2017-18 CAA Post-Mortem

At the risk of stating the obvious, this is not the CAA of a decade ago. A look at the conference members is the most salient evidence, but that’s not all. In fact, it’s not the CAA of even a few years ago. That’s also evident by the administration, where there is a new commissioner after the only one the conference ever knew retired, and others have changed as well.

But on the bottom line, it’s different as well. There have been some promising events, but in all, there have been better days for the conference than 2017-18.

Let’s start with the good, which is the conference balance. For the first time in CAA history, each team recorded at least six conference wins. That tells you that the bottom teams aren’t all that bad. Two teams had an RPI in the top 60 – Northeastern and College of Charleston. And William & Mary was the best shooting team in the nation this season.

But now let’s get to something else: postseason play. College of Charleston was the only CAA team to see any kind of postseason play, as no one else made the NIT, CBI or CIT. While the CAA has been a one-bid league every year since 2011 when it comes to the NCAA Tournament, the conference at one time was well-represented in the other postseason tournaments. Four teams saw postseason play in 2011 and 2012, and while no CAA team has been in the CBI or CIT since 2015, the conference at least had a team in the NIT each of the past two seasons, and Towson was in the Vegas 16 in 2016, the only year of that tournament. The last time the CAA had just one team see postseason play was 2000, well before the CBI and CIT came into being.

Will next year be better? Maybe. Of the 16 players on the All-CAA teams, only four were seniors this year. But that’s hardly a guarantee of better things, though Justin Wright-Foreman, the conference Player of the Year, declared for the NBA Draft before opting to return to school. The CAA has not been immune to the transfer bug that has hit mid-majors in recent years. Delaware’s Ryan Daly transferred to Saint Joseph’s and Towson has lost two key players to transfer as well, likely to schools in bigger conferences.

There is at least some coaching stability, as no coaching changes came about this off-season. College of Charleston head coach Earl Grant figured to be a possible candidate at some openings, but he instead chose to sign an extension to stay around. Grant has quickly changed the fortunes there and will still have a lot returning next year as they try to build on their first CAA championship.

The conference teams will need to do better in non-conference play, which could happen with a more experienced group of teams overall. This year, CAA teams didn’t beat a single Power 5 or Big East team, although they did manage a 5-5 mark against Atlantic 10 teams. That will help the conference land more teams in postseason tournaments and avoid repeating something that happened for the first time in 18 years this past season.

Final Standings

Conference Tournament

The tournament started with no surprises, notably in the first round as the higher seeds won. No. 8 Drexel beat No. 9 James Madison 70-62 and No. 7 Delaware beat No. 10 Elon 86-79.

The quarterfinals were almost chalk. The games actually got more lopsided until the one surprise, as No. 1 College of Charleston beat Drexel 66-59, No. 4 William & Mary beat No. 5 Towson 80-66 and No. 2 Northeastern blew out Delaware 74-50. Then in the one surprise, No. 6 UNCW edged No. 3 Hofstra 93-88.

In the semifinals, College of Charleston beat William & Mary 83-73 in a rematch of the regular season finale for both teams, then Northeastern blew out UNCW going away by a 79-52 margin, which ran their winning streak to nine games.

The championship game was the second straight for College of Charleston, but starting late in the first half it was all Northeastern for quite a while. The Huskies opened up a 17-point lead in the second half, but the Cougars gradually cut into the lead and had a chance to win at the buzzer. In the extra session, two big three-pointers by Marquise Pointer crushed the Huskies, who were never able to get over the hump and rally. College of Charleston held on for an 83-76 win for their first CAA championship.

Postseason Awards
Player of the Year: Justin Wright-Foreman, Hofstra
Rookie of the Year: Ryan Allen, Delaware
Coach of the Year: Bill Coen, Northeastern
Defensive Player of the Year: Shawn Occeus, Northeastern
Sixth Man of the Year: Bolden Brace, Northeastern

All-CAA Team
Devontae Cacok, Jr. F, UNCW
Joe Chealey, Sr. G, College of Charleston
Vasa Pusica, Jr. G, Northeastern
Grant Riller, So. G, College of Charleston
Justin Wright-Foreman, Jr. G, Hofstra

Season Highlights

• Every CAA team won at least ten games on the season, including at least two true road games.
• William & Mary was one of the best shooting teams in the country. They led the country in three-point field goal percentage (43.4) and free throw percentage (81.0) and were a close second in field goal percentage (51.1).
• The conference had two of the top three rebounders in the country, as UNCW’s Devontae Cacok led with 13.5 per game and Hofstra’s Rokas Gustys was third at 12.0 per game.
• Gustys also came up nine rebounds shy of the CAA career record in that category.
• Cacok and Gustys were also the only players in the conference to average a double-double on the season.
• William & Mary guard David Cohn not only led the conference in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio, but was the only player to shoot better than 90 percent from the line and also shot better than 50 percent from the field and 40 percent on three-pointers.

What we expected, and it happened: College of Charleston tied for the regular season title and had the top seed in the conference tournament. This was expected to be their year, and they were healthy enough aside from Jarrell Brantley missing the first ten games of the season to live up to the expectations.

What we expected, and it didn’t happen: Elon was expected to be among those to push the Cougars, and they started 4-2. The Phoenix then lost in overtime to at James Madison and were never the same, losing three straight and finishing the season losing 11 of 13. The Phoenix had some offensive struggles, but mainly they had the worst rebounding margin in the conference by far and only one team had a worse turnover margin. The rebounding issues were more pronounced in CAA play.

What we didn’t expect, and it happened: Northeastern was right there as a contender and ultimately tied for the regular season title. With significant personnel losses from a year earlier and just one senior on the roster, the Huskies appeared to be a year away. Led by San Diego transfer Vasa Pusica, the Huskies had a CAA-best nine road wins (tied with Hofstra), which included seven in conference play (better than any other CAA team).

Team(s) on the rise: Northeastern. The Huskies will be preseason favorites next season after what they did this year and losing only Devon Begley. Having Bill Coen on the bench never hurts as well.

Team(s) on the decline: Elon. The Phoenix were an unpleasant surprise this season, and they lose a significant amount next season while other teams near the bottom all have some promise and return a lot.

2018-19 Conference Outlook

A look at next season should start with Northeastern as the favorites. The Huskies will return almost everyone, including the runner-up for Player of the Year this year, and they played their best basketball at the end of the season. College of Charleston is not going away, as Grant Riller and Jarrell Brantley lead one of the deepest and most experienced teams in the conference, and Earl Grant is staying in town as well. Justin Wright-Foreman’s return means Hofstra has to be considered a contender as well, leading a deep perimeter unit that also has Eli Pemberton, Desure Buie and Jalen Ray.

After those three, William & Mary will miss David Cohn and Connor Burchfield, but if 2017-18 taught us anything, it’s that you pick the Tribe to have a down year at your peril. Next year, they will still have Nathan Knight, Justin Pierce, Matt Milon and Paul Rowley leading the way. UNCW could jump up here, but they are tough to figure as they lose stalwart Jordon Talley and Marcus Bryan, but also bring back Cacok, Ty Taylor and Jaylen Fornes. Towson already lost a couple of key players, then Zane Martin and Justin Gorham transferred, which will sting. Pat Skerry’s teams always play enough defense to have a chance, but the Tigers are losing a lot of production.

Among the teams that finish tied for the bottom this season, Drexel may be the most ready to make a jump. The Dragons beat Houston in non-conference and then Charleston and William & Mary in CAA play (the latter on the road), so they showed signs this year and bring just about everyone back. Delaware might have been the pick before Ryan Daly transferred; now their freshman class from this past season will carry them forward. James Madison has a bunch of players that now have a year under their belt, while Elon may be a wild card as they have potential but had a tough year few saw coming this year.