Scheduling philosophies, non-exempt tournaments, holidays, exam schedules, travel plans, and the lack of the need for a specific rhythm conspire to make planning for nonconference viewing nearly impossible. There just isn’t a predictable Wednesday/Saturday heartbeat like we get come January.

This reality also beget today’s fun fact: from the time the season opens one week from Thursday when Georgia State travels to NC State and JMU heads to Ohio State, there are only nine off days on the CAA schedule from November 12 to the first of the year, and none in November.

You can check my math, but I counted twice: December 3-4, 6-7, 15, 24, 26-27, and 31. Let everyone else choke on early season NBA and reflect true American gluttony over the NFL. We get our hoops practically every day.  The beauty is that you get New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day off before we start the four-in-sevens on January 2.

Memo to Tom Yeager: I still say you need to put together the CAA version of the Daytona 500 for next season–have a preseason CAA tournament: bring everyone to one location and play 3-4 games of your schedule over the New Year’s holiday. Imagine the buzz–nobody else has done this.

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Scrimmage reports continue to fly in, or are phoned in…

Delaware: As expected, there was a significant lack of fluidity to the Hens as they continue to adjust to the loss of Brian Johnson. Remember, this is the first time in four years they’ve played someone with a different color jersey and NOT had the ball in Johnson’s hands. It’s just one game, but these guys will probably struggle early as they find their legs.

Old Dominion: The Monarchs were in midseason form, brutalizing in the paint and laying bricks from outside 10 feet. ODU missed 14 of 15 threes. Now, the good news is that they didn’t get much from Gerald Lee, stank from the outside, and still put up a solid effort. Marquel Delancey looked good.

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As expected, Brian Mull has the lowdown on Chad Tomko’s foot surgery. Everyone says two games, but understand the Lingering Factor. It is Tomko’s foot and the kid relies on the mad dash…the net effect will be more than two games.

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Kyle Whelliston’s latest book is out. Here is an excerpt.