Two makeups tonight–The Dub is headed to Delaware and will win 71-66, and JMU is at Towson, where the Dukes make it a road sweep 71-66. Lame yes, but we’re in need of a nap around these parts…

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Boxscores

Northeastern 75, Hofstra 55

VCU 70, Old Dominion 58

Drexel 73, George Mason 60

William & Mary 59, Georgia State 56

What We Learned

1. Fouchapalooza is in full force. At Christmas the ROY was all Luke Hancock. By mid January, Hofstra had an intrasquad battle between Chaz Williams and Halil Kanecevic for the award. But Drexel’s Chris Fouch is running away from the field. He came off the bench to score 17 against Mason, Fouch’s seventh straight double-figures scoring game. He is, by far, the freshman scoring leader, but Fouch has an impressive (for a frosh) 17-12 assists to turnover ratio in conference games.
2. Tom Pecora knows hockey. Per Defiantly Dutch, Pecora’s postgame comments on Matt Janning: Pecora had high praise for Janning, comparing him to Wayne Gretzky in that he’s great at making the play before the big play. “It’s the pass that leads to the pass for the layup. So the other guy gets the assist, but he makes the play.”
3. Joey Rodriguez isn’t going anywhere. The 5-10 (yeah, right) point guard had nine points, eight assists, two turnovers and two steals in the VCU win over ODU. However it was his decision-making that was more impressive. Last season Rodriguez would get into the lane and throw a bad pass. Against the Monarchs, he carved up ODU and took his time and consistently found the right man in the right place. Kid is getting it done with smart(s).

What We Verified

1. It’s Officially Time To Begin Fearing VCU. The Rams outrebounded Old Dominion, forced 16 Monarchs turnovers, and trailed by two at the half despite getting one point total–combined–from Larry Sanders and Joey Rodriguez. It made me tweet that sometimes VCU looks better with Sanders on the bench. The Rams have won eight of nine and yesterday’s 12-point beatdown was the closest game.
2. Basketball is a game of runs. NU went six minutes without a field goal and trailed Hofstra 15-2. NU scored 16 straight points. NU trailed by two at the half and opened the second half on a 20-3 run. Mason led Drexel 18-6 before a Dragons 21-2 burst. ODU was up 18-8 on VCU before the Rams ran off nine straight. And The Pugs ended their game with GSU on a 10-1 sprint to the tape.
3. Quinn McDowell is on the CAA:LAMM All Best Player You Never Talk About Team. With David Schneider fighting a Jenkinsian slump and Danny Sumner still vacationing in parts unknown, McDowell is keeping The Pugs together. Against GSU, it was 17 points, zero turnovers, and hitting all six free throws.

What We Don’t Know

1. Who’s the boss? Gerald Lee took only four shots against VCU. Lee’s fault, the guards fault, nobody’s fault? It really doesn’t matter. The point is that Lee taking four shots is not how ODU wins games. The stats depict Old Dominion’s issue on offense is that they don’t score easy points. The Monarchs free throw rate is 322nd nationally (29.3%), and they only make 65.7% of their attempts  (258th). That’s eye-popping for an inside-oriented team. Plus, the ODU three point percentage is 29.8%, 314th nationally.
2. Who is POY? We’ve mentioned it in passing, but by this point in years past we’ve always have a short list of three guys vying for POY honors. Not so much this season. Think about it, and while you’re at it, try giving me a first team All CAA. I dare you. (And Give ‘Em Hell playing a half season with gaudy stats doesn’t help.)
3. If tiebreakers will matter. Every season we get enzyme rushes trying to figure out the tiebreaker scenarios and I don’t know that it has ever really mattered. The fourth seed has never been determined by tiebreaker. However NU looks good with its sweep of VCU and victory over ODU in the two teams’ only matchup. The Huskies beat Mason earlier this year and play Mason to end the season in DeeCee.

My Favorite Things

1. Kirill Pishchalnikov had the game of his career, scoring 14 points and grabbing five rebounds. KP has always been on the CAA: LAMM Favorites team. This year’s headband look is gold. (Side note: VCU SID Scott Day topped himself, tying together Rocky, Ivan Drago, and snow.)
2. Northeastern’s win brings the Huskies to 11-2 and alone atop the CAA. The part I like: Coen is 41-26 in CAA play since he took the job. Remember, Coen was left without basketballs and one scholarship thanks to Ron Everhart. Whether NU wins or loses every game from this point forward, you have to appreciate what Coen has accomplished.
3. Comcast play-by-play man Smokin’ Al Koken dubbing ODUs Gerald Lee “The Big Fundamental.” Perhaps it’s been used before, so my apologies, but we’re running with it. Love it.

Interesting Stats

1. Points in the paint: VCU 40, ODU 24.
2. Mike Morrison and Kevin Foster were 9-10 from the field against Drexel. Everybody else: 12-45 (26.7%).
3. Baptiste Bataille had 11 points and a career-high six steals against Hofstra.
4. Drexel first half: 4-10 threes, 29 points. Drexel second half: 0-4 threes, 44 points.
5. ODUs strength is inside, but guards took 37 of their 54 field goal attempts.
6. NU was outrebounded by Hofstra 49-27, but wins by 20. Somewhere, John Gasaway is smiling.
7. Drexel is 5-2 in its last seven games. Jamie Harris has 24 assists and nine turnovers in the wins, and two assists and eight turnovers in the losses.
8. Georgetown’s only nonconference loss this season was to ODU; Rhode Island’s only nonconference loss was to VCU.
9. Mason has lost two in a row and the next three look to be rocky places where their seeds may find no purchase: VCU, at ODU, and W&M.
10. Other than beer and lunch, we don’t wager around here. But if we did, we’d start stocking the fridge for the unders in the CAA tournament. Mull wrote this, which spurred me to head to Ken Pomeroy. Check the adjusted tempo stats, where you’ll find four CAA squads ranked greater than 300 in terms of pace: ODU (301), GSU (324), NU (330), WM (335). Take Mull, Pomeroy, and the fact that beginning with the Saturday games only once did somebody score more than 61 in last year’s CAA tournament–VCUs walloping of Mason in the finals–and you can see how Richmond is going to unfold.

Buy your tickets now.

Four years ago, maybe five, I discovered how to travel to away games. VCU was at the College of Cremins before Cremins and before the new building to play a Bracketbusters game. I made the decision: it’s Charleston in February, let’s make a weekend out of it. A tradition was born. That’s a tip for you and planning Richmond.