Here we are. Halfway.

We’re met with the cruel irony that we have so much to discuss, yet each game will play out differently so we really have nothing to discuss. This includes the second team in that tournament, which is an ironic discussion because the conference race will shape whether it is a reality or not, and then again it may not. Bracketbusters matters, but then again maybe not.

We have the irony that we are both only halfway finished and already halfway finished.

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BOXSCORES

Nor’easter 74, VCU 62

Old Dominion 58, William  Mary 55

George Mason 80, Towson 71

Drexel 75, Hofstra 62

UNCW 65, JMU 64

Delaware 76, Ga State 74 (ot)

THREE THINGS WE LEARNED

1. Brian Mull was right–Chase Allen should be on your radar for conference POY. The stats are nice, but Allen is doing POY-work. Saturday, VCU tied the Huskies early in the second half and Allen–who had taken one shot in the first half–buried two threes (and two free throws) to re-establish the lead.  Later, VCU sliced Nor’easter’s lead to three and Allen had another three, a steal, an assist, and a layup.

2. It’s messy at Towson. Robert Nwankwo has a bum shoulder, Brian Morris a bum ankle, and Troy Franklin is in warmups trying to figure some things out. Against Mason, the Tigers spent much of the first half jacking threes, and I mean bad threes. If Josh Thornton throws a pass in practice, it will be his first since Friday. Pat Kennedy only has eight players right now–Danny Quinn had played in three games for six minutes all season until Saturday. Quinn got 16 minutes and scored five points.

3. The kids are playing for Monte Ross. When you’ve lost six in a row and you’re down nine at home to Georgia State (after giving up a big lead) with five minutes to play, there’s every reason to pack it in. The Hens did not, dodged a couple bullets, and beat the Panthers in OT. It was Delaware’s record-tying fifth OT game of the season.

THREE THINGS WE VERIFIED

1. Cam Long is a stud, and more importantly for Mason fans, Long remembers that. Keep the gaudy stats, and know this: Towson went on an 11-0 run to take a 66-65 lead over the Patriots with three minutes to play in a game that Mason had controlled from the opening tip. In the next three possessions, Long hit two threes and dished to Ike Tate for a third. Ballgame.

2. Chris Fouch gives Drexel a weapon they haven’t seen since Phil Goss was running across high ball screens–an off-the-ball  three-point threat that is also a pure scorer. Fouch hit four triples early and single-handedly buried Hofstra in the first half of Saturday’s win. Fouch finished with 29 points (and six threes overall). Granted Fouch is a whole heckuva lot better in the DAC than on the road, but the kid is a freshman. There is time.

3. People will come see a winner, and it’s nice when they are treated to the conference’s best. A record 7,216 folks turned out to see The Pugs and the Monarchs square off. The game had four lead changes in the last two minutes, with ODU holding on when a David Schneider three caromed away at the buzzer. Every report I received was that this game is why we all love college basketball. Bully for all of us.

THREE THINGS WE DON’T KNOW

1. The obvious: Have we seen Pugland’s Best? Maybe so, but they are darn good. In fact, the most underrated facet of their team is the talent level. People want to talk about Shaverthatmustache and the system and playing hard, but it takes “good basketball players” to win this much. As we said, at VCU and home to ODU isn’t shameful. Where do they go from here? To Harrisonburg on Wednesday and home to Drexel Saturday. This is the real stretch of seeing what they are made of.

2. If Nor’easter is different than last year’s squad. The Huskies rolled into Williamsburg last February at 10-1 in conference and stumbled, eventually losing seven of its last nine. Chase Allen is different, NkemO is playing different, and Alwayne Bigby and Kauri Black give them a different look. Different results? We think so.

3. The Dub: turning the corner, or a routine home win against a depleted opponent? JMU: talented but shorthanded on the road, or depleted and just not that good?

MY FAVORITE THINGS

1. Benny Moss takes a pile of guff, but his recognition that JMU was out of time outs with 1.4 seconds to play and Chad Tomko on the free throw line led to a smart call. Moss instructed Tomko to miss the free throw on purpose. Without a timeout, there’s no way JMU could corral the rebound and get off a decent shot before the buzzer. Tomko missed, JMU called timeout anyway and was assessed a technical. Tomko hit those two FTs and a JMU heave with 0.4 seconds was intercepted by John Fields.

2. An Old Dominion box score. There’s always something interesting to find. This time it was Blaine Taylor with essentially a six man rotation. For all the guff (word of the day) Taylor takes for his hockey line change substitution patterns, only Darius James saw measurable time off the pine.

3. Our continuing path to a doozie of a conference tournament. We have three 8-1 teams that are all playing at a high level. Next comes two of the toughest teams to play in the conference at 6-3. Sitting at 5-4 is what many believe to be the most talented team in the conference who will be playing 25 blocks from their campus. Two teams in the bottom group have players who can be unstoppable (Bowles, Jenkins), which makes them dangerous. Here’s the thing: it’s still January.

BOXSCORE FLUNKIES

1. NUs Alwayne Bigby played 26 minutes and committed four turnovers, but his defense on VCUs Joey Rodriguez bogged down the VCU offense and harried Rodriguez into 3-13 shooting. (Assist from Kauri Black.)

2. ODUs Gerald Lee. Yes, the numbers are there–15 points, six rebounds, three blocks–but the note is that Lee shows up in big games. Lee scored three points in a blowout win over Towson, and came up big here.

3. VCUs Scott Day is reaching elite status for game writeups. The lead for Saturday’s loss to NU quoted Poison’s “hit” Every Rose Has Its Thorn. Day understands there’s nothing wrong with laughing when you get the details of a game. (Mull’s UNCW preview also had some Puffy Elvis.) We’re supposed to enjoy this, right?

TWO INTERESTING STATS (EIGHT SHY EDITION)

1. 0-1. VCU starting shooting guard Brandon Rozzell took one shot. Sure, NU plays good defense, but this is shot attempts.

2. David Schneider was 4-15 from three, but 5-17 FG overall. 1-2 from inside the arc is not his norm.

BEST COACH QUOTE (LAME QUOTE EDITION)

“First of all, I have to give Northeastern a lot of credit for playing a tremendous basketball game and executing their game plan.” VCUs Shaka Smart.

“We met a tremendous opponent today, and we did all we could do to come out on top. We were fortunate today to come away with a very emotional and inspired victory.” NUs Bill Coen.