A tournament vying for a team to contend in the play-in. Last season, the College of Charleston punched a ticket and left a mark on the NCAA Tournament. The stakes have never been higher for these teams. Here is my CAA Tournament preview, picks, and best bets!
2024 CAA Tournament Preview, Picks, and Best Bets
The Coastal Athletic Association, once known as the Colonial Athletic Association, has seen some challengers this season for a conference dominated by Charleston. Everyone will have their chance to punch a ticket to March Madness in Washington, DC, where all CAA Tournament games will be played.
This conference has seen multiple players transfer from a season ago to larger programs, as Aaron Estrada (Hofstra), Jameer Nelson (Delaware), and Nick Timberlake (Towson) are with power-five schools this season.
Although they are a shell of themselves as a conference as teams and players continually shift – this conference still gets an automatic bid as 14 teams battle it out.
Conference Tournament Champion Odds Via DraftKings Sportsbook
Charleston +200
Hofstra +360
UNC-Wilmington +360
Drexel +450
Delaware +1900
Towson +1900
Monmouth +2000
Stony Brook +3000
Northeastern +7500
Campbell +20000
William and Mary +25000
North Carolina A&T +25000
Hampton +25000
Elon +25000
Tournament Favorite – Charleston +200
Charleston is a perennial powerhouse that plays fast. However, they aren’t the same team they were a year ago. They rank first in just about every quantifiable offensive KenPom metric, but sacrifice some defense to do so.
They were by far the most dominant team in the conference last year and have coincidentally lost three conference games to the teams below. Charleston had to go through the next two teams last year. I’d bet against Charleston repeating and look for longer odds.
Second Favorite – UNC-Wilmington +360
UNC-Wilmington should have been the top seed in this tournament, as they swept Charleston in the regular season. With their bye in this tournament, they’ll have valuable time off to come together and regroup from a rough second half of February.
Trazarien White is the type of player who can take you on a magical run. There’s an argument that UNC-W is the top team in the conference, and the seeding is a result of dead legs toward the home stretch. We will see what the time off does for them.
Dark Horse Pick – Towson +1900
This is overloaded to one side of the bracket. However, Towson has the artillery to catch the top teams off guard on back-to-back days with games. This tournament is nonstop, and Towson will have momentum going into a game with their next opponent.
According to KenPom, Towson is the best defensive team in the conference, and they make you beat them with threes. Teams can go cold, especially as the legs start to give out on Day 2/3 of these tournaments.
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