The CAA Tournament’s Most Oustanding Player AJ Davis continued his stellar play. Davis scored a game-high 20 points, and his 3-pointer with 1:34 remaining put JMU up (and Mike Schikman’s hands in the air) by 13 — the winning margin — as JMU picked up its first NCAA Tournament win since 1983 with a 68-55 victory.

If you were expecting a high-scoring, uptempo affair, I’m sorry.

Matt Brady had other plans.

The Dukes had to slow down the nation’s fourth-highest scoring offense. To do that, the Dukes made many, many passes around the perimeter, and never let the LIU-Brooklyn offense get into a groove. Sure, NEC Player of the Year Jamal Olasewere had a 20-10 double-double, but he had to work for each and every basket, and need 18 field goal attempts to get there.

AJ Davis on the game plan against Olasewere:

“It took all five guys on defense. We knew he was a good player. Coach stressed it to us day in and day out, if we wanted to win this game, the defensive game was going to do it for us. We had to be locked in.

That’s what it took for us, all five guys locked in on defense for us to win.”

The Dukes held the Blackbirds to a season-low 55 points. This a team that scored 80+ points in nine of the past 11 games (props to Defiantly Dutch), but shot just 35.6% on Wednesday night.

JMU’s freshmen Charles Cooke and Andre Nation combined to score 29 points, and provided some highlight defensive plays.

Nation had five blocks, and had the people in Dayton raving about his potential. Over here in CAAHoopland, we’ve loved him for awhile.

Regarding LIU-Brooklyn’s smaller guards (5’10″ CJ Garner and 6’0″ Jason Brickman) Nation said the plan was to  ”give them space and beat them with our length.”

Garner did score 16 points, but need 15 field goal attempts and four free throws to get there (he twisted his ankle early in the game). Brickman got his nine assists, but was scoreless in the second half.

Coach Brady remarked on his expectations of Nation:

“He’s further along with his basketball IQ than I recognize, but he’s the athlete, and he’s got the basketball ability that I recognized when we started recruiting him. But his basketball intellect and his IQ is much higher than I could have really speculated.

He’s becoming a really good teammate and I think his shot selection is improved. I think he can do more on offense, but he’s willing to wait his turn and just kind of be a role player. The defensive end, obviously, he’s unique for our team and I think even our league.”

Per ESPN Stats, Nation became just the ninth player to finish an NCAA Tournament game with 14 points, seven rebounds, five blocks and four assists.

The other eight? Shaquille O’Neal, Joakim Noah, John Wallace, Josh McRoberts, Ekpe Udoh, Curtis Kelly, Ryan Humphrey and Jason Lawson.

Yeah, Nation’s going to be a good one.

Cooke, who had totaled just two points in the previous four games, got the ball rolling in the first half with a pair of 3-pointers. He had a game-high 10 points at halftime, and had two blocks of his own.

Coach Brady on Cooke:

“He’s a talented young guy. We knew when we recruited him he’s a guy with a lot of potential. He’s got great confidence in his game. He had 15 in previous games this year on six shots.

He’s a long terrific kid who truly just learned how to play. There’s times when I think he’s going to be the best freshman of the group…Charles comes from a great basketball program. He played against some of the best players in the country in AAU basketball.”

Everyone knows that Rayshawn Goins was held out of the first half, which helped LIU-Brooklyn build a +8 advantage on the boards before halftime.

Goins looked a little shaky in his first few offensive touches, but had a big impact in his 13 minutes, finishing with four points and eight rebounds.

There were definitely a few scary moments in this one. After JMU held a 30-18 lead on, LIU-Brooklyn closed the half on a 13-2 run.  The run including a trio of 3-pointers on consecutive possessions.

Those were the only 3-pointers the Blackbirds made the entire game (3-of-19), which was subpar for a team that averaged 38.5% from downtown in the regular season.

The Blackbirds took their first lead (40-39) in the second half. JMU responded with a 9-0 run, capped off by Cooke’s 3-point play.

Still, with a little less than nine minutes to play, Devon Moore (five points, six assists, four rebounds) picked up his fourth foul. The Blackbirds had a chance to get back in the game, and cut to within three. But they never really pressed or applied pressure, and JMU closed the game on a 14-4 run.

Alioune Diouf scored eight points and snagged four rebounds. He’s been phenomenal in JMU’s past two games.

Now, JMU will take on Indiana on Friday. We’ll have much more on that (as well as NIT/CBI #CAAHoops updates) tomorrow.

James Madison looked great for the first 16 minutes of the first half. The Dukes stifled the Blackbirds into poor three-point shooting, and took a 30-18 lead on Devon Moore’s 3-pointers.

But after the final media timeout, the Blackbirds hit 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions, and cut the Dukes’ lead to just one before halftime.

JMU leads 32-31. The Dukes hold a 15-2 advantage in points off turnovers so far.

The Blackbirds average 79.5 points per game, so the Dukes had to slow the game down. JMU worked the ball around the perimeter and found open shooters (AJ Davis and Charles Cooke each had two 3-pointers), but the team’s shot selection was questionable in the final minutes of the opening half.

Cooke scored a game-high 10 points in the first half.

Jamal Olasewere, the Northeast Conference Player of the Year, was LIU-B’s only offensive option in the opening minutes, but missed chunks of the first half because of foul trouble (three fouls).

Surprisingly, the Blackbirds made their run with their leading scorer on the bench. Realistically, it was just a matter of time before the Blackbirds (38.5% from three on the season) knocked down some treys. Jason Brickman has six points and six assists for LIU-Brooklyn.

Alioune Diouf and Taylor Bessick were JMU’s primary low-post defenders in the first half. Rayshawn Goins will be available in the second half, which should help JMU get things going downlow. LIU-B holds a 14-6 advantage inside the paint so far.

First Four: LIU-Brooklyn (20-13) vs. James Madison (20-14) – 6:40 truTV 

It’s been fun to watch everyone list the things that have happened in the world since James Madison’s last NCAA Tournament appearance in 1994.

JMU is now less than 12 hours from making that appearance. The Dukes will take on the LIU-Brooklyn Blackbirds, a senior-laden team making its third-straight Tournament appearance.

We’ll try not to repeat any of the information seen here.

Additionally, post-Selection Sunday developments have the rest of the nation more “tuned in” to James Madison Basketball than ever before.

Additionally, these fine gentlemen provide all of the information you need.

Thus, there’s not much we can say, but you should check out what coach Brady and the players had to say before the day before the game.

It’s a battle of contesting styles: JMU will slow it down and try let it’s defense win the game. The Dukes should have an easier time with that in the second half when Rayshawn Goins is available.

Two senior-heavy teams will battle it out for the right to play Indiana. I’m picking the one with the guys from Ohio.

James Madison 76, LIU-Brooklyn 72

(Here’s a compilation of all things JMU over the past few days).

The previous regime refrained from making picks in the non-NCAA postseason tournaments. We’ll follow their lead, but we’ll still try to give you some keys to the games.

Tough opponents await both George Mason and Northeastern, but they have the personnel in place to make us proud.

CBI 1st round: George Mason (18-14) at College of Charleston (24-10) – 7:00 

Before you read any further, head over here and check out what Ryan Kish has to say. When it comes to GMU Hoops, he’s more knowledgable than we’ll ever be.

I’ve seen some joking about the CBI on Twitter. There are some talented squads in this field. I’m already hoping for a Richmond-Mason rematch in the final. It was great the first time around.

This matchup presents a phenomenal opportunity to see two likely contenders for the CAA conference crown in 2013-2014. The only difference is that Andrew Lawrence, the Cougars’ all-around leader, is a senior. Mason’s leading scorer Sherrod Wright won’t make his senior tour until next year, which is bad news for the rest of the CAA.

We’re all anxious to see if Bryon Allen can build on his late-season success. Allen has scored 14+ points in four of his last five games. He’s been one of the better assist guys in the CAA over the past two years. Add the scoring ability to the assisting prowess, and this guy looks to be poised for a huge senior year.

College of Charleston lost in the Southern Conference final to Davidson. The Cougars had an up and down regular season, evidenced by a win at Baylor (back when the Bears were perceived as good) and a loss to D-II Anderson.

The Cougars really hit stride after their first loss to Davidson in late January, and finished the season by winning 12 of 15 (with two more losses to Davidson). They played a couple of games versus the Colonial in the nonconference schedule.

College of Charleston beat Towson by 17 in the season opener, but that was before the Tigers realized they were good. The Cougars also beat Old Dominion by 11 on December 18th.

The Cougars hold opponents to 61.6 points per game, so it’s safe to say defense is their hallmark. They pull in defensive rebounds at a Drexel-esque rate of 75.7% (13th in the country). They don’t give many second chances.

I’m not worried about the Patriots in that aspect. With proper effort, they can rebound with anyone. Here’s the one stat that really seems to work against them, and it’s nitpicky: the Cougars average 14.6 personal fouls per game (10th fewest in the country).

At this point, you know the Patriots commit fouls at a slightly inordinate rate.

Still, if we get the All-CAA Tournament version of Allen with an invigorated Wright, I like Mason’s chances.

***

NIT #8 Northeastern (20-12) at #1 Alabama (21-12) – 9:00 ESPN 2 

The Huskies have traveled a lot this season.

The Huskies spent Thanksgiving in Alaska and trekked down to Birmingham for their nonconference finale.

That’s not unusual for the CAA’s northernmost team. Now they’ll take one more lengthy trip down south.

The Huskies have experienced mixed results when playing more than 1000 miles from home. They played well in the Great Alaskan Shootout, but lost by 20 at UAB on December 29th, the last game before they began their eight-game winning streak to open conference play.

The Huskies hope that their second trip to Alabama this season will be much better than their first. With a healthy Jon Lee intact, I expect that will be the case.

What does Alabama do well? The Crimson Tide plays great defense, holding opponents to an average of 59.3 points per game. Opponents average just 4.9 treys per game against the Crimson’s Tide three-point defense, which ranks 37th in the country (30.6%).

Alabama was 12-6 in the SEC, and probably could have made the tournament with one more conference win. The Crimson Tide has a 14-3 record at home this season. Meanwhile, Northeastern is 10-2 on the road this season.

The Huskies shoot 37.3% (41st in the country) from downtown, and average 7.1 threes per game. Northeastern’s efficient offense will provide a true test for the Crimson Tide defense.

Both teams boast impressive steal percentages. Northeastern earns steals on 10.4% of defensive possessions (33rd nationally). Alabama earns steals on 11.2% of play (14th).

Thus, it seems like this will come down to three-point shooting and turnover margin. Joel Smith and Jon Lee, the Huskies’ senior guards, have the experience advantage here, as Alabama has only one senior.

Also worth considering: Northeastern will he playing its first game in eight days. Alabama just played in SEC semifinal on Saturday.

The CAA first-teamer Smith fouled out early in the CAA Championship. Look for the silent assassin to extract revenge in Alabama.

The committee has spoken, and left #CAAHoops feeling like Rodney Dangerfield.

The James Madison Dukes will meet the LIU-Brooklyn Blackbirds in the NCAA Tournament’s ‘First Four’ in Dayton, Ohio on Wednesday, March 20th.

If the Dukes defeat the Blackbirds, a Friday date with the Indiana Hoosiers awaits.

LIU-Brooklyn (20-13) won the Northeast Conference, and will be making its third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.

LIU-Brooklyn has the nation’s fourth-highest scoring offense (79.5 points per game). The Blackbirds boast the NEC Player of the Year, 6’7″ forward Jamal Olasewere (18.9 points, 8.5 rebounds per game). They also have the national leader in assists, Jasom Brickman, who dishes out 8.5 dimes per game.

The Blackbirds average 25.9 free throw attempts per game (second nationally) and shoot 69% from the line. They convert on 17.9 attempts from the charity stripe, the fourth most in the country. The Blackbirds average 43 points per game in the second half (first in the nation).

Despite those elite statistical rankings, there are notable deficiencies.

The Blackbirds give up an average of 76.5 points per game (335th), and the 28.2 field goals made per game (338th). They turn the ball over 14.4 times per game (257th) but that’s a biproduct of their uptempo offense.

Hofstra played at LIU-Brooklyn on December 8th, and lost by four. Still, Hofstra shot 57.4% from the field and scored 84 points in that game. The Pride was very much struggling at that point in the season.

JMU announcer Mike Schikman used to announce for LIU-Brooklyn, and said the Blackbirds play a “backyard Brooklyn-style”.

Coach Brady’s been a busy man lately, but he took a few moments to catch up with us.

On his first tournament appearance as a head coach:

 ”I feel great about our draw, and I love the fact that we have an opportunity to have a national TV audience to ourselves on Wednesday night. Certainly I’m concerned about our play, and hopefully we’ll play our best game so far, and should we win we’ll advance and play one of the country’s best teams.

We think it’s a fantastic draw for our team and our program, and really for the university because the spotlight’s going to be really bright on Wednesday night, and anybody that has any affiliation with JMU hopefully will have an opportunity to watch our team play its best basketball.”

On the potential Ohio effect (AJ Davis, Rayshawn Goins and Devon Moore are from The Buckeye State):

“Well, that can cut both ways, but I think our group now has gone through the trials and tribulations of trying to impress their people.

I think now we’ve gotten to the point where we’re beyond it, we’re more mature than that, and they recognize that we’re trying to have a team effort to advance. I think all of our goals will be team-oriented, and not individual.”

Any potential takeaways from Hofstra’s game vs. LIU-Brooklyn in early December?

“Well, we’re going to watch a lot of video, so if it pops up on our radar we’ll take a look at it. We won’t spend any special time on it because it was awhile ago in nonconference.

We’ll spend much more time on the recent games, because teams, personnel and style fluctuates as the year goes on, as ours has. So we’ll spend a lot more time on the games played most recently.”

Before that, I caught up with JMU freshman forward Taylor Bessick, who went from being an uncommitted prospect to a future NCAA Tournament participant in just seven months.

On the transition from an uncommitted prospect to a member of an NCAA Tournament team:

“It’s feels great. It’s a good experience for me, being that I’ve only been playing for a couple (four) years. It’s a good feeling to learn, and see other people play, so I can develop and become my own player.”

On playing in Ohio, and what it means to the seniors:

 ”It’s nice to go anywhere close to home. That way, the family and the friends can come see you, if they’re able. It’s probably good for the seniors because technically, we don’t know when our last game is, so we’ve just got to play. It will be good to play in Ohio so they can see their families and friends, and they can watch them for [potentially] the last time.”

JMU left Harrisonburg around 5:00 p.m. on Monday evening, and landed in Dayton a few hours later.

***

We knew Northeastern would receive an NIT bid, but we hoped the Huskies would get a better draw.

The Huskies will make their second trip to Alabama this year. This time, they’ll face Anthony Grant and the Alabama Crimson Tide on ESPN 2 at 9:00 Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, George Mason was invited to the CBI, and drew a very intriguing matchup.

The Patriots will head down to Charleston, South Carolina, a location they will frequent in the years to come.

Paul Hewitt’s group will give the College of Charleston an introduction into life in #CAAHoops.

George Mason will take on C of C at 7:00 on Tuesday night.

Check back for previews for those two games in the near future.

It’s hard to know exactly how to handle coverage of this season’s CAA Basketball Awards.

Yes, the ceremony was more than a week ago, but we didn’t want these accomplishments to get lost in the tournament madness.

I guess we’ll start with the award winners, and offer a little commentary below.

2012-2013 CAA Men’s Basketball Award Winners

2013 CAA Player of the Year – Jerrelle Benimon, Towson
2013 CAA Coach of the Year – Pat Skerry, Towson
2013 CAA Rookie of the Year – RJ Hunter, Georgia State
2013 CAA Defensive Player of the Year – Jamelle Hagins, Delaware
2013 Dean Ehlers Leadership Award – Jonathan Lee, Northeastern

First Team All-CAA

Jerrelle Benimon, Towson
RJ Hunter, Georgia State
Keith Rendleman, UNCW
Devon Saddler, Delaware
Joel Smith, Northeastern

Second Team All-CAA

Jamelle Hagins, Delaware
Damion Lee, Drexel
Frantz Massenat, Drexel
Marcus Thornton, William & Mary
Sherrod Wright, George Mason

Third Team All-CAA

Quincy Ford, Northeastern
Rayshawn Goins, James Madison
Jonathan Lee, Northeastern
Devon Moore, James Madison
Tim Rusthoven, William & Mary
Jarvis Threatt, Delaware

All-Rookie Team

Jerome Hairston, Towson
RJ Hunter, Georgia State
Andre Nation, James Madison
Keenan Palmore, Old Dominion
David Walker, Northeastern

All-Defensive Team

Jerrelle Benimon, Towson
Jamelle Hagins, Delaware
Stevie Mejia, Hofstra
Keith Rendleman, UNCW
James Vincent, Georgia State

All-Tournament Team

Bryon Allen, George Mason
Rayshawn Goins, James Madison
Jamelle Hagins, Delaware
Jonathan Lee, Northeastern
Devon Moore, James Madison

Most Oustanding Player – AJ Davis, James Madison

Check out the CAA website for better analysis/statistical evidence than we could ever provide.

A few key hits:

- Benimon is Towson’s first CAA Player of the Year in school history. Benimon and Rendleman currently rank second in the country with 20 double-doubles, and the one guy above them (Bucknell’s Mika Muscala) has played more games than both of the CAA players.

Benimon shot 40.8% from three, but attempted just 49 treys. It’s wild to think how good he was, and how much better he can become.

- As mentioned, Rendleman is currently second in the country with 20 double-doubles. Rendleman reached double figures in the final 20 games of his collegiate career, and had a double-double in his final nine. He also made the All-Defensive team. He didn’t play on the best team, but Rendleman’s senior year was truly remarkable.

- It’s worth mentioning that RJ Hunter stepped it up in conference play. In the 18 conference games, Hunter averaged 18.1 points on 44.8% shooting, including 2.6 trifectas per game (37.4% from three).

Hunter also seemed to play his best games on the road in big situations. RJ obliterated any notion of a “freshman wall”.

Hunter was also the first Rookie of the Year to be a member of the First Team All-CAA team since Brett Blizzard in 1999-2000 – elite company.

Back in the day, UNCW fans used to throw tiny pieces of paper in the air when Blizzard drilled one of his many (many, many…many) 3-pointers. I wonder what new traditions Panther fans will establish for the Hunters?

Hunterville is a great start. Have people started wearing camouflage to the games in Atlanta? Hunterville, let us know what’s up!

It’s tough that Bill Coen and Northeastern’s phenomenal season had to coincide with Pat Skerry and Towson’s historically epic turnaround. When your team improves by 17 wins and finishes tied for second place after a 1-31 season, you’re a virtual lock for Coach of the Year.

- It’s just great to see Jon Lee pick up the Dean Ehlers Award. Lee would’ve been a candidate to receive more All-CAA votes if he hadn’t missed the first nine games of the season. I think Lee’s “put your head down and drive” quote might’ve been my favorite from tournament weekend.

- Last year, the CAA retained only five of the Top 16 players in the league (by virtue of the All-CAA teams).Next year, we should retain more than half of those guys (nine).

- For those players looking to earn all conference achievements, there will be plenty of openings of an All-Defensive Team that graduates four seniors. Jerrelle Benimon will be the only returning player from that fivesome.

I’ve always thought Sherrod Wright was a tough defender. Jarvis Threatt and Mike Burwell will draw some tough assignments on the wing next year, so they’re both likely candidates.

It’s interesting (and possibly short-sighted) but there are a couple of freshmen we think could make the jump  here. In their first years, Nation and Walker showed that they have what it takes to become great defenders, as did Hofstra’s Jordan Allen.

As far as newcomers go, we should keep an eye on College of Charleston’s Adjehi Baru.

***

Selection Sunday – our chance to find out who gets to keep playing with James Madison and Northeastern. Check back Monday night/Tuesday morning for our thoughts on this.

A scene that was very representative of James Madison’s men’s basketball season unfolded in the press room moments after the Dukes’ CAA Tournament Championship win.

The four chairs on the stage were filled by All-Tournament selections Devon Moore and Rayshawn Goins on head coach Matt Brady’s left. The Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, AJ Davis, was seated to the coach’s right.

Moore and Davis were the first to sit down, with Brady taking his seat a few minutes later. Moments later, Goins, rushing to the stage with the championship trophy in hand, found his seat.

Coach Brady made a crack about having to wait for Rayshawn to get back down the court.

Each fifth-year senior wore his CAA Championship hat in a different, illustrative way.

In his nonchalant style, Goins rocked his hat sideways. Because if you know him it all, that’s the fun-loving Ray.

Moore sported his hat backwards, because lately, he’s been the definition of cool and confident on the court.

Davis donned his cap forwards, because recently, he’s been all business on the hardwood.

The three seniors, with classmate Alioune Diouf, started in Monday night’s 70-57 win over Northeastern. The senior quartet combined to score 58 points, with 26 coming from Davis.

The Dukes stifled the CAA-best’s best offensive team, the Huskies, into their least efficient game of the season.  The Huskies shot 20-of-54 (37%) and just 3-of-17 from downtown.

JMU shot 16-of-31 in the first half, and raced to a domineering 40-18 halftime lead. Goins had a double-double before the half, and keyed a 20-point advantage for points in the paint. In the first half, It seemed like any 50-50 rebound ended up in the hands of JMU’s 6’6″ power forward.

Davis hit two 3-pointers, but did the majority of his work driving to the basket. The Dukes used a 23-1 run to turn a two-point deficit into a 20-point lead. Northeastern head coach Bill Coen credited JMU’s switching defensive scheme for taking his team out of rhythm.

After the game, Coach Brady said it was probably about as well as his team could have played in the first half, and was possibly the best first half his team has played during his five-year tenure.

Brady also stated before halftime that the Huskies were going to make a run, and that certainly proved to be true.

Northeastern senior Jon Lee, scoreless in the first half, began to slash through the JMU defense, finishing near the rim and picking up fouls in the process. Lee finished the game with 14 points, and started the Husky comeback effort.

Trailing by 19 with 13:26 remaining, the Husky press forced multiple zipless crosscourt passes from the Dukes.

JMU’s next 10 possessions resulted in one dunk and seven turnovers.

Northeastern freshman Derrico Peck, who played just one minute in the semifinal game against George Mason, provided an unexpected spark off the bench. He scored six points on second-chance opportunities during the a 13-2 Northeastern run.

The JMU lead had dwindled to just eight with 8:23 remaining in the game.

The Huskies had the ball with a chance to cut closer, but the possession ended in a turnover. Then, on JMU’s next possession, Northeastern senior Joel Smith fouled JMU freshman Andre Nation on a 3-point attempt. It was the fifth foul for Smith, the All-CAA first teamer and 3-point marksman.

Out of the under-8 media timeout, Nation knocked down the three free throws to stop the bleeding, and pushed the JMU lead back to 11.

Without their best player, it was difficult to see the Huskies coming back at that point. They never got closer than 10, and picked a terrible time to start missing free throws.

The normally-efficient Huskies shot 8-of-17 from the charity stripe in the second half. That’s bad for anyone, especially a team that finished 27-of-27 from the line in a game less than two weeks ago.

It’s tough to see a pair of phenomenal seniors like Lee and Smith, who have spent the last four years building the Northeastern program, miss out on the chance to dance. At least we know the Huskies will continue playing in the NIT.

The Dukes firmed up their sloppy play and eventually pushed their lead back to 19. A trio of Husky dunks in the final 62 seconds made the score look a little better.

Nation finished with 10 points and senior Alioune Diouf scored nine on 4-of-6 shooting. JMU’s starting five combined to score 68 of the team’s 70 points.

Realistically, we shouldn’t be that surprised.

Four years ago, in Brady’s first season, it seemed apparent that this day would come. His first recruiting class, with Moore, Julius Wells, and Andrey Semenov, was JMU’s highest-scoring freshman trio in school history.

Unfortunately, all three were ravaged by injuries at different points in their careers, and only played one semi-full season together (2010-2011).

That was the main thing Brady stressed in his presser Monday night – this was the first season his team had any semblance of continuity.

Yes, having one of your best players (Semenov) play only seven games, and one of your skilled freshman (Charles Cooke) miss only four games in conference play must feel like a pretty good bargain for Brady.

Brady lauded the midseason turnaround from Davis, which truly has been a praiseworthy effort. When Davis was suspended before the seventh game of the season, some may have overlooked it.

At the time, Davis was averaging just 6.6 points per game, and had been relegated from the starting five to the bench.

Starting with an offensive outburst that featured 27 points and seven 3-pointers on February 6th, Davis has averaged 20.5 points over his last ten games.

During that run, he was below 50% shooting twice, and made more than 60% of his shots six times. That run also includes a four-point clunker in JMU’s loss at Drexel on February 10th.

We always knew Davis could score, but his startling efficiency has been a pleasant surprise. The only other question was whether or not he could contribute to the CAA’s best defense. The resounding answer has been yes, as Davis has 18 steals over his last six games.

It would be absolutely remiss to exclude Moore’s heroics.

On the same night that Davis hit seven 3-pointers, Moore tied a career-high with 12 assists. In his final seven games of the regular season and the three in Richmond, Moore averaged 12.6 points, 6.6 assists, and 4.1 rebounds per game. It’s even more impressive when you realize the effect he has on defense.

Coincidentally, this came right after dropping a career-high 25 points against George Mason on Groundhog’s Day. Moore is now up to 497 assists in his career.

Moore’s leadership paired with talented, athletic wings, gave this team the ready-made recipe for success in March.

Again, we should not be surprised.

But if we are suprised, coach Brady wants to ensure that this win was a sign of things to come. Here was the real gem from the press conference:

“I will tell you this, it’s not gonna be another 19 years until I’m sitting back up here.”

For more thoughts and coverage from Monday night’s champuionship, here’s a few places to look for elations, quotations, and photographic recapitalizations.

Now for important citations:

-  Mark Selig, Brian Mull, Dan Steinberg , Phil Kasiecki, Bobby Broyles, JMUSports Blog, The Breeze - thank you for the great work you did. (Sub-citations – Stephen Proffitt - for his article in The Breeze, and Griffin Harrington - and his photos for JMU Sports).

- A special thank you to CAA Sports, for all the help you’ve given us, and the great final weekend you in Richmond.

Congratulations #JMUNation.

***

The benefit of putting up that late post on the championship means we got to scope out everyone else’s great work beforehand.

Hopefully we didn’t tread on anyone else’s territory (please tell us if we did).

We apologize for the tardiness in that post – yesterday was travel/schoolwork day.

In the next post, we’ll talk CAA Awards.

Come on, you didn’t think we forgot about our Coach, Player, and Rookie of the Year, did you?

Northeastern either has a flare for the dramatic or the Huskies are the very definition of a second-half team.

Either way, the JMU Dukes have gunned their way out to a 40-16 lead here at halftime behind a sea of purple students that bussed into Richmond tonight.

For the Dukes, senior forward Rayshawn Goins is finally putting together a stellar performance this weekend, and had a monstrous first half with 13 points and eight rebounds.

Reggie Spencer and Quincy Ford have not been able to combat Goins size and toughness inside and it’s cost them.

The Huskies are getting to the free-throw line, where they’ve been the best in the league all season but have missed some easy lay-ups and jumpers while shooting 20% from the field.

I wouldn’t put it past them to pull a Lazarus back-from-the-dead comeback in the second half, like they did against Mason with their senior leadership.

Look for them to double-team Goins or simply toughen up inside and make JMU’s guards beat them. Dinko Marshavelski only played four minutes, and the Huskies’ defense was significantly better with him on the floor.

The bad news with that is guard AJ Davis has 17 points and may be the front-runner for Tournament MVP if JMU can pull this off.

An exciting second half should be in store if Joel Smith and Jonathan Lee can rally the troops and start knocking down baskets like they did in their comeback against Mason yesterday.

Who cuts down the nets here? In just 20 minutes we’ll know.

Northeastern (20-11, 14-4) vs James Madison (19-14, 11-7)  – NBC Sports Network 

Two teams picked to finish in the middle of the pack will square off in Monday’s CAA Championship.

It just goes to show you shouldn’t doubt teams with veteran guards. Jon Lee and Joel Smith are the head of Northeastern’s program. Likewise for Devon Moore and AJ Davis, who have scored 70 of James Madison’s 130 points so far in the tournament.

The regular season CAA champion Huskies completed a wondrous 24-point comeback against George Mason to advance to Monday’s Championship.

It was the largest comeback win in the program’s 93-year history.

When the Huskies pulled to within 12 at halftime, a second-half run seemed eminent.

Joel Smith, a first team All-CAA selection, was scoreless at halftime. For the conference leader in effective field goal percentage (60.8) and true shooting percentage (65.6%), that wasn’t going to persist.

Devon Moore hit two free throws with 3.7 seconds on the clock to give JMU a 58-57 win over Delaware.

It will be JMU’s first appearance in the CAA Championship since 1997.

But about the game…

This final is unique, and there’s more to it than the fact that these programs haven’t played on the big stage in so long.

It’s the first matchup of a tournament that features two teams that met just once in the regular season. Small sample sizes make for intriguing results.

On February 20th, Jon Lee broke down the JMU press, drove baseline and found freshman David Walker, who hit a game-winning 12-foot jumper with two seconds left to give the Huskies a 66-64 victory.

Northeastern won because its offense was more efficient (20-of-41 from the field, 8-of-15 from three, 18-of-20 from the line).

Offensive efficiency from Northeastern has been the story all season (citation: Brian Mull).

At that point, Joel Smith was still shaking off an ankle injury he suffered the week before. He scored six points and committed four turnovers.

JMU held a four-point advantage in points off turnovers in the first meeting. The Dukes also held a 19-2 advantage in second-chance opportunities.

The game featured seven ties and 10 lead changes.

The keys:

Both teams employ guard-heavy lineups, and rely on long, rangy defenders to create steals. David Walker and Andre Nation are two terrific freshmen guards who create fast break and transition opportunities.

Typically, each team wins the turnover margin and capitalizes on the opposition’s mistakes.

Playing their third game in three days, it seems unlikely that the Dukes will recreate that huge 17-point advantage in second-chance points. But if the Dukes can win the rebounding advantage again, it will go a long way.

If the Madison faithful show out in the Coliseum, this will be a virtual home game for the Dukes. Indubitably, they’ll have most of the crowd support, but the question is how much of a crowd will there be.

That won’t phase the Huskies, who have played well on the road all year. They defeated Ohio Valley champion Belmont in Alaska over Thanksgiving, and that was without Jon Lee.

Close games have played right into the Huskies’ paws this season. 23 of their 31 games have been decided by seven points or less, and they’re 15-8 in those contests.

Ultimately, it will probably come down to the secondary players – the stars (Smith and Lee, Davis and Moore) will get theirs.

In the first game, Walker and fellow freshman Zach Stahl combined to score 20 points for Northeastern.

JMU’s Charles Cooke scored 10 points, but JMU’s other three freshmen tallied just four points total.

Hopefully that provides a bit of insight into this game. Now, it’s time to pick sides.

This is where having a bye into the semifinal will truly serve Northeastern. The Huskies got over the long layoff and jitters yesterday, and should be considerably fresher than a JMU team playing its third game in three days.

Matt Brady can only hope that Rayshawn Goins and Alioune Diouf can give some extra minutes after being limited to 14 and 17 yesterday. Expect Diouf and Davis to split duty on versatile 6’8″ wing Quincy Ford.

Northeastern has played well on the road in clutch situations all season, and got its slow start out of the way yesterday. This will be a close game, and this season, there’s no one you’d rather have with the game on the line than Joel Smith. He’s continually hit big shot after big shot.

Smith and Lee deliver what JJ Barea, Matt Janning and Chaisson Allen never could: a CAA Tournament championship, and an NCAA Tournament berth.

Huskies 70, Duke Dogs 65

Sunday’s semifinals showed us why having senior guards is so important in college basketball.

Tomorrow’s CAA Championship will feature two of the best.

Jon Lee and Devon Moore both scored the go-ahead points in the last four seconds of regulation to lead their teams to victory.

Northeastern and James Madison will square off Monday night for an opportunity to advance to The Big Dance.

We’ll touch on that later today in the forthcoming preview.

***

Nine minutes and 26 seconds into the game, and Northeastern was still scoreless. The Huskies were down 13 before scoring their first bucket. The Huskies trailed by 24 on multiple occasions.

Bill Coen‘s Northeastern Huskies were down, but never out.

“As long as there’s time on the clock, they’re going to compete and battle.”

In the end, the early deficit was moot. Northeastern head coach Coen, flanked by veteran guards Jon Lee and Joel Smith, described his teams improbably come from behind victory:

“Somewhere along the way, these two guys up here found the will to win.”

Lee’s driving layup with three seconds left proved to be the game-winner, and the Huskies downed the George Mason Patriots 69-67. Lee and Smith finished with 14 points each.

The Huskies, sparked by sophomore guard Demetrius Pollard (13 points), made a mini-run to get back within striking distance before halftime.

The Patriots led 31-19 at the half.

Northeastern scored nine points in the first 95 seconds of the second half to pull within three points. Smith, a first team All-CAA selection, hit back-to-back trifectas to bring the Huskies within three.

Fittingly, it was Smith who pulled them even at 33-all, and eventually gave them their first lead at 52-51 with another 3-pointer.

That was the first of seven lead changes. Every time Northeastern hit a big shot, Bryon Allen and Marko Gujanicic hit the reciprocal bucket.

Those two attacked the rim and finished inside time and time again. When George Mason was successful breaking the Husky press, the Patriots converted easy looks inside the lane.

Little fouls started to pile up for the Patriots, as both Vertrail Vaughns (10 points) and Jon Arledge (10 points) fouled out.

Mason held a 67-61 lead after Arledge’s layup with 2:50 left. The Patriots did not attempt another shot until Gujanicic’s final halfcourt heave.

The Huskies rallied to tie the game at 67. George Mason used its final timeout with 50 seconds left.

George Mason lost possession right underneath the basket, and Northeastern came up with the loose ball.

Jon Lee scanned the floor, but saw that all of his teammates were covered. With the clock winding down, Lee drove the right side of the lane, and finished off the glass with three seconds on the clock.

Lee described his thought process during the final play after the game.

“With that time winding down, put your head down and go to the basket. It was a wide-open layup because they were pressuring everybody else.”

Gujanicic had a last-second heave, but it was a little too strong. He finished with 12 points, and played well in the second half.

Asked how his team’s lead dissipated so quickly, George Mason head coach Paul Hewitt mentioned turnovers, which may have came from fatigue.

“We had five live-ball turnovers. You can’t defend a turnover that happens between the keys.”

The shooting efficiency in the second half was absolutely ridiculous.

The Patriots shot 15-of-19 from the field (78.9%). Five Patriots scored in double figures, led by Allen, who scored a game-high 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting.

Northeastern scored 50 points in the second half. The Huskies shot 7-of-11 from downtown after the intermission, and 14-of-23 from the field. They overcame early free throw woes to make 15-of-19 from the line in the second half.

Northeastern forced 20 George Mason turnovers, and held a 27-19 advantage in points off turnovers.

That’s been the story all season.

The Huskies will play in their first CAA Championship, but that’s not enough for Coen’s club.

“We’re very happy and pleased, but we’re not satisfied.”

Lee, Smith and redshirt junior Dinko Marshavelski are the only Huskies who were alive the last time Northeastern made the NCAA Tournament — way back in 1991.

***

Devon Moore drove the lane and was fouled with 3.7 seconds left. Moore calmly tied the game before hitting the go-ahead free throw. Devon Saddler’s potential game-winning 3-pointer was a bit long.

James Madison secured the 58-57 win against Delaware, and earned the right to play Northeastern for the CAA Championship.

For JMU head coach Matt Brady, Moore was the only viable option in the clutch situation.

“I’m not the smartest guy in the room, but I know you’re going to keep the ball in Devon’s hands. We’re going to let him make the play.”

Brady was elated for the university.

“Obviously it’s a dramatic win for our team and our program. It’s a huge step forward. I don’t know how cleanly the game was played. There was a lot of defense…at the end of the day, our kids kept fighting.”

Moore finished with 14 points, and classmate AJ Davis scored a game-high 16. Freshman Andre Nation scored 12 points, and brought magnificent defensive intensity throughout the game. Nation finished with a career-high five blocks.

Delaware was on the wrong side of two controversial calls in the final 15 seconds.

Carl Baptiste, who had a huge nine-point, nine-rebound game, had just thwarted Nation’s attempt to give JMU the lead. Jarvis Threatt secured the ball and was fouled.

Delaware’s Kyle Anderson inbounded the ball to Threatt, who raced down the left side of the court. Before JMU had a chance to foul him, Threatt appeared to dribble the ball on the sideline.

Someone much smarter than I am could probably do some equation of a sphere or maybe some vector notation physics to prove whether or not the ball actually touched the line (tennis technology, how we envy thee).

The Twittersphere believes it was a questionable call, and since most of you non-biased readers have watched basketball longer than we have, we believe you.

Bad calls (and no-calls) happen all the time. It’s the human element of the game. It’s heartwrenching this Delaware squad had to bow out of the tournament in such a controversial manner.

Furthermore, the game was refereed by a top-notch crew. That’s why they officiated an oh-so-esteemed North Carolina-Duke game last night (which is also part of the bigger problem plaguing college basketball – quick turnarounds for referees).

As with every basketball game, there were questionable calls throughout, but I think most would agree the officiating was consistent.

Delaware head coach Monte Ross knew there was significantly more to the game than the final few seconds.

“I don’t think it was something we did or did not do. It’s the ebb and flow of the game. I don’t think it’s necessarily something I can put my finger on, as to why it went the way it went.”

Remember how we said Delaware couldn’t get away with turning the ball over 16 times again? Well, that was the exact number of turnovers the Blue Hens committed, which was also exactly twice as many as the Dukes committed.

I think we’ve made it clear that we think the YoUDees are an incredibly talented bunch. They have a postseason future, if they elect to participate. Ross mentioned that it’s an honor to play in the postseason.

We hope that was not the last we see of Jamelle Hagins in a Delaware uniform. The CAA Defensive Player of the Year went out with a bang, finishing with 12 points, 12 boards, four assists and four blocks.

“A walking double-double”, and so much more.

It’s tough to see seniors like Hagins and Josh Brinkley miss out on a chance to play in the Big Dance. Monte Ross has a lot of admiration for his group.

“The biggest thing about college athletics is you ask these guys to give you their blood, heart, soul and guts, and I’m so appreciative because they gave me that. I really enjoy coaching these guys. They give you everything they have on any given night.”

The game was a back and forth battle. Delaware’s frontcourt was absolutely dominant. The Blue Hens held a 45-27 advantage on the glass and a 23-8 advantage in second-chance points.

“To me, rebounding is an effort thing. I like the effort our guys put forth. I was really happy about that effort,” remarked Monte Ross after the game.

But Saddler, Threatt and Anderson combined to shoot just 9-of-37 from the field. Threatt did most his damage in a run that gave Delaware the lead in the final few minutes of the second half.

Saddler and Threatt average a total of 12.9 free throw attempts per game, but combined to take just two free throws on the night.

The Fightin’ Blues also shot just 3-of-17 (17.6%) from downtown.

JMU didn’t set the world on fire. At 37.7% shooting, the Dukes offense was just passable. JMU and Delaware had the exact same amount of field goals and free throws.

Ultimately, you could point to the fact that the Dukes made one extra 3-pointer.

Brady noted that this is a giant win for his program.

“We’re doing this for a lot of people that have been waiting for this game for a long time.”

The Dukes will play in their first CAA Championship since 1997, with a chance to go to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994.

“It would be huge for JMU. These kids, I’ve told them all week long, we’re doing this for more than the 13 kids in the locker room.”