.

Current Standings: The most competitive conference race in the nation got even tighter last week as six teams - Hofstra, James Madison, UNCW, Northeastern, Towson and William & Mary - are now tied for first place at 4-2. The Big 12 (4) and MAC (4) are the only other conferences with more than two teams tied for first through games of Jan. 17. Of the 10 CAA games last week, five were decided by four points or less.
There are several head-to-head matchups between the first-place squads this week as Northeastern hosts Hofstra and Towson, and the Pride also faces The Tribe.

ROAD TEAMS: Road teams have a 17-13 record thus far in CAA play after going 7-3 last week. Seven of the league’s 10 teams have winning road records in CAA play, including unbeaten James Madison (3-0) and Elon (2-0). All 10 teams have suffered at least one home loss in conference competition and only four have winning records. Visitors having success in CAA action continues a trend from last year when home teams finished only 47-43.

PILING UP THE WINS: The CAA is one of only five Division I conferences to have at least seven teams with 12 or more overall wins through games of Jan. 17. The others are the ACC (11), Big Ten (8), Big East (7) and Pac 12 (7).

LATEST RPI Update: Four CAA teams are ranked among the top 95 in the latest RPI report released by Collegiate Basketball News (rpiratings.com). William & Mary leads all CAA squads at #58, followed by James Madison at #84, Northeastern at #93 and Hofstra at #95. The CAA is ranked #9 among the nation’s 32 Division I conferences, which is still its highest ranking ever at this point in the season, and is one of only nine conferences with four teams among the top 95 of the RPI along with the American, A-10, ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac 12 and SEC.

NATIONAL LEADERS: Tribe senior Terry Tarpey ranks 4th nationally in steals (2.75 spg) and Drexel freshman Terrell Allen (2.18 spg) is 21st in the latest NCAA listing.
In scoring, CofC’s Canyon Barry (now out for the season) ranks 32nd (19.7 ppg).
Hofstra’s Juan’ya Green (6.6 apg) is 13th in assists, while the Pride’s Brian Bernardi is 11th in FT percentage (90%).
Delaware’s Marvin King-Davis is 14th in double-doubles (9) and 40th in rebounding (9.2 rpg). Hofstra’s Rokas Gustys is 21st in double-doubles (8) and ranks 22nd in rebounding (10.1 rpg).



W&M Notes:

The Tribe’s loss to UNCW dropped them to #26 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll. JMU jumped into the Poll at #22. Four other CAA teams - Hofstra, Northeastern, College of Charleston and Elon - were among other teams receiving votes in the poll.

David Cohn hit 3 treys and scored a team-high 15 points at CofC and posted his first double-double (14 pts/11 ast) of the season at UNCW. He’s averaging 12.2 ppg over his last six games.

Sean Sheldon averaged 15.0 ppg last week, including a career-high 20 points at UNCW. He was 12-of-15 from the floor for the week and is shooting 61.9% for the season.

Terry Tarpey averaged 12.5 ppg and 7.0 rpg last week. He ranks 4th in the CAA in rebounding, 1st in steals and 2nd in blocks.

Omar Prewitt poured in 20 points at UNCW. He’s scored double digits in 17 of his last 19 games and has 7 20+-point efforts.

Greg Malinowski averaged 11.0 ppg last week and was 6-of-9 from 3-point range.




Notes on this week’s opponents:


ELON (12-7, 3-3)

Young team. 10 freshmen and sophomores. Split two games last week. Has not lost on the road in CAA play.

6'1" Jr. Guard Luke Eddy (11.5 ppg) scored a team-high 21 points against UNCW and 15 points at CofC. He’s averaging 14.5 ppg over his last 4 games and ranks 2nd in the CAA in assists.

6'4" Sr. Guard Tanner Samson (14.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg) was held to 8 points in each game last week but has scored double figures in 11 of his last 14 contests. Samson is Elon’s career 3-point leader with 302 and tops the CAA with 60 treys this season. Samson’s 3.16 treys pg ranks him 25th nationally.

6'7" Jr. Forward Christian Hairston (10.1 ppg, 6.9 rpg) posted his 4th double-double (14 pts/10 reb) vs. UNCW and is averaging 12.0 ppg and 10.5 rpg over the past four contests.

6'8" Fr. Forward Tyler Seibring (9.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg) was 7-of-11 from 3 and averaged 14.5 ppg last week, including a game-high 18 points and 7 rebounds at CofC. He’s put up double digits in 5 straight games.

6'0" Fr. Guard Dainan Swoope (10.3 ppg) hit a game-winning 3 with 20 seconds left and had 12 points at CofC.

Elon has made 10 or more treys in 12 of 19 games.




Hofstra (if we make it…) (12-6, 4-2)

Split two home games last week.

6'9" So. Center Rokas Gustys (11.7 ppg, 10.1 rpg) averaged 20.0 ppg and 15.0 rpg last week on 79% FG shooting, including career-highs of 25 points and 20 rebounds vs. JMU. It was HU’s first 20-20 game since 1982. He tops the CAA in rebounds (10.1 rpg) and FG% (62.7%). He has grabbed 10+ boards 12 times and has 8 double-doubles, which is 21st in the nation and he ranks 22nd nationally in rebounding (10.1 rpg).


Pre-Season POY Juan’ya Green scored a game-high 25 points vs. DU and went over 2,000 points for his career. The 6'2" Sr Guard (17.2 ppg) has scored double figures in 17 of 18 games and also leads the CAA in assists. Green (6.6 apg) is currently 13th in assists in the nation.

6'5" Sr. Forward Ameen Tanksley (15.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg) averaged 10.5 ppg and 8.0 rpg last week. He has reached double digits in 17 of 18 contests.

6'2" Jr. Guard Brian Bernardi (14.2 ppg) chipped in 12 points vs. Drexel and JMU. He has made a team-high 52 threes on 44.4% shooting this season.

6'8" Sr-G Forward Denton Koon (11.0 ppg, 7.1 rpg) just missed a double-double (11 pts/9 reb) vs. JMU. He’s scored double figures 12 times and grabbed 10+ boards four times this season.



Till next week…

Wow, didn't realize Barry's injury is now putting him out for the season.

Tough break for Charleston. That pretty much puts them with Drexel and Delaware at the bottom of the conference

(01-19-2016 07:45 PM)WMtribe17 Wrote:  Wow, didn't realize Barry's injury is now putting him out for the season.

Tough break for Charleston. That pretty much puts them with Drexel and Delaware at the bottom of the conference

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I think they will be OK without Barry. They have some depth and gave the Tribe fits in last weeks game w/o Barry.

Also, great and very informative "notes" by Billy Mac - so at least there is one benefit from this crazy Thursday/Saturday schedule. With the games clumped together at the end of the week, it has become difficult to give proper focus to "The next game".

(01-19-2016 07:45 PM)WMtribe17 Wrote:  Wow, didn't realize Barry's injury is now putting him out for the season.

Tough break for Charleston. That pretty much puts them with Drexel and Delaware at the bottom of the conference

Not even close. CoC will be in the title hunt even without Barry, and I expect them to be a pain in the arse in Baltimore. WM played more than 75% of their 2 games vs CoC without Barry on the floor, and neither game was easy.

(01-20-2016 08:19 AM)WM Beancounter Wrote:  Not even close. CoC will be in the title hunt even without Barry, and I expect them to be a pain in the arse in Baltimore. WM played more than 75% of their 2 games vs CoC without Barry on the floor, and neither game was easy.

The ability to score an upset doesn't mean they're a contender. It's pretty accurate to say they'll finish in the 7-10 range. Barry accounted for nearly 30 % of their scoring, and without him, their top 3 scorers are a Sophomore and 2 freshmen. Their defense will win them some games, but they simply don't have the offensive firepower to finish in the top 6 this season.

It does speak volumes about their bright future that they have so many quality young players, however. They'll be a top 3-4 team next season.

(01-20-2016 08:56 AM)Seahawk Nation 08 Wrote:  It's pretty accurate to say they'll finish in the 7-10 range.

I don't think "accurate" means what you think it means, 08, unless you're holding Biff's sports almanac

(01-20-2016 08:56 AM)Seahawk Nation 08 Wrote:  

(01-20-2016 08:19 AM)WM Beancounter Wrote:  Not even close. CoC will be in the title hunt even without Barry, and I expect them to be a pain in the arse in Baltimore. WM played more than 75% of their 2 games vs CoC without Barry on the floor, and neither game was easy.

The ability to score an upset doesn't mean they're a contender. It's pretty accurate to say they'll finish in the 7-10 range. Barry accounted for nearly 30 % of their scoring, and without him, their top 3 scorers are a Sophomore and 2 freshmen. Their defense will win them some games, but they simply don't have the offensive firepower to finish in the top 6 this season.

It does speak volumes about their bright future that they have so many quality young players, however. They'll be a top 3-4 team next season.

Well said, they are going to have to keep teams to around 60 or less to have a chance of winning

(01-20-2016 08:19 AM)WM Beancounter Wrote:  

(01-19-2016 07:45 PM)WMtribe17 Wrote:  Wow, didn't realize Barry's injury is now putting him out for the season.

Tough break for Charleston. That pretty much puts them with Drexel and Delaware at the bottom of the conference

Not even close. CoC will be in the title hunt even without Barry, and I expect them to be a pain in the arse in Baltimore. WM played more than 75% of their 2 games vs CoC without Barry on the floor, and neither game was easy.

That isn't saying much. W&M has shown much of the season that they have a lot of difficulty closing out games when they have a comfortable lead.

Charleston's offense completely relied on Barry to score for them when he was healthy. With him out, they have no go to scorer and are really going to have to work hard in games just to break 60

Will Barry get a redshirt, or was our game too far into the season for that?

(01-22-2016 10:53 PM)TribeInTheBurg Wrote:  Will Barry get a redshirt, or was our game too far into the season for that?

He played 13 games so unless Charleston plays 44 games (impossible even with winning CAA and NCAA tournaments), he cannot qualify. Rule is playing in 30% of games or fewer due to a season ending injury.