William & Mary??????

RICHMOND — Wow! The William & Mary Tribe in the CAA championship?

Yeah they were the No. 5 team in the tournament and crazier things have happened in March, but this is truly memorable stuff.

Not only has the Tribe never won the CAA tournament in 22 years, but it's never even played in the title game.

After winning the tournament last year and beating Duke in the first round of the NCAA tournament, it seemed a foregone conclusion that VCU would repeat after going 22-6 in the regular season. Well at least I was pretty sure they'd be playing tomorrow night on ESPN.

But the Rams will now have to wait it out and see if the committee thinks they're worthy enough for an at-large bid. Non-conference wins over Maryland, Houston and Bradley might help, but a semifinal loss to No. 161 W&M in the RPI — who is 0-5 against the top 100 — could dash any hopes and send them to the NIT.

And it all might be because of the clutch play of W&M senior forward Laimas Kisielius. The 6-foot-8 Lithuanian native, who made only third-team All-CAA, played like a first-teamer with his game-high 23 points including the game-winner on a runner with three seconds left in the game.

Sophomore Danny Sumner chipped in 19 points for CAA Head Coach of the Year, Tony Shaver, and gave VCU's Eric Maynor, the conference player of the year, some of the toughest defense he could handle.

Maynor finished with a team-high 16 points including four 3-pointers, but was unable to get his hands on the ball for the game's last shot.

The Tribe will try to continue its impressive run with a fourth win in as many games tomorrow night against the winner of George Mason and UNC-Wilmington. At halftime Mason leads UNCW 31-25.

Northeastern 73, JMU 55

For final analysis of the game and JMU basketball check out my article and Matt McGovern's at thebreeze.org.

LIVE:In Game- JMU 25, NU 38 at Half

Northeastern is shooting 54 percent through the first 20 minutes to JMU's 39. Juwann James has seven and Terrence Carter and Abdulai Jalloh each have six, but no Duke has established himself as a clear threat to the Huskies' zone or man-to-man pressure.

NU's Manny Adako leads all scorers with 12 points with his 5-for-8 shooting from the field. Eugene Spates has also provided a spark of the bench for NU with two 3-pointers.

Like much of the season JMU has struggled to defend the perimeter. Both teams reached the bonus as James has picked up three fouls and four other Dukes have two. Adako and fellow post player Chris Alvarez have two for the Huskies.

JMU needs to create a turnover frenzy in the next 10 minutes to make this a capable ball game down the stretch.

LIVE: In Game Blog- CAA First Round No. 7 Delaware vs. No. 10 Drexel. Final.

Delaware 60, Drexel 51

In the end it was junior forward Jim Ledsome that made the difference on both ends of the floor for the Hens.

With 31 seconds left and Delaware only holding on to a three-point lead, the Dragons went to their star player Frank Elegar in the post. The big man's turn-around was blocked cleaning by Ledsome. Ledsome then converted a three-point play on a flagrant foul after Tramayne Hawthorne missed a 3-pointer -- Drexel's last shot.

Delaware will play No. 2 UNC-Wilmington in the quarterfinals.

In the day's previous two games, No. 5 seed William & Mary held seed over No. 12 Georgia State with a last second shot by the Tribe's David Schneider.

The sophomore hit a pull-up jumper from the top of the key with 1.5 seconds remaining. The 3-pointer gave W&M a 58-57 victory and quarterfinal matchup with No. 4 Old Dominion.

No. 9 Towson started the day with an 81-66 win over No. 8 Hofstra. The Tigers had to hold off a late rally by The Pride and senior Antoine Agudio. The first-team All-CAA selection scored 27 points in his collegiate finale.

Towson junior Tony Durant provided much-needed energy for the Tigers and finished 20 points just two behind team leader Josh Thornton's 22. Towson will play the No. 1 seed VCU in the quarters.

LIVE: In Game Blog- CAA First Round No. 7 Delaware vs. No. 10 Drexel.

Approaching the midway point in the second half, Delaware has begun to open it up with defensive adjustments.

Early in the half the Hens went to a 2-3 zone that enabled them to double down on Elegar more and really disrupt the rhythm he attained in the first half. Drexel has tried to counter with high-low post looks to draw Delaware's second post defender out of the baseline.

At the 12:50 mark he took a breather with only one point in the half.

Delaware's Herb Courtney has also started asserting himself on the low block and has eight points in the second half.

At the under 12:00 media timeout Delaware leads the Dragons 43-33.

LIVE: In Game Blog- CAA First Round No. 7 Delaware vs. No. 10 Drexel. Halftime.

Delaware has scrapped its way to a 28-25 advantage through the first 20 minutes of its first round game with Drexel.

The Blue Hens are led by freshman guard Alphonso Dawson's team-high 10 points. It was junior guard Marc Egerson that gave the Hens the spark at the end of the half scoring all six of his points in the final seven minutes.

Senior Frank Elegar of Drexel leads all scorers with 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting. Elegar has made three of his five free-throw attempts, but the Dragons have made just 6-of-14 as a team. Delaware has managed to shoot only four from the stripe and will need to get Elegar and the Dragons in foul trouble if this game stays close.

LIVE: In Game Blog- CAA First Round No. 7 Delaware vs. No. 10 Drexel

The headline name in the third matchup of the day is second-team All-CAA selection Frank Elegar. The 6-foot-9 senior center is leading the 12-19 Dragons with eight points as Drexel leads 15-14 with over 10 minutes remaining in the first half.

Elegar provides a tough draw for Delaware forwards Herb Courtney and Jim Ledsome because of his height as well as his athleticism. The two teams split wins in the two previous Colonial Athletic Association meetings this season, with the Blue Hens winning on the road by four and the Dragons also winning on the road by two.

The game is a physical man-to-man battle at this point but Delaware could be in trouble if they don't get Elegar off the block.

What is Snyder Doing?

At this point in the Redskins search for a new coach, I think it's fair to speak for Redskins fans and say that this is ridiculous.

I'm still confused at why they couldn't hold onto Gregg Williams and promote him to head coach. For some reason he and Daniel Snyder must not have gotten along, but without knowing specifics I'd have to just side with Williams.

If Snyder knew anything about football or even team continuity — and apparently after nine years he still doesn't — he would have known that after a roller coaster season like that it may have been to stay in-house.

But no he didn't even make a concerted effort to keep Williams around at all. Instead the Redskins fired the defensive coordinator who helped Gibbs lead a team to the playoffs after the slaying of undoubtedly the best player on the defensive side of the ball, Sean Taylor.

I can't imagine how irate some of the veteran players on this ball club are. They had a lot going for them with that late run to make the playoffs. Gibbs made a decision that you can't disrespect. He was getting up there in years and his grandson has leukemia.

But Gregg Williams built this defense into one of the best in the league. Before Sean Taylor's death the Redskins defense was playing nasty and giving every team all it could handle, minus the Patriots' blowout.

At this point it seems like the Skins are gonna just have to settle because Giants' defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has turned down the offer and resigned with New York. I cant imagine having Jim Fassel on board it just reminds me of having an old stiff like Marty Schottenheimer and that didn't work out.

It's apparent that they are just looking for a figure head considering the two coordinator's are already in place, so Steve Mariucci wouldn't be awful. He brings a lot of energy but has been out of the league for awhile now. Ron Meeks is the other name being thrown around and I do like that he is a defensive mind and one who really turned the Indy D into Super Bowl caliber. Pete Carroll has been mentioned but he's got it made at USC and could still win a few more national championships with that program.

Whoever it is gonna be, Snyder needs to hurry up and stop jerking around his players and fans.

What is Snyder Doing?

Mason In the Headlines Again

If you saw the highlights last night of a little George Mason point guard wearing the number 1, you may have thought back to Tony Skinn.

Skinn was Mason's floor-general during the Final Four run two years ago, but it was his successor, Dre Smith, who captivated the JMU Convocation Center Saturday night.

Smith became the only player in NCAA history to connect on all ten of his three-point attempts. No matter who was one him of what defense JMU was in, Smith was able to elevate over everybody to release his bombs.

Eight of the triples came in the second half en route to his career high 34 points. JMU had to also worry about Mason senior forward Will Thomas, arguably the best post player in the league leaving the arc open somewhere all night.

Smith began a 16-2 Mason run to begin the game with his first three coming from NBA range. Later in the game the 6-foot guard pulled up closer to half-court than the three-point line. The Dukes were helpless as they tried to dig out of the early hole.

JMU managed to cut the lead to seven with less than seven minutes in the game, but Smith continued to shoot and continue to not miss.

He will probably never do that again, but it appears that Mason might be more dangerous than 14-5 record may indicate.

Washington Owes A Lot to Joe, Good Luck Coach

Much to my dismay Washington Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs is scheduled to officially announce his resignation later today.

It is gonna be hard to see him go especially after the job he did this season holding the team together. It's really unfathomable what he and all the Skins went through this year with Sean Taylor's murder. Gibbs led the way he always had though, with integrity.

Obviously bogged down by the emotions of that tragic week, he made a key error in calling two consecutive time-outs against Buffalo. But he took full responsibility for the mistake and refocused himself and the team to run off four straight wins to make the playoffs.

More people will remember him as the Redskins coach of the eighties and late-nineties, but some of us younger folk will remember the courage he had to come back after already being inducted in Canton. He stuck it out for four injury plagued years and one last tumultuous season.

I'll always remember the fortitude he instilled in the young players especially the ones he drafted like Sean Taylor. Nobody else could have brought the excitement and swagger back to D.C. like he did. I'll also always remember going to training camp each summer and seeing him and Joe Bugle really push the offense to get better.

His teams always played hard and respected the man. How could you not? The devout Christian was known as a coach who elected not to use curse words but instead be a model citizen for his young, impressionable team.

Nobody can really fault Joe for the decision. Joe is 67 years-old now and suffers from diabetes. He also has a two year-old grandson who was diagnosed with Leukemia in January. It's clear he wants to be with his family and he should be. Good Luck Joe Gibbs and thoughts and prayers are with you, your family and of course little 2 year-old Taylor.

Chris Bosh's College Recruiter Weighs In

After seeing Chris Bosh's video campaigning for votes to the NBA All-Star game and laughing almost hysterically, I quickly remembered that he went to Georgia Tech.

That meant that JMU basketball coach Dean Keener probably coached him a few years back. This worked out nicely because I'm pretty bored here in Harrisonburg considering few of my fellow students have returned from break.

So I moseyed around Keener's practice today waiting for him so that I could get his impression of Bosh's video.

Keener was actually the top recruiter of the now Toronto Raptors' starting forward and had just heard about the video today.

"Was there something on SportsCenter last night?" Keener asked. "Somebody sent me an email today, but I couldn't pull it up."

I then explained to him the video and he smiled remembering the easy-going Bosh.

"It doesn't surprise me that he would dress up and look funny and act funny," Keener added. "He's still very much a kid at heart.

"Any opportunity we get to talk, he'll return my call. He's just a really good person. He was really easy to talk to even as a 17-year old he'd be engaging on the phone, whereas a lot of kids especially All-Americans think...that you owe them something like 'Why are you calling me.' He was great. He was always on time. During recruitment he would always return calls. He made recruiting fun."

Keener added that he would give Bosh his vote regardless and believes that he's among the top 10-12 players in the league.

JMU Shocks VCU, Move to Top off CAA

It’s got to be hard for the JMU faithful to believe Wednesday’s 62-61 win over VCU at the Convocation Center.

The Dukes not only won at the buzzer on a Juwann James lay-up, but led at halftime and had to overcome four separate second-half deficits.

These kind of feats against a Colonial Athletic Association team wouldn’t have been imaginable a year ago, or two years ago, or maybe three, four, five, six and seven years ago.

At 9-3 overall and 2-0 in the CAA, JMU has won half as many games as Coach Dean Keener won in his first three years at the helm. Oh and if you don’t think Keener knows it think again.


Following the roller coaster, back-and-forth game that saw 11 lead changes and nine tied scores, Keener rejoiced.

The referees quickly convened at mid-court in front of the scorer’s table and agreed that the bucket was scored in time. Keener, in a sense, made it official for the 2,997 in attendance when he pumped both fists in the air, following the discussion.

Keener then grabbed the public address microphone, pleading with the fans to bring someone else with them on Jan. 12 when Madison returns home to face UNC-Wilmington.

“I kind of had it in my mind that if we won the game I had to talk to the fans,” Keener said. “One of the biggest things is protecting home court. And one of the things I’ve instilled in the guys is to make the Convo a tough place to play.”

The fans buying in, is a matter of time and inevitable if the wins keep coming. The team can also take consolation knowing that the game was played during the mid-semester break.

But more important to the fans buying in, is the fact that it seems like the players have finally bought into this coaching staff and more importantly to each other.

The last minute of the game was just a microcosm of a tough battle between the conference foes, but a magnification rather of how much faith Keener’s recruits have in each other.

The newfound faith continued to grow with 58 second remaining in the contest when team leader, but notoriously shaky free-throw shooter Juwann James stepped to the line.

James didn’t even have two guaranteed shots as JMU was still in the one-and-one bonus. But he confidently stepped to the line swishing the front-end and just as smoothly stroking the back-end.

VCU junior Eric Maynor — who made a name for himself by leading the Rams over Duke in the first round of the 2007 NCAA tournament — answered James with a clutch time-out call.

After missing a runner, Maynor’s shot was tipped around until it came back to him as he was falling backwards. The conference’s preseason player of the year, signaled for time-out as he fell, retaining possession for the Rams. The offensive rebound also turned the shot clock off with 27 seconds left.

Following the time-out the Dukes got the ball out of Maynor’s hands, but VCU senior guard Jamal Shuler stepped up, hitting a runner with 10 seconds remaining.

JMU called time-out and set up its final shot which one could have assumed to be junior guard Abdulai Jalloh’s. Jalloh led the Dukes with 17 points, but Keener wisely used the explosive scorer as a decoy.

Sophomore guard Pierre Curtis instead took a screen at the top of the key from senior forward Terrence Carter and spun through the lane. Curtis could have gone up with his patented floater — that beat VMI last year at the buzzer — but instead found James cutting down the baseline. VCU freshmen forward Larry Sanders had little choice but to step in on the driving Curtis thus leaving James uncontested.

A year ago Curtis, or any other player on the team for that matter, may have elected to keep the ball and overlook the cutting teammate.

“It was a great move by Pierre and we just had to make an extra pass,” James said.

Conversely, Curtis was confident laying it off to his older roommate.

“At the last second I saw Juwann and dished off knowing he could finish it,” Curtis said.

That extra-selfless pass gave JMU the win and put it on the CAA map. The Dukes are now tied atop the league with Delaware and Old Dominion. That’s the former bottom-feeder of the Colonial is now ahead of the conference darlings of the last two years, VCU and George Mason.

And although there are 16 conference games remaining, it’s hard to overlook what the 2007-2008 Dukes have accomplished thus far.