantley is the best defensive player on the best defensive team in the league. He's an enforcer in the paint on both the glass (3rd in rebounding) and when protecting the rim (tied for 2nd in blocks), and is ferocious when guarding his man.


Midseason 3rd Team All-CAA

C.J. Bryce, UNCW
William Adala Moto, Towson
Alex Murphy, Northeastern
Ryan Daly, Delaware
Jackson Kent, JMU


Midseason 2nd Team All-CAA

Joe Chealey, Charleston
Tyler Seibring, Elon
Chris Flemmings, UNCW
Daniel Dixon, W&M
Rodney Williams, Drexel


Midseason 1st Team All-CAA

T.J Williams, Northeastern
Devontae Cacok, UNCW
Justin Wright-Foreman, Hofstra
Denzel Ingram, UNCW
Jarrell Brantley, Charleston


Midseason Player of the Year: T.J. Williams, Northeastern

The first question one would have to ask for this selection would be "How could the 9-0 Seahawks not have the Midseason Player-of-the-Year?" And that question would be valid. The issue for UNCW would be just how balanced the team is. At any given time, a different player can step up each night for the Seahawks, which is a very good thing for the purposes of winning games, but not for winning Player-of-the Year. Cacok would be the leading contender for UNCW, but a lot of his success can be credited to the strength of the team round him. Thus, he is my runner-up for the award at this time.

Williams, meanwhile, has been everything for the 5-4 Huskies. When he's not busy scoring he's kicking to "stretch 4" Alex Murphy for open threes. He leads the league in minutes, is 2nd in scoring, 10th in field goal %, 3rd in assists, and though he's last among the league's 12 eligible point guards in assist/turnover ratio, much of that occurs because Williams is trying to do a little too much for Northeastern. And who can blame him?

A Seahawk may very well sneak up and take the award by the end of the season. After all, there's a long way to go. But in one of the tougher years to pick a Player-of-the-Year that we've seen in some time, I'll take the guy who is carrying a 3rd-place team on his back.

Good write up. Although I'm not sure how the top teams leading scorer can be on the third team! I'd personally have Bryce ahead of Flemmings as of right now.

Bryce is second on the team in scoring, but I think he's been more valuable than Flemmings so far. Pre-season perception probably impacts voting if two guys are similar.

I enjoyed the report as well. If we run the table, I don't see how anyone else gets POY though. I'd go Ingram > Cacok.

(01-27-2017 02:02 PM)bricksnivy Wrote:  Bryce is second on the team in scoring, but I think he's been more valuable than Flemmings so far. Pre-season perception probably impacts voting if two guys are similar.

I enjoyed the report as well. If we run the table, I don't see how anyone else gets POY though. I'd go Ingram > Cacok.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketb...n-seahawks

16.9 to 16. Maybe strictly conference games he is?

I included the CAA-only stats in the post. Bryce is at 15.1 and Flemmings 14.9.

[quote='Seahawk Nation 08' pid='14036929' dateline='1485538916']


Midseason All-Rookie Team

Ryan Daly, Delaware
Eli Pemberton, Hofstra
Grant Riller, Charleston
Kurk Lee, Drexel
Kari Jonsson, Drexel

Explain Jonsson to me. He was on the floor a ton when we played them last week, but did absolutely nothing until garbage time. Just a bad game?

(01-27-2017 02:19 PM)WingsUp Wrote:  Explain Jonsson to me. He was on the floor a ton when we played them last week, but did absolutely nothing until garbage time. Just a bad game?

I think so. He's been shooting from the perimeter effectively all year (12-26 in CAA play). It was between him or Max Bourisquot from NU for that 5th spot, tough call but I went with Jonsson.

gotcha. Great write up, thanks

Great write up O8.

I personally think Ingram has been our best all-around player. He hits big shot after big shot. I wouldn't call him our most-valuable because he is in a position where we would survive without him. Talley has been playing great and I really like Richmond's game (not sure why he's fallen out of the rotation).
Cacok is our MVP. Without him we are screwed. I was really impressed with his positioning last night. He posted up well and got some easy layups - scored a little different than his typical alley-oops and put backs. I think he is continuing to improve...I expect him to pick up his scoring even more the 2nd half of the conference season. I predict he wins Player of the Year.
I'd rate Bryce and Flemmings about even (both studs). Bryce was better in the non-conference but Flemmings has been playing better lately.

Go Hawks!

Great analysis. I agree that Devonte has to be POY/MVP. When was the last time a Seahawk led the nation in a statistical category? Blizzard? Ingram though has won a number of games by making clutch shots. Bryce in non conference games carried the team when Devonte was in foul trouble. Flemings is coming back to his old self. Ambrose is so dangerous from 3. Talley off the bench lately is a secret weapon. This team is so versitale. Like Keatts says we win all types of games now.

(01-27-2017 02:29 PM)Seahawk Nation 08 Wrote:  

(01-27-2017 02:19 PM)WingsUp Wrote:  Explain Jonsson to me. He was on the floor a ton when we played them last week, but did absolutely nothing until garbage time. Just a bad game?

I think so. He's been shooting from the perimeter effectively all year (12-26 in CAA play). It was between him or Max Bourisquot from NU for that 5th spot, tough call but I went with Jonsson.

He appears to have hit the freshman wall since conference play has started. He has been shooting less lately, which is not necessarily a bad thing for him right now.

Hope Pembertons injury last night not as serious as it looked. Finished game last night on the bench with a boot on. Hate to see any player hurt. Getting stronger as a freshman is Riller. Since he took his brace off his knee he is ave better than 20 points a game. Another game Sat like last night he will probably be freshman of the week for the third time.

It will be hard to pick POY, but in the end I think Cacok takes it. Leading rebounder, leading FG% by a long shot, top 5 blocked shots, top 5 steals, now owns the record for most rebounds in a CAA game and the one player any coach in the league would trade for tomorrow. UNCW has a lot of very good cogs in the wheel, but Cacok is the POY.

I would argue that he would have even better numbers if it weren't for the players around him. We have so many players who can score, it limits him from averaging 15+ per game to go with his 12+ rebounds. We don't have many plays designed for him to score. He gets up and down the court for buckets, grabs rebounds, and comes off pick and rolls a lot.

Great analysis. Big game tonight. Nice problem to have arguing about 4 starters and where they belong on the all CAA teams at the midpoint. Gotta give some props to talley for the way he has playing of late. Big spark off the bench.

UNCW is definitely in a good position having four guys that arguments could be made to be on the 1st team, or even POY.

I'm sure you guys know better having seen them play all the time, but I'll offer an outside perspective. In looking at player of the year thus far for me it would probably be Ingram out of the UNCW guys going up against TJ Williams. To me his play-making ability put him above Flemmings and Bryce. As for Cacok, I could see him as the defensive player of the year but I don't think his offense is good enough to place him in the POY argument (perhaps not fair since defense is important but traditionally that is not generally how POY is determined).

The way I consider it, is to imagine if any of these guys were put on Delaware's team. For Ingram, Flemmings, and Bryce and thing their scoring would significantly increase. For Cacok, I'm not so sure. At least from what my impression was from the games against Drexel, he doesn't have a great ability to create his own offense; it seems to come more off of feeds from driving players and offensive rebounds. Look at Gustys, he is only scoring at half the rate of last year after Green and company left. Don't get me wrong, Cacok is a good player, I just think the others are better.

(01-27-2017 02:29 PM)Seahawk Nation 08 Wrote:  

(01-27-2017 02:19 PM)WingsUp Wrote:  Explain Jonsson to me. He was on the floor a ton when we played them last week, but did absolutely nothing until garbage time. Just a bad game?

I think so. He's been shooting from the perimeter effectively all year (12-26 in CAA play). It was between him or Max Bourisquot from NU for that 5th spot, tough call but I went with Jonsson.

Bourisquot does so much more than Jonsson. But its your write up.

So maybe just forget what I wrote above and throw Daniel Dixon in there with TJ Williams for POY

(01-28-2017 10:53 PM)Water Boy Wrote:  So maybe just forget what I wrote above and throw Daniel Dixon in there with TJ Williams for POY

Yep. Prewitt too. Dixon scored 59 points and Prewitt 52 in their last 2 games. Both now enter the heart of the POY discussions seemingly overnight.

Updated stat leaders in CAA-only games, now that everybody has played the same number of games (10):


SCORING

1. Daniel Dixon, W&M (21.9)
2. Justin Wright-Foreman, Hofstra (21.5 ppg)
T.J. Williams, Northeastern, Northeastern (21.5)
4. Joe Chealey, Charleston (18.4)
5. Ryan Daly, Delaware (17.9)
6. Denzel Ingram, UNCW (17.4)
7. Tyler Seibring, Elon (17.0)
8. Jackson Kent, JMU (16.4)
9. Omar Prewitt, W&M (16.1)
10. Grant Riller, Charleston (16.0)
11. Rodney Williams, Drexel (15.5)
12. C.J. Bryce, UNCW (15.1)
13. Alex Murphy, Northeastern (14.9)
14. Chris Flemmings, UNCW (14.2)
15. Jarrell Brantley, Charleston (13.4)
16. Devontae Cacok, UNCW (13.3)
17. Steven Santa Ana, Elon (12.9)
Kurk Lee, Drexel (12.9)
19. John Davis, Towson (12.5)
Sammy Mojica, Drexel (12.5)
Deron Powers, Hofstra (12.5)


REBOUNDING

1. Devontae Cacok, UNCW (12.8 rpg)
2. Rokas Gustys, Hofstra (9.8)
3. Jarrell Brantley, Charleston (8.2)
4. William Adala Moto, Towson (7.3)
5. Ryan Daly, Delaware (7.1)
6. John Davis, Towson (7.0)
7. C.J. Bryce, UNCW (6.9)
8. Rodney Williams, Drexel (6.7)
9. Tyler Seibreing, Elon (6.5)
10. Omar Prewitt, W&M (6.2)


ASSISTS

1. Denzel Ingram, UNCW (5.7 apg)
2. Deron Powers, Hofstra (5.4)
3. David Cohn, W&M (5.0)
4. Kurk Lee, Drexel (4.6)
5. T.J. Williams, Northeastern (4.5)
6. C.J. Bryce, UNCW (3.9)
7. Luke Eddy, Elon (3.8)
Devon Begley, Northeastern (3.8)
9. Omar Prewitt, W&M (3.7)
Joe Chealey, Charleston (3.7)


STEALS

1. Devon Begley, Northeastern (2.2 spg)
2. Joey McLean, JMU (1.9)
3. Devontae Cacok, UNCW (1.6)
Anthony Mosley, Delaware (1.6)
Grant Riller, Charleston (1.6)
Kurk Lee, Drexel (1.6)
7. Denzel Ingram, UNCW (1.4)
Deshaun Morman, Towson (1.4)
9. Steven Santa Ana, Elon (1.3)
Chris Flemmings, UNCW (1.3)
Jackson Kent, JMU (1.3)


BLOCKS

1. Devontae Cacok, UNCW (1.5)
2. Jack Whitman, W&M (1.2)
Jarrell Brantley, Charleston (1.2)
Anthony Green, Northeastern (1.2)
5. Cazmon Hayes, Delaware (1.1)
Nathan Knight, W&M (1.1)

(01-31-2017 11:05 AM)Seahawk Nation 08 Wrote:  

(01-28-2017 10:53 PM)Water Boy Wrote:  So maybe just forget what I wrote above and throw Daniel Dixon in there with TJ Williams for POY

Yep. Prewitt too. Dixon scored 59 points and Prewitt 52 in their last 2 games. Both now enter the heart of the POY discussions seemingly overnight.

You can't give them too much credit for last night. You really should only benefit in being a POY if the team you are playing is...actually playing and not just watching the game from on the court.