CAA MBB Tournament 2024-25 - Early Outlook

[Wags]

In a conference where for many years, nothing has made any sense, it would be the most CAA thing ever if Delaware, after finishing the regular season 0-6 and 1-11, wins the tournament as a 12 seed on its way out the door for Conference USA.

So true. Are you sure 0-6 is correct?

Yup, they lost their last six before the tourney. Ironically, their lone win in their last 12 regular season games was against today's opponent.

[Wags]

Drexel starting very much like a team that played yesterday and that tipped at 11 am biologically today.

The Dragons missed their first 8 shots and trail Towson 7-0. That's a really tough spot with the time change thrown in and the 1 seed well rested.

[dutchPride86]

Campbell head coach is OUT after 12 years there. I know they got upset yesterday but pretty surprising considering season they had and Duggan's development

[Wags]

Campbell head coach is OUT after 12 years there. I know they got upset yesterday but pretty surprising considering season they had and Duggan's development

Surprising unless he already lined himself up to go elsewhere (even as an assistant) and he told them? If not, it makes little sense to fire him after only his second year in a new league. If that's the case, the should have either given him a longer leash in the CAA or fired him after they left the Big South so they could start their CAA era fresh.

[Wags]

Great fight from Drexel, cutting a 60-45 deficit to 77-76, before losing 82-76. Much higher scoring than the last meeting (a 55-54 Towson win at home).

Towson will be on CBS Sports Network tomorrow night against William & Mary or Delaware.

[Pbdutch]

Campbell head coach is OUT after 12 years there. I know they got upset yesterday but pretty surprising considering season they had and Duggan's development

Surprising unless he already lined himself up to go elsewhere (even as an assistant) and he told them? If not, it makes little sense to fire him after only his second year in a new league. If that's the case, the should have either given him a longer leash in the CAA or fired him after they left the Big South so they could start their CAA era fresh.

I actually thought he did a pretty good job and let’s be real about Campbell…not tremendously well known for athletics or academics, in a not so nice area, and they made a statement by firing him as they want to compete. We need more of this from Hofstra for the flagship program.

[Wags]

In a conference where for many years, nothing has made any sense, it would be the most CAA thing ever if Delaware, after finishing the regular season 0-6 and 1-11, wins the tournament as a 12 seed on its way out the door for Conference USA.

Three down, two left. It could actually happen now although I don't think it will unless they continue to shoot the lights out from 3.

The Blue Hens were 18/29 from 3 today after 7/15 from 3 yesterday. Down 49-47 at the half, 53-29 in the second half to win 100-78 and advance to the semifinals on CBS Sports Network tomorrow night. Hofstra could've had a run like that if they actually had the shooters Speedy thought they had.

Of the many different "CAA Makes No Sense" stories over the years, this would top them all if Delaware wins two more games.

[cactus]

Delaware is the worst defensive team in the league, I would be shocked if they win another game.

[Wags]

Delaware is the worst defensive team in the league, I would be shocked if they win another game.

They were but they held W&M to 29 in the second half today and after allowing 58 in the second half and 96 total to Campbell (without Sinani, he was already hurt), they held them to 62 yesterday. If they shoot the 3 anywhere close to how they shot it today, they'll have a shot. Towson is the best team but they're beatable.

[Wags]

Including the CAA tourney, Hofstra lost these NINE conference games by two possessions or less this year: 6, 5, 5, 2 (OT), 5, 1, 6, 3, 5.

What might have been.

[cactus]

Hofstra was a star player short, which sounds like a lot because it is.

A team of complimentary players missing a #1 scoring option, who they may have though they had in Sanders, a former NY state player of the year. There were a lot of former Hofstra teams that could really have used a rebounder like Graham. I very much appreciated the defense they played for most of the year, but you have to be able to score to win games.

Charleston and Monmouth to OT...

[Wags]

Hofstra was a star player short, which sounds like a lot because it is.

A team of complimentary players missing a #1 scoring option, who they may have though they had in Sanders, a former NY state player of the year. There were a lot of former Hofstra teams that could really have used a rebounder like Graham. I very much appreciated the defense they played for most of the year, but you have to be able to score to win games.

Charleston and Monmouth to OT...

True, cactus. It's tough to put it all on two sophomores to lead. The season really blew up once Sanders could no longer be relied upon. But what was annoying was, "He'll be fine." But he was never fine after that. Just like, "We have good shooters." Eh, sometimes, but not really, not consistently. The defense was good enough to legitimately contend for a title but the offense left no room for error with that, to the point where they couldn't just routinely hold teams in the 60s (which is normally great), it had to be the low 60s, to win.

Charleston hung on, 79-78, in OT. Monmouth pulled a Greg Johnson (when he went for 2, down 3, with Agudio yelling for the ball, open at the 3-point line as the season ended in the quarters against George Mason). Yeah, that play (sorry!). Plenty of time to get a 3, down 3. Somehow, they didn't get one for Bashir, who hoisted 17 of them tonight (compared to Charleston's 18). Instead, it looked like they tried for a last-second And-1, only no foul, just the bucket, so they lost by one.

An interesting semis are set for tomorrow night:
David (Delaware) vs. Goliath (Towson) and another battle between the two usuals (Charleston vs. UNCW).

[EvanJ]

Delaware made 12 threes in the first half, and was trailing 49-47. I wonder what the most threes we ever made in the first half of a game that we trailed at halftime was. John Camden shot threes 8-10 to tie the CAA Tournament record for threes made, and scored 36, which was the fourth most in CAA Tournament history. The CAA lists the top three, which were 42 by Justin Wright-Foreman, and 37 by Jordon Talley and Marcus Thornton, both of whom did it against us, so there is not a way of finding out if anybody before Camden scored exactly 36. I checked my computer to see if I had old CAA Record Books saved to see the top three before some of those guys scored 37 or more, but the only old Record Book I had was from last season.

If you look at Towson's ranks in CAA statistics, they are much worse than you would expect for a first place team. The NET and KenPom agree that UNCW is the best team. If Delaware and UNCW win tonight, the champion will have gone winless against the 11 seed. I wonder if we ever lost before the Quarterfinals of a tournament while winning all of our game(s) against the tournament winner. Delaware scored 70 or fewer ten times, including twice each against us, UNCW, and Towson.

[dutchPride86]

Delaware just stunning. It never could have been us with all our flaws, but really should have. I'm still not convinced there was a single team in the league truly better than us besides Charleston if we had ever played an A+ game. What a shame

[dutchPride86]

Delaware just stunning. It never could have been us with all our flaws, but really should have. I'm still not convinced there was a single team in the league truly better than us besides Charleston if we had ever played an A+ game. What a shame

Watching Delaware calmly break the press and make their FTs another reason it never could have been us.. but isn't that coaching?

[Wags]

Martin Ingelsby knows how to get his teams ready for March regardless of the regular seasons they had. He cut the nets with Delaware as a 5 seed in 2022 and now takes the Blue Hens to the CAA championship game as a 12 seed.

I know the move is precipitated by football and more money, and I'm joking here, but - 5 seed, 12 seed - when you can keep reaching the finals regardless of the seed, is Delaware sure they want to leave the CAA?

Way too much is made of playing so many days in a row. These kids are young and it's an advantage for underdogs. Play the conference tournament over a couple of weeks with the usual Thursday/Saturday regular season schedule, and I don't think Delaware goes on this run. I think it can snowball easily when you're in rhythm and playing daily more than for a team that had a long layoff and has fewer games to ramp it back up again. Towson playing for only the second straight day vs. Delaware for the fourth straight day was a momentum disadvantage. Momentum overcomes any fatigue (which is too much of a concern to begin with).

Funny that Stony Brook - in a game they trailed by 19 - ultimately gave Delaware their toughest game of the tourney so far.

[EvanJ]

Delaware's largest lead was 69-54. Towson got within 5, and Delaware won 82-72. Erik Timko (15), Trent Middleton Jr. (14), Niels Lane (14), Izaiah Pasha (13), John Camden (13), and Cavan Reilly (11) gave Delaware six double-digit scorers, which is the first time they did that February 29, 2020 at UNCW. Lane shot 7-9, and had 8 rebounds. Towson's Dylan Williamson led all players with 23.

https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=584126 will have statistics for Charleston vs. UNCW.

Edit: UNCW blew a 13 point lead, but still won 68-67. Two free throws with 3.9 seconds left made a 4 point lead, and Charleston made a three at the buzzer to play in consecutive games in which the losing team scored at the buzzer to lose by 1.

We are guaranteed to have at least 1 win against a team that makes the NCAA Tournament. We went 3-0 against Delaware and UNCW, and 3-12 against everyone else (excluding the CAA Tournament). Arkansas State lost to Troy 94-81 in the Sun Belt Final, so that is a team we beat that will not make the NCAA Tournament.

[Wags]

We went 3-0 against Delaware and UNCW, and 3-12 against everyone else (excluding the CAA Tournament).

Of course.

UNCW, which lost as a 2 seed to 5th-seeded Delaware in the CAA championship game, could now lose to 12th-seeded Delaware in the title game.

Bad omen for the Seahawks?

2022: UNCW's last regular season game - a win over Delaware.
2025: UNCW's last regular season game - a win over Delaware.

Could be wrong, but I believe three years ago and tomorrow night are the only all-bird matchups in CAA championship game history.

[stuball888]

Maybe we should change our nickname from the Pride to the Ospreys
it couldnt hurt

[HUSID74]

Kinda like OSPREYS...LOL If we can call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, we can certainly change our name to Ospresys.