2017–18 Colonial Athletic Association men's basketball season

The 2017–18 CAA men's basketball season marked the 33rd season of Colonial Athletic Association basketball, taking place between November 2017 and March 2018. Practices commenced in October 2017, and the season ended with the 2018 CAA men's basketball tournament.

2017–18 Colonial Athletic Association men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Duration	November, 2017 – March, 2018
Number of teams	10
Regular Season
Co-champions	College of Charleston, Northeastern
Runners-up	Hofstra
Season MVP	Justin Wright-Foreman
Top scorer	Justin Wright-Foreman (Hofstra)
Tournament
Champions	College of Charleston
Runners-up	Northeastern
Finals MVP	Grant Riller (Charleston)

2017–18 CAA men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
College of Charleston †	14	–	4		.778			26	–	8		.765
Northeastern	14	–	4		.778			23	–	10		.697
Hofstra	12	–	6		.667			19	–	12		.613
William & Mary	11	–	7		.611			19	–	12		.613
Towson	8	–	10		.444			18	–	14		.563
UNC Wilmington	7	–	11		.389			11	–	21		.344
Delaware	6	–	12		.333			14	–	19		.424
Drexel	6	–	12		.333			13	–	20		.394
James Madison	6	–	12		.333			10	–	22		.313
Elon	6	–	12		.333			14	–	18		.438
† 2018 CAA tournament winner

Head coaches

Coaching changes

• On March 17, 2017, head coach Kevin Keatts left UNC Wilmington to accept the head coaching position at NC State.^[1] On April 3, 2017, UNC Wilmington announced that C.B. McGrath was hired to replace Kevin Keatts as head coach.^[2]

Coaches

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Year at school	Overall record	CAA record	CAA championships	NCAA Tournaments
College of Charleston	Earl Grant	Clemson (asst.)	4	51–48	25–29	0	0
Delaware	Martin Ingelsby	Notre Dame (asst.)	2	13–20	5–13	0	0
Drexel	Zach Spiker	Army	2	9–23	3–15	0	0
Elon	Matt Matheny	Davidson (asst.)	9	126–130	23–31	0	0
Hofstra	Joe Mihalich	Niagara	5	69–64	36–34	0	0
James Madison	Louis Rowe	Bowling Green (asst.)	2	10–23	7–11	0	0
Northeastern	Bill Coen	Boston College (asst.)	12	177–174	109–87	1	1
Towson	Pat Skerry	Pittsburgh (asst.)	7	98–101	54–52	0	0
UNC Wilmington	C.B. McGrath	North Carolina (asst.)	1	0–0	0–0	0	0
William & Mary	Tony Shaver	Hampden-Sydney College	15	192–239	110–153	0	0

Notes:

• All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
• Year at school includes 2017–18 season.
• Overall and CAA records are from time at current school and are through the end of the 2016–17 season.

Preseason

Preseason poll

Source^[3]

Rank	Team
1	College of Charleston (38)
2	Towson (2)
3	Elon
4	Hofstra
5	UNC Wilmington
6	Northeastern
7	Delaware
8	William & Mary
9	Drexel
10	James Madison

() first place votes

Preseason All-Conference Teams

Source^[3]

Award	Recipients
First Team	Jarrell Brantley (Charleston) Devontae Cacok (UNCW) Joe Chealey (Charleston) Tyler Seibring (Elon) Justin Wright-Foreman (Hofstra)
Second Team	Ryan Daly (Delaware) Brian Dawkins (Elon) Rokas Gustys (Hofstra) Kurk Lee (Drexel) Mike Morsell (Towson) Grant Riller (Charleston)
Honorable Mention	Devon Begley (Northeastern) David Cohn (William & Mary) Nathan Knight (William & Mary) Jeremy Miller (Northeastern) Deshaun Morman (Towson) Eli Pemberton (Hofstra) Jordon Talley (UNCW)

Colonial Athletic Association Preseason Player of the Year: Joe Chealey (Charleston)

Regular season

Head coaches

• Earl Grant, Charleston
• Martin Ingelsby, Delaware
• Zach Spiker, Drexel
• Matt Matheny, Elon
• Joe Mihalich, Hofstra
• Louis Rowe, James Madison
• Bill Coen, Northeastern
• Pat Skerry, Towson
• C.B. McGrath, UNC Wilmington
• Tony Shaver, William & Mary

Rankings

Legend

		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week

Main article: 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

		Pre	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 17	Wk 18	Wk 19	Final
College of Charleston	AP
	C
Delaware	AP
	C
Drexel	AP
	C
Elon	AP
	C
Hofstra	AP
	C
James Madison	AP
	C
Northeastern	AP
	C
Towson	AP					RV	RV	RV
	C
UNC Wilmington	AP
	C
William & Mary	AP
	C

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.

	Charleston	Delaware	Drexel	Elon	Hofstra	James Madison	Northeastern	Towson	UNC Wilmington	William & Mary
vs. Charleston	–	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1
vs. Delaware	2–0	–	1–1	1–1	2–0	0–2	2–0	2–0	0–2	2–0
vs. Drexel	1–1	1–1	–	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–1
vs. Elon	1–1	1–1	1–1	–	1–1	2–0	2–0	0–2	2–0	2–0
vs. Hofstra	2–0	0–2	0–2	1–1	–	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–1
vs. James Madison	2–0	2–0	1–1	0–2	2–0	–	2–0	0–2	1–1	2–0
vs. Northeastern	2–0	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–2	–	0–2	0–2	0–2
vs. Towson	1–1	0–2	0–2	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	–	1–1	0–2
vs. UNC Wilmington	2–0	2–0	0–2	0–2	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	–	2–0
vs. William & Mary	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–2	2–0	2–0	0–2	–
Total	14–4	6–12	6–12	6–12	12–6	6–12	14–4	8–10	7–11	11–7

Postseason

Colonial Athletic Association tournament

Main article: 2018 CAA men's basketball tournament

• March 3–6, 2017: Colonial Athletic Association Men's Basketball Tournament, North Charleston Coliseum, North Charleston, South Carolina

NCAA tournament

Main article: 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

The CAA had one bid to the 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, that being the automatic bid of College of Charleston by winning the conference tournament.

Seed	Region	School	First Four	First round	Second round	Sweet 16	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship
13	Midwest	College of Charleston	N/A	eliminated by (4) Auburn 58–62
Bids		W-L (%):	0–0 (–)	0–1 (.000)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	TOTAL: 0–1 (.000)

National Invitation tournament

Main article: 2018 National Invitation Tournament

College Basketball Invitational

Main article: 2018 College Basketball Invitational

CollegeInsider.com Postseason tournament

Main article: 2018 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament

Awards and honors

Regular season

CAA Player-of-the-Week

• Nov. 13 – Ryan Daly (Delaware)
• Nov. 20 – Eli Pemberton (Hofstra)
• Nov. 27 – Mike Morsell (Towson), David Cohn (William & Mary)
• Dec. 4 – Connor Burchfield (William & Mary), Tramaine Isabell (Drexel)
• Dec. 11 – Justin Wright-Foreman (Hofstra)
• Dec. 18 – Stuckey Mosley (James Madison), Justin Wright-Foreman (Hofstra)(2)
• Dec. 26 – Grant Riller (Charleston)
• Jan. 2 – Nathan Knight (William & Mary)
• Jan. 8 – Nathan Knight (William & Mary)(2)
• Jan. 15 – Justin Wright-Foreman (Hofstra)(3)
• Jan. 22 – Joe Chealey (Charleston)
• Jan. 29 – Tramaine Isabell (Drexel)(2), Zane Martin (Towson)
• Feb. 5 – Joe Chealey (Charleston)(2), Tyler Seibring (Elon)
• Feb. 12 – Devontae Cacok (UNCW), Grant Riller (Charleston)(2)
• Feb. 19 – Grant Riller (Charleston)(3)
• Feb. 26 – David Cohn (William & Mary)(2), Tramaine Isabell (Drexel)(3)

CAA Rookie-of-the-Week

• Nov. 13 – Tomas Murphy (Northeastern)
• Nov. 20 – Jarvis Doles (Drexel)
• Nov. 27 – Matt Lewis (James Madison)
• Dec. 4 – Ryan Allen (Delaware)
• Dec. 11 – Jalen Ray (Hofstra)
• Dec. 18 – Kevin Anderson (Delaware)
• Dec. 26 – Kevin Anderson (Delaware)(2)
• Jan. 2 – Vasa Pusica (Northeastern)
• Jan. 8 – Matt Lewis (James Madison)(2)
• Jan. 15 – Tomas Murphy (Northeastern)(2)
• Jan. 22 – Darius Banks (James Madison)
• Jan. 29 – Matt Lewis (James Madison)(3)
• Feb. 5 – Ryan Allen (Delaware)(2)
• Feb. 12 – Ryan Allen (Delaware)(3)
• Feb. 19 – Matt Lewis (James Madison)(4)
• Feb. 26 – Jalen Ray (Hofstra)(2)

Postseason

CAA All-Conference Teams and Awards

^[4]

Award	Recipients
Player of the Year	Justin Wright-Foreman (Hofstra)
Coach of the Year	Bill Coen (Northeastern)
Rookie of the Year	Ryan Allen (Delaware)
Defensive Player of the Year	Shawn Occeus (Northeastern)
Sixth Man of the Year	Bolden Brace (Northeastern)
Dean Ehlers Leadership Award	Tyler Seibring (Elon)
Scholar-Athlete of the Year	Paul Rowley (William & Mary)
First Team	Devontae Cacok (UNCW) Joe Chealey (Charleston) Vasa Pusica (Northeastern) Grant Riller (Charleston) Justin Wright-Foreman (Hofstra)
Second Team	Jarrell Brantley (Charleston) Tramaine Isabell (Drexel) Nathan Knight (William & Mary) Zane Martin (Towson) Tyler Seibring (Elon)
Third Team	David Cohn (William & Mary) Ryan Daly (Delaware) Rokas Gustys (Hofstra) Stuckey Mosley (James Madison) Justin Pierce (William & Mary) Jordon Talley (UNCW)
All-Defensive Team	Devontae Cacok (UNCW) Cameron Johnson (Charleston) Nathan Knight (William & Mary) Shawn Occeus (Northeastern) Austin Williams (Drexel)
All-Rookie Team	Ryan Allen (Delaware) Darius Banks (James Madison) Matt Lewis (James Madison) Tomas Murphy (Northeastern) Jalen Ray (Hofstra)
All-Academic Team
All-Tournament Team	Jarrell Brantley (Charleston) Joe Chealey (Charleston) Nathan Knight (William & Mary) Shawn Occeus (Northeastern) Vasa Pusica (Northeastern)
Tournament MVP	Grant Riller (Charleston)

Attendance

Team	Arena	Capacity	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5	Game 6	Game 7	Game 8	Total	Average	% of Capacity
			Game 9	Game 10	Game 11	Game 12	Game 13	Game 14	Game 15	Game 16
Charleston	TD Arena	5,100	4,955	3,889	3,233	3,227	3,195	4,343	2,894	3,705	58,795	3,920	77%
			3,649	4,045	4,030	3,857	4,219	4,809	4,745
Delaware	Bob Carpenter Center	5,100	2,880	2,119	2,326	4,737	1,922	2,450	2,280	2,388	41,367	2,758	54%
			1,948	2,350	4,737	2,828	2,368	2,547	3,487
Drexel	Daskalakis Athletic Center	2,509	2,504	738	617	1,010	652	704	679	833	13,846	989	39%
			843	1,526	705	825	1,116	1,094
Elon	Alumni Gym	1,607	1,386	1,490	1,534	1,386	1,607	1,309	1,833	1,855	20,757	1,597	99%
			1,647	1,719	1,553	1,847	1,591
Hofstra	Hofstra Arena	5,023	2,703	1,013	1,209	1,062	2,012	1,514	1,361	1,952	22,800	1,900	38%
			2,508	2,102	2,312	3,052
James Madison	JMU Convocation Center	6,426	4,598	2,451	2,062	2,965	2,439	2,308	2,050	2,938	37,305	2,665	41%
			2,190	2,611	4,538	1,038	2,454	2,663
Northeastern	Matthews Arena	6,000	1,014	1,376	974	779	1,600	692	2,259	782	15,903	1,136	19%
			901	1,106	1,341	990	1,129	960
Towson	SECU Arena	5,200	1,175	878	2,456	1,632	1,251	1,410	1,257	1,333	20,331	1,564	30%
			1,307	2,076	2,263	2,022	1,271
UNC Wilmington	Trask Coliseum	5,200	4,663	4,415	4,236	3,865	3,931	3,367	4,006	4,405	55,442	4,265	82%
			3,988	4,384	5,200	4,173	4,809
William & Mary	Kaplan Arena	8,600	2,001	1,005	2,423	1,727	2,880	3,784	3,673	3,958	46,147	3,296	38%
			4,044	3,508	3,758	5,825	3,912	3,649