All month long, CBT will be rolling out our 2013-2014 season preview. Check back throughout the day, as we’ll be posting three or four preview items every day.
To browse through the preview posts we’ve already published, click here. To see the rest of the Conference Previews we’ve published, click here. For a schedule of our previews for the month, click here.
Realignment has hit the CAA in a weird way. The first top-notch program to bolt the league was Virginia Commonwealth, and they left to improve their basketball options. All this national shuffling has been football-based, but Final Four appearances still count for something. VCU left two years ago, but fellow giant-killer George Mason joins them in the A-10 this season.
Football hasn’t been absent from the radar, by any means. Old Dominion and Georgia State created gridiron programs out of thin air in 2009, and both jumped straight to the BCS big time this season. For a league headquartered in Richmond, the CAA is suddenly experiencing a glaring lack of schools located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The league tournament will be held in Baltimore for the first time this season, perhaps reflecting a new power base in the northern climes.
Up north is definitely where the excitement lives this season. Towson, a perennial doormat in years past, has become a legitimate contender under Pat Skerry, who engineered a record-breaking 17-game turnaround for the Tigers last season. In Skerry’s backyard are his presumptive competitors for the league’s upper echelon - the Philly-tough Drexel Dragons, reigning regular-season champs Northeastern, and a dangerously well-stocked Delaware team. Hofstra, a rebuilding project under new head coach Joe Mihalich, rounds out the CAA’s Yankee contingent.
The southern set isn’t exactly to be dismissed, either. James Madison brought the league’s auto-bid to a Virginia-based program yet again after claiming the tourney title last season, and new member College of Charleston has a well-earned reputation as a mid-major to be reckoned with. The College of William & Mary - an Ivy League-caliber academic institution somewhat out of place in CAA basketball circles - has never been to the Big Dance but has one of the conference’s most exciting players and an opportunity to knock that door down if the chips fall the right way. Wilmington is coming off of an APR nightmare, but should rebuild quickly under a coaching brain trust that features former UNC-Asheville head man Eddie Beidenbach and former Appalachian State boss Houston Fancher under the leadership of Buzz Peterson, who spent four years helming the Tennessee Volunteers once upon a time. The league will regain its north-south equilibrium in 2014, when Elon joins the league.
A betting man would probably choose one of the northern schools to snag this year’s auto-bid, but JMU should be back in the mix once guard Andre Nation finishes serving a 15-game suspension, just in time for conference play. Charleston, under Doug Wojick, may be primed to upset the apple cart as well.
Drexel was the preseason choice last season, and the team struggled to fulfill expectations. Fool me twice, shame on me, but with an all-league type backcourt in place, I like Drexel to come out of the pack and finally grab that brass ring that has eluded Bruiser Flint for so long.
REALIGNMENT MOVES
In: College of Charleston (SoCon)
Out: George Mason (A-10), Georgia State (Sun Belt), Old Dominion (C-USA)
PRESEASON CAA PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jerrelle Benimon, Towson
Benimon was little more than an afterthought in two seasons at Georgetown, averaging just over a point per game. After sitting out a season at Towson, he was ready to play. Oh boy, was he ready to play. With his new team on a postseason ban based on APR scores, Benimon played like he was leading his team to the Final Four anyway, averaging 17.1 points, 11.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game. The 6-foot-8, 245-lb. wrecking ball earned Player of the Year honors in his conference, and he’ll go into his senior season with a shot to lead the Tigers into the Big Dance.
Anyone want to get in his way? I thought not.
FOUR MORE NAMES TO KNOW:
- Marcus Thornton, William & Mary: Thornton’s boundless energy and 43% deep shooting mark make W&M dangerous.
- Devon Saddler, Delaware: Saddler was on the All-CAA team with Benimon last season. He’s back for more.
- Frantz Massenat, Drexel: Massenat is so tough, and so good with the ball in his hands. He’ll look to make good on last season’s promise.
- Damion Lee, Drexel: Lee battled injuries at times last season. If healthy, he and Chris Fouch can team with Massenat to wreck this league.
ONE TWITTER FEED TO FOLLOW: @caahoops
PREDICTED FINISH
1. Drexel
2. Northeastern
3. Towson
4. James Madison
5. Delaware
6. Charleston
7. William & Mary
8. Hofstra
9. Wilmington
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