Anonymously Scouting the CAA Tournament
Assistant coaches from around the league offer up their scouting reports
With the CAA Tournament tipping off on Friday, we wanted to get the unfiltered scoop on what we’ll be watching in Washington without the flowery compliments and coach-speak that often plague these sorts of stories.
Thankfully, we were fortunate to speak with a few coaches from around the league that offered their honest assessments of each team on the condition of anonymity.
(Recent Perchcast participant and Towson head coach Pat Skerry is not the source here, by the way, nor are UNCW coaches.)
These are their words, edited only for length and clarity with teams presented in order by seed.
No. 1 Towson
They really don't have any holes; physical and they’ve got two elite shooters in May and Tejada. He’s having a player of the year type of year; he's got such great size, shoot over top of you.
Dylan Williamson can go make the biggest shot on anybody in the conference at the end of the shot clock, at the end of half. When the game's on the line, the clock goes down, Dylan Williamson does not miss. They’ve got enough rebounders inside. This is why you can't beat them: because they do not turn the basketball over; they do not turn the basketball over, they're not giving it to the other team. They're not making it easy on anybody; you have to beat them, you have to earn everything. (Nendah) Tarke, Tarke’s pretty damn good too, now.
Because of the way they play offensively, you know, you're never really out of it. They don't run super fast. I'm not saying they can't blow people out, but some teams,like Charleston, William and Mary, Wilmington, they might knock down those threes and they can beat the brakes off of you. Then there's certain teams. It's like, they're not going to play fast enough to just destroy you.
Maybe zone is the way to beat them. But when those dudes don't make shots you have to rebound, you’ve got to be ready for physical contact in that game. You can't be afraid to hit; got to be ready to box out, you’ve got to have some bodies.
No. 2 UNCW
Man, they're tough. I honestly think this is Takayo’s best coaching job; I've only seen him for three years, but like, shit, he's got two bigs. He's getting the most out of (Khamari) McGriff. And the big boy (Harlan Obioha) … man, he's a horse. They've changed the way they play defense to benefit him (with) ball screen defense ... they're doing the drop and down covers, keeping him like under the three point line; they're not getting extended.
I love Sean Moore; I think that kid is tough. Then you got a guy like Greedy (Williams) that's just crazy enough to go make a play and not care, then you’ve got one of the elite shooters in (Donovan) Newby. You’ve got two guys, Noah Ross and Nolan Hodge, that know their roles, and Ross plays his ass off and he doesn’t care about all the glory and glamour; he just goes and makes winning plays.
So, you can throw it in there to McGriff and then go get a jump hook, and you got a guy that can do that, you’ve got a chance
No. 3 Charleston
As long as they’ve got Charleston across their chest, they're always going to be dangerous. The preseason player of the year (Ante Brzovic) on the roster, he's going to be consistent.
If they can get something out of AJ Smith and Derrin Boyd, they'll be hard to handle. (CJ) Fulton sets the table, obviously. Can Boyd, Smith, (Deywilk) Tavarez, make enough shots to help out Ante in the middle?
They run a lot of stuff. So, guarding their stuff, it depends on how you play them. It's kind of funky; I think if they were to spread the ball, spread the floor a little bit more and let those guys just play and go downhill instead of running so much stuff, I think they could be even better. Not that I don’t think they’re good now, but I think they could, you know, that could probably be three wins better.
I haven't seen every game, but just my experience watching them, they want to get up and down, so you’ve got to limit their transition. You can't be afraid to just attack them and make them defend; you’ve got to make the guards defend you. It depends on what kind of team you have: if you've got two or three guards that can touch the paint with the penetration, then it puts them in a little bit of a bind. I think also, attacking them is like getting the big kids in ball screens, attacking them in ball screens. I think they do have an occasional weakness, making the big guys guard the ball screen.
No. 4 William & Mary
They’re having a really good year, older team. Super, super talented kid in (Gabe) Dorsey, shooting over 40 percent from three and made 90 on the season. Chase Lowe is tough; just a really good team.
They play super free and they know their roles. (Keller) Boothby knows how to play, he knows what to do; he can make just enough shots, but he's also a real good defender the way they like to press. I really love the point guard, (Matteus) Case; not the best shooter, but can get to the rim, knows how to push the basketball and he's the engine that gets the whole thing going.
Their style of play, man, their style can pick people off at any time. Obviously, the thing they struggle with all year is playing away from home. I mean, they are phenomenal; only lost two home games all season. So they've had a really good year. So it's kind of like, can that style of play carry over to a neutral court?
No. 5 Campbell
They're tough. Losing that guard (Jasin Sinani) is a tough, bad break for them. They're physical defensively, and they will make you guard because they're going to run their point offense and you're going to have to stay in-tune because they'll cut you up with back cuts and stuff.
They've done a good job. I think they've had a couple of tough breaks here at the end of the year, just with the injuries and losing that guard – he was kind of the heart and soul of their team, but they still have enough pieces, and that Colby Duggan kid can really play. I mean, if he scores 32 at the Dean Dome, he can do that against anybody on any given night coming up this weekend.
No. 6 Monmouth
They're super explosive. They’re sneaky because they’ve got great size at every position; they don't have anybody short or small. Their starting five is all long, big, good-looking kids. Good wingspan
They’ve got two dudes that can score it; one elite, high-major scorer (Abdi Bashir) and they’ve got a point guard (Madison Durr) that's a load, downhill driver. (Jack) Collins is a phenomenal player both ends of the floor defensively and offensively, and then the big kid, Dok (Muordar), he’s got a lot of length he challenges everything around the rim. Then, (Cornelius) Robinson’s tough; he's undersized but he's a workhorse. They’ve got a good team. Bashir could carry them, and if they can get some production out of two or three guys, can they can make a run in this tournament.
You’ve got to be in-tune and locked in on Bashir, first of all. You’ve got to have somebody that the whole time is just ‘Go find him and transition.’ You can't give him open space. You’ve got to force him to dribble the basketball and take shot off the dribble.
Then, then you’ve just got to limit the rest of those guys. Can't let, you can't let Durr (get to the free throw line.) I mean, this sounds crazy, but there's about an 85 to 90 percent free throw shooter. If he gets to the line, it's two points. So you’ve got to guard an elite shooter, first of all, and then you’ve got to guard a point guard that can get to the rim and have size over a lot of guys. It's just, ‘Does Bashir get some help consistently from other guys?’ If he does, they can make it to Monday night.
No. 7 Northeastern
Northeastern is tougher than leather; big, physical team, got just enough playmakers and shooting. Rashad King can go off, won the game the other night. Harold Woods is tough, L.A. Pratt is a good player and has some good gifts. Then, J.B. Frankel, he can shoot the cover off the ball, so they’ve got four guys and can score it and Collin Metcalf anchors their defense,
Typical Northeastern CAA team; get you into a grudge match. You’ve got to pick up the tempo against Northeastern; if you play it slow down like Hampton, you'll be in for a bruising fight all night. Like when you play Hampton, you’ve got to get them going up and down; you don't want to sit there and have to guard them for 30 seconds.
No. 8 Drexel
First of all, Drexel's got to take care of the basketball. They don't play at a very fast tempo, if they turn the ball over a lot, they could be in trouble.
They do have, they have two or three guys (Jason Drake, Kobe MaGee, Yame Butler) that are really good at attacking off the dribble. Some of it comes down to consistency in the shooting and just if they take care of the ball, I mean, they want to play a slower game as well. They're pretty good defensively. You can't allow Drexel to run their stuff. A lot of teams like to pressure them and change the defense and overplay them and stuff. Can't just let them run their stuff and be in control of the offense.
No. 9 Elon
Obviously, a lot of size, unique in the fact that they play a lot of zone and zone press, and constantly put a lot of pressure on them by the fact that they shoot a lot of threes, and they will shoot them quick. But they do have a really, really good size advantage in the front line, elite shot-blocker (Matthew Van Komen) in the middle. Two really good guards to control the game as well in the backcourt.
I think you have to do a really good job on Sam Sherry to start – and you’ve got to hold your own with the (T.K. and T.J.) Simpkins twins – but you’ve got to limit Sam Sherry. From an offensive standpoint, attacking them, you can't stand around. You still have to be aggressive and gas many paint touches even though they're playing zone. Maybe try to pick up the tempo a little bit against them as well.
No. 10 Hampton
They have two guards (Noah Farrakhan and George Beale) that can, any given night, go nuts on you with a lot of makes. You have Farrakhan who's obviously been at the highest levels, out of high school a four- or five-star player; he can get a bucket.
Any time you're in a tournament format, and you’ve got four or five kids that know how to rebound and be physical and you've got one or two that can score the ball, that's a good thing. Coach Thomas does a good job of getting them into things and they are pretty sneaky good at pressing. They run and jump at different times throughout the game to get people; that'll catch you off-kilter at times.
No. 11 Hofstra
They're both (Jean Aranguren and Cruz Davis) tough, a little streaky. They're the best defensive team in this conference. Some of that might be due to offensive style play as well, but they're going to be physical and stuff. Can they hold on to a lead? They've had some tough losses in different ways this year. What's their collective mindset?
I like them to advance past A&T. Those guards are good but they take a lot of tough twos. So they’ve got to shoot a lot of shots because they don't shoot that many threes – I think that's why their scoring is really low. So you got two really good guards, but they don't really shoot the three ball as much as other guards in the league. So, I think that limits some of their (offense).
I don't think I don't think, with the way they play defense, they're ever out of the game. But the way they play offense, the other team’s not either. I think for them to win, they’ve got to hold people around 50-55. I don't know if they’ve got enough firepower to get past Monmouth.
No. 12 Delaware
Very offensive-minded bunch. They’ve got a lot of guys that can shoot it, in all positions. John Camden can really shoot it. (Cavan) Reilly having a great year. Transfer they got in, (Erik) Timko, good player. Depends on what they get out of Niels Lane. You’ve got to jump on them early.
All this whole thing is about matchups, but I like their chances in the first two games. I think they got a pretty favorable draw, considering the injuries Campbell has … I wouldn't be surprised if they're playing Sunday. If Delaware and William & Mary connect on Sunday afternoon, that could be in the hundreds.
No. 13 Stony Brook
They’re really, really experienced on the analytics part, got two guards (CJ Luster and Collin O’Connor) that are pretty good players. They’re a little undersized on the front line and a little bit of a lack of experience there as well.
I noticed the other day they were playing a freshman (Nick Woodard) a lot against Elon, which it worked out really well, but it just depends. I mean, the point guard's a really good player, O'Connor, but he struggles to shoot the ball, so they’ve kind of got to figure out ways to get him some easier downhill drives to score so Luster doesn't have to do all the scoring and carry the biggest load.
To take Luster away, I think, kind of limits them offensively in some ways. Coach (Geno) Ford's great about, having those guys play freely – made the championship last year out of the seventh seed. They’ve been playing better lately, so that’s interesting, it just depends on what they get out of the front line.
No. 14 NC A&T
It's one of those things where they lose two guys with suspension, they start playing better. Like you look at the scores from February 6, up until about the Stony Brook win, their scores were all pretty tight – Charleston, Campbell, two close losses without those guys – then they get a win at Elon.
Now, I think the fun has worn off, like you look at it, and they’re struggling to score in the last two games. So, Northeastern holds them into 55, Hofstra holds them to 49. Jahnathan Lamothe, he's really broken out since he's gotten more minutes, more opportunities, he's showing what he can do. The Greek kid, Nikolaos (Chitikoudis), is really tough. I mean, he's got some all-league numbers; he plays hard. I think he has the respect of everybody in the league; rebounds it well, just a tough kid. Then the point guard, (Camian Shell) he does a great job of running the show.
Monte (Ross) does a good job with what he’s working with right now. Unfortunately, he doesn't have everybody, but he's keeping the scores low to try to give his kids a chance and doing what he’s got to do.
