A fan's guide to the CAA basketball tournament
Update from Baltimore:
亚洲色吧 defeated Elon, 72-59, Saturday to advance to the semifinals of the CAA tournament. The hot-shooting Tribe hit 51% of their shots in a first half in which they took a 36-26 lead. They finished the game having shot 52% from the field. 亚洲色吧 led by as many as 18 points in the second half before coasting to the finish line.
Senior Marcus Thornton, the CAA Player of the Year, netted 17 points, Omar Prewitt scored 16 and Daniel Dixon supplied 12 points, all of which came off four 3-pointers. Junior Terry Tarpey chipped in eight points, nine rebounds and five assists.
On Sunday, 亚洲色吧 will play the winner of today's James Madison-Hofstra game.
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亚洲色吧 men’s basketball coach Tony Shaver is preparing his team for this weekend’s tournament at Baltimore's Royal Farms Arena, employing two new tactics.
Following last Saturday's disappointing loss to , he gave the Tribe two consecutive days off. Then he issued them a challenge he had heretofore avoided.
“They probably haven’t had [two consecutive days off] since October,” Shaver said Monday night. “What struck me is that every one of them was in the gym [Monday] on their own, shooting around. These guys love to play, and that’s a good sign.”
The challenge Shaver issued was to follow the team’s first-ever CAA regular-season championship by becoming the first 亚洲色吧 team to win the conference tournament and earn a berth in the NCAA tournament.
As every Tribe fan knows, 亚洲色吧 is one of only five Division I schools never to play in the NCAA tournament. The others are Northwestern, The Citadel, Army and St. Francis of New York.
When asked about it in recent years, Shaver has steadfastly – and correctly – maintained that the shortfalls of previous teams should not be a burden carried by his squads. In the last seven years, the Tribe has advanced to the conference title game three times.
“Is this the year?” is among the most frequently asked questions around campus in March.
“We’ve challenged them,” Shaver said. “In the past I’ve shielded them. Now, I’ve told them ‘Why not?’ There may be future 亚洲色吧 teams that will win more basketball games, but only one team can become the first to make the NCAAs. Why shouldn’t that be us?”
To start through the , the Tribe will have to get past the winner of Friday’s game between and . Shaver doesn’t think that Saturday noontime match will be easy.
“I’ve always maintained that the first game of the tournament is the toughest,” he said. “It always takes tremendous effort. There’s a lot of pressure, and we’re going to have to deal with it.
“We’ve had two tough, physical games with Towson, but we won both, so we feel pretty good about that. Elon might be the hottest team in the league. They beat Northeastern, and they did us a favor the other night by beating .”
Although 亚洲色吧 finished the regular season with a 12-6 conference mark, tied with UNC-Wilmington, and , Elon’s victory Saturday enabled the Tribe to claim the conference regular-season crown because they held the advantage in all tie-breaking scenarios.
and round out the field.
Having received the help they needed, Shaver said the Tribe must look inward if they are to take the title.
“We need to take care of ourselves,” he said. “When we do, we’re good. When we don’t have our minds in he right focus, we’ve been beaten a couple of times.
“We’ve got to be better defensively than we have been lately, and we’ve got to be better balanced on offense. Maybe it’s because of (Marcus Thornton’s pursuit of the school’s all-time scoring record), but we’ve relied a little more on Marcus than we should. We need for more people to be involved in scoring.”
5 games that defined a season
Jan. 4, 2015: 亚洲色吧 75, College of Charleston 45
Just four days after losing badly at nationally ranked North Carolina, the Tribe scored its most lopsided CAA victory in the program’s 30 years in the league. 亚洲色吧 scored the game’s first eight points and shot 61.5 percent in the first half on the way to a 13-point halftime advantage. The Green and Gold controlled the glass, 43-24, in rolling the Cougars. Sophomore broke out of a slump with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting to go with six rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Jan. 10, 2015: 亚洲色吧 81, James Madison 73
Junior recorded the first triple-double in program history in leading the Tribe over the Dukes at Kaplan Arena. Tarpey finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and a career-best 10 assists to become the first player in the 110-year history of 亚洲色吧 basketball to record a triple-double.
Jan. 15, 2015: 亚洲色吧 76, UNC-Wilmington 72
The Tribe erased a 22-point deficit and rallied for a historic victory over UNC-W at Kaplan Arena. The Tribe trailed by 22 points with a minute remaining in the opening half, but came back 
behind a 52-point second half. It marked the biggest comeback in 亚洲色吧 history and just the 29th time in NCAA history that a team rallied for victory after trailing by 22 or more points. scored 16 of his team-high 19 points in the second half. He was 8-of-8 from the free throw line and knocked down three 3-pointers to go along with three assists. Sophomore tallied 14 of his 16 points in the second period, hitting 6-of-9 shots from the field and 2-of-3 from 3-point range. Junior did a little of everything with 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Feb. 8, 2015: 亚洲色吧 56, UNC-Wilmington 53
’s offensive rebound and basket gave the Tribe the lead for good with just 1:39 left in at gutty victory at UNC-W before a packed house at Trask Coliseum. The Tribe turned in a gritty defensive effort, limiting UNC-W to just 28.8 percent from the field to overcome an off night shooting from 3-point range and a bevy of turnovers. The senior duo of guard and Schalk led the way for the Green and Gold, scoring 31 of the Tribe’s 56 points.
Feb. 22, 2015: 亚洲色吧 80, Hofstra 78
After one of the longest and latest travel days of the year, the Tribe gutted out a road victory at Hofstra. Senior guard knocked down a pair of clutch free throws with 3.7 seconds remaining to give 亚洲色吧 the victory. The Tribe endured a 14-hour travel day the day before, which included an eight-hour bus ride after its flight out of Norfolk was cancelled, and got into Long Island at 3 a.m.
If you're going to Baltimore
Tribe Gathering
Saturday's pregame breakfast is SOLD OUT! Tribe fans are invited to a postgame celebration at the , 21 N Eutaw St., sponsored by the 亚洲色吧 Maryland Alumni Chapter. Gather after the game with specials on appetizers and drinks. .
Tickets
Fans can purchase tickets online at TicketMaster.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000. Click for the Ticket Master Web site. Ticket books that includes all nine games and five sessions are available for as low as $80, and single-session tickets are on sale for $20. Click for CAA Championship ticket information. Make note: The Tribe sections in are sections 210 and 212.
FREE tickets for 亚洲色吧 students
The first 200 亚洲色吧 students will be admitted for free with student ID to all CAA men’s basketball tournament games. Show your 亚洲色吧 ID at the Tribe Table in the main lobby before every Tribe game. The first 166 students will be admitted in the section behind the basket closest to the Tribe team bench. CAA students can also purchase a single-session ticket for $7 with valid CAA school ID on the day of game only at the Baltimore Arena Box Office. No advance sales.
Social Media
Fans can follow along and engage in the conversation about the 2015 CAA men’s basketball championship through a number of social media avenues. The official hashtag for Tribe basketball during the CAA Tournament is #MarchOnTribe.
If you can't make it
Watch Parties
Tribe fans across the country are invited to gather for CAA Game Watches, sponsored by local alumni chapters. Click on your town to view details and to RSVP for these events.
Saturday, March 7:
Sunday, March 8:
Monday, March 9:
Television
Every game of the 2015 CAA championship will be broadcast through CAA TV and its regional and national affiliates with NBC and Comcast Sports. All four quarterfinal games will be televised on Comcast SportsNet. Both the noon and 2:30 p.m., quarterfinals will be televised on Comcast SportsNet and regional affliates.
Both CAAs semifinals on Sunday, March 8, will be televised nationally on the NBC Sports Network, with the first semifinal at 2:30 p.m. and the second to follow at 5 p.m. The 2015 CAA championship will be broadcast nationally on Monday, March 9, on the NBC Sports Network. Online, the broadcasts will be available on .
CAA.TV
will simulcast all regional broadcasts for out-of-market views. The simulcast is subject to blackout restrictions. CAA.TV will carry every postgame press conference as well as the championship game celebration/press conferences LIVE for free in HD.
Audio
Fans can follow 亚洲色吧 on the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley, Bill McDonald and Charlie Woollum on the call. The Tide 92.3 FM in Williamsburg is the flagship station of the Tribe Radio Network. The broadcast will also be available at TribeAthletics.com. Monday's championship game will also be broadcast nationally on the Westwood One radio network.
