STF Conference Reports: The Association Lives

Hola Amigos. Been a long time since I rapped at ya'. (Sorry Jim.)

I don't even have a cool excuse for my Amelia Earhart like "at the Super Bowl for nine days." But I digress, because it has been an interesting couple of weeks in The Association.

VCU and George Mason have established themselves at the top, followed by a five team quagmire in the middle. This is mostly important because the top four seeds in the regular season receive a bye into the conference tournament semifinals. Conventional wisdom, which is usually neither conventional nor wise, says you can't win four games in four days. My belief is that if you are 6-12 during the regular season, the issue is talent.

But anyway...

TEAM OF THE, OH, WEEK OR SO
Northeastern has won five in a row to jump headlong into the mucky middle. The Huskies have defended like champs, giving up just 49 points per game in the five victories. Nobody has reached the 40% mark from the field. The streak coincides with the addition of Vinny Lima, a 6-10 player who is a prototypical Argentinian. (No, I don't what that is, but I thought it sounded good.)

MAALOX MONTH
I hate to say this, because I really like head coach Dean Keener, but James Madison is heading south. The Dukes have lost 9 of 11 and shows no signs of righting the ship. VCU looked like they were running through lay up drills at times last night.

SPECIAL RECOGNITION
UNCW, who is everything James Madison is not. The Seahawks finally decided to start playing defense and the result has been a surge into third place. The Dub was 2-3 after losing to, uh, James Madison. Since then they've ripped off seven of nine and are playing with confidence.

GAMES TO WATCH
Old Dominion at VCU (Saturday): Best rivalry in the conference and VCU has already sold out for the ESPN2 game.

UNCW at George Mason (Saturday)

VCU at Northeastern (Wednesday)

Delaware at George Mason (Wednesday)