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Five teams now within two games of each other at the top of the CAA standings as January ends

All 14 Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) teams were in action Thursday night, and there were plenty of good games to go around. Stony Brook, with just one win in conference, went into Charleston and played the CAA’s defending champs to the wire. Current league leaders Towson went on the road to Delaware and used a 47-point second half to pick up a comeback win over the Blue Hens. UNC Wilmington dominated a winless NC A&T team down its top two scorers to move to 7-2 in CAA play. Campbell had the most stunning victory over the night, defeating William & Mary 96-55 to move to 6-3 in conference play and the Tribe just its second loss in CAA play.

Those were the four games that affected the title race, but we also saw history in the Drexel/Monmouth matchup. Monmouth’s Abdi Bashir Jr. put up 32 in the win, but wasn’t even his team’s leading scorer, as Madison Burr scored 40 points, achieving a remarkable stat line as he hit ten of his 11 shots from the field and shot 19-19 from the free throw line on the night.

As for what the title race is shaping up to be this season, Towson now has a one game advantage on Charleston, UNCW, and William & Mary, with a red-hot Campbell team who has won its last four (three by 20+) just a game further back.

Taking a deeper look into how Towson has got to the top, the Tigers have stayed consistent with what’s worked for Pat Skerry over his 14-year tenure. Extremely slow pace and a high-level defense have been the focal points for Towson under Skerry and are once again in full effect. Towson’s offense currently ranks outside the top 200 at KenPom, but the defense is up to 135th and the pace ranks 351st out of 364 Division I teams. Last year’s CAA Rookie of the Year, Tyler Tejada, has become the star for the Tigers in his sophomore season, up to 16.7 ppg including 21 points in a road win over UNCW in the conference opener.

Hot on Towson’s tail and the only team to have beaten the Tigers in conference play, Charleston in year one under Chris Mack has played at a high level since November, outside of a tough road loss to Monmouth. On paper, this Charleston team is the best in the conference in my eyes but have a small handful of tough games left on the CAA schedule that could make it hard for the Cougars to jump ahead of Towson. The Cougars also boast the man who almost assuredly will finish as the CAA Player of the Year in forward Ante Brzovic. Next to Johni Broome and Cooper Flagg, Brzovic is one of three players in the country to average north of 18 ppg and 8 rpg, with numbers at 18.3 ppg and 8.4 rpg after last night’s win over Stony Brook.

Brzovic gives something to Charleston that few CAA teams have to offer with an elite post presence offensively, but what makes him so effective is the group of guards around him. Deywilk Tavarez (14.1 ppg, 43.9% 3P), Derrin Boyd (13.7 ppg), and AJ Smith (11.8 ppg) all transferred in this season, and now all score in double figures for Charleston to provide balance that no other team in the CAA can match on the perimeter. All of this perimeter scoring and I haven’t even mentioned the guy who holds this Charleston team together, point guard CJ Fulton. Fulton’s numbers don’t jump off the page, as the senior point guard from Belfast, Ireland averages 7.6 ppg and 6.3 apg, but his decision making is among the best in college basketball, and he can set up all of the scorers around him with ease. A perfect example of a Fulton stat line came in last night’s game against Stony Brook, as Fulton scored just two points on three shots in 39 minutes but grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out 11 assists for an unorthodox double-double.

Charleston’s other loss came at home on January 23, when it fell to UNCW. Not a bad loss by any means though, as the Seahawks have jumped up to 7-2 in conference play with five straight wins and currently rank highest at KenPom of the 14 teams in the conference. The Seahawks are led by Donovan Newby, a fifth-year guard who has taken a big jump to become the team’s leading scorer this season at 15.8 ppg. Newby has struggled over the last stretch of games for UNCW, but the team has relied on extremely balanced scoring, with nine guys all above 5.0 ppg and a breakout from junior forward Khamari McGriff, who has 19 and 16 in the last two games. The Seahawks won’t get another chance at Towson, who they lost to in the conference opener at home, but host Charleston on February 13 in a game that could have monster CAA postseason implications.

William & Mary has fallen off the pace in the lost four games, losing road matchups with UNCW and Campbell, but the Tribe’s 5-0 start to conference play still has them right in the hunt when it comes to the title race. A style that has its pros and cons, William & Mary has extreme balance and great depth with its leading scorer at Gabe Dorsey at just 12.5 ppg, but its tempo that ranks top 20 nationally at KenPom has led to its defense being ranked sub-300. Nonetheless, it’s an amazing style of basketball to watch and has helped Brian Earl to success at Cornell, where he installed this style during the off year for Ivy League programs in 2020-21. Now in year one at W&M, Earl is hoping to finish the CAA regular season strong, even though the Tribe still have eight matchups with top 200 KenPom teams of nine games remaining, the most of any CAA team.

Campbell entered the title race talks last night with its 96-55 drubbing of William & Mary and have as good of chance as any team to make it interesting late in the season, as the Fighting Camels finish the regular season with games against Towson, UNCW, and Charleston in the final week of the season. Colby Duggan (14.1 ppg) and Jasin Sinani (13.1 ppg, 5.2 rpg) are the only two players averaging double figures for the Camels, a team under Kevin McGeehan which has prided itself on defense this season – not usually a trademark for McGeehan. Now riding a high on a four-game win streak, highlighted by last night’s big win, Campbell is 6-3 in conference and climbing with three games left in a four-game homestand.

Exactly halfway through conference play, it could still be any of these teams to take home the regular season title, but regardless of who takes home the regular season crown, all eyes will be on Washington D.C. for the CAA Tournament from March 7-11 to see if anyone can dethrone Charleston’s back-to-back tournament championships.

Conference Standings (Top 6)

• Towson 13-9 (8-1)
• UNCW 17-5 (7-2)
• Charleston 17-5 (7-2)
• William & Mary 13-9 (7-2)
• Campbell 11-11 (6-3)
• Elon 14-8 (5-4)