Sending three teams to the NCAA tournament and advancing one (Virginia Commonwealth) to the Final Four stamped the CAA as the elite mid-major conference in the nation. But that was last year.
With a 54-62 record and few of the signature nonconference wins that paved the way for their 2011 Selection Sunday bounty, the CAA is likely back to being a one-bid league. But George Mason coach Paul Hewitt says not so fast.
Recommended Stories
“It’s way too early,” he said. “I just think it’s fashionable to say that right now. I think by the time we get to game 20, 25, we’ll get a clearer picture of where everything stands.”
But there is no denying the conference’s precipitous drop-off. Only two CAA teams have better records than at this time last year — Northeastern (3-5) and Georgia State (8-3).
As for last year’s big three, VCU (7-3), George Mason (7-3) and Old Dominion (5-5) are doing OK, but none has a head-turning win.
Last year by Dec. 21, ODU had already beaten Clemson and Xavier; and VCU had wins over UCLA and Wake Forest. Even CAA also-ran Drexel had upset Louisville.
This year the closest thing any CAA team has to a key win is Hofstra over Cleveland State (10-2). In games against BCS conference teams, the CAA is 1-15 with the victory coming by Northeastern over St. John’s, the only team in the Big East without a winning record.
There’s no cause for alarm, however. The CAA fall-off is cyclical and understandable considering all five players named to last year’s all-conference first team graduated, along with eight of the league’s top-10 scorers.
As a result, the CAA has taken a backseat to non-BCS conferences such as the Mountain West (69-21), Atlantic 10 (87-56), Conference USA (76-46) and Missouri Valley (68-31), which are much more likely to get multiple NCAA bids.
The timing is bad for Georgia State first-year coach Ron Hunter.
“The reason I wanted to make the jump to the CAA is I believe it’s the best non-BCS league in the country,” Hunter said in the preseason. “[At IUPUI] we won 25, 24 and 22 games, and we couldn’t get any postseason play.”
Don’t look now, but Hunter may be headed for the same fate.
– Kevin Dunleavy
