Mark Selig is the RTC correspondent for the Colonial Athletic Association. You can find more of his written work at jamesmadison.rivals.com or on Twitter @MarkRSelig.

Spotlight On…

Diagramming A Winner: It was featured on SportsCenter under the header “Small School Buzzer-Beaters,” but JMU coach Matt Brady didn’t see a replay of his team’s game-winning alley-oop against Delaware until Monday morning, long after his team arrived back in town after a four-hour bus ride home that was undoubtedly more pleasant because of said play (fast-forward to 2:04):

We do have an end-of-the shot-clock lob play for whoever may be on the court – typically it’s Andre Nation – but knowing that they would have it scouted or that they could have guarded it with just one defender, out of the timeout we kind of changed that play around. We took everybody from the strong-side, the ball-side of the court – we took them out of the play. We had Rayshawn [Goins] duck in on the weakside block, the block farthest from the ball. Most importantly, we had A.J. [Davis] start inside of Andre Nation towards the baseline, and we wanted to wrap him away from the ball and back around the corner that was empty, in hopes that it would draw attention. And to be honest with you, I didn’t see the play until [assistant coach] Rob O’Driscoll showed it to me this morning. It seemed to draw a lot of attention. It worked the kids executed it well. I think the underrated part of the whole play, to be honest with you, wasn’t the design of the play or the finish or A.J.’s hard cut. Really, [it was] the pass. Until I saw it this morning – it was a fabulous pass. It was not an easy play. And it’s not something Devon [Moore] always wants to do because he’s sometimes leery of a turnover, but in that situation he’s interested and eager to make the pass. But in that situation, what a great pass.

It was Kyle Anderson guarding Andre Nation. So I don’t know if we necessarily even needed to wrap A.J., but we wanted to do that to create some confusion. And I do think when A.J. wrapped, it actually pulled Kyle Anderson from in front of Andre Nation guarding the rim. They went to switch. They went to switch and they both ended up behind. But the most interesting part of the play, and Rob showed it to me again this morning, was that immediately upon Andre Nation’s dunk, Kyle Anderson gave Devon Saddler a death stare, like, ‘You son of a gun, I can’t believe you missed that!’ They were supposed to switch, but that’s why we did what we did.

Andre Nation really had the easiest part of the play. He’s gonna get all the credit, but really, the credit should go to A.J. and Devon.

I didn’t get the chance to speak with Kyle Anderson about the miscommunication, but Saddler made it seem like it was Anderson’s fault, saying that he didn’t switch when he was supposed to. That’s for UD head coach Monte Ross to sort out. The Dukes are just happy their clutch lob worked so perfectly.

Power Rankings

This week, we spend ample time celebrating the league’s top talents, but this week’s power poll will focus on X-Factors – the players whose teams’ success hinges on their production from game to game:

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Danny Connors is a RTC correspondent. He filed this report after spending last Friday with the Drexel University basketball team. It’s a fascinating read about the ins and outs of a 16-hour day during the regular season at a mid-major college basketball program.

I have been in the locker room before and after games, coached at the camps and traveled with the team, but never in my life have I spent a day as a fly on the wall in the Drexel University basketball offices. That changed Friday, as I shadowed the staff through a long day of preparation and practice.

I’ll take you through the day:

• 5:06 AM – Drexel associate head coach Mike Connors — oh by the way he’s my Dad — woke me up. My eyelids wanted another couple minutes (or hours) of rest, but my brain prevailed. I got up and showered.
• 5:30 AM – I scrambled to find my notebook and phone charger. I walked outside and my Dad already had the car running. The car lights brightened an otherwise dim, black, shivery morning.
• 5:50 AM – The train came into sight at the Yardley Station. We walked up the steps to a relatively empty train. Very few suits were parked in the worn, cushioned seats at this hour, mostly blue-collar workers commuting to the city.

Coaches put in long hours every month of the year. RTC learned that first hand from Drexel associate head coach Mike Connors

• 6:56 AM – We arrived at 30th Street Station and started walking to Drexel. The sun was yet to peak it’s head over Philadelphia. “It’s dark when I leave the house, it’s dark when I get back,” Connors said, “I haven’t seen the sun since September.”
• 7:06 AM – My Dad and I walked into the freshly renovated basketball office. The building was empty aside from a man sitting on a chair down the hallway. It was Drexel legend Calvin Hicks, the mentally handicapped 50-year-old man whose title is “assistant to the head coach” but wholeheartedly believes he’s a coach. Hicks’ humor, undying love, and enthusiasm for Drexel sports have made him a recognizable figure anywhere on campus. He travels with the men’s basketball team and sits courtside at all their games where he can be heard yelling through his Drexel megaphone. Hicks was putting on his shoes, getting ready for a workout on the elliptical machine. Still drowning in my tired trance, I couldn’t believe Hicks was already in the office. “When did you get here Cal?” I asked. “Been here since 5:15,” Hicks said.
• 7:35 AM – Connors opened up his laptop connected to a nearby monitor to scout Drexel’s next opponent, Towson. After watching five of Towson’s previous games yesterday, he had a grasp on the Tigers’ style but wanted to watch a couple more games to put highlights in a scouting tape for the team. Connors said he had done every scouting report in the last 17 years for head coach Bruiser Flint, dating back to their time together at UMass. Previously, he had to get tapes from other coaches, but now the Drexel staff uses DragonFly, an online program “designed to secure, manage and deliver digital coaching and evaluation content anywhere in the world,” according to its website. Read the rest of this entry »

Mark Selig is the RTC correspondent for the Colonial Athletic Association. You can also find more of his written work at jamesmadison.rivals.com or on Twitter @MarkRSelig.

Looking Back

• Chris Ouch!: Drexel learned that top scorer Chris Fouch will miss the rest of this season with a broken right ankle. It’s a tough blow for the Dragons and their senior, who also missed all what would have been his freshman season with a knee injury, before winning rookie of the year as a sophomore. Fouch, a 6’0″ sixth man and shooting specialist, led the Dragons in scoring two seasons ago and was leading them through three games this year with a 16.7 PPG average. That puts more of a burden on guards Frantz Massenat and Damion Lee, a pair of CAA first team preseason picks.
• Everybody’s Got A Loss: Any unrealistic dreams of a perfect season by a CAA team were dashed this week when upstart William & Mary followed its 3-0 start with a pair of losses. Surely we didn’t expect to see any team go deep into the season without a tarnish, especially given the teams W&M beat to become undefeated. The Tribe had a shot to upset Wake Forest – maybe the worst team in the ACC – after doing so two seasons ago, but dropped that game after snapping their unbeaten streak against Miami (OH).
• Bright Lights Unkind To Hens: When Delaware beat Virginia in an NIT Tip-Off game, it set up a trip to Madison Square Garden for the Blue Hens. Playing on ESPN for the world to see, Delaware couldn’t muster another upset. It lost 66-63 against Kansas State, and then was trounced 85-59 in the third-place game by Pittsburgh. Devon Saddler, at least, looked like a superstar in NYC, scoring 60 points in the two games combined.

Reader’s Take

POY Stock Watch

It’s too early to crown a Player of the Year in the CAA, but there’s no harm in using the first handful of games for each team to set a baseline for the race. These five have earned front-runner status with their early play.

Devon Saddler has been outstanding so far this season (US Presswire)

• Joel Smith – The Northeastern guard wasn’t named to the league’s preseason first or second team, but he’s stepped up in the absence of a teammate that was – guard Jonathan Lee, who’s out with an injury. Smith is second in the conference in scoring (17.8 PPG) and leads his team in assists and steals.
• Devon Saddler – Delaware’s power guard leads the league in scoring (22.2PPG), even if others surpass him in efficiency. If Saddler can display the all-around game to match his bucket-making prowess, the comparisons to former Hofstra guard Charles Jenkins – a two-time CAA POY who’s now in the NBA – will materialize.
• Marcus Thornton – It’s a point guard’s league, and Thornton might be the most responsible primary ballhandler, even if he’s just a sophomore. He’s shooting 54.2 percent from the field and is as consistent as they come.
• Jerelle Benimon – Towson coach Pat Skerry promised in the preseason that Benimon would be a “beast,” and the Georgetown transfer has delivered. Round up his rebounds and he’s averaging a double-double, adding a measure of toughness that Towson desperately needed.
• Keith Rendleman – That UNCW is .500 after six games should earn Rendleman a trophy itself. As mentioned before, he’s the only consistent player on his team, but he brings it every night and has made a lacking roster competitive.

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