This Week in Wrenball: Nutcracker

Midway through William & Mary's road contest against Dayton, the Tribe had a nine-point lead on the favored Flyers, and visions of hoops-flavored sugarplums danced through my head. W&M was 20 minutes from a second major conference scalp (we're counting the Atlantic 10 as a major hoops conference because it suits our purposes) in four games after a 17-point whipping of the ACC's North Carolina State in the season-opener.

And I was 20 minutes from debuting the #wmtribe4top25 hashtag.

Then Dayton went on a 37-19 run to start the second half, and early-season delusions drifted away. Funny thing happened next, though. Four different Tribesmen scored as part of an 11-0 run that gave W&M a 60-58 lead with 2:18 to play.

Dayton scored seven of the next eight points and closed out the Tribe, 69-66, but the result matters less at this point in the season than the lesson - this Tribe team's a tough out.

Omar blockin'

It's too early to make much of statistics, but it's noteworthy that seven Tribe players are averaging more than five points per game (led by Omar Prewitt's 16.3) and five of them are grabbing 4.3 or more rebounds (Terry Tarpey's 7.3 are pacing the team). Sean Sheldon's been the most efficient offensive player on the roster, while David Cohn's averaging four assists a game even though he's only averaging 23 minutes. CAA Tournament hero Daniel Dixon dropped in a career-high 24 against Dayton, and freshman Hunter Seacat (!) has yet to miss a shot in his college career.

W&M hosts Hampton tonight before traveling to play at Howard over the Thanksgiving break. DC Gheorghies, represent. They return to Williamsburg to take on former CAA rival Old Dominion, and then play Virginia in Charlottesville a week from Saturday. At the risk of reading too much into a few good outings, something would be really amiss if this team finishes the out of conference schedule worse than 8-3. And if they beat ODU, they really should be 9-2 when they enter CAA play.

Through four games, we've learned that this W&M team is experienced, poised, tough, and able to compete with better teams. That's a recipe that'll make some tasty sugarplums.