2010 Colonial Athletic Association Tournament Preview

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/02/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colonial Athletic Association Tournament tips off Friday afternoon at the Richmond Coliseum and will run through Monday night's title game. At stake is an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the winner. The top four seeds get a bye to Saturday's quarterfinal round, while the remaining teams will battle it out in Friday's first-round action.

Old Dominion (23-8, 15-3 CAA) grabbed the top seed by locking up its first regular season title since the 2004-05 season, when the Monarchs went on to win the CAA Championship and advance to the Big Dance. ODU won five of its final six games and went undefeated at home in 2009-10.

Northeastern (19-11, 14-4) earned the No. 2 seed with a school-record 14 wins in the CAA. The Huskies are in search of their first conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance since 1991.

The No. 3 seed belongs to the William and Mary (20-9, 12-6) Tribe, who managed only their third 20-win season since 1951-52. Along the way they won a school- record 10 road games, which should have them well prepared for the postseason.

The final bye goes to the fourth-seeded George Mason (17-13, 12-6) Patriots, who faded down the stretch by losing six of their final eight games. They lost the finale to Northeastern in heartbreaking fashion, as GMU's Ryan Pearson committed a shooting foul with the score tied and less than a second on the clock.

Last season, Virginia Commonwealth captured its fourth CAA Championship with a 71-50 win over George Mason in the title game.

In the opening game of Friday's first round, eighth-seeded Towson (9-20, 6-12) will take on ninth-seeded UNC Wilmington at noon. These teams split their regular-season meetings, with the visiting team winning each game.

Towson struggled through the month of February before winning its last two games to lock up the eighth seed. The Tigers are led by Josh Thornton, who leads the team with 11.1 ppg and 71 three-pointers (.390) on the year. Down low are Calvin Lee (10.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg) and Robert Nwankwo (10.0 ppg), who leads the CAA with 9.2 boards per contest. The Tigers are allowing an average of 76 ppg and are a -7.8 in scoring margin, meaning that trio can ill-afford an off day.

As for the Seahawks, they really faded down the stretch, losing eight of their final 10 contests. However, one of those victories came at Towson on February 11th (80-72). Leading the way for UNCW is Chad Tomko, an 84.1 percent shooter at the foul line who is tallying 13.1 ppg. Joining him in double figures is John Fields, who puts up 10.2 ppg and leads the team with 8.7 rebounds per tilt. One area in particular that has plagued the Seahawks this season has been turnovers, as they are -3.2 in turnover margin.

The winner will face top-seeded ODU in the quarterfinal round Saturday at noon.

The second game on Friday pits No. 5 seed Virginia Commonwealth (20-8, 11-7) against No. 12 seed Delaware (7-23, 3-15) at 2:30 p.m.

VCU notched a 77-64 win at home when these teams met back on January 9th. The Rams entered last weekend's season finale in search of a fourth straight victory, but they were dealt a 73-70 loss by Old Dominion in the final minutes. While the Rams weren't quite as dominant this year in league play as they have been in recent seasons, they are still a very formidable squad. VCU puts up 76 ppg and is shooting 36 percent from beyond the arc as a team. Leading the way is Larry Sanders, who averages 14.8 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. Joining him in double figures are Joey Rodriguez (12.0), who leads the league in assists (6.0), and Bradford Burgess (10.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg).

Headlining the cast for Delaware is Jawan Carter, who ranks third in the CAA with 18.6 ppg and second with 4.9 assists per game. Beyond Carter however, there isn't much firepower on the roster. Alphonso Dawson is putting up 12.1 points and 6.0 rebounds per contest, but a margin of 6.1 ppg separates Dawson and third-leading scorer Kelvin McNeil. As a team, the Blue Hens shoot just 39.1 percent from the floor. They closed the season by losing six straight, and nine of their final 10 games.

The winner moves on to face fourth-seeded George Mason Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

In the evening portion of the first round, No. 7 Hofstra (18-13, 10-8) takes on No. 10 Georgia State (12-19, 5-13) at 6 p.m.

Heading into this tournament, there is no hotter team in the league than the Pride, who closed out the regular season by winning six straight, and nine of their final 10 games. Their final game was an 87-74 triumph over Georgia State this past Saturday. Hofstra is led by Charles Jenkins, who ranks second in the league with 20.4 ppg. Against Georgia State last weekend, Jenkins scored 29 and buried a career-high six three-pointers. He is shooting 40.3 percent from beyond the arc on the season, though he is the team's only double-digit scorer. Chaz Williams (9.8 ppg, 4.3 rpg) and Halil Kanacevic (8.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg) have made steady contributions, though mostly off the bench.

Meanwhile, the Panthers dropped five of their final seven contests and closed the season with back-to-back double-digit losses. Georgia State is led by Joe Dukes, who is compiling 13.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per tilt. He is complemented by Trae Goldston, a 39 percent shooter from beyond the arc (57- of-146) who is scoring 10.3 ppg. Trey Hampton (8.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg) and Xavier Hansbro (7.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg) have made modest contributions in the low post.

Awaiting the winner of this contest is second-seeded Northeastern at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

The final game of the first round will see No. 6 Drexel (16-15, 11-7) take on No. 11 James Madison (12-19, 4-14) at 8:30 p.m.

These teams also met just this past weekend, with Drexel rallying for a 67-64 victory in Harrisonburg to sweep the season series. The Dragons trailed by 12 in the second half, when Samme Givens put the team on his back by scoring 19 of his 21 points after halftime. Givens is the team's fourth-leading scorer with 8.4 points and a team-best 8.3 rebounds per game on the year. The Dragons are led by Jamie Harris (14.5 ppg) and Chris Fouch (11.0 ppg), while Gerald Colds (9.2 ppg) has been a regular in the starting lineup.

On the other side of the court, JMU boasts two of the CAA's top-five scorers in Denzel Bowles (20.9), who leads the league, and Julius Wells (16.4), the fourth-leading scorer. Bowles also ranks second in the conference with 8.9 rebounds per game. However, the Dukes thin out offensively after that tandem, as a margin of 7.5 ppg separates Wells and third-leading scorer Darren White. The Dukes lost eight of their final 10 games, including Saturday's heartbreaker against Drexel.

The winner faces third-seeded William & Mary Saturday at 8:30 p.m.