Cynicism comes easily when the topic is college athletics. So much money is in play. Coaches who earn seven-figure salaries talk about “student-athletes,“ but their primary interest is the “athlete” and contract bonus clauses. Then, there are those “student-athletes” who show up at a gas station armed with a pellet gun or get involved with the community through late-night fights in bars.

Delaware basketball coach Monte Ross wanted to pass along a message to Virginia Commonwealth forward Larry Sanders. “Make sure you tell him that I picked him [for preseason Colonial Athletic Association player of the year],“ Ross said with a laugh. Sanders is a potential first-round NBA draft pick after this season. Ross wanted to make sure he didn’t provide the 6-11 junior with perceived ammunition after co-player-of-the-year honors went to Old Dominion senior forward Gerald Lee and Hofstra junior guard Charles Jenkins at yesterday’s CAA media gathering.

Face down on the ground after the second of his two fumbles, James Madison quarterback Justin Thorpe buried his helmet in the turf and slammed his hands down. The gesture summed up the day and perhaps the season for Thorpe and the 16th-ranked Dukes, whose offensive troubles were front and center in a 27-0 Colonial Athletic Association loss to sixth-ranked Villanova yesterday.

Some of the top Football Championship Series competition in the country happens in the CAA, and that’s both on and off the field. A mini arms race of facilities and stadiums is under way and will only be fueled when two new teams join the conference in the next two years. Meanwhile, the play on the field is as hot as ever. Eight of the schools in this year’s preseason top 25 play in the CAA, comprising nearly one-third of the list—and Delaware just missed the cut.

Need further proof of just how tough the CAA is? William and Mary enters the season ranked No. 14 nationally, even going as high as No. 11 in some polls. Yet in its conference, it were predicted to finish fifth. In its division. “That’s a testament to how tough these teams are,“ defensive tackle Sean Lissemore said. “It’s the good teams that pull themselves up from that.“

NORFOLK—As the 88 players who will resurrect Old Dominion football headed into their new locker room at Foreman Field, some yells and shouts turned into a cheer as they saw slate blue jerseys laid out with their names on the back. Minutes later the excited chatter came to a stop as they got their first glimpse of the stadium itself, knocking them speechless.

South Division (first-place votes): 1. (tie) Richmond and Villanova (9); 3. James Madison (1); 4. Delaware; 5. William and Mary; 6. Towson.
  North Division (first-place votes) : 1. New Hampshire (12); 2. Massachusetts (7); 3. Maine; 4. Hofstra; 5. Northeastern; 6. Rhode Island
  Offensive player of the year: QB R.J. Toman, New Hampshire, Jr., 6-1, 195

Virginia Commonwealth University post player Quanitra Hollingsworth was named to the all-Colonial Athletic Association first team at tonight’s pre-CAA Tournament awards banquet in Harrisonburg. Hollingsworth, the Rams’ 6-5 senior from Chesapeake, will carry team-high averages of 14.5 points and 9.4 rebounds into Friday’s CAA Tournament quarterfinals.

As he stood next to Len Elmore of ESPN waiting to do a postgame interview last night, Larry Sanders leaned over to Virginia Commonwealth teammate Terrance Saintil and yelled above the crowd noise on the floor of the Coliseum. “I told you at the beginning of the year, we’re going dancing,“ he said to Saintil. Sanders did more than his share in helping the top-seeded Rams blow out No. 2 George Mason 71-50 in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament championship game.

When it was over, even Anthony Grant laughed. It was just for a second, but the man who works at maintaining a face of stone, could not resist. His VCU Rams men’s basketball team had just won the CAA tournament championship. The Rams dominated George Mason 71-50. Teams often succumb to pressure and resort to tight, grind-it-out basketball in championship games, especially games in which so much is on the line. But the Rams played with almost reckless abandon from the opening tip to the final seconds.

It took Eric Maynor a little while to snip the last few strands of the net last night. Finally, he cut the last one, took the net, hoisted it to the cheering crowd, and then draped it around his neck. This CAA tournament championship had special meaning for Maynor and his VCU teammates.

Senior’s 23 points leads Rams to a 61-53 victory over Old Dominion to set up CAA championship game against George Mason, which earned its berth in a 56-48 come-from-behind victory over Towson.

Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg remained defiant after yesterday’s 63-53 loss at No. 24 Florida State—a result all but assured by the Hokies’ worst shooting performance in 40 games. But even as Greenberg tried to keep his players upbeat in the locker room afteward, he had to know time is running out on their push for an NCAA tournament at-large bid.

Kent Bazemore stood between Eric Maynor and the basket and clapped his hands as if to say, “Come on, try to get around me.“ Oh, Mr. Bazemore, you cockeyed optimist you. Why ask for trouble? Seconds later, Maynor had driven down the left side of the lane, sliced to the basket and, amid a crowd of Old Dominion University players, banked his shot off the glass and into the basket.

See scenes from the VCU/ODU game at the Coliseum on Sunday.