Bits and Bytes: Of optimism and injustices

William & Mary grad Chris Turk is thrilled to have tickets to the Flying Dutchmen-Tribe game tonight. Wait til he finds out that J.D. thought Turk was in charge of bringing the tickets, though.

If you’re anything like me—once again, I’m very sorry—then you saw the CAA schedule when it was released in August and figured one of the few sure things for the Flying Dutchmen during conference play was a pair of wins over the College of Bill Lawrence Jan. 2 and Jan. 16.

Everyone else seemed to agree with us, too, as the Fighting Lawrences were a consensus pick to finish last in the CAA. Except, of course, CBL has emerged as one of the nation’s surprise teams, compiling a top-10 RPI thanks to road wins over Wake Forest and Maryland and winning five of its first six conference games. Three of those wins have been by a single point, including a 48-47 win over the Dutchmen two weeks ago today in which CBL trailed for the first 39 minutes, which fuels the notion that this is finally The Year for CBL, which has never made the NCAA Tournament.

The Dutchmen, of course, are the anti-CBL. Like CBL, the Dutchmen played an upgraded non-conference schedule, but the type of wins that would have boosted the RPI and the Dutchmen’s at-large candidacy never materialized as they squandered second half leads against UConn, St. John’s and Charlotte. The Dutchmen have been similarly star-crossed during conference play: In addition to falling to CBL and George Mason by combined five points in consecutive games, they lost freshmen Chaz Williams and David Imes last week due to high ankle sprains and learned this week that Brad Kelleher is officially a poster boy for the NCAA’s skewered sense of justice.

As a result, the Dutchmen will likely take the court tonight with just seven scholarship players, though I wouldn’t be shocked if Williams manages to make it back. Regardless, being ice-cold and hexed and going on the road to visit red-hot and charmed is not the optimal situation for a team staring at the possibility of a 3-6 or 2-7 start in conference play.

Of course, we specialize in optimism here and in thinking of ways the Dutchmen can win, so we’ll spend the hours until game time figuring that Pecora has whipped his team into an us-against-the-world fury, that the Dutchmen are at their most dangerous when they are wounded—it was a year ago today that the reeling Dutchmen knocked off first-place Northeastern, which was just 12 days removed from a wire-to-wire thrashing of the Dutchmen in Boston—that this is a much better matchup for the undermanned Dutchmen than VCU was and that CBL’s run of incredibly good fortune has to come to an end some time.

Turns out your good friend and mine Mike Litos doesn’t think the concept of a Dutchmen win is so crazy, either. He predicts another narrow CBL win but lays out the ingredients for a Hofstra upset: A big night from Charles Jenkins and Nathaniel Lester’s return from witness protection. We’ve said it multiple times this month: When Lester is the Dutchmen’s second-best player—when he plays 30 minutes and gets himself to the foul line with regularity—they win far more often than not. But who knows which Lester will show up tonight?

I’ll add that as important as Lester is to the Dutchmen’s fortunes, they’ll also need Miklos Szabo’s recent resurgence to be a trend and not an aberration. He has played quite well the last three games (during which he has averaged 8.7 points and seven rebounds), avoided the foul trouble that plagued him earlier in the year and earned back his starting job.

If Pecora is grumpy and sparse with his praise late tonight, I’ll bet you it’s good news for the Dutchmen. After all, he didn’t complement the Dutchmen last year when they finally began playing up to their potential.

A win here and things will look a lot better. We’ll be tuning in—hopefully on the William & Mary website, unless it sucks like the Florida Atlantic one did—and live Tweeting throughout. Join us, won’t you? It’s much better than the NFL playoffs.

A couple other quick bits and bytes:

—In writing last night’s piece about the similarities between this year’s slow CAA start and last year’s slow start, I reconstructed the 2008-09 standings through six games. Worth a look as a reminder of how much things can change over the final two-thirds of the season.

2008-09: Through six

George Mason 6-0

Northeastern 6-0

VCU 5-1

James Madison 4-2

Old Dominion 3-3

Drexel 3-3

Hofstra 2-4

Georgia State 2-4

Towson 2-4

Delaware 1-5

UNCW 1-5

William & Mary 1-5

Final standings

VCU 14-4

George Mason 13-5

Northeastern 12-6

Old Dominion 12-6

Hofstra 11-7

Drexel 10-8

James Madison 9-9

Georgia State 8-10

Delaware 6-12

William & Mary 5-13

Towson 5-13

UNCW 3-15

—Injustice update No. 1: Save Hofstra Football is hosting a fundraiser tonight at Public House in Manhattan from 4-8. NFL memorabilia donated by the likes of Wayne Chrebet and Dave Fiore will be auctioned off, as well as golf outings to local courses. For more information, check out the Save Hofstra Football website. The group is also hosting a rally at Bar Social (the old Bogarts) Tuesday from 5-7 p.m., just before the basketball game against George Mason.

—Injustice update No. 2: The NCAA issued a statement in response to Tom Pecora’s comments in Friday’s Newsday in which he blistered the so-called governing body for declaring Brad Kelleher ineligible because he signed a contract with—but was never paid by—a professional team in his native Australia five years ago.

It boggles the mind to think of how many people were paid obscene amounts of money to drum up this crap: “Coach Pecora’s comments are both inappropriate and inaccurate. Brad Kelleher’s eligibility is not finally determined, but a Division I committee that includes Hofstra’s peers has sustained the finding that he signed a previous professional contract which makes him ineligible.

“Like any NCAA institution, Hofstra now has the opportunity to seek Mr. Kelleher’s reinstatement from the NCAA. This process starts with a review by NCAA staff, and the university can also appeal staff decisions to the Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee, comprised of representatives from NCAA schools and conferences.”

So let’s get this straight: The NCAA has declared Kelleher ineligible, but it’s not a final decision and Hofstra can make an appeal to a committee comprised of the same people who already declared Kelleher ineligible. Oh. OK then. That’s fair. I’m sure the appeal will be a fruitful endeavor. I’m convinced Dilbert creator Scott Adams worked at the NCAA before turning to comics. And I’m convinced that Pecora’s comments only scratch the surface of how livid he is with those bureaucratic lowlifes.

But hey, Stuart Rabinowitz sent a letter to the NCAA. No word on whether he needed to conduct a secret “two-year study” before composing it, though.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

College of Bill Lawrence 48, Hofstra 47 (Or: His Unfortunate Prescience)

Tom Pecora was REEHEE HEEHEE HEEEally unhappy after the Flying Dutchmen's heartbreaking loss to the College of Bill Lawrence.

One of the first things you learn upon becoming a sports journalist and heading behind the looking glass is that players and coaches are far less emotional about the games than the fans. They care—well, most of them anyway—but the long season demands from its participants patience and all the accompanying clichés. It doesn’t do a player or a coach any good to emulate a fan and stay up all night obsessing over a defeat or celebrating a victory, especially during the regular season.

To every rule there is an exception, though, and there it was on Saturday, when College of Bill Lawrence coach Tony Shaver and the Tribe fans alike were believing the 48-47 win over the Flying Dutchmen was another sign of the magical season unfolding before their eyes. The win was the school-record 10th in a row for CBL, which was the consensus pick to finish last in the CAA but has beaten Wake Forest and Maryland on the road, entered Saturday ranked fifth in the entire country in RPI and should, by any reasonable standard, be ranked when the latest top 25 polls are released today.

Tom Pecora and all of Dutch Nation (snort), meanwhile, were left to bemoan, both in the micro and the macro, what could have been and what might have slipped out of their grasp.

If this game were to be simulated on a computer 1,000 times, Hofstra probably goes 997-3. The Dutchmen played a brilliant defensive game, limiting the Tribe to less than 50 points three days after it went into College Park and racked up 87 in routing Maryland. The Tribe entered Saturday as one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the nation yet was just 3-of-16 from beyond the arc and shot just 36 percent overall. The Dutchmen outrebounded CBL 37-27.

“Holding them to 35 percent [shooting] should be good enough [to win],” Pecora said. “That’s one of our game goals for every game. One is hold the opponent under 40 percent. One is not letting an opponent score 20 points. We did that. One is outrebounding the opponent. We did that by 10.”

And the most remarkable stat of all: Hofstra did not trail CBL for the first 39 minutes and 43 seconds. But oh, those last 17 seconds.

The Tribe’s Kendrix Brown drove a wide-open lane for his only basket and was fouled by Charles Jenkins. Brown hit the free throw to give CBL its first lead. After a Dutchmen timeout, a double-teamed Jenkins dished the ball to Halil Kanacevic, who fired up an errant 3-pointer from the right corner with three seconds left. Nathaniel Lester grabbed the rebound and appeared to be fouled as he hoisted the ball up just before the final buzzer—and by “appeared to be fouled,” I mean “was absolutely mugged.”

One official blew his whistle, seemingly indicating a foul, but he was waved off by the other two as Lester, Chaz Williams and Greg Washington stood by and pleaded their cases.

“I told the players in 30-some years of coaching, this is one of the best wins I’ve ever been a part of,” Shaver said. “We just found a way to win and I think that’s a sign of a great basketball team. Just their courage and their toughness today was very impressive.

“People have been telling me all year long we shoot too many threes and we can’t score if we don’t shoot the ball, we can’t win if we don’t shoot well. Well, we shot 35 percent and 18 percent from three and won against a great team on the road. So something good’s going on with these guys.”

As for Pecora, he stormed after the officials demanding an explanation and had to be held back by two staff members. “‘Game over,’ that’s all they said,” Pecora said. “He blew the whistle to end the game. That’s what he said. I don’t believe that to be the case.”

As livid as he was with the officials, Pecora was even more disappointed with his team for failing to record a seismic victory over the Tribe and its sky-high RPI. He wasn’t alone: The wife and I had some errands to run after the game and she remained silent in the car the entire time. I finally asked if it was something I’d said or done, or, more likely, something I hadn’t said (“Honey, I forgot to tell you, if you called your college loan people by 5 pm New Years Eve, they would have wiped away your debt”) or hadn’t done (fed and watered the cats).

“I’m just so pissed about that game,” she said.

(Note: It’s her damn fault. Sometime in the second half Saturday, she said “This better not be one of these games we lead the whole way and then lose.” Thanks honey. Next time we’re on the highway, why don’t you marvel at how we haven’t hit any traffic.)

“I’m worried they’re not going to do something special,” she added.

Pecora wasn’t offering such a pessimistic declaration, but he seemed more discouraged that at any other time this year. And one day after Pecora talked about how the Dutchmen’s season could be defined by these five games in 10 days, the question has to be pondered: What if the first game in that stretch proves to define something far greater than a single season?

“I talk all the time to these guys about their legacy—this would have been an opportunity for them to leave a mark in the history books by beating a team that was as highly touted as William & Mary,” Pecora said. “And we weren’t able to do that.”

The legacy so far for this core of Dutchmen is “almost.” The closest thing to a defining game last season came in the CAA quarterfinal against Old Dominion, which the Dutchmen lost 52-51 when Jenkins’ 3-pointer at the buzzer fell short.

This year’s team has played quite an improved schedule, but at some point, it is not enough to merely go out to Kansas and lose to the top-ranked Jayhawks or to almost beat UConn, Charlotte, St. John’s and CBL. What good is an upgraded schedule without a signature win or two? If the season ended today, the Dutchmen wouldn’t even be on the radar in the NIT discussion, never mind the NCAA.

Plenty of patience has been exercised with the Dutchmen, who are still inexperienced beyond Jenkins. He entered Saturday with 74 career starts, a mere seven fewer than the rest of the lineup—Lester, Miklos Szabo, Greg Washington and Chaz Williams—combined.

But patience cannot be limitless, especially in college basketball, where careers are cruelly finite. And the calendar dictates when youth is no longer an excuse. Guess what? It happened at midnight Friday morning.

And guess what? The last Biggest Game Ever played at Hofstra Arena was won by a team with two seniors, two juniors and a sophomore in its starting lineup. One of those seniors was Adrian Uter, a junior college transfer. The other was Aurimas Kieza, who entered 2005-06 with 41 starts—one more than junior Carlos Rivera, eight more than sophomore Antoine Agudio and 10 fewer than junior Loren Stokes.

The Dutchmen have won with inexperienced teams that played beyond their years. It is time for this team to take that leap, and despite the crushing disappointment of Saturday, there was evidence at least one player is ready to do so. Lester led the Dutchmen with 14 points and 10 rebounds, drew two fouls in the first 26 seconds of the second half and took eight of the team’s 10 free throw attempts.

It is time for him to do that consistently—he has scored in double figures in consecutive games just twice this year—and it is time for Szabo and Washington, who have gone to the line more than four times in just five of 28 games this season, to be more than decoys in the paint. And yes, it is even time for Jenkins to play like Loren Stokes all the time, not most of it.

“This is a poor game for Charles—he’s 5-of-13 from the floor, he’s 12 points and two rebounds in 40 minutes,” Pecora said. “Our great players have always filled up boxscores. They score points, they rebound, they defend, they have a good assist-to-turnover ratio. And he’s still working on it. He’s only a junior.”

Which means Jenkins—along with everyone else in the lineup except Williams—is closer to the finish line than the start. So if not now for the Dutchmen, then when?

“It sure does sting, because you only get so many opportunities in life,” Pecora said. “And when you’re young, sometimes you don’t realize that. But when you’re old, like me, you realize it. And you realize when you get a chance to win a big game like this, you better take advantage of it, because it may not come along that often.”

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. College of Bill Lawrence, 1/2)

3: Nathaniel Lester

2: Charles Jenkins

1: Halil Kanacevic

SEASON STANDINGS

Charles Jenkins 21

Nathaniel Lester 18

Chaz Williams 14

Halil Kanacevic 11

Greg Washington 8

Cornelius Vines 7

Miklos Szabo 5

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

In which we learn to no longer dread Jan. 2 (Also…28 Days Later: The CAA Preview)

The author, above, sits in a classroom dreading the start of school on Jan. 2 while wistfully recalling how he got to stay up all night just two nights earlier in this file photo from 1988. Or 1989. Or 1990. Or...you know what, the year isn't important.

Back in the old days, Jan. 2 was more often than not the lousiest day of the year. As long as it fell between Tuesday and Thursday, it meant I’d be trudging into the first day of school after Christmas vacation less than 36 hours after reveling in the alternate universe that was New Years Eve.

As a kid, New Years Eve meant a dinner out for our normally thrifty parents, which in turn meant a rare night in which my sister and I could order pizza and have the run of the house for a couple hours (“Sure, babysitter, our Dad always allows us to eat a tub of ice cream apiece!”).

Later, in my teenage years, New Years Eve was the one day of the year when my curfew was relaxed and I was allowed to stay out far later than usual—as long, of course, as I was at a trustworthy friend’s house or at the town-sponsored drug- and alcohol-free party. And I was always at a trustworthy friend’s house or the town-sponsored drug- and alcohol-free party…my teenaged years were completely free of booze and largely absent of drama and romance, but I digress.

To have school on Jan. 2 and to have to downshift so quickly back to the drudgery of day-to-day monotony—to know, when I finally went to bed in the pre-dawn hours of New Years morning, that the end of vacation was on the other side of sleep—seemed to be an especially cruel form of punishment, and I surely stayed up an extra hour or two just to stave off the inevitable as long as possible.

All of which brings me to the change in odometer from 2009 to 2010, and the fact that conference play reboots in the CAA with six games tomorrow—Jan. 2. From revelry to reality, all in 36 hours. Except, of course, Jan. 2 is a Saturday this year and we’ve had Jan. 2 circled on our calendar for months.

Kyle Whelliston at The Mid-Majority and your good friend and mine Mike Litos have already put the anticipation that accompanies the real start of conference season in far finer terms than I could. All I will add is pay particular heed to Mike when he implores you to enjoy the ride—because we go from standing still to a 4x100 sprint as soon as tomorrow tips off. One-third of the conference schedule will be complete 13 days from now. And we’ll be halfway home 17 days from now. Hmm. Maybe the conference season is like New Years Eve in another way—months and months of buildup for an event that is gone in the blink of an eye.

Anyway, there’s a decent chance that the Flying Dutchmen’s first game of the decade will be one worth remembering when it comes time to wax poetic about the best of the ‘10s. If polls were released on Friday instead of Monday, there’s a good chance William & Mary would be the second ranked team to ever visit Hofstra Arena today.

The Fightin’ Bill Lawrences have won nine in a row, are fresh off a waxing of Maryland in College Park and are ranked sixth in RPI. Not in the CAA, in the country. Pretty good for a team that was the consensus pick to finish dead freakin’ last in the conference.

Regardless of national ranking—or lack thereof—the FBLs are, in multiple ways, an appropriate foe to begin the real conference season. This afternoon is a delicious strength vs. strength matchup pitting the FBLs, who rank third in the nation with an average of 10.7 3-pointers per game, against the Dutchmen, who rank seventh in the country in defending the 3-pointers (25.6 percent).

In addition, the FBLs will provide the first in a series of tests during a rigorous season-opening stretch for the Dutchmen, whose first five opponents this month (William & Mary, George Mason, Towson, Old Dominion and VCU) began the New Year with a collective winning percentage of .625. Only UNC Wilmington (.661) is facing a tougher slate over the first five games. The list:

UNC Wilmington: 39-20 (.661)

HOFSTRA: 35-21 (.625)

Delaware: 34-23 (.596)

Towson: 36-27 (.571)

Drexel: 31-25 (.554)

Northeastern: 31-27 (.534)

George Mason: 33-29 (.532)

James Madison: 30-28 (.517)

Old Dominion: 27-30 (.474)

William & Mary: 28-32 (.467)

VCU: 27-34 (.443)

Georgia State: 24-34 (.414)

“This year is probably the most difficult conference schedule we’ve played,” Tom Pecora said after practice today. “We’re playing five games in 10 days and we’re playing the teams that are at the top of the conference. So this is going to be a great challenge for us. The first 10 days of true conference play could really define our season.”

Of course, Pecora reserves the right to minimize the importance of this five-game stretch if the Dutchmen go 1-4 or—egads—0-5. My guess is it will be neither awful nor awesome and that a 2-3 or 3-2 mark sets the Dutchmen up well to improve upon last year’s 11-7 conference mark, which was fashioned with a team not nearly as talented as this one.

The non-conference schedule has provided plenty of glimpses at the potential of the Dutchmen. They are still prone to bipolar moments, but unlike a year ago, these are a byproduct of youth. Given the upgraded roster, I’d typically assume a couple more wins than a year ago, especially with the second half of the conference schedule seemingly positioning the Dutchmen for their annual February surge.

That said, we all know how quickly a friendly looking schedule can turn sour, and the Dutchmen are usually good for one head-scratching road defeat. So let’s assume 12-6 and a fourth-place finish. Only twice in the last eight years has a 12-win team failed to finish in the top four.

It’ll all begin this afternoon with a nice RPI-boosting win over the FBLs. If you’re not there at the Arena, you better have the excuse of living in Virginia, since this is the first home game in three weeks. But if you’re not there, follow along with us on Twitter. This is my first home CAA game as a Tweeter, so it feels like the real season is beginning for me, too. Hopefully I don’t choke, and hopefully I remember to hashtag #caa once I get rolling. See you there…in one medium or another.

***

I planned on projecting the CAA in two parts—right before the faux conference opener Dec. 5 and right before the reboot, figuring it would be fun to see how much effect the final month of non-conference play had on the perceptions of the conference at large. Except, well, on Dec. 3, Hofstra killed football, so that kinda scrapped the plans to post hoops content over those next couple days.

And now that four weeks have gone by, I’d be lying if I told you I remembered the exact order of my predictions. I will say my picks for first and last are the same, and the biggest leap has been made by—shocking!—William & Mary. Northeastern probably took the biggest fall, from second to fifth, and I won’t be surprised if I overreacted a bit to their respective starts, especially with Northeastern looking as if it is beginning to find its way.

Anyway, here are the picks, preserved forever so that you can mock me in March:

1.) Old Dominion

2.) VCU

3.) William & Mary

4.) Hofstra

5.) Northeastern

6.) Drexel

7.) George Mason

8.) James Madison

9.) UNC Wilmington

10.) Georgia State

11.) Delaware

12.) Towson

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

Running Tally: CAA Predictions

If you play this album backwards, it says "You have made a terrible mistake picking the Flying Dutchmen sixth."

The unpredictability of the CAA is a popular and accurate storyline within the blogosphere, but if the preseason predictions are any indication, the suspense may be at a premium in the conference this season.

There is near-unanimity among the magazines and other writers about the identities of the haves and the have-nots. With only one exception, the top six teams in the overall tally were ranked within the top six by all six polls (Shout! Shout! Shout at the devil!!!!). Obviously, the same applies to the bottom six. The exception: Athlon ranked James Madison seventh, one spot behind Georgia State.

That’s right: The Flying Dutchmen are an overwhelming choice to finish in the top half of the CAA! We’re still very mad at all of you, though, for not picking the Dutchmen first.

To find out where exactly the consensus has the Dutchmen pegged, check out the first running tally of predictions, to be followed by some analysis of the picks as well as a look at how this year’s trends stack up to last year’s.

And just as I did last year, in compiling the polls, I paid tribute to my days as a mediocre cross country runner by awarding each team the point total correspondent with its place in the standings (i.e. one point for first place, 12 points for me, err, last place).

If you happen to come across any previews we’ve missed, by all means, email me or notify me on Twitter so I can update the poll. We had 10 polls last season and I’m sure I missed some.

Tommy Lee drum roll please! 

1.) Old Dominion (4) 9

2.) VCU (2) 14

3.) Northeastern 17

4.) George Mason 23

5t.) HOFSTRA 32

5t.) James Madison 32

7.) Drexel 46

8.) Georgia State 55

9.) Delaware 57

10.) Towson 58

11.) William & Mary 62

12.) UNC Wilmington 63

First place votes in parenthesis

Polls collected thus far: CAA, Blue Ribbon, Sporting News, Lindy’s, Athlon, Brian Mull

—Charles Jenkins is the leader in the clubhouse for Preseason Player of the Year honors with 2.5 votes. He was the pick by Athlon and Mull and shared CAA honors with Gerald Lee. Larry Sanders was tabbed by Sporting News and Lindy’s while Lee was selected by Blue Ribbon.

—The Dutchmen were picked fourth by Sporting News and Lindy’s and sixth by everyone else, which makes them one of three schools picked in the same spot by four different outlets. Old Dominion and Drexel (seventh) are the others. The consistency, for lack of a better word, is a marked change from last year, when the Dutchmen were picked anywhere from fourth (The Sports Xchange) to 12th (The Sports Network).

—Old Dominion and VCU are the only two schools picked in the top four by all six outlets. ODU is the only one unanimously ranked in the top three. The Monarchs were in the top two in every poll except Sporting News.

—Northeastern and VCU are both ranked in the top three by five outlets. The Huskies got three second-place votes (Athlon, Blue Ribbon and CAA) and were picked fifth by Sporting News while the Rams received two first-place votes (Sporting News and Lindy’s) and a second-place vote (Mull) in addition to their fourth-place selection by Blue Ribbon.

—George Mason was ranked in the top five by all six outlets. The Patriots’ highest vote came from Sporting News (second) and their lowest from Lindy’s and Athlon (fifth).

—James Madison received three fifth-place votes (Blue Ribbon, CAA, Mull), making the Dukes one of four teams to be picked in the same spot in three polls.  In addition to Northeastern, William & Mary got three 11th-place votes and UNC Wilmington got three 12th-place votes.

—In addition to its four seventh-place votes—an acknowledgment, perhaps, of how Bruiser Flint’s team exceeded expectations last season—Drexel also placed eighth (Blue Ribbon) and 10th (Lindy’s).

—Once again, the bouncing ball award goes to Georgia State, which is ranked anywhere from sixth (Athlon) to last (Sporting News and Lindy’s) as well as eighth (CAA and Mull) and ninth (Blue Ribbon).

—Delaware is ranked eighth or lower in all six polls, and it should be noted its two 11th-place votes came in the most recent rankings (CAA and Mull). The Blue Hens, of course, lost starting point guard Brian Johnson to a season-ending knee injury in August.

—Towson and William & Mary (which, by the way, in a homage to the awesomeness of Scrubs, will now be dubbed the College of Bill Lawrence) are both ranked in the bottom third of every poll. Good news for fans of the Tigers and Fighting Lawrences: Drexel was ranked in the bottom third of every preseason poll a year ago and was in contention for a first-round bye until literally the last second of the regular season.

—Only one other school has a gap of more than three spots between its highest and lowest ranking: UNC Wilmington was picked seventh by Lindy’s and last by Athlon’s, Blue Ribbon and the CAA. The Seahawks were also picked ninth by Mull.

—There was a lot more fluidity in last year’s polls, as you can see by clicking on our first, second, third and fourth running tallies. The gist: Through six polls last year, three teams had been ranked in the top half of every poll (VCU, Northeastern and George Mason) and three teams had been ranked in the bottom half of every poll (Towson, William & Mary and Drexel).

—That said, there is some movement within the rankings: There are no unanimous picks through six polls. Last year at this juncture, there were two: VCU (first) and Delaware (fifth). Ehh, win some, lose some.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch. 

In which I will tirelessly work for you on Labor Day weekend

OK, that’s not entirely true. But I’ve got multiple deadlines today for actual, paying work, which is a nice and hopefully not fleeting feeling. So the Flying Dutchmen football preview/feature will have to wait until tomorrow. Come back then to read what Dave Cohen, Cory Christopher and Luke Bonus have to say about the upcoming season.

Also stop back, either tomorrow or Monday or maybe Tuesday depending on how slothful and/or completely wiped out I feel, for the debut of a new feature at Defiantly Dutch in which I look back at the pivotal pop culture moments of 1994. It’s a different idea, to be sure, and I’ll be the first to admit I’m curious to see if the execution matches the concept. But to paraphrase what the totally awesome Bill Lawrence—a graduate of William & Mary, BTW—says about the retooling of Scrubs: If it sucks, it’ll probably suck in a really large way. So it’ll be interesting either way.

As for the Dutchmen season opener against Stony Brook, I must shamefully admit we won’t be at the game Saturday as we’re heading to Connecticut for a gargantuan, I-swear-I’ll-start-dieting-for-real-Tuesday BBQ at my sister’s house. The pick here is Hofstra A Lot, Stony Brook A Little, though I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this suddenly embittered rivalry yields a mini-classic at Shuart Stadium.

I may try out the new on-demand live streaming at the Hofstra website though. If so, perk your ears. I’ll be the guy yelling about Paul Que.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.