The 2019-20 CAA figured to be a wide-open race, and it certainly delivered in that respect. While the regular season bore that out, the conference tournament did that even more so – and sure enough, it was expected to be fairly wide-open as well. By one set of metrics, the No. 6 seed had about as good a chance as anyone to win it all, and strangely, that had a real chance of happening.
Hofstra won another outright regular season title and then the conference tournament as Desure Buie picked right up where best friend Justin Wright-Foreman left off. He didn’t put up Wright-Foreman’s numbers, but he was the unquestioned leader as he led one of the nation’s best perimeter units. The Pride, who were the preseason favorites, fended off an unlikely team in William & Mary, who had a new head coach and endured a rash of transfers after last season but surprised many by winning 21 games and being right in the race for the top until late.
Before the season, the thought was that College of Charleston and Northeastern could contend, with Delaware and Towson as dark horses. The Tigers were a little more than that, coming in third, while the Blue Hens rebounded from a 2-4 start to win seven in a row and make their way just past the middle of the pack. The Huskies made it to .500 after a promising start, then having to battle injuries and (more so) inconsistency, and the Cougars were in contention for a lot of the season before a four-game losing streak (including three straight on the road) in February knocked them back.
There was an unquestioned disappointment this season, and that was James Madison. The Dukes brought back four starters to key a solid nucleus, and it’s a group that had grown together the past couple of years. It all seemed to be building towards this season and perhaps even next year since none of those returning starters were seniors. They were supposed to be a dark horse contender, and perhaps more. Instead, the Dukes never really got going, losing the first two conference games at home en route to a 2-16 finish in CAA play in their final season in the Convocation Center.
In all, it was a down year in the CAA, owing in part to the conference’s performance the first two months of the season. After finishing 12th in RPI two seasons ago and placing two teams in the top 100 of the NET a year ago, with a third just outside the top 100, not a single team finished in the top 120 of the NET rankings, with Hofstra leading the way at 123. As a conference the CAA was around the middle of the pack in 16th.
Non-conference play is what set the stage for this. While CAA teams did score a few good wins, no team had a resume that even remotely resembled a potential NCAA Tournament at-large team, and if you remove 14 wins against non-Division I teams, the conference’s teams posted a collective losing record in non-conference play (they were 69-57 including the non-Division I wins). Here’s what’s also troubling: it’s at least the third year in a row that non-Division I wins helped the conference avert a losing non-conference record.
There is reason for hope, however, even as no more than one member of the first team All-CAA team will return next season. While the conference does lose some very good players, including transfers, it looks as though the CAA won’t be hit quite as hard by transfers as in prior years. The freshmen as a whole also looked better than in many other years, with Elon looking like a team on the rise in part from some good freshmen they had this past season.
After the season ended, two schools changed coaches. UNCW had already parted ways with C.B. McGrath during the season, and they opted not to go with interim head coach Rob Burke, but instead with former assistant coach Takayo Siddle. Siddle was at the school during Kevin Keatts’ tenure and followed Keatts to NC State. James Madison fired Louis Rowe after four years at the helm, notably this disappointing season, replacing him with former Georgia Southern head coach Mark Byington.
Final Standings
| Hofstra | ||
| William & Mary | ||
| Towson | ||
| College of Charleston | ||
| Delaware | ||
| Northeastern | ||
| Elon | ||
| Drexel | ||
| UNCW | ||
| James Madison |
Conference Tournament
The first round went mostly as expected, with No. 8 Drexel taking care of No. 9 UNCW 66-55 to snap a seven-game losing streak and No. 7 Elon edging No. 10 James Madison 63-61.
The quarterfinals were a different story after the opener. No. 1 Hofstra took care of Drexel 61-43 to get it started. Then, in a game that can always go either way, No. 5 Delaware got past No. 4 College of Charleston 79-67 to close out the afternoon. The evening had two surprises as No. 7 Elon stunned No. 2 William & Mary 68-63, leading for most of the game, and then No. 6 Northeastern handled No. 3 Towson 73-62 with a solid offensive performance.
Hofstra beat Delaware 75-61 in a less dramatic rematch of one of last year’s great semifinals, and Northeastern held off Elon 68-60 in the other semifinal to set up a championship game rematch of a year ago.
In the championship, Northeastern had the edge early on and for some of the second half, but with Tyson Walker injured and the Pride doing a good job of limiting Jordan Roland, the Husky offense stagnated. That set the stage for the Pride to gradually come back, and once they took the lead they had the momentum as well to win going away by a 70-61 margin for their first CAA title and first NCAA Tournament bid since 2001, in their final year in America East.
Postseason Awards
Player of the Year: Nathan Knight, William & Mary
Rookie of the Year: Hunter McIntosh, Elon
Coach of the Year: Dane Fischer, William & Mary
Sixth Man of the Year: Nicolas Timberlake, Towson
Defensive Player of the Year: Nathan Knight, William & Mary
All-Conference Team
Desure Buie, Sr. G, Hofstra
Nate Darling, Jr. G, Delaware
Nathan Knight, Sr. C, William & Mary
Grant Riller, Sr. G, College of Charleston
Jordan Roland, Sr. G, Northeastern
Season Highlights
- Nathan Knight became the first player since George Evans (George Mason) to win both CAA Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season, which Evans pulled off twice.
- James Butler (Drexel) and Nathan Knight (William & Mary) were the only two players in the conference to average a double-double.
- The CAA was the only conference in the country to have four of the top 20 scorers in the nation.
- Both Hofstra (11) and William & Mary (10) posted double-digit road wins; Hofstra tied San Diego State for the most road and neutral wins (16) in the nation.
- Northeastern became the fifth program to reach the CAA championship game at least three straight years.
What we expected, and it happened: Hofstra won the regular season title. The Pride may have lost the league’s reigning two-time Player of the Year, but they had plenty coming back on the perimeter and Isaac Kante emerged up front to give them a lot of what Jacquil Taylor gave them a year ago, and this time they also broke through in the conference tournament as well.
What we expected, and it didn’t happen: James Madison was expected to be a dark horse contender at the very least. The Dukes had a solid nucleus returning that had grown together over a couple of seasons, but they didn’t grow into contenders at all and finished dead last.
What we didn’t expect, and it happened: William & Mary was pegged by many to finish at or near the bottom, especially after a mass exodus of talent following the firing of Tony Shaver. Instead, holdovers Nathan Knight and Luke Loewe joined newcomers like Andy Van Vliet and others to become a formidable cast, starting CAA play with six straight wins and ending the regular season with five more in a row before a quarterfinal loss to Elon. Their 21 wins were the most in 70 years for the program.
Team(s) on the rise: Delaware and Elon. The Blue Hens have increased their win total in every season under Marin Inglesby, and if Nate Darling returns after declaring for the NBA Draft, they will be in position to do that again next season and contend for the title. Elon, meanwhile, has some nice young talent for head coach Mike Schrage as he heads into his second season, and knocking off William & Mary in the CAA Tournament can only help.
Team(s) on the decline: College of Charleston. It’s not likely to be a long or steep one, especially with Earl Grant at the helm, but after starting CAA play with five straight wins, the Cougars were below .500 the rest of the way and bowed out to Delaware in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. On top of that, Grant Riller graduates, which is not a small loss, and while he did much more than score, it’s his scoring that will be toughest to replace because the best returning scorer is shooter Brevin Galloway, though Minnesota grad transfer Payton Willis should help there.
2020-21 CAA Outlook
Like all of college basketball, the CAA is in a big holding pattern. Will there even be a season next year? Will it begin on time, or get pushed out? Those details are for another discussion. As it pertains to the competitive landscape, there are some questions that will determine how to look ahead. Most of it revolves around transfers, as more of them could always come although this year has been a bit lighter in the CAA than recent years.
If Nate Darling returns to school, Delaware should be the clear team to beat. With him back in the fold, the Blue Hens would have a solid nucleus with Ryan Allen, Justyn Mutts and Kevin Anderson joining him, with three of those players being seniors. Even if he does not return, they may well be the favorites if only because no other team will have as much experience returning.
The best bet to challenge them at first glance looked like Towson, but the Tigers were bit by the transfer bug again as Allen Betrand transferred to Rhode Island. They already had Brian Fobbs and Dennis Tunstall finish their eligibility. They will not have a bare cupboard with Jason Gibson, Nakye Sanders and Nicolas Timberlake returning, and among the newcomers is grad transfer Cam Allen from CSU Bakersfield, but Betrand’s transfer means there isn’t an obvious go-to guy among the holdovers. What helps is that Pat Skerry’s teams defend, and there’s no reason to think next season will be different in that regard.
Questions abound after that. Hofstra will still have some good talent, but Buie, Eli Pemberton and Tareq Coburn all depart and that is a lot of production and experience to have to replace at once. William & Mary surprised a lot of people this season, but lose a lot with Knight and others finishing up, and Knight’s intangibles will be the part that can’t be quantified. The plus for them is that the current staff has established the culture now and Loewe is not a bad guy to build around as veterans go. Northeastern not only loses Roland and very underrated glue guy Bolden Brace to graduation, but two key players transferred, so they will build largely around point guard Tyson Walker. Still, he’s a good place to start along with Shaquille Walters, and Bill Coen is still running the program, which means they always have a chance. College of Charleston loses a great deal with Grant Riller’s graduation.
Who might rise up from those who were lower in the standings this year? Elon seems like the best candidate by far. The Phoenix will certainly miss Marcus Sheffield II, but the Hunters – McIntosh and Woods – will lead the way as sophomores along with Zac Ervin, and graduate transfer Ikenna Ndugba will help at the point along with the best recruiting class in school history. Drexel has potential if more support around Butler and Camren Wynter emerges, but they’ll also need to defend better and take much better care of the ball after leading the CAA in turnovers by a good margin. UNCW and James Madison will be starting over with new coaches and key players having moved on, though the latter will at least have a good one to build around in Matt Lewis.
