Hate Drexel, Love Drexel, Feel Bad for Drexel, but Not Too Bad
Not a ton to say on another craptastic weekend. My favorite co-worker/blogger from Paperlicious told me Friday “your blog is so down lately, you guys need to perk up.” First, thanks for reading! But after a weekend like this one, it’s really tough to fire up the mojo. First the Women’s team goes down to Drexel (hate) in the CAA semis on Saturday, although an NIT bid in the first year of the post-Dawn Evans era ain’t that bad at all. Then the baseball team goes and gets absolutely violated by UNCW in getting swept.
Then today, when we even found it in our hearts to to pull for Drexel getting an at-large bid (love) in the interest of #2bids4CAA, the committee, which oddly had a western bias this year, went and left the CAA regular season champ Dragons out of the field. Yes, we feel bad for Drexel. And yes, the CAA is waaaayyyy better than the MAAC, and yes, Iona lost to Hofstra, whose level of suckitude was right on par with our very own Dukes this year. And yes, it just ridiculously typical of the committee to select Iona and turn all of us in mid-major land against each other. But really what killed Drexel is St. Bonaventure and Colorado stealing bids, not necessarily Iona, BYU, and USF getting them. So it is a little tough to get overly worked up. Oh, but wait, there’s more. Another thing to fire up the #CAAHoops crowd is VCU getting shipped to Portland to take on another mid-major in Wichita St. That is at least 2nd degree Mid-on-Mid Crime by the committee, who had a Bonnie-and-Clyde type killing spree in this regard this year. VCU/WSU was even topped by the New Mexico/Long Beach St. matchup which was an all-time capital offense.
That said, Wichita St. must be developing a HATRED for the CAA that rivals the way we feel about Delaware football, GMU hoops, and Judas Larranaga (Miami getting left out was at least some consolation after his backstabbing of the CAA and mid-majors over the last couple of weeks). The Shockers lost Bracket Busters and Sweet 16 games to Mason in 2006 and to VCU at home in Bracket Busters last year. Needless to say, a CAA team taking advantage of the Shockers has proven to be strong move lately, leading to even more mind-blowing actions!
for what it’s worth, I’ve seen Drexel and Iona play in person. My eyes tell me that Iona is better. They have a legit stud at point guard. He transferred in from Arizona. Just sucks to win 19-20, lose in conference finals, and get left out. That’s just crap.
It’s disappointing and I think that as a team that closed the season 25-2 and lost its conference tournament championship essentially on its opponent’s home court, Drexel deserved a bid over Iona. It’s easier for me to stomach though, because at least Iona is another mid-major and not some 7th place team from a BCS conference.
It’s also a positive sign in my opinion, that the talking heads were more knowledgeable and respectful of mid-majors this year. Last year the criticism of VCU devolved into cheap shots and it was clear several “analysts” such as Hubert Davis and Digger Phelps, hadn’t studied any mid-majors. This year folks could actually compare strengths & weaknesses of Drexel & Iona. That’s progress.
The problem the CAA has is not the top of the league. The bottom is horrendous. It just sucks the RPI right out of the league. What sucks is that JMU is part of that problem. It might be better for the mid-major leagues to stay small, instead of trying to keep up with the BCS football conferences. Not sure, just a thought. When you compare the CAA to the A-10, the top teams are both capable of beating BCS schools and making a run. The difference is the bottom. The A-10’s worst 6 teams are still good or on the rise. Now that Temple has left the A-10 and Charlotte may soon, some shuffling will start to happen. I know the A-10 would love ODU and Butler. ODU leaving the CAA would be a big blow.
I think that’s part of what makes CAA fans (like me) frustrated with the decision to give Iona a bid and not Drexel. Hofstra beat Iona and Hofstra is one of those programs at the bottom of the CAA.
I actually am starting to worry that ODU, VCU, and GMU are separating themselves so much from the rest of the CAA, that it takes a special year where everything comes together (like it did for Drexel this year, of Hofstra w/Charles Jenkins) for anyone else to compete. I don’t want JMU to be like one of those bottom tiered ACC schools that share a conference with UNC and Duke, but year in and year out will never really be on the same level.