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MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Towson
- Hofstra
- Delaware
- Charleston
- UNC Wilmington
- Northeastern
- Drexel
- William & Mary
- Stony Brook
- Monmouth
- NC A&T
- Elon
- Hampton
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-CAA 1ST TEAM:
-Aaron Estrada – SR, G – Hofstra
-Cam Holden – JR, G – Towson
-Jameer Nelson – JR, G – Delaware
-Charles Thompson – SR, F – Towson
-Nicolas Timberlake – SR, G – Towson
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-CAA 2ND TEAM:
-Jyare Davis – SO, F – Delaware
-Shykeim Phillips – SR, G – UNC Wilmington
-Reyne Smith – SO, G – Charleston
-Jahmyl Telfort – JR, G – Northeastern
-Amari Williams – JR, F – Northeastern
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-It is hard to not be excited about Towson this year! They won 25 games last year after winning just 4 the year before, and with four starters back they are the preseason favorites to repeat as the 1st place team, and may be in a position to do more than just that. This is a team that could be on the bubble, or even inside of it, come Selection Sunday. Pat Skerry has done a great job as head coach and it is exciting to see how he has built this program up. They are balanced, they can score, they can shoot, and they have a fairly deep bench. In short, this team is GOOD!!
-Hofstra is another team that can make quite a bit of noise. Coach Speedy Claxton won 21 games in his first season last year and brings back three starters including Aaron Estrada who may be the best player in the conference. They should get some pretty good production out of a couple of transfers that they added so do not sleep on the Pride this year!
-Delaware is another team that won 20+ games last year and won the CAA Tournament to advance to the NCAAs. While they should be good again this year they did lose two key starters. Still, it looks like they have a good core group of players and could once again be a tough team in this year.
-Charleston has a really good coach in Pat Kelsey: he did okay in his first season last year at 17-15 overall. While I think they will be better this year, I also think 4th sounds about right, which is where the Media Day Experts have put them. They also struggled with injuries last year and should be better this year if they can stay healthy.
-UNC Wilmington was tied with Towson for 1st place last year. The problem is that so much of that team is now gone. Two starters are back, including a good player in Shykeim Phillips. I think they will be in the top half of the conference standings, but not at the top of the top half.
-I like Northeastern’s coach (Bill Coen) but they simply have not been good for the past two seasons and it now has me scratching my head a little bit. They do return three starters, and went into the transfer portal to try and shore up some more help, but if they fall flat again this year we will start to wonder about the temperature of Coach Coen’s seat.
-Drexel was a modest 10-8 in league play last year and lost some key players from that team. They do not appear to have a whole lot of strength in the frontcourt and that could definitely be a problem for them this year.
-William & Mary seems to be good at controlling the tempo. The problem is they seem to struggle at everything else. They won just five total games last year, and while they should be a little better this year, it is a bit of a stretch to say they will be good.
-Stony Brook begins their first year as a member of the CAA and have their work cut out for them. They did win 18 games last year, but the America East is not quite as strong as this year’s CAA. They also lost several key players from that team so it could be a bit of an uphill climb for them.
-Monmouth won 21 games last season and nearly made the NCAA Tournament, but lost to Saint Peter’s in the MAAC Championship Game. All five starters from that team are gone and Monmouth now appears to be in a complete rebuilding mode.
-NC A&T is also new to the league this year. They struggled in the Big South last season and will likely struggle in a much tougher CAA this season.
-Elon has just one starter back from a team that only won ten games last season so expectations are not high.
-Hampton is also new to the league. Hampton also struggled in the Big South last season. Hampton will also likely struggle even more this season.