Pride's Jenkins CAA player of year again

Charles Jenkins earned yet another honor Thursday night when he was named the Colonial Athletic Association player of the year for the second straight year. And he has high hopes regarding this weekend's CAA Tournament in Richmond, Va.

Jenkins, named to the CAA first team for the third straight season, said third-seeded Hofstra (20-10, 14-4) will not be deterred by past failures in Richmond. "The game doesn't work by tradition or by what's happened in the past,'' he said. "It goes by what team comes out and plays the hardest. We brought a lot of toughness this year, which brought us a lot of wins. It's about what team brings it that night.

"My team is prepared to go down there and make a run. I'm not the predicting type. I'm going to guarantee that our guys are going to play hard for 40 minutes, and we'll see what happens.''

Hofstra plays at 8:30 Saturday night in a quarterfinal against the winner of Friday's game between sixth-seeded James Madison and 11th-seeded William & Mary.

The Pride finished tied for second in the CAA, its highest finish since joining the conference in 2001. Hofstra split with top-seeded George Mason and lost to second-seeded Old Dominion - and now faces a tournament always dominated by the CAA's southern-based teams.

"I think right now, we know we need to win the tournament to get in [to the NCAAs],'' athletic director Jack Hayes said. "We've been down this road before. I don't think we'll go in feeling nervous.''

If it doesn't work out, Hayes will entertain an invitation for Hofstra to play in a tournament such as the College Basketball Invitational, which Hofstra participated in last season.

"I think these guys are anxious to keep playing,'' first-year coach Mo Cassara said. "There is no letdown here.''

Jenkins, fourth in the nation at 23.2 points per game, is Hofstra's career scoring leader with 2,463 career points, the most of any active player. Only 60 players in Division I history have reached 2,500.

"If I have any opportunity to step on this floor again, I'm all for it,'' Jenkins said of playing a postseason game at Hofstra. "If I have to score 2,500 points for us to get there, then I'm all for it.''

Jenkins is the seventh player in conference history to receive CAA player of the year honors in multiple seasons. He is first in the CAA in scoring (23.2) and assists (4.8), the only player in Division I to lead his conference in both categories. He is shooting 52.8 percent from the floor, the highest percentage of any player in the top 15 in the country in scoring and the highest of any guard ranked in the top 100 (17.0 ppg and up).

With his 2,463 points, Jenkins ranks second on the CAA's career scoring list, trailing only Hall of Famer David Robinson of Navy. He and Speedy Claxton are the only Hofstra players to record 2,000 points, 500 rebounds and 400 assists.

But although Jenkins had a spectacular senior season, he had plenty of help. Greg Washington (named to the CAA all-defensive team for the third straight year), Mike Moore, David Imes, Brad Kelleher, Shemiye McLendon and Yves Jules became a formidable supporting cast for the Pride.

"It wasn't a one-man team,'' Jenkins said. Hofstra was 18-1 when at least three players scored in double figures.