Busting Brackets
Fansided

CAA Basketball: 2020 conference tournament preview and predictions

By Holden Walter-Warner

BALTIMORE, MD - MARCH 07: Flags of the schools line the wall during the Colonial Athletic Conference Championship college basketball game tournament between the North Carolina-Wilmington Seahawks and the Hofstra Pride at Royal Farms Arena on March 7, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - MARCH 07: Flags of the schools line the wall during the Colonial Athletic Conference Championship college basketball game tournament between the North Carolina-Wilmington Seahawks and the Hofstra Pride at Royal Farms Arena on March 7, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 7
Next
SYRACUSE, NY – DECEMBER 04: Jordan Roland #12 of the Northeastern Huskies reacts to a made basket and foul against the Syracuse Orange during the first half at the Carrier Dome on December 4, 2018 in Syracuse, New York. (Photo by Rich Barnes/Getty Images)
SYRACUSE, NY – DECEMBER 04: Jordan Roland #12 of the Northeastern Huskies reacts to a made basket and foul against the Syracuse Orange during the first half at the Carrier Dome on December 4, 2018 in Syracuse, New York. (Photo by Rich Barnes/Getty Images) /

Key players

SR Jordan Roland – Northeastern

2019-20 stats: 22.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.7 apg

Jordan Roland enters his final CAA Tournament as the conference’s leading scorer at 22.7 points per game. He’s particularly adept from deep, just a miss or two away from knocking down 40 percent of his 3-point shots for the third straight season. The guard was on last year’s team that defeated Hofstra in the CAA Tournament final.

SR Grant Riller – Charleston

2019-20 stats: 21.7 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 3.9 apg

Grant Riller is arguably the best all-around player in the conference. The forward was actually the CAA Tournament MVP two years ago and if he can replicate that performance, he’ll be the first two-time winner of the award since VCU’s Eric Maynor did it in 2009. He was a sophomore on the 2017-18 team that put a scare into 4-seed Auburn in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament.

SR Nathan Knight – William & Mary

2019-20 stats: 20.6 ppg, 10.5 rpg, 1.8 apg

The amount of elite seniors possibly playing their last games of college basketball during the CAA Tournament is insane. Nathan Knight averaged a double-double this season, bullying the Tribe into second place in the CAA, their best finish since the 2014-15 season. Knight is one of the hardest players to stop in the conference.