City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@Spianovich)
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BALTIMORE – As both teams try to climb up in the league from a season ago, Delaware and Drexel were picked to finish fifth and eighth, respectively, in the preseason CAA poll.

Hofstra, which features two preseason all-league first-team players in Juan’ya Green and Ameen Tanksley (both Philadelphia natives) was picked first.

Both the Blue Hens and Dragons finished 9-9 in the conference last season, three games behind a four-way tie for first between Northeastern, William & Mary, James Madison and UNC Wilmington.

Last year's champions, Northeastern, were picked third, behind James Madison and Lower Merion's Yohanny Dalembert; William & Mary was fourth, just ahead of Delaware.

Delaware and Drexel both return a lot, but they did lose one key piece per team.

For the Blue Hens it was Kyle Anderson, who led the team with 14.4 points per game. But Delaware does bring back point guard Kory Holden, who averaged 12.4 points and 5.0 assists per game last season and was chosen on the preseason All-CAA second team. The Blue Hens will rely on Marvin King-Davis and Maurice Jeffers down low to be competitive in the conference this year.

Drexel lost leading scorer Damion Lee, who transferred to Louisville. However, Bruiser Flint’s team will have much more depth last season after his roster was deflated by injury last season. Back and healthy are senior forward Kazembe Abif and sophomore point guard Major Canady, with Utah transfer Ahmad Fields joining a team that's now a dozen deep.

Here is the entire preseason poll (voting results not released):

1. Hofstra
2. James Madison
3. Northeastern
4. William & Mary
5. Delaware
6. UNC Wilmington
7. Towson
8. Drexel
9. College of Charleston
10. Elon