Looking Back on 2010-11 – The Season of the CAA

When VCU won the ESPYs award for “Best Upset”, it capped an amazing season for the CAA.  Three teams in the NCAA Tournament, one team in the Final Four, former CAA players making a mark in the NBA playoffs and a second round draft pick in the NBA Draft. As the 2010-11 college basketball season first started, I am sure CAA Commissioner Tom Yeager had a hopeful outlook for his conference.  There

CAA Football Announces the Most Watched FCS Television Package in the Country

CAA Football, poised for yet another run at the NCAA Division I National Championship this season, will feature the nation's most watched Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) television package in the 2011 season.

@The_CAAFootball Media Day Central Unveiled

Follow all of the day's events from 2011 CAA Football Media Day here.  Inside Media Day Central fans will find videos shown during the event, links to all sort of information and a live blog in conjunction with the league's Media Day Live program on ESPN3.com . For the entire 2011 CAA Football Media Day Central page visit CAAFootball.com .  Come back to the blog Wednesday for more preseason information and live blog coverage of CAA Football Media Day Live on ESPN3.com .

Protecting the summit ain’t easy

Does anyone in the CAA ever have a chance to pull a Butler?

Coolidge’s Maurice Jeffers commits to Delaware

Maurice Jeffers knew he couldn’t sell himself to college recruiters on what he’s already done. Rather, the 6-foot-8, 200-pound Coolidge senior center made coaches imagine what he could do in the future, and that hooked plenty of them – including Delaware, which got an oral commitment from Jeffers on Wednesday. After averaging just 4.4 points per game while focusing on establishing his defensive presence last season for Coolidge, Jeffers “really blew up” this summer, according to Coolidge Coach Vaughn Jones, while playing travel ball with Virginia Assault. Three players from that travel team – including O’Connell ’s Larry Savage – signed with Delaware last November and will be freshmen in the fall. Read full article > >

Gary Neal to play in Summer League Showdown in DC

In order to accommodate the large crowd expected to attend D.C.'s Goodman League's summer basketball matchup with

NCAA tourney selection process unlikely to get more transparent

The next Division I men’s basketball committee chair doesn’t appear any more interested than his predecessors in revealing the behind-the-scenes secrets of the NCAA tournament selection process. Asked by Yahoo! Sports’ Jason King about the possibility of allowing reporters to observe the selection committee’s meetings leading up to the release of the bracket, Xavier athletic director Mike Bobinski said he wasn’t in favor of it. “The difficult thing about that is that things that are said in there could be taken out of context,” he said. “It’s like having a reporter sit in and watch basketball practice at Xavier . If they’re not someone who is in tune with what is going on and something happens, it could get represented in a way that does more harm than good. That’s part of the concern. The thing to remember is that every year we go through a process of self-analysis with the support of the staff and all the tools that they have available to them.” Whether it’s inviting reporters to a mock selection exercise each year or requiring the selection committee chair to answer questions after the release of the bracket, the NCAA has made some effort to make the process more accountable. In reality, though, there will always be allegations of impropriety unless the public has a means of learning exactly how key decisions were made. When current selection committee chair Gene Smith of Ohio State was asked about the controversial omission of Virginia Tech last March, his response was vague and lacked any specifics. “When we stacked Virginia Tech’s resume up against all the other teams, we just didn’t feel like that they were a team that should be in the at-large field,” Smith said. Pressed for a more concrete explanation, he added only that the Hokies “weren’t able to get enough votes to be in the at-large field.” Bobinski is a more forthright interview than Smith and is well-qualified to take over the role of selection committee chair for the 2012-13 season, but it would be great to see him push to make the selection process more transparent. An occasional mistake or two in the bracket is perfectly understandable. A lack of accountability isn’t.

Possible Va Tech-George Mason clash highlights NIT pairings

Whereas so many of college basketball’s 16-team preseason events automatically advance the four host schools to the semifinals whether they win their opening-round games or not, the NIT Season Tip-Off thankfully continues to embrace the tournament format. As a result, the release of the NIT’s preseason brackets on Wednesday are actually relevant to fans of the schools involved. Syracuse , Oklahoma State , Stanford and Virginia Tech are the four host schools as was previously reported in May. Of those four, the Hokies have by far the most treacherous road to Madison Square Garden since in the second round they may face a talent-laden George Mason squad that won its opening-round game in the NCAA tournament last season. The potential matchup between Virginia Tech and George Mason would be especially intriguing because the Hokies have shied away from facing in-state mid-major powers in recent years. The Hokies and Patriots have faced one another only twice before, splitting a pair of games during the 1991-92 season. Perhaps because tournament organizers need Syracuse to make the semifinals in order to sell tickets and guarantee TV viewers a marquee team, the Orange have the easiest path to Madison Square Garden by far. Only Manhattan and then the winner of a matchup between Albany and Brown stand between Syracuse and the semifinals. The NIT Season Tip-Off lacks the star power of this year’s loaded Maui Invitational, but there are still plenty of storylines of note. How will George Mason’s talented upperclassmen adjust to Paul Hewitt’s coaching style? Is Stanford’s promising sophomore class good enough to lead a revival? Can Virginia Tech replace Malcolm Delaney’s scoring and finally land on the right side of the bubble in March? And will Syracuse have a productive enough frontcourt to live up to its preseason hype? It will take a full season to truly answer those questions, but the NIT Season Tip-Off should at least provide some preliminary hints.

ESPN3 To Broadcast 2011 CAA Football Media Day Live

CAA Football Media Day Live, a two-hour broadcast of 2011 CAA Football Media Day on ESPN3.com, will highlight the league's annual kickoff event, Wednesday, July 27.

Hewitt disagrees with level of violation at Georgia Tech

Paul Hewitt sat inside a Savannah, Ga., hearing room with the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions on April 15, unemployed and waiting to defend himself against a possible major violation that had been tagged under his watch at Georgia Tech. But he never got a chance to speak. There are conflicting reports as to why. A source close to COI chair Dennis Thomas, commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, said he never told Hewitt he couldn’t talk during the hearing. But at least two sources who…

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