CAA Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 10: The Hofstra Pride celebrate winning the CAA Men's Basketball Tournament - Championship college basketball game against the Northeastern Huskies at the Entertainment & Sports Arena on March 10, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /

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Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images /

6. Charleston Cougars

Is there life after Grant Riller at Charleston? The Cougars are about to find out the hard way that it’s not easy to replace a three-time All-CAA First Team talent.

Riller averaged 21.9 points per game last season, more than ten points ahead of the next highest scorer on the team. That runner-up was Brevin Galloway, who will be the senior leader of Earl Grant’s team in 2020-21. He averaged 11.3 points per game and made the CAA All-Defensive Team.

There’s actually a good amount of veteran leadership sticking around, with four seniors on the 2020-21 roster. That will be important since there will also be four freshmen on the roster next season.

Zep Jasper is an unheralded player to watch. As a sophomore, Jasper averaged 7.6 points per game and made 36.4 percent of his three-point attempts. If he can take steps forward in both of those categories this season, he could become the key player for the Cougars.

The Cougars have been a top tier team in the CAA for several years now. The last time they finished outside of the top four in the conference was in 2015-16 when they finished in seventh. But they’ve been on a steady downturn since their NCAA Tournament appearance in 2018. They’ll surely tick back up in no time.

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