2020-2021 CAA Men's Basketball Out of Conference

[EvanJ]

Today:

12:00 P.M. Limestone (non-Division I) at JMU
1:30 p.m. Towson vs. Number 4 Virginia at Mohegan Sun
4:00 P.M. UNCW at Western Carolina
6:00 P.M. Charleston at Number 16 North Carolina
7:00 P.M. North Carolina Wesleyan (non-Division I) at Elon
Postponed or canceled: Drexel at Penn State

Including us, the CAA has four Division I games, with three away and one at a neutral site, and two are against ranked teams. UNCW is expected to be bad. We're the most likely CAA team to get a Division I win today.

According to ESPN, CAA teams are scheduled to play 62 games OOC vs. Division I, 4 games OOC vs. non-Division I, and have 9 games postponed or canceled.

[Polito]

Too bad Drexel didn't get to play PSU tonight, I think they would've destroyed them. Watch for a close game against Pitt on Sat, an upset there wouldn't surprise me.

I could see Towson and Charleston keeping it close until the 2nd half with all teams being so unsettled still.

I don't buy that the W will be terrible per say, they won't be ready for the top half of the league yet, but they have a competent coaching staff now and some new talent that will gel over time.

I see at least half of the games being wins, I think the CAA will have a good debut night, but just a personal guess - could easily go the opposite direction lol - just glad the season is ON!!

[Wags]

Too bad Drexel didn't get to play PSU tonight, I think they would've destroyed them. Watch for a close game against Pitt on Sat, an upset there wouldn't surprise me.

I could see Towson and Charleston keeping it close until the 2nd half with all teams being so unsettled still.

I don't buy that the W will be terrible per say, they won't be ready for the top half of the league yet, but they have a competent coaching staff now and some new talent that will gel over time.

I see at least half of the games being wins, I think the CAA will have a good debut night, but just a personal guess - could easily go the opposite direction lol - just glad the season is ON!!

Towson was not competitive at all with Virginia. Down 42-19 at halftime, lost 89-54.
C of C, as you predicted, hung in (was down 39-32 at the half), but UNC pulled away to win, 79-60.
UNCW played Western Carolina close in the first half but got blown out in the second half and lost, 98-76.

[Jojogunne]

Flohoops has a condensed version of the Towson-UVA game here:

https://www.flohoops.com/events/6818274 ... 3&limit=60

[Polito]

UVA looked very impressive, esp considering the circumstances. I know the return of Zane for Towson is deemed big, and it may be, but I'm not sold yet that he will be the massive difference maker projected. Let's see...

Watched a bit of UNC/CofC, competitive as expected first half. CofC has some quick guard play, didn't see much in the post. They will be tough again as expected.

The W getting crushed by Western Carolina surprised me - as I've said the hawks are a couple of years out from being back at the top, especially after losing Estime to injury, but I figured we'd see better than that 1st game. But we'll see how they progress, they do have some talent.

Elon and JMU win.

And like I said about Pitt, Drexel will have a very good shot at winning - the panthers dropped an embarrassing one to St Francis. Gonna be a year of foundation building for Capel. He'll get there, but it may take 2-3 years.

[EvanJ]

UVA looked very impressive, esp considering the circumstances.

Yesterday they lost to San Francisco 61-60. It was USF's first win over a top five team since December 19, 1981. UVA was favored by 15.5. Tonight I hope Florida State upsets UVA in Football.

Elon and JMU win.

Those were non-Division I. The CAA continued to struggle on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday Towson lost to San Francisco 79-68 in Bubbleville at Mohegan Sun. Yesterday JMU lost 83-73 hosting Morgan State from the Mid-Eastern Athletic (MEAC), which was last in the Conference NET and Conference RPI last season. Matt Lewis had 27 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Vado Morse, a junior who transferred there, had 16 points and 4 assists. In two games, freshman Justin Amadi averaged 13.0 points and made 12 of 15 field goals without attempting a three. He's also averaging 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals. JMU hosts Radford on Sunday. Amadi is a candidate for Rookie of the Week if the CAA gives that out on Monday. Norfolk State was 247th in the NET and 263rd in the RPI. UNCW got the CAA's first Division I win 76-68 at UNC Asheville. Jaylen Sims had 24 points and 7 rebounds. Towson trailed by 16 at halftime and lost to Buffalo 74-65 in another game at Mohegan Sun. Martin had 27 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists.

The CAA has five games today, and they're at start times that MLB uses. At 1:00 P.M. Drexel is at Pittsburgh, Charleston hosts non-Division I Limestone, and UNCW plays Troy at UNC Asheville. At 4:00 P.M. Elon hosts nearby High Point. At 7:00 P.M. W&M has a short trip to Old Dominion. Wilmington and Asheville are in the same state, but not nearby. According to Google Maps, it takes 5:18 to drive from Wilmington to Asheville. That's longer than from Wilmington to Elon, Charleston, and W&M, and almost as long as to JMU.

[Wags]

UVA looked very impressive, esp considering the circumstances.

Yesterday they lost to San Francisco 61-60. It was USF's first win over a top five team since December 19, 1981. UVA was favored by 15.5.

That was a fun game to catch on TV on an off day, the day after Thanksgiving. Black Friday shopping? Nah, gimme college hoops! USF hit 13 3s, including two during a late 8-0 run to go up 61-54, before Virginia scored the next six to get within 61-60. Virginia had a couple chances on its last possession but came up short. Interesting type of matchup that you never usually see other than in these-early season November tourneys.

[Polito]

Big W for the Dons for sure! No skin off my back either, no fan of the Hoos! But Hokie Hokie Hokie High, #3 Nova Goes Down to VPI!!

One really interesting thing from all the COVID disruption is some really interesting matchups that we would never see normally, as you noted Wags - I know it's wild, but this is a very fun and unpredictable start to the season, embracing the madness of it lol

Got one huge upset tonight, looking for number 2 closer to 'home' tomorrow afternoon! Go HU!

[Wags]

Big W for the Dons for sure! No skin off my back either, no fan of the Hoos! But Hokie Hokie Hokie High, #3 Nova Goes Down to VPI!!

No conflict for you there? I guess it was Hokies over Jay Wright all the way?

[Polito]

Lol it def was a little bit I of course pull for Jay and Nova, but push come to shove I’m about HU and VT! If Nova is gonna lose I’d love for it to be one of those!

[Cards]

I thought I was glad that we are scheduled to play Richmond this OOC - however with the beating the gave Kentucky today I not so sure I look forward to our matchup with them!!

[Polito]

I watched the entire game - if HU can correct it's scoring issues, they can definitely hang, and even beat UR.

UK is literally all freshman still learning their way. Even 5 stars need to gel. They did not look like the #10 team in the nation to me or anywhere close.

UR is senior laden and plays very controlled. Very different (and less dangerous IMO) than RU. They played well enough to win, but didn't wow me. UK looked young, i.e. very sloppy. They will be formidable, don't get me wrong, but they will play at a much slower pace, and I believe HU can match their talent level. I'm very glad they beat UK, I want them ranked when HU plays them! By that time an upset is not out of the question.

But we'll see... get better every game and let's see where things stand at that time.


P.S. For the hoops junkies, the Hokies are playing well again, about to beat USF for win #3. Picked 11th in the ACC, but many feel they are going to surprise. Seeing good things so far...

[Wags]

It might be tough for HU to score against Richmond, which is an experienced, fundamentally sound team that switch from a zone to man last year and has been very good defensively since. But I wouldn't read too much into Kentucky losing to Richmond today. Like UCLA (we should know after last year!), Kentucky getting upset by unranked teams at home has become a recent annual thing in November. Remember, Evansville won at Kentucky (with fans there and with Kentucky ranked No. 1) before Evansville went on to go 0-19 (including the conference tourney) in the MVC. Teams like them and Richmond are going to bring their A-games to a place like historic Rupp Arena while Cal always has a lot of star freshmen who aren't used to playing together and who may take teams like Evansville and Richmond lightly in November before Cal shapes them into what people expected by Feb, and March. So, the fact that Richmond beat Kentucky may not necessarily mean that Hofstra would have no chance at Richmond. Things could be different by then.

[Cards]

I thought I was glad that we are scheduled to play Richmond this OOC - however with the beating the gave Kentucky today I not so sure I look forward to our matchup with them!!

My post was just an observation followed by a tongue in cheek (wink wink) comment. I have always been a strong supporter of playing the toughest competition we could schedule. I believe that over the long haul it raises the level of the program.

[Polito]

No doubt Cards, we know and agree

[Wags]

I thought I was glad that we are scheduled to play Richmond this OOC - however with the beating the gave Kentucky today I not so sure I look forward to our matchup with them!!

My post was just an observation followed by a tongue in cheek (wink wink) comment. I have always been a strong supporter of playing the toughest competition we could schedule. I believe that over the long haul it raises the level of the program.

I know.

Richmond went from unranked to 19th and Kentucky from 10th to 20th after that game. Richmond's next game is at Charleston this Wednesday.

[stuball888]

W&M game against NC State cancelled

[Cards]

Anyone hear anything regarding adding more games to the OOC schedule?

[Wags]

W&M game against NC State cancelled

As was Richmond at Charleston.

Too bad, was looking forward to seeing how a fellow CAA team would handle Richmond after Richmond's win against Kentucky and before HU goes down to Richmond (assuming that's not canceled too).

[EvanJ]

https://jmusports.com/news/2020/11/30/m ... urday.aspx says JMU will host Maryland on Saturday at 3:00 P.M. It will be JMU's first time hosting a Big Ten team since they hosted Minnesota on December 28, 1994, and their first time hosting a Power Five team since they hosted Virginia on November 14, 2014. Maryland is doing what we did by playing in different places on consecutive says. On Friday they host George Mason. In addition to being on FloHoops, Maryland at JMU will be on NBC Sports Washington, so people in that area can watch for free. Here's the CAA's schedule through Sunday:

Tonight: Drexel vs. Quinnipiac at Mohegan Sun at 7:30 P.M. on FloHoops
Thursday: Drexel vs. Quinnipiac at Mohegan Sun at 2:00 P.M. on FloHoops (not a mistake, they're playing each other twice in under 24 hours)
Thursday: Coppin State at Towson at 7:00 P.M. on FloHoops
Friday: None
Saturday: Towson at Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) at 1:00 P.M. on ESPN3
Saturday: Maryland at James Madison at 3:00 P.M. on NBC Sports Washington and FloHoops
Saturday: Iona at Hofstra at 4:00 P.M. on FloHoops
Sunday: Coppin State at Drexel at 2:00 P.M. on NBC Sports Philadelphia+ and FloHoops

That's seven games, and only four CAA teams. I didn't list postponed or canceled games. Monday December 7 through Sunday December 13 have 13 games schedules.