CAA Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season

4. Northeastern Huskies

Northeastern is another CAA team forced to replace a legendary player in program history. In fact, the Huskies will need to replace two in Jordan Roland and Bolden Brace. Tomas Murphy also departed the program, choosing to transfer to Vermont.

Luckily for Northeastern, the next star of the team is already on the roster. That would be guard Tyson Walker, who averaged 10.4 points and 3.4 assists per game last season en route to an appearance on the CAA All-Rookie Team. He also averaged 1.8 steals per game, good for third in the conference, and could make a run at one of the All-CAA teams this season.

Beyond Walker, this will be a big developmental year for Northeastern. There’s currently not a single senior on the team’s roster, which is made up of five freshmen, four sophomores, and three juniors; Northeastern will almost certainly be a force to be reckoned with a year from now.

Their preseason power ranking is not just based on the talent of Walker, though. It’s also based on the talent of their coach, Bill Coen. He’s entering his 15th season as the team’s coach and has never put out a team that has won less than 11 games in a season.

The last time he had a team that finished more than a game under .500 was 2013-14, Coen’s worst overall year with the program (and they still went 7-9 in CAA play). Coen is probably the best coach in the conference and can lead the Huskies to play above their pedigree in any given year.