After another great SCGD yesterday, with Northwestern State knocking Stephen F Austin out of the ranks of the teams that are undefeated in their conference, we turn today to the Colonial, and a huge matchup (8:00 PM Eastern, Comcast Sports) between George Mason and Northeastern.
Unlike some recent years where the CAA has either given us an at-large team or at least been in the bubble talk, the Colonial this season seems to be fairly certain to be a one bid league. This is in part due to Virginia Commonwealth having moved on to the Atlantic Ten. In addition, four of the remaining 11 teams are ineligible for the conference tournament (Towson and UNC-Wilmington due to APR, Old Dominion and Georgia State due to a conference rule that teams that are leaving after the season cannot win the automatic bid). However, the top of the league so far this season has been all about the Northeastern Huskies.
Northeastern is 7-0 in league and 12-7 overall, including a solid non-conference win over Belmont. They have an RPI of 130 and a Pomeroy of 160. George Mason is also 12-7 overall but 5-2 in conference. They do have a big win over Virginia back in their very first game of the season, but added in some bad losses including a recent loss to UNC-Wilmington. Their RPI is 106 and their Pomeroy is 107. This is the second matchup of the season between the two teams, with Northeastern having previously scored an 84-74 win at George Mason. A win at home tonight will give them a commanding 3 game lead in the conference as the league season nears its mid-point.
Joel Smith leads the way for the Huskies, averaging 16.7 points per game. Also keep an eye on Quincy Ford who won co-player of the week in the CAA last week. For George Mason, Sherrod Wright is averaging 18.4 points per game to lead the team. Also keep an eye on freshman Marko Gujanicic off the bench, as he registered a double-double against James Madison last week to take CAA Rookie of the Week honors.