Northeastern Favored To Win CAA Men's Basketball Championship

10/17/2018 12:00:00 PM

Rob Washburn

RICHMOND, Va. (October 17, 2018) – Northeastern, which returns all five starters from last year’s 23-win squad, is favored to claim the CAA men’s basketball championship in 2018-19 according to a vote of the league’s coaches, media relations directors and media members.

The Huskies, who received 35 first-place votes, were followed in the voting by defending CAA champion Charleston (5 first-place votes), Hofstra and William & Mary. UNCW was selected fifth, followed by James Madison, Delaware, Elon, Drexel and Towson.

Northeastern went 23-10 overall, earned a share of the CAA regular-season title and advanced to the CAA championship game in 2017-18. The Huskies are led by senior point guard Vasa Pusica, who earned first-team All-CAA honors after ranking eighth in the league in scoring (17.9 ppg) and third in assists (5.1 apg). Junior guard Shawn Occeus contributed 10.8 ppg and made a league-high 64 steals to garner CAA Defensive Player of the Year accolades. Also back in the starting lineup are junior guards Donnell Gresham (9.1 ppg) and Maxime Boursiquot (6.3 ppg) and senior post player Anthony Green (6.5 ppg/3.8 rpg). NU has plenty of depth as well with junior guard Bolden Brace (7.9 ppg/4.7 rpg), the CAA Sixth Man of the Year, and sophomore forward Tomas Murphy (6.6 ppg), who made the CAA All-Rookie team last season.

Charleston returns three starters from last year’s 26-8 team that captured the CAA regular-season and tournament titles for the first time and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999. The Cougars feature a pair of all-conference standouts in junior guard Grant Riller and senior forward Jarrell Brantley. Riller ranked fourth in the league in scoring (18.6 ppg) and made the All-CAA first team, while Brantley tallied 17.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per contest to gain a spot on the All-CAA second team. They are joined in the starting lineup by senior forward Nick Harris (5.9 ppg/6.5 rpg). Also back for the Cougars are senior point guard Marquise Pointer (5.7 ppg) and junior forward Jaylen McManus (3.3 ppg).

Hofstra is coming off a 19-12 campaign and has four starters back. Headlining that group is senior guard Justin Wright-Foreman, the 2017-18 CAA Player of the Year, who ranked fifth in the nation in scoring (24.4 ppg), knocked down a CAA-best 96 three-pointers and was ninth in the league in assists (3.2 apg). Joining him in the backcourt are junior Eli Pemberton, who was among the CAA’s top 20 in scoring (15.9 ppg) and rebounding (4.8 rpg), and senior point guard Desure Buie (6.4 ppg/3.3 apg). Also back for the Pride are junior forward Stafford Trueheart (3.8 ppg/2.6 rpg) and sophomore guard Jalen Ray (6.9 ppg), who made the CAA All-Rookie team.

William & Mary has three double-digit scorers back from last year’s 19-12 squad that became the first in NCAA history to shoot better than 50% from the floor, 40% from three and 80% from the line in a season. Junior forward Nathan Knight made the All-CAA second team after finishing among the league’s top 10 in scoring (18.5 ppg), rebounding (7.3 rpg) and blocks (2.0 bpg), while junior wing Justin Pierce contributed 14.7 points and 8.6 rebounds per contest and was a third-team All-CAA selection. The Tribe also returns junior guard Matt Milon (13.0 ppg) and senior forward Paul Rowley (6.2 ppg), who combined to make 125 treys.

UNCW welcomes back three starters from a team that advanced to the semifinals of the CAA Tournament a year ago. Senior forward Devontae Cacok received first-team All-CAA accolades after leading the nation with 13.5 rebounds per game and also contributing 17.7 points per contest. Returning to the Seahawks’ backcourt are juniors Ty Taylor (13.6 ppg) and Jaylen Fornes (11.8 ppg).

Hofstra’s Wright-Foreman was selected as the CAA Preseason Player of the Year. He was joined on the preseason All-CAA first team by CofC’s Brantley and Riller, UNCW’s Cacok and NU’s Pusica.

Voted to the preseason second team were W&M’s Knight and Pierce, Hofstra’s Pemberton, James Madison senior guard Stuckey Mosley (18.4 ppg) and Elon senior forward Tyler Seibring (15.4 ppg/6.8 rpg).

2018-19 CAA MEN’S BASKETBALL PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH

1. Northeastern (35 first-place votes)	359
2. Charleston (5 first-place votes)	326
3. Hofstra	287
4. William & Mary	242
5. UNCW	197
6. James Madison	172
7. Delaware	148
8. Elon	133
9. Drexel	69
10. Towson	67

2018-19 CAA MEN’S BASKETBALL PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS

FirstTeam	Cl.	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Hometown/High School
Jarrell Brantley, Charleston	Sr.	F	6-7	250	Columbia, S.C./Notre Dame Prep
Devontae Cacok, UNCW	Sr.	F	6-7	240	Riverdale, Ga./Alpharetta
Vasa Pusica, Northeastern	Sr.	G	6-5	210	Belgrade, Serbia/Sunrise Christian Acad.
Grant Riller, Charleston	Jr.	G	6-3	195	Ocoee, Fla./Ocoee
Justin Wright-Foreman, Hofstra	Sr.	G	6-2	190	Queens, N.Y./High School of Construction

SecondTeam	Cl.	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Hometown/High School
Nathan Knight, William & Mary	Jr.	F	6-10	235	Syracuse, N.Y./Nottingham
Stuckey Mosley, James Madison	Sr.	G	6-3	190	Orlando, Fla./Timber Creek
Eli Pemberton, Hofstra	Jr.	G	6-5	195	Middletown, Conn./Cheshire Academy
Justin Pierce, William & Mary	Jr.	G/F	6-7	215	Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard West
Tyler Seibring, Elon	Sr.	F	6-9	225	Normal, Ill./Normal Community

CAA Preseason Player of the Year: Justin Wright-Foreman, Hofstra

Honorable Mention: Ryan Allen, So., G, Delaware; Eric Carter, Sr., F, Delaware; Kurk Lee, Jr., G, Drexel; Matt Lewis, So., G, James Madison; Shawn Occeus, Jr., G, Northeastern