2025 CAA Conference Basketball Tournament

For the fourth straight year, the 2025 CAA Conference Tournament is at the CareFirst Arena in Washington D.C. All 14 teams will participate in the conference tournament to determine the lone NCAA Tournament berth coming out of this conference. Charleston is the reigning two-time champion, after taking down an overtime thriller against Stony Brook last year.

Remember, this is the Coastal Athletic Association now, as opposed to the old Colonial Athletic Association, a name change that took place in July 2023. We’ve also seen a lot of member movement in this conference over the last few years and more will probably come at some point.

 

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Towson cut down the nets as the regular season champion, but this is a deep and talented conference, so this should be a lot of fun to follow.

How to Watch the CAA Conference Tournament

When: March 7-11

Where: CareFirst Arena in Washington D.C.

Format: Seeds 5-10 get byes to the second round; top four get byes to Quarterfinals

Watch: FloHoops and CBSSN; Championship Game on CBS Sports Network on Mar. 11 at 7 p.m. ET

College Basketball Odds | College Basketball Betting Splits | Greg Peterson’s Daily Lines | Steve Makinen’s Power Ratings

CAA Conference Tournament Bracket

CAA Conference Tournament Seeds, Teams and Odds

1. Towson (+450)

2. UNC Wilmington (+200)

3. Charleston (+380)

4. William & Mary (+850)

5. Campbell (+1300)

6. Monmouth (+5000)

7. Northeastern (+1700)

8. Drexel (+1400)

9. Elon (+1600)

10. Hampton (+2200)

11. Hofstra (+3000)

12. Delaware (+4500)

13. Stony Brook (+25000)

14. North Carolina A&T (+25000)

(odds from DraftKings Sportsbook accurate at time of publish)

Favorite To Win CAA Conference Tournament

Towson is the most balanced team in this league, coming in second in adjusted offensive efficiency and fourth in adjusted defensive efficiency per Bart Torvik. UNC Wilmington was the top offense during the regular season, but ranked sixth on defense. Charleston is also a top five team in both offense and defense, so that’s why we don’t really have an obvious favorite out of the CAA.

But, UNC Wilmington is the consensus top-ranked team for Torvik, KenPom, and Erik Haslam of Haslametrics, so they are the favorite, despite coming in as the No. 2 seed. Both Torvik and KenPom actually have big gaps between the Seahawks and the next best team, which is Towson for KP and Charleston for Torvik.

In terms of head-to-head results for the top three teams, UNC Wilmington lost the lone meeting against Towson in overtime and beat Charleston twice, once by two points on the road and the other time by 20 at home. Charleston also only played Towson once and won by eight at home. By virtue of only playing UNCW and Charleston once, Towson was 14th out of 14 teams in strength of schedule.

CAA Conference Tournament Darkhorse

Hampton comes in playing some really good basketball, including a win over UNC Wilmington on Feb. 22 to get revenge for a 21-point loss on Jan. 25. The Pirates also played Towson very tough in the regular season finale. I don’t think they’re good enough to make a deep run here and would need way more than 22/1 to invest in a future. However, a moneyline rollover would be a more attractive return on investment.

Elon has mostly been in freefall mode, losing six of their last eight, but the two wins in that span were UNC Wilmington and Towson. Unfortunately, Nick Dorn and TJ Simpkins have both been out lately. Dorn has been out since Feb. 13 and Simpkins missed the last three regular season games. Keep an eye on the news to see if they’ll be back. They are the most interesting long shot at 16/1.

Players to Watch in CAA Conference Tournament

Balanced scoring is a part of the CAA equation. There are 36 players in this conference that average double figures, led by Monmouth guard Abdi Bashir Jr. with 20.3 PPG. The conference’s best player, though, is probably Charleston’s Ante Brzovic, who is second in PPG with 18.5 and third in RPG with 8.2. CJ Fulton (6.6 APG) and Derrin Boyd (13.7 PPG) are two other Cougar names to know.

Elon has three scorers in the top 10, as TK Simpkins (16.2 PPG), Nick Dorn (15.2 PPG), and TJ Simpkins (14.7 PPG) all rank highly, plus Sam Sherry (14.2 PPG) is in the top 15. The Phoenix definitely have plenty of scoring options, but they’ve only shot 32% from 3 in conference play. And, as mentioned above, Dorn and TJ Simpkins have been out lately.
Tyler Tejada (16.8 PPG) is the top scorer for Towson, while UNC Wilmington is led by a committee-based approach, spearheaded by leading scorer Donovan Newby (14.4 PPG).

Betting Pick to Win The CAA Conference Tournament

I don’t know that Towson ultimately wins the conference tournament, but their +450 price being on the top of the bracket where they likely play the winner of William & Mary vs. Campbell is more favorable than the crash course that UNC Wilmington and Charleston are on in the bottom of the bracket. I also think UNCW has an interesting game against the Northeastern/Hampton winner. Hofstra isn’t good this season, but that could be an intriguing Quarterfinal matchup if the Pride can beat NC A&T and an over-seeded Monmouth team.

I think riding Towson into the Finals at +450 is the best course of action. The Tigers were +6.5 at Charleston on Jan. 4 and +5.5 at UNCW on Jan. 2. I would guess that UNCW and Charleston are -4 or -4.5 or so in the title game, giving a good hedging opportunity on the moneyline if you don’t trust Towson.

Pick: Towson +450

Makinen Power Ratings for CAA Conference

  • Small favorites of -4.5 points or fewer are on a strong run in the CAA tourney, boasting a 31-13 SU and 28-13-3 ATS (68.3%) since 2016.
  • Teams off a bye taking on teams that already played in the CAA tourney are on a 23-4 SU and 16-11 ATS (59.3%) run over the last 11 years.

More Steve Makinen Conference Tournament Betting Trends.

Check out the other previews in our 2025 College Basketball Conference Tournament Betting Guide.

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