Delaware faces a couple of hurdles in its bid to return to the NCAA Tournament as Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball champion.
That’s a been-there, done-that scenario for the Blue Hens.
Delaware was third in the CAA preseason coaches’ poll behind Towson, which received 12 of the 13 first-place votes, and Hofstra.
Charleston earned the other first-place vote and was fourth with UNC-Wilmington fifth,
With the addition of Hampton, Monmouth, North Carolina A&T and Stony Brook and departure of James Madison, the CAA is a 13-team league in 2022-23. Campbell becomes the 14th CAA school next year.
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Under 7th-year coach Martin Ingelsby, Delaware opens Nov. 7 at home against Division II Wilmington University. The nonconference schedule features a game at Duke Nov. 18 and home bouts with Davidson Dec. 3 and Ohio University Dec. 21. The 18-game CAA slate begins Dec. 29 with a home game against Hofstra.
“Obviously winning a championship last year has raised the bar for this basketball program,” Ingelsby said Wednesday. “I think it’s easy getting there. It’s harder staying there.”
Delaware was first in the 2021-22 preseason CAA poll but finished in a tie for fourth place and went into the CAA Tournament with three straight losses.
But the fifth-seeded Blue Hens got hot when it counted, toppling No. 4 Drexel 66-56, No. 1 Towson 69-56 and No. 2 UNC-Wilmington in the title game 59-55 to win the school’s second CAA Tournament title and earn UD’s sixth NCAA Tournament berth.
“Defense and toughness was what carried us to a championship,” Ingelsby said.
The Blue Hens lost 80-60 to Villanova in a first-round game in Pittsburgh.
The UD roster features guard Jameer Nelson Jr., a 2022 third-team All-CAA pick, and 2022 CAA Rookie of the Year and conference tournament MVP Jyare Davis, the Sanford School graduate.
Of Nelson, who will be the Blue Hens’ point guard this season, Ingelbsy said: “I’m not sure there’s a better athlete in our league. I’ve been really proud of his development as a floor general, as a guy that makes his teammates better.”
Nelson made the preseason All-CAA first team and Davis the second team. Towson had three of the five first-team players in Cam Holden, Nicolas Timberlake and Charles Thompson while Hofstra’s Aaron Estrada was preseason player of the year.
Other UD returnees include guards Ebby Asamoah, Marco Arletti and Johnny McCoy, a starter in 2020-21 who missed last season with a knee injury.
Delaware was boosted by the addition of transfers Christian Ray, a 6-6 swing guard whose 6.9 rebounds per game led La Salle last season, 6-3 guard L.J. Owens, who averaged 11.3 points per game and shot 43 percent on 3-pointers at UMBC, and 6-9 Nigel Shadd, who was at Pacific after three seasons at Kansas State.
Incoming freshmen are 6-9 Houston Emory, 6-8 Gabe Moss, who is coming back from a senior year knee injury, and 6-4 guard Cavan Reilly.
“We had a really, really old team last year,” said Ingelsby of a roster including seniors Ryan Allen, Kevin Anderson and Dylan Painter. “And when you think about our group this year, we’re kinda old again. We have guys who are third- or fourth- or fifth-year playing college basketball.”
CAA preseason coaches’ poll
- 1. Towson (12 first-place votes), 144 points
- 2. Hosftra, 122
- 3. DELAWARE, 121
- 4. Charleston (1), 119
- 5. UNC-Wilmington, 101
- 6. Northeastern, 84
- 7. Drexel, 82
- 8. William & Mary, 52
- 9. Stony Brook, 50
- 10. Monmouth, 49
- 11. North Carolina A&T, 35
- 12. Elon, 30
- 13. Hampton, 25
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