It’s somewhat sad to hit this link and have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to view the penultimate CAA regular season games.

Tonight’s showtime game is Old Dominion (12-4) traveling to Atlanta to face Georgia State (10-6). Much is on the line. The Monarchs win and they wrap up at least the #4 seed for the CAA tournament. The Panthers win and their outside shot at the #4 seed becomes far more realistic.

Fun fact: if Georgia State wins tonight, the Drexel/ODU game on Saturday will impact the top six seeds.

Here’s Doug Roberson with the Georgia State set up.

Here’s Ed Miller with the ODU set up.

This could be dumb #CAAHoops reading too deeply into a Chris Cooper quote, given to Miller: “We’ve got our pieces all in place now,” forward Chris Cooper said. “We’ve got the right guys on the court.”

So I read that and took a quick look to see that freshman Dimitri Batten played more minutes in the Missouri State win than Marquel Delancey. That was the first time that has occurred since January. Batten has made four of his last six from three–giving ODU a real threat from beyond the arc to complement Trian Illiadis.

What’s more, Cooper logged 30 minutes and Donte Hill 32. Dig into the past three boxscores for the Monarchs and you will see what I think I see. Cooper may have hit on something Blaine Taylor won’t admit–it may have taken longer than he wished, but Taylor may have the exact rotation he wants.

This is going to be a beautifully ugly basketball game by the CAAs two toughest defenses.

Georgia State 15, Old Dominion 13.

***

The second game of consequence is Mason (14-2) at Northeastern (8-8). The bad news for Bill Coen–his team has topped 62 points just once in the past 10 conference games (a 70-51 win vs. Towson). The good news–NU is still 4-6 in those games.

This is going to be a game of progression, a true onion-peeler. The first 10 minutes will matter in that we need to see how NU responds to its late game fold in Bracketbusters. We also need to see how Mason reacts heading to Boston, pre-VCU, after a bad-great-sleepy-playmaking win over Lamar.

Those 10 minutes will progress to Mason’s typical nap time–late first half. Can NU take advantage of that, or does Mason resist the urge to let up? And all of that will dictate how the second half is played–up tempo with NU pressing, or sitting back and surrounding Ryan Pearson?

Lots of questions, and the game will be pretty close.

Mason 66, NU 61.

***

The third game is the battle for the 10 seed. Hofstra (3-13) is spinning wool in Williamsburg (2-14). The Pride scored the last 10 points of the game in its win over Siena; more importantly getting the kind of game Mo Cassara has expected from Steven Mejia.

The Tribe has lost 11 of 12 and seemingly has nothing going for them. Even JM Ludwick hurt his wrist and will be a non-factor. All of that means:

William & Mary 69, Hofstra 68.

***

The final three games feature a TCB theme.

VCU (13-3) is in Wilmington (5-11). The Rams turned over the Dubmen 28 times (20 thefts) in their December matchup. The Rams are headed upward and the Hawks the other way. Another blowout? Nope. Rams 70, Hawks 60.

Delaware (10-6) visits Towson (1-15) with its marginal fourth seed hopes alive. I spoke to Monte Ross yesterday and he trotted out every cliche he could muster, including getting better every day and focusing on one day at a time. Moss apologized, saying it’s actually what they are doing. I think that’s a positive sign for YouDee. Hens 68, Tigers 50.

Drexel (14-2) hosts the James Medical Unit (4-12). When you’re HEAD COACH is injured because he has to practice, you have issues. Rumors that Gabe Chami offered to suit up are false. In all seriousness, the Dragons cannot let JMU get into a rhythm, because three pointers have a way of falling in bunches. Drexel 76, JMU 58.

***

There is absolutely nothing serious in the next couple paragraphs, but I figured we may as well have some fun. Indulge me, please.

If you need a culprit, blame a certain CAA assistant coach whose name rhymes with “Rim Shore Again.” You see, the other day Coach ShoreAgain tweeted a quote from The Buddha: To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.

That got me out of bed and working out this morning at 5:30am. And what else are you going to do during a 5:30am workout than ponder CAA basketball and Caddyshack?

Remember a couple weeks ago when Shaka Smart started a mini-brawl by accurately declaring the best teams in the state of Virginia played basketball in the CAA? It hit me this morning that Virginia Tech’s argument that “we play in the ACC” is the Carl Spackler argument. Yes, you play at Bushwood, but you are the groundskeeper who lives in the equipment shed, unable to defeat a gopher that dances to Kenny Loggins.

And really, isn’t Bushwood Country Club a metaphor for all of college basketball? Ponder that during your morning status meeting.

The second item to keep in the front of our minds–because it’s quite entertaining for me–is Jim Larranaga’s woefully inaccurate, transparent, and pandering comments about mid majors. As you know Miami promptly went out and lost to Maryland last night.

So that beget these two fun facts: three CAA teams have a better RPI than Maryland, which just beat Miami. (thanks, Chris!) and VCU has three top 75 wins and Miami only one (thanks Jeff!).

The Ken Pomeroy rankings: VCU (43), Miami (44), Maryland (135).

And now, back to serious stuff.