1)VCU
2)Hofstra
3)Drexel
4)ODU
5)GMU
6)Towson
7)W&M
8)NU
9)JMU
10)GSU
11)UNCW
12)UD

I’ll keep it short and sweet.

Cofield gone. Academics. Stratton in street clothes. McFadden on the bench, also in street clothes.

We played an amazing first half. While a call or 2 went our way, the officiating in the second half was just terrible. Not blaming the outcome on it, but it was rediculous.

The offense just wasn’t there in the second half. We didn’t make the shots we were making, and ODU couldn’t miss. I wonder what Blainiac said at the half.

ODU fans weren’t too bad, save the “F ‘em up, F ‘em up, ODU” thing. We got one “64 West, drive home safely” on the way out, but he had had one or 8 too many, and I fear he is the one who may not have gotten home in one piece.

GSU next. And it’s a must win.

Go Tribe.

The Tribe will be making the short trip to Norfolk Wednesday, to face one of the conferences top teams in the Old Dominion University Monarchs. ODU is 12-7, with big wins over Drexel and Georgetown, but at the moment is extremely cold. After a 7-point upset loss to then bottom-feeder JMU, the Monarch’s followed it up with another road loss against rival VCU. They are 5-3 in the CAA right now, but are definitely falling.

The Pomeroy report: KP’s RPI has them at 91, which is 4th in the CAA. They are 71 in the Pomeroy rating, 3rd in conference, and he gives them a far-too-high 93% chance of winning. Mike Greenfield is setting the spread at -10 from the Monarchs, and gives them an 85% chance of winning.

The first individual I’ll preview is Valdas Vasylius, a senior from Lithuania. Vasylius is the top scorer on the team, and one of the best in the league at 16.2 points per game. He is also the best on the team at rebounding, at 5.8 per, and is known as a very tough player. He is a very versatile player, and will be difficult to stop.

Drew Williamson is a senior point guard from Burlington, NC, and is the heart and soul of the team. Williamson, who has seemingly been there forever, is averaging 10.8 points per game. He is leading the team in steals, with an impressive 51, and also has a very nice 83-31 assist-turnover ratio. VCU did a solid job shutting him down, going 3-14 from the field.

Finally, Brandon Johnson is a junior guard from Orlando. Johnson is averaging 8.3 points per game, and does a very nice job complementing Williamson. Johnson really lit up VCU Saturday, scoring a team-high 20 points from the field, and another team-high with 4 steals. He missed a large chunck of last season due to being the victim of a shooting, but has recovered very well.

This is a very tough game to predict. The biggest question is whether ODU will come out firing and mad, and really take it to the Tribe, or if they’ll play like they did against JMU. The outcome of this game will be easy to determine about 5 minutes into the game, and here are my 2 predictions-

Mad ODU-80
W&M-68

Down ODU-68
W&M-72

GO TRIBE!

1)VCU
2)Hofstra
3)Drexel
4)GMU
5)ODU
6)Towson
7)W&M
8)JMU
9)NU
10)GSU
11)UNCW
12)UD

Hofstra by 8.

The MVP is again Adam Payton, who, while coming off a bad game, has become possibly the team’s best player. Payton scored a team-high 23, was 8-8 from the foul stripe, and 7-12 from the field. He also continued the great defense with 4 more steals. His 3 boards were icing on the cake. I might add that while he only had one three, it was a game-tying 3 very late.

For the first time in a long time, both AP and Laimis had a good game. Kisielius scored 15, and had a team-high 6 rebounds. He was 7-13 from the floor, and kept us in the game early. Glad to see he has put together 2 more solid games.

A rough shooting night for Schneider, scoring 6, all from the foul stripe. He was 0-7 from the floor, and missed a big free throw late. Hopefully he isn’t wearing down at all, even though he said he wasn’t.

We really lost because we couldn’t rebound. Hofstra beat us on the boards 41-29, and beat us 21-11 on second chance points. Way too many times tonight we could have put them in a hole but they got the board and increased their lead. Just didn’t make them pay for missed shots.

The shooting tonight was okay. Free throw shooting was exceptional, as we only missed 2 shots, but 6/24 from 3 just isn’t going to cut it. While Hofstra only shot 70% from the stripe(compared to our 90%), they made up for it from the field, shooting near 50%.

We’ve got ODU on Wednesday on the road, and I’ll be making the trip. Can’t wait to get “Ice Cream and Cake” brainwashed into my head.

Go Tribe!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/football/nfl/01/20/steelers.coach/index.html

Congrats to Mr. Tomlin!

Or maybe not. He told ESPN they have yet to make a decision.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2732197

Rumors are swirling that Matt McFadden will rejoin the team over the next few games. I don’t have any proof, but:

What we know

Update-McFadden has yet to make a decision, and is consulting his dad on the subject. He very well may come back next season, after red-shirting this year, as a walk-on. He would be a HUGE boost to this team, and I really hope he comes back.

Update 1-A recent Philadelphia mentioned McFadden in an article from Sunday…

The day before the Winslow showdown, Shawnee prepared for facing Martin as Matt McFadden, a former Renegade now playing for William and Mary, played the role of Martin in practice. McFadden was home for winter break.

“He’s quick like Chris Martin and he got us used to all the running,” said Shawnee swingman Julian Sanders, who scored 30 points, including 13 in an electrifying overtime quarter. “I think it helped.”

Good to see he’s playing again. Also thought the “playing for William & Mary” thing was odd. Wonder if they know he is coming back on the team, or it was a botch?

Dee Vick said the team will be making a McFadden-related announcement soon.

There is a comment on his facebook from another player, pretty much saying “Coach just let us know, welcome back”.

William and Mary head men’s basketball coach Tony Shaver announced that freshman guard Matt McFadden is leaving the Tribe program for personal reasons. McFadden, a 6-2, 175-pound guard from Medford, N.J., will remain enrolled at the College.

Never said he was leaving for good.

1)VCU
2)Hofstra
3)Drexel
4)ODU
5)GMU
6)W&M
7)Towson
8)NU
9)UNCW
10)ODU
11)GSU
12)UD

The Tribe will take one of their longest trips of the year, going to Long Island to face the Hofstra Pride. The Pride are one of the CAA’s “big 4″, one of the top team’s in the league. They are 6-1 in the CAA, their only loss being an upset at Northeastern, and with big-time wins against both ODU and Drexel. They are 12-5 on the year due to a poor OOC showing, the only highlight being back-to-back wins over St. John’s and St. Joe’s.

The Pomeroy report, and note that all their numbers are prior their win against Towson at home tonight(which probably won’t help their numbers). They are an impressive 73 in the RPI, second in the CAA. The Pomeroy rating has them at 113, and he gives the Pride an 85% chance of winning Saturday afternoon. Mike Greenfield gives Hofstra an 85.3% chance of winning, and puts the spread at W&M+10.

Hofstra is a guard-dominated team, the first being senior Loren Stokes. Stokes is again a CAA POY candidate, averaging 19.9 points per game. He also leads his team in rebounding, at 5.6 per. He is shooting 47% from the field, and 36% from 3. His FT shooting could be better, though, at 65%.

Guard Antoine Agudio, a junior guard from New York, is putting up numbers similar to Stokes, at 19.8 points a game. He is another solid rebounder, at 4.2 per game, and is a co-team leader with 24 steals. His assists and turnovers are equal and not great for a guard, but he makes up for it with 43% shooting from 3. He is also shooting 65% from the foul stripe, and shoots 47% from the field.

Hofstra’s final strong guard is point Carlos Rivera. Rivera, a senior from Puerto Rico, is averaging 10.5 points per game. He has 64 assists to 42 turnovers on the year, and 3.9 rebounds per game. He also has 24 steals per game, and leads the team shooting 90% from the charity stripe. He is only shooting 34% from the field, but makes up for it in other areas of the game.

I think the Tribe comes out firing, and keeps this game close. The Pride have really struggled lately, and the Tribe could pull the upset. I don’t have the guys the guts to pick W&M, so I’ll give it to Hofstra in a close one.

HU-68
W&M-64

Some highlights and lowlights.

AP-Where was he tonight? 1-6 from the field and 4 points. He played far too many minutes for that little production.

Kisielius-Laimis picked up the slack, scoring 17 with 6 boards and 4 assists. He played 35 minutes and shot 7-11 from the field, the only consistent scorer on the floor.

Schneider-A solid game for David, scoring 11 and leading the team with 7 boards. He was perfect from the foul line, and got his game back on track.

How long can opposing teams shoot this well? 58% from the floor and 49% from 3. Our 3-point D went from one of the best in the nation, to recently one of the worst, and hopefully Shaver gets this problem fixed before our game against Hofstra and their 3 superb guards.

3 foul shots in the second half? Need to draw a few more fouls.

That’s all I got. Hopefully we can step up the D and shooting vs. Hofstra Saturday afternoon.

Go Tribe.