Under the Radar Game of the Day – Thursday, January 7: Hofstra at College of Charleston

Under the Radar Game of the Day: Hofstra at College of Charleston, 7:00 PM Eastern, caa.tv

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Entering play today, the Colonial Athletic Association is the 9th-rated conference according to KenPom, ahead of the Missouri Valley, West Coast and even the Mountain West.  The reason for the conference’s high rating is the strength of the group of teams at its top combined with the solid records that the entire conference amassed before the start of league play.  Hofstra, Northeastern, James Madison and William & Mary all entered the season looking like contenders and have, more or less, played up to that level.  College of Charleston, UNC-Wilmington, Towson and Elon have all been surprisingly good this season as well.  In fact, those 8 teams have all won at least 9 games this season, and none of them have lost more than 5.  Only Delaware (5-8) and Drexel (2-11) have struggled so far this year.

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day features one of the pre-season contenders, Hofstra, playing at one of the more surprising contenders, College of Charleston.  Hofstra enters play today with a record of 10-4 overall and 2-0 in CAA play.  The Pride’s KenPom rating of 83 is tops in the conference so far.  Their wins include a victory at the Paradise Jam over Florida State and being the only team to win a road game at St. Bonaventure so far this season.  They began conference pay with wins at home over Delaware and on the road at Towson.  Juan’ya Green, Ameen Tanksley, Rokas Gustys, Brian Bernardi and Denton Koon form a formidable starting five for Hofstra.  Green and Gustys are both double-double machines, Tanksley and Bernardi are both capable of scoring 20 or more points on any night, and Koon is a solid scorer and rebounder, with a handful of double-doubles himself.

Entering the season, Charleston had been picked to finish at or near the bottom of the conference.  The job that head coach Earl Grant has done with this team in his two years at the helm has been nothing short of remarkable, especially given the mess that he inherited after the firing of Doug Wojcik.  The Cougars are 9-4 so far, 1-1 in league play.  Their biggest win of the season was a dominating 70-58 home win over LSU.  They also began conference play with a win at James Madison before losing at William & Mary.  Canyon Barry (although he is unable to go tonight) has led the way for the Cougars, including reaching the 30 point mark twice already this season.  Charleston has only lost once at home so far this season, and will present a very tough test for Hofstra tonight.  If the Pride pick up the road win, they will certainly move into the position of being the early favorites in the conference.  If the Cougars win, they will send the message that they intend to contend in the CAA all season long.