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The Colonial Athletic Association is changing, make no mistake about it. The question, however, is how much change there will be. Conflicting reports have surfaced recently over who is going where in the never-ending carousel that is conference realignment, but sources tell WRBB Sports that Georgia State University will leave for the Sun Belt Conference in 2013-14 while George Mason University and Virginia Commonwealth University will remain with the CAA for the foreseeable future.

Over the past few days and weeks, there have been whispers then roars of VCU and George Mason leaving for the Atlantic 10. Those were followed by vehement denials from both athletic departments, as well as CAA commissioner Tom Yeager in a conference call on March 26. In that call, the league’s head honcho stated that there had been no conversations between any of the Colonial’s 12 members and any other conference, and that there had not been any discussions with other institutions about adding to the CAA’s roster of universities.

Just days after that call, CBS Sports reported that Georgia State University was a “leading candidate” to join the Sun Belt Conference. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GSU Athletic Director Cheryl Levick informed Yeager of the talks after the March 26 media teleconference. Yesterday, Brett McMurphy followed up his report from last week with a statement that administrators within the Sun Belt and its schools had voted to invite the Panthers to join their ranks, though no invitation had been formally extended. The AJC’s Doug Roberson wrote on Tuesday that, according to Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson, such a vote had not taken place and that a previously scheduled trip to GSU’s Atlanta campus on Thursday had been postponed. It was expected that the formal invitation would be offered at that time. An earlier article from McMurphy is what heated up the talks of VCU and George Mason leaving for the Atlantic 10, along with current Horizon League member Butler.

If Georgia State does leave in 2013 as one source reported, it would mean the school’s football team will compete in the CAA for just one season before jumping. Regardless of the timing of the invitation and departure, it seems as though it is simply a matter of when rather than if.

According to conference bylaws, and confirmed by Yeager in the March 26 call, any school that has announced that it is leaving the league will not be eligible for the conference’s playoffs the preceding year. Since it is a new program, GSU would also be ineligible to compete for a Sun Belt championship and would be ineligible to play in a bowl game during the 2013 season.

They would also not be allowed to participate in the 2013 CAA basketball tournament, which could feature only nine teams with possible NCAA sanctions coming against UNCW and Towson due to issues with the Academic Progress Rate.

What isn’t clear is how much Georgia State will have to pay in order to get out of the CAA. For years, the conference’s exit fee has been set at $250,000. Recently, there have been increased talks of upping that fee to seven figures, in the range of $1 million to $1.5 million. That number would be comparable to the $1 million that Temple University is expected to pay the Atlantic 10 when it leaves for the Big East, in addition to the $6 million that the school will pay the Mid-American Conference, where Temple football had been competing since 2007. If Georgia State receives its invitation this week, before next week’s expected vote to increase the exit fee, they could save upwards of $1 million by announcing its exit early. Some sources say there will be a vote in the early half of next week, while others confirmed discussion but denied that a vote was actually scheduled.

Multiple sources have said that the idea of increasing the fee is not a new one, as administrators from at least one of the major Virginia schools have been spearheading the effort for a year or more. The move reportedly has overwhelming support among conference athletic directors and presidents, and while not unanimous it should easily pass. Between that information and the fact that the CAA will be doling out its annual checks from the NCAA that are especially large as a result of the conference’s success, including VCU’s Final Four run, in the 2011 national tournament, it seems unlikely that VCU or GMU would leave. One source also said he was told that Butler would be the only addition to the Atlantic 10, replacing Temple, and that neither VCU nor George Mason would be leaving the CAA anytime soon. A source also cited the conference’s Virginia base, with five members from the state and the basketball tournament being held in Richmond, as additional reasons that both schools would stay.

Once Georgia State leaves, the Colonial Athletic Association will be left with 11 full-membership schools. Only five of those remaining members sponsor a football team, including Delaware, James Madison, Old Dominion, Towson, and William & Mary. There are an additional five associate members in CAA Football, including Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Richmond, and Villanova. However, Rhode Island will be dropping down to the reduced-scholarship Northeast Conference and will leave the CAA with nine football teams. From a scheduling perspective, that would allow each team to play every other team once during the season and play three non-conference games for an 11-game slate.

On the basketball side, things are a little bit more complicated. It is unclear whether or not the conference would look to add another university to replace Georgia State or if it would sit on an odd number of members. Though the current membership consists of both public and private schools, large and small, and geographically ranges from Boston to Wilmington, N.C. once GSU leaves, finding a strong fit could still prove difficult. Presidents and athletic directors would need to find a school that philosophically matches the ideals of the 11 remaining universities, both academically and athletically. Among others, some names that have been bandied about include Boston University, University of Rhode Island, Stony Brook University, Fordham University, George Washington University, University of Richmond, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, College of Charleston, and Coastal Carolina. For various reasons, some more obvious than others, many of these schools have been dismissed as unlikely to leave their current affiliations for Colonial membership or to be accepted by CAA institutions. One source fully expects that UNC Charlotte will eventually join Georgia State in the Sun Belt, as the 49ers have plans to field a football program beginning in the 2013 season.

There are still many questions left to be answered, and additional sources have been contacted for more information. Others have declined comment. As more information becomes available, it will be posted on wrbbsports.com. For up-to-the-minute information, follow @CAA_FCP and @wrbbsports on Twitter.

Andy Towne Basketball CAA, Georgia State

What happened?

Northeastern ended their run as the only team in the CAA to have not faced VCU in the conference tournament, and they also became the last Colonial squad that had not lost to the Rams in the March classic at the Coliseum.

It started out as a very defensive contest, with VCU leading 4-0 at the first media timeout. Scoring picked up over the next four minutes, with the higher-seeded team jumping out to a 14-7 lead. At that point, the energy in the building was really growing in favor of the “home” team, and VCU was able to extend the lead to nine before five straight points from Joel Smith got the Huskies back into it. The Huskies’ hole would once again deepen to eight points, but as they’ve done all year they climbed right back into it. Over the final 6:15 of the opening half, VCU did not put a point on the board during an 8-0 run for Northeastern that enabled the visitors to tie the game at 26 heading into the halftime break.

At the outset of the second half, VCU took control and scored 10 of the first 12 points after intermission, converting several Northeastern turnovers into baskets as they had done all evening. The Huskies didn’t want to let the game go, and hit baskets when they really needed to. VCU extended their lead to 10 with a Rob Brandenberg triple at the 11:52 mark, and hardly looked back from there. They extended the lead to 21 just four and a half minutes later, although again Northeastern showed resilience and grabbed rebounds on many missed shots from the Rams, holding them to minimal scoring for a stretch while getting a few buckets of their own. Also taking advantage of a poor free throw percentage from VCU (45.6% for the game), Northeastern was able to foul to get themselves back in the game and closed the margin to eight with 1:10 to go and again with 51 ticks on the clock.

The Huskies played hard and believed they had a chance to win despite being down by double digits, though a Joel Smith turnover with 37 seconds left, down by nine, iced the game. It was unsurprising that a turnover would end it, since Northeastern committed 25 on the game. Read more…

Andy Towne Basketball CAA, Postseason, VCU

What happened?

It was the second-ever meeting in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament between Northeastern and William & Mary after a 49-47 Tribe victory in the 2010 semifinals, and this time the result went in favor of the Huskies. It was the first time NU had ever beated WM in the state of Virginia, having previously lost all five games at the Tribe’s home court, Kaplan Arena at William & Mary Hall.

Neither of the first two games of the day had the first possession for either team result in points, but both teams bucked that trend after Reggie Spencer got an offensive rebound and followed with a layup to score for Northeastern, but William & Mary answered right back with a Brandon Britt triple. NU would quickly take a commanding 11-4 lead with 14:33 on the clock, and eventually pushed it out to a 20-10 advantage about six minutes later. Jon Lee picked up his third foul of the game with his team leading 22-12 and 5:24 remaining in the period, and did not play again until after the break. Once he sat, William & Mary scored seven straight points to bring it back within three and finished the half down only 25-22.

Once the intermission was over, Jon Lee came back out onto the floor and hit a 3-pointer just 29 seconds into the frame, and was followed immediately by a triple from his co-captain Joel Smith. Quincy Ford would later hit two shots from beyond the arc with only a McDowell jumper separating the treys. The second of those would give the Huskies their largest lead of the day, a 12-point advantage at 39-27 with 16:38 on the clock.

It would be close to four minutes until either team found the net again, with Jon Lee picking up his 4th foul and Joel Smith getting three in a row during that span. Julian Boatner’s shot from downtown at the end of that stretch would spark a mini-run for the Tribe, as Northeastern hit only one field goal over a twelve-minute stretch after Ford’s triples. In that time, Jon Lee was also called for his fifth foul at the 10:38 mark. There was confusion on the play, as one official had signaled the play out of bounds but another called the foul on Lee that disqualified him for the rest of the night. The Huskies did, however, sink seven free throws to keep a 48-43 lead with 6:03 to go.

Alwayne Bigby hit an open 15-footer along the baseline with 4:47 to go, and that would prove to be the winning basket as it put NU up 50-43. The last five points of the game for Northeastern came at the free throw line as William & Mary was forced to foul despite making three of their last four shot attempts. The Huskies were only 20/33 (60.6%) from the charity stripe on the day, so the strategy made sense for William & Mary. However, they gave in after Kauri Black grabbed a defensive rebound with :31 left, and did not make any attempt for a comeback at that point. Read more…

Andy Towne Basketball, Press Pass CAA, Postseason, William & Mary

At Thursday night’s Colonial Athletic Association awards banquet at the Richmond Marriott, two Northeastern Huskies were recognized for their on-court performance and two were recognized for off-the-court achievements.

For the fourth time in the seven years that Northeastern University has been affiliated with the CAA, a Husky earned a spot on the All-Rookie squad. Quincy Ford ranked third among all freshmen in the league in both scoring (11.1 points per game) and rebounding (4.7 per game), earning him a spot among the conference’s best first-year players. He was also fourth among rookies in free throw percentage at 75.3%, and was third in the conference, out of all players, with 2.0 steals per game, behind VCU freshman Briante Weber (2.3) and Old Dominion’s CAA Defensive Player of the Year Kent Bazemore (2.2). His 30 blocked shots ranked 12th in the league, also behind fellow rookies Erik Copes from George Mason (51) and Cedrick Williams of UNCW (43).

Northeastern’s junior co-captain, Jonathan Lee, was also rewarded for his play on the hardwood as he earned a spot on the All-CAA third team. Lee backed up his preseason Honorable Mention pick by leading the Huskies in scoring with 14.6 points per game, 9th in the league, and ranked among conference leaders in eight other categories. He was 8th in field goal percentage (46.9%), 6th in assists (3.6 per game), 11th in free throw percentage (78.3%), 9th in steals (1.6 per game), 3rd in 3-point field goal percentage (40.7%), 15th in 3-point field goals made (1.6 per game), 9th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.2, with 104 assists and 89 turnovers), and 2nd in minutes played at 35.7 per game.

Off the court, Ryan Pierson was named to the All-Academic squad while Jonathan Lee earned himself a spot among the league’s top 10 classroom achievers. He was named an All-Academic Second team player. Joel Smith was the Northeastern nominee for the Dean Ehler’s Leadership Award which is given to the player who “embod[ies] the highest standard of leadership, integrity and sportsmanship through their academic and athletic achievements.”

Here are all of the awards: Read more…

Andy Towne Basketball CAA, Postseason

What happened?

Entering the game, one might have expected a close matchup despite the Tribe’s 4-22 record overall (2-12 in CAA games). The Tribe have good players, and Northeastern had never lost to William & Mary by more than five points. They had also never won in Williamsburg. However, a close game is not what anybody got.

Freshmen Reggie Spencer and Quincy Ford combined to score the first six points of the night for Northeastern, taking a 6-4 lead just about five minutes in. First half offense isn’t necessarily a strength of either team, so the ten total points weren’t necessarily a surprise. That would be the only lead the Huskies would have in the game, as William & Mary went on a 13-2 run that saw four different players score. A pair of triples from junior co-captain Joel Smith, the second of which gave him sole possession of tenth place on NU’s all-time 3-pointers made list with 138, gave Northeastern some momentum. They would work the deficit down to 26-22 with 4:47 remaining, but William & Mary would go on to score the last 15 points of the frame.

Quincy Ford opened the second half with a steal and a dunk less than 30 seconds in, and the team seemed to be showing some energy out of the locker room. However, that energy was short-lived as the Tribe began a 14-4 run just under two and a half minutes after the break ended. At that point, the game was completely out of hand. At the final media timeout, with 2:47 remaining, both coaches emptied their benches. Matt Rum stayed in the game for about 30 seconds after that point, and Quincy Ford re-entered the game for the final minute, but those were the only starters who played at all after that last media timeout.

The Tribe twice held leads of 32 points, the largest deficit of the season for NU (previous high: 30 at NC State), before earning the 25-point win. Northeastern’s 79 points allowed matched the third-most of the year (also at Bradley, Dec. 6), following 83 at Massachusetts on Nov. 14 and 88 at NC State on Dec. 22.

On the positive side of things, Ford finished the game with a career-high 21 points, breaking his previous best of 20 that he set at James Madison on Jan. 7. The freshman class of Ford, Reggie Spencer (10), Demetrius Pollard (4) and Marco Banegas-Flores (4) accounted for 39 of the Huskies’ 54 points in the game. Read more…

Andy Towne Basketball, Press Pass CAA, William & Mary

What happened?

Mike Moore found the net from long range to give the Pride a 3-0 advantage just 18 seconds into the game, the fastest any opponent has scored against Northeastern since he did the same in 11 seconds on January 8, 2011 at Matthews Arena, a 76-67 win for Hofstra. Coincidentally, that was the last time Comcast SportsNet broadcasted a game from Matthews Arena before they were in the gym on Saturday. After that game-opening triple, it felt like Mo Cassara’s club was hungry to pick up just its second conference win and avenge its 64-62 loss to the Huskies back on January 11 at home in Hempstead.

The pair of 5-point leads held by the Pride, at 7-2 and 10-5, would be the best they could do all afternoon, however, as freshmen Quincy Ford and Reggie Spencer put the team on their backs and combined to score the first 12 points of the day for NU. Junior co-captain Jon Lee finally got himself on the board with a jumper to give the Huskies their first lead of the game at the 12:37 mark. Following that basket, Northeastern would go on its typical four-plus minute stretch without scoring, but the defense held strong and only allowed four points in that time frame. Joel Smith would eventually break an 18-all tie, at 6:37 left in the half, with back-to-back threes, and the Huskies wouldn’t look back from there.

At the halftime break, Northeastern held a 30-27 advantage and had only turned the ball over four times. On the other side, Hofstra had only coughed it up three times, and was able to convert NU’s four turnovers into seven points. Ford led all scorers with 11 points as the teams headed to the locker rooms, with Reggie Spencer registering the 2nd-highest total to that point in the game at eight points.

Most of the drama in the contest was over by then, as the Huskies extended their lead behind the play of Ford, Spencer and Lee after returning from intermission. They would steadily nudge the advantage higher and higher, reaching 11-point leads on four different occasions. Shemiye McLendon would sink a 3-pointer to make it a two-possession game with 42 seconds on the clock. It was just the third, and final, trey of the afternoon for the visiting team, after Moore’s to open the game and David Imes’ fifth make from beyond the arc on the season at 3:19 into the game.

Joel Smith put the game on ice with his only two free throws of the day, and just his sixth and seventh points, giving his team a 58-50 lead six seconds after McLendon’s shot and a Hofstra timeout. The Pride could only manage two shots from the field in the final seconds, missing both, though Matt Grogan would add the team’s final point at the charity stripe.

Player of the Game:

It’s hard to choose between Jon Lee, Quincy Ford and Reggie Spencer for this one. Without the play of Ford and Spencer early on, Hofstra may have been able to scramble out to a big early lead that could have changed the complexion of the game from the outset. Spencer was able to outwork Hofstra big Stephen Nwaukoni in the paint all day, both getting himself open for looks coming in from the top and showing patience as he fought off defenders when he had the ball underneath the hoop. He tallied 13 points and eight boards, along with a game-high three assists (matched by Lee) and a block. Of the three in the running for the honors, he had the fewest turnovers with only two.

Ford was the one providing some early assists to Spencer down low, then finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. Jon Lee’s 17 points came on a season-best 77.8% shooting (7-for-9) that bested his previous mark of 69.2% (9-for-13) that he set at Hofstra on January 11.

The Takeaway:

After the Huskies allowed the Pride to jump out to a 9-0 lead in their previous matchup this season, they adjusted and kept it close to start then were able to close out the game comfortably after gaining a double-digit lead. Hofstra tried a back-court press on several occasions, but Northeastern didn’t seem to have much trouble with it. They did commit 12 turnovers in the 2nd half, including five from Jon Lee, but those did not result from a failure to break the full-court pressure.

At the end of a stretch that saw every CAA team play 5 games in 11 days since Wednesday, January 18, Bill Coen left all five of his starters on the floor for at least 30 minutes. Kauri Black saw 16 minutes of action (2 points, 5 rebounds), Ryan Pierson played two and picked up a rebound, and Kashief Edwards accumulated no stats in three minutes. It’s surprising to see the starters stay on the court so long in the final game of that grueling stretch, which Coen compared to an NBA schedule with games virtually every other night and travel thrown in. It was the first time all season that any five players were on the floor for at least 30 minutes, as even in the overtime game to start the season only two players (Lee, Smith) played at least that long and each were out there for 40+ minutes.

Leaving everyone in so long could have advantages and disadvantages. On one hand, it could prepare the players to go out and play tough competition on consecutive days in the CAA tournament in March. Normally, the Huskies have a mid-season tournament that gives them experience with that, but did not play in such a tournament this year. On the other hand, it could wear out the athletes and make them gassed by the end of the season. Coen will have to be careful to make sure that doesn’t happen. For Saturday’s game, it was a very positive sign to see those guys play without appearing too tired. They’ll be back at it on Wednesday night as they try to avenge their 18-point loss at Drexel, the CAA’s preseason favorite.

Andy Towne Basketball CAA, Hofstra

What Happened?

Both teams entered the games with matching 5-7 records, 1-1 in conference play, and were both looking to extend their respective winning streaks to three games. The Seahawks from the University of North  Carolina at Wilmington had never won at Matthews Arena, and had a 13.0-point average margin of defeat in four tries at the historic building, including a 10-point loss on Northeastern’s senior night last February.

Junior co-captain Jonathan  Lee drained each of his first three shots from long distance in the opening 4:04 of the contest, combining with a Reggie Spencer dunk for a quick 11-5 lead at the first break. The Seahawks bounced back quickly, with a double dose of K.K. Simmons triples in addition to Cedrick Williams’ three-point play sparking a run that would end in a 23-17 lead, 12 minutes into the game. The run-filled contest continued with a Reggie Spencer layup and threes from Alwayne Bigby and Joel Smith. By halftime, UNCW’s K.K. Simmons, a freshman, had already matched a career-high 11 points for the third time. Northeastern was able to control the pace of the opening frame, keeping it relatively slow and low-scoring as the period ended in a 30-all tie. The Huskies were also able to hold their opponent’s leading scorer, Adam Smith, to only 3 points.

Wilmington opened up the second half with more energy though, following two free throws by Joel Smith with a quick 11-2 run that would give them a lead they wouldn’t relinquish until about 15 minutes into the frame when Jon Lee hit another shot from downtown. Adam Smith and Keith Rendleman took over from there, scoring 14 of their team’s final 18 points.

With under a minute left and the Huskies trailing by five, Spencer pulled down a rebound off of a missed Rendleman jumper with a minute remaining. Quincy Ford ended up with the ball in his hands under the hoop, but Cedrick Williams stripped it away and Wilmington ended up with free throws to make it a likely four-point swing, resulting in a 7-point advantage that could have been just three had Ford been able to get the shot off and score. After an already-solid night at the line, the Seahawks made each of their eight free throws in the final minute to keep it at a three-possession game and send Northeastern to their first loss of 2012. Read more…

Andy Towne Basketball CAA, UNCW

What happened?

Northeastern traveled down to Towson, Md. hoping to open the 2012 calendar year with a victory against a team that didn’t win a game in 2011, and that is what they got. But it wasn’t as easy as it might sound.

Alex Bates earned his first career start, and sunk the first point of the game on a free throw after drawing a foul against the Tigers’ rebound specialist Robert Nwankwo. With the big man leaving the game immediately after the foul, Northeastern was able to score the first six points of the contest and it looked like the Huskies would be able to cruise their way to a win. However, a quick 8-0 run from Towson gave them a lead before NU took it right back with the next seven points. The resulting five-point advantage would be the largest for either team through the rest of the half with Towson pushing themselves to a two-basket lead at the 7:26 mark after their 9-0 push.

A Jervon Pressley layup with just under a minute and a half remaining in the opening frame would cut the Northeastern lead to two, and the teams headed into the locker rooms with the Huskies leading by a slim 25-23 margin. Despite Nwankwo playing a total of two minutes in the first half, Towson held a 21-10 advantage on the boards at the break, and had scored ten second-chance points, but their undoing was seven turnovers that NU had converted into nine points. In comparison, Northeastern had turned the ball over just three times for two Towson points.

In the second half, the Huskies would slowly build their lead against a Towson team that refused to give in. Eventually, Northeastern would take a ten-point lead with 12:07 to go but the Tigers cut that back to two less than four minutes later. A 13-4 rush would give the Huskies their largest lead at any point in the game, an 11-point advantage capped off by a Quincy Ford free throw with a minute to go. Despite a host of substitutions and fouls by Towson down the stretch, a lack of shots and turnovers would run out the clock and send the Tigers to their 33rd consecutive defeat since January 3, 2011. Read more…

Andy Towne Basketball CAA, Holiday Road Trip, Towson

Though only about a third of the games have been played, this is a good time of year to step back and look at where the Northeastern men’s basketball team is at. The majority of the non-conference schedule has been played, with the exception of a tilt at Vermont on Friday and the BracketBusters game against a still to-be-determined opponent in late February. After winning three of their first four, the Huskies have  now dropped six straight and head into the weekend of the new year with a 3-7 overall record, including one conference game.

It’s a slate that features just two power conference teams, in St. John’s (Big East) and NC State (Atlantic Coast), but it has proven to be yet another challenging non-league schedule nonetheless. That is not to be unexpected, however, as Bill Coen tends to schedule strong mid-major opponents to prepare his team for the challenges of the Colonial Athletic Association. Before the season started, nearly every one of these games could have been considered winnable – some more than others, but none that Northeastern seemed to have absolutely no shot at winning. After the victory at St. John’s, it seemed like the Huskies would be on a roll and even the tougher games like NC State, which many expected to be a loss to begin with, seemed more winnable than they had.

Here’s an update on each of the ten teams Northeastern has played so far this year, plus a look at the Huskies’ next opponent, Vermont – click the team name to read our recap from each of those games (all records are through Wednesday, December 28):

Boston University: 4-8 (1-3 home, 0-0 America East) – 82-74 win (OT)

After starting the season on a 4-game losing streak, the Terriers won their next four over Rhode Island, CAA members Hofstra and Delaware, then Boston College to even their record. They have lost all four since then, with two games remaining before AE play begins at Vermont on January 5 (at La Salle, 12/29; at Quinnipiac, 12/31). Just two of the losses have come by fewer than seven points, while only one of the wins was decided by more than seven (75-61 at BC).

University of Massachusetts: 10-3 (6-0 home, 0-0 Atlantic 10) – 83-67 loss

In contrast to BU, the Minutemen started with four wins, lost three of five including a 1-2 record at the Paradise Jam in the Bahamas, and are currently riding a four-game win streak. Each of the recent wins have been close, but all of the team’s first six wins were decided by double-digits including a 36-point blowout at BC and a 30-point trouncing of Towson. They’ll have one more non-con game vs. Central Connecticut (12/30) before opening their A10 slate vs. Fordham. UMass will then finish their out-of-conference schedule at La Salle before returning to Atlantic 10 play for the rest of the regular season.

Southern Illinois: 3-8 (1-2 away, 0-0 Missouri Valley Conference) – 64-57 win

It’s been a tough season in Carbondale, where the Salukis fell to Division II Ohio Dominican to start the year before a 19-point loss at the hands of Saint Louis and a trip to Boston that resulted in yet another loss at Matthews Arena. The three wins were all decisive, but came against Chicago State (0-13), Northern Illinois (0-11) and SIU-Edwardsville (2-7). The only OOC game remaining for SIU is the BracketBusters game, as they start MVC play at Evansville on Thursday.

St. John’s: 7-5 (7-1 home, 1-0 Big East) – 78-64 win

With a similar pattern to UMass, the Red Storm opened the season with three straight wins, including their season opener against William & Mary in the 2K Sports Classic, before dropping five of six with three more wins since their last loss. They have already started Big East play with a 91-67 win over Providence on Tuesday that saw Moe Harkless post 32 points, a record for Big East freshmen in his conference debut. Their only non-conference game remaining is UCLA on February 18 – although with the Big ‘East’ expansion, the Bruins will probably be joining the conference before too long.

La Salle: 8-4 (5-0 home, 0-0 Atlantic 10) – 68-51 loss

By looking strictly at the record, an 8-4 mark might be a surprise for the team picked to finish last in the A10. However, despite a few blowouts, their 26-point win over Bucknell (8-6) is perhaps their most impressive. They also defeated CAA foe James Madison, 92-83, and smoked the still-winless Towson by 36. The losses are actually the brightest point of optimism for La Salle, after staying within seven at Villanova and four at Pittsburgh, and falling to an underrated Delaware team by just four on the road. The Explorers have two non-con games, next vs. Boston University on Thursday, then two A10 games before their final OOC game of the year at Penn.

*Old Dominion: 6-6 (1-2 away, 1-0 CAA) – 69-59 loss

The Monarchs started with a 63-46 drubbing by Northern Iowa (10-2) at home. Three straight wins, including the first win by a CAA team over a power conference team in a 68-66 victory over South Florida, and just a 10-point loss to #2 Kentucky in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off at Mohegan Sun seemed to have ODU back on track before a 10-point overtime loss at home against Vermont. After that game, they beat East Carolina and Northeastern, lost to Fairfield, Central Florida and Richmond (OT), then beat Virginia Military Institute. They’ll host #8 Missouri on Friday before returning to CAA action at James Madison on Monday.

Bradley: 5-8 (4-3 home, 0-1 Missouri Valley Conference) – 79-68 loss

Another team of streaks, the Braves started 2011-12 with three wins, then lost four in a row, won two, and have lost their last four. The latest streak started with a 73-68 loss at Drexel. That run also includes a one-point loss vs. Western Carolina, an 11-point defeat at the hands of #19 Michigan, and a 90-51 shellacking by Wichita State at home to open the MVC portion of their schedule. With the exception of BracketBusters, each of their remaining games will be against conference opponents.

Princeton: 6-7 (3-4 away, 0-0 Ivy) – 71-62 loss

The Ivy Leaguers started by winning just one of six, then won five of six. Their only game since the trip to Boston on December 18 resulted in a 4-point loss at Siena. The Tigers are in a stretch of 11 straight road games against Division 1 opponents when they won’t play any home games during the months of December and January with the exception of The College of New Jersey (Division III) on January 8, lasting from December 7 at Rutgers to February 4 at Yale. They’ll have a pair of games in Tallahassee, against Florida State on Friday and Florida A&M on Sunday, then their tune-up against TCNJ before opening the Ivy schedule at Cornell on January 13.

Louisiana Tech: 7-6 (5-0 home, 0-0 WAC) – 56-53 loss

A team that has been up and down over the past few years, a weak schedule has the Bulldogs looking like they’re back on the up – for now. They haven’t lost a home non-conference game since December of 2007, though they’ve had several close calls this season. Each of their last four wins, which were all at home, came by three points or fewer with a one point, double overtime win over Northwestern State. After Arkansas, who La Tech lost to by 14 in their last game, the only teams with much name recognition are Wyoming, McNeese State and Arkansas-Little Rock. According to RealTimeRPI.com, their strength of schedule ranks 306th in the country. They have two more non-conference games before starting WAC play, including NAIA Spring Hill on Thursday (their second non-Division 1 opponent after D-III Mississippi College to start the season) and Southern Methodist on Sunday.

North Carolina State: 8-4 (6-2 home, 0-0 ACC) – 88-59 loss

New head coach Mark Gottfried has the Wolfpack energized and in control, exciting fans and local media with a strong start to the 2011-12 season. The ‘Pack has three games left before starting their league schedule, with their next tilt coming against Campbell in their on-campus gym, the Reynolds Coliseum (instead of the RBC Center, their normal home arena). With no bad losses, a win over Texas and a couple other decent victories, NC State looks to keep rolling into conference play and hopes to make some noise in a weak ACC.

Vermont: 6-7 (1-3 home, 0-0 America East)

The Catamounts have a solid balance in the difficulty of their schedule. After beginning the year with a two-point defeat at South Florida, they bounced back with wins over Dartmouth and Marist. A loss to Long Island was followed by an overtime win at Old Dominion and a home victory over Siena. A five-game losing streak may look like a rough patch, but that included a 7-point loss to Harvard (in the week preceding the first-ever appearance in the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls in program history), a 4-point loss to Quinnipiac and a 1-point loss to Iona are nothing to be ashamed of. The contest against Northeastern will be their last before traveling to Stony Brook, last year’s AE runner-up, to open the conference slate.

For those wondering what next year’s non-conference schedule will be like, it is very similar to this one. Not all of the opponents will be the same, but BU, UMass, La Salle and Vermont are expected to make a return trip to Boston, while the Huskies will travel to Princeton. In addition, UNC Asheville owes a return to Northeastern as part of the BracketBusters contract from last year, and NU will be playing in the Great Alaska Shootout over Thanksgiving break against a field that will be announced in March or April. They will also have a road BracketBusters game, leaving room for just two more opponents to reach the total of 27 games plus the tournament allowed by the NCAA.

In the coming days, we’ll evaluate the team’s performance as they head into the meat of the conference schedule. In the meantime, be sure to tune into WRBB Sports as we bring you live action of three Huskies athletic events this weekend, including the basketball team’s game at Vermont on Friday and a pair of hockey games at the Mariucci Classic in Minnesota.

Andy Towne Basketball Bradley, BU, La Salle, Louisiana Tech, NC State, Old Dominion, Princeton, Southern Illinois, St. John's, UMass, Vermont