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MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL
- Hofstra
- Charleston
- Northeastern
- James Madison
- Delaware
- Towson
- William & Mary
- Drexel
- UNC Wilmington
- Elon
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-CAA 1ST TEAM
Brian Fobbs – Towson, SR G
Nathan Knight – William & Mary, SR F/C
Matt Lewis – James Madison, JR G
Eli Pemberton – Hofstra, SR G
Grant Riller – Charleston, SR G
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-CAA 2ND TEAM
Ryan Allen – Delaware, JR G
Darius Banks – James Madison, JR G
Desure Buie – Hofstra, SR G
Jordan Roland – Northeastern, SR G
Camren Wynter – Drexel, SO G
NOTES FROM DAVID. Hofstra, who was last year’s first place finisher, is this year’s preseason favorite. While I like this Pride team and think that they have a good core group of players coming back, they are losing Justin Wright-Foreman, who wasn’t just the best player for Hofstra, he was the best player in the CAA. Despite that, I think they can still finish at or near the top of the league. The Pride have been consistently good, but haven’t been able to make the Big Dance since 2001. Maybe this could be the year!
Charleston will also be looking to replace their best player in Jarrell Brantley, and has just two returning starters from last year’s 24 win team. But, never underestimate this team. Coach Earl Grant is entering his sixth year, and has averaged 25 wins in the past three seasons. This is a dramatic turnaround considering just how bad they were when he first took over. They should still have a very strong backcourt and will definitely be a force in the league this year.
Northeastern finished second last year and won the CAA Tournament which gave them the auto-bid to the NCAAs. The problem is, like Charleston, they lost three starters from last year’s team. Right now I have more questions than answers.
James Madison has three starters back, but it’s hard for me to get all that excited about a team that won just 12 D-1 games a year ago and lost four of their last six games, three of those losses were to teams with losing records. So it isn’t like they ended the year with a big head of steam built up.
Delaware has shown steady improvement over the last three years and managed a winning record last year for the first time since the 2013-2014 season. They did end up losing one of their better players when Ithiel Horton decided to transfer to Pitt (who hasn’t exactly been all that good themselves recently). While I don’t think the Blue Hens will contend for the title, I do think they can continue to improve.
Towson has all five starters back and should be better, but they did win just ten games last year, so being better isn’t exactly a high bar to get over. I still like Pat Skerry as a coach, though.
I agree with the media and coaches about UNC Wilmington, Elon, and Drexel. Drexel was a bad team that lost some of their better players. They will be in rebuilding mode. I’m not expecting much out of the other two either.