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NCAA Tournament: Updating Conference Tournament Brackets & Who’s Dancing

By Nathan Giese

Mar 14, 2015; Anaheim, CA, USA; UC Irvine Anteaters forward Ioannis Dimakopoulos (12) kisses the trophy for the Big West Conference Tournament championship as the UC Irvine Anteaters celebrate after the game against the Hawaii Warriors at Honda Center. The UC Irvine Anteaters won 67-58. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 14, 2015; Anaheim, CA, USA; UC Irvine Anteaters forward Ioannis Dimakopoulos (12) kisses the trophy for the Big West Conference Tournament championship as the UC Irvine Anteaters celebrate after the game against the Hawaii Warriors at Honda Center. The UC Irvine Anteaters won 67-58. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mar 8, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; William & Mary Tribe guard Marcus Thornton (3) attempts to dunk the ball over Hofstra Pride guard Brian Bernardi (14) during the first half of the semifinals of the Colonial Conference Tournament at Royal Farms Arena. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 8, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; William & Mary Tribe guard Marcus Thornton (3) attempts to dunk the ball over Hofstra Pride guard Brian Bernardi (14) during the first half of the semifinals of the Colonial Conference Tournament at Royal Farms Arena. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports /

CAA

Projected Champ: James Madison

Actual Champ: UNC-Wilmington Seahawks and Hofstra Pride (co-champions)

Bracket

#1 Hofstra vs. winner of #8 Elon/#9 Drexel
#4 James Madison vs. #5 William & Mary
#2 UNCW vs. winner of #7 Charleston/#10 Delaware
#3 Towson vs. #6 Northeastern

Just a regular tie for the regular season title this year after a four-way tie last season, so the CAA seems rather mundane this time around.

The co-champions, Hofstra and UNCW, finished three games ahead of the third-place team, of which there were three, so there was a bit of a gap between them and the rest of the pack. The Pride earned the top seed by having a better record against Northeastern than the Seahawks did.

The tournament starts on Friday, March 4 with the title game being held the following Monday. They’ll be one of the first tournaments to conclude.

Hofstra actually lost both of its meetings against James Madison, so much like the Summit League, the top seed may be the top seed, but that potential semifinal matchup is one they haven’t won yet this season. Meanwhile, UNCW split with three-seed Towson but won on Saturday to help them secure a share of the conference crown. The loss came by 16 points on the road.

The Favorite: Towson

Towson’s the outsider’s favorite here if only for one reason: their university is located 20 minutes away from Baltimore, where the tournament is being played. They’ll have the advantage in crowd support by a wide margin and have proven they can hang with those seeded ahead of them.

That’s my pick, but Hoops Habit alum and CAA specialist Jonathan Wagner disagrees with me.

Hofstra has won six straight games entering the tournament.

Next: Big South