March’s magic lies in the belief that any team, for one game, has the opportunity to beat any opponent. Ahead of the 2020 Colonial Athletic Association Tournament, that’s not so much a belief as empirical fact. 

Watch The 2020 CAA Men's Basketball Championship Live Here

Beginning with Saturday’s two first round games in Washington D.C., regular-season results forecast unpredictability in the nation’s capital. To wit: 

• No. 8 seed Drexel beat No. 9 UNC Wilmington on Dec. 30, 71-66; UNC Wilmington beat Drexel last Thursday, 76-65

And that leads into the quarterfinals, beginning on Sunday. Seventh-seeded Elon swept the regular-season series with No. 10 James Madison, but no matter who wins Saturday, both gave No. 2 seed William & Mary fits in the regular season. 

The Tribe’s sweep of the Phoenix came by a grand total of eight points, while William & Mary needed a late-game surge for a four-point win over James Madison on Feb. 22. 

And there’s more. 

• Third-seeded Towson and sixth-seeded Northeastern split the regular-season series, 61-45 for the Huskies in Boston; and 75-72 to the Tigers in the regular-season finale. 
• Towson split with William & Mary; Northeastern lost both games by one and two points to the Tribe. 
• College of Charleston swept Delaware to earn the No. 4 seed in the finale of their trilogy, but both teams beat No. 1 seed Hofstra, the hypothetical semifinal opponent – if the Pride get that far. 
• Hofstra survived games against No. 9 UNC Wilmington by two points on Jan. 16, and by seven against Drexel on Feb. 20. 

Hofstra coach Joe Mihalich said no matchup in this year’s field is favorable, specifically citing the tough tests both the Seahawks and Dragons gave the Pride. 

“I truly believe…when 10 coaches found out who they were going to play, they all said, ‘Ah, man. I don’t want to play them,’” Mihalich said.  

Preseason poll No. 1 pick Hofstra lived up to its billing, securing just the sixth-ever CAA team to claim consecutive outright regular-season titles. 

But even the Pride’s first-place preseason designation is a bit of misnomer: Charleston received more first-place votes despite Hofstra’s higher overall point total. 

Mihalich said going into the season, he believed 13-5 would be the mark that would win the regular-season championship. The Pride finished 14-4, but the four losses came against each of the CAA’s second-through-fifth teams – meaning the most likely opponents in the semifinals and championship, if the seemingly unpredictable tournament goes chalky. 

Just don’t bank on that being the case, given this regular season. With as evenly matched as so many of the CAA’s squads are, it might take something a little extra to navigate the field.  

“We’re hoping for a little bit of good karma,” Towson coach Pat Skerry said. “Everybody’s 0-0 right now.” 

His Tigers face a Northeastern program that in recent years has had that karma on its side come March. 

The Huskies knocked off regular-season champion Hofstra in last year’s championship game, and in 2015, outlasted a William & Mary team with outstanding Marcus Thornton leading the Tribe. 

“We’ve been very fortunate over the years: coach [Bill] Coen has done a tremendous job with this program, so we’ve been in position to win a couple championships in the conference tournament,” said Northeastern associate head coach Chris Markwood. 

Markwood referenced Northeastern dropping a “close, hard-fought battle” with Charleston in the 2018 CAA Tournament – a loss the Huskies “rectified last year.” 

Charleston has indeed experienced both ends of March’s magic in the two preceding tournaments, running the field to make the NCAA Tournament in 2018; and falling short last year. 

“Experience never hurts,” Grant said. “Just knowing how hard it is, and the challenge it is going through three days, that helps when you’ve got multiple guys who’ve experienced that.

“Winning beats the alternative,” he also noted of Charleston’s experience. 

For Grant, the 2020 field is more of the same. And even in an especially chaotic CAA season, he said this year really isn’t any different from Marchs past. 

“It’s the same as every other year. There’s going to be some competitive games. There’s good teams with good players,” he said. 

Up and down the tournament bracket, teams have potential breakout stars – another ingredient to March’s magic, the players who rise to the occasions. Whether it’s Charleston with Grant Riller, Delaware and Nate Darling, William & Mary’s Nathan Knight or Hofstra’s Desure Buie; perhaps even someone like Shykeim Phillips, James Butler or Hunter McIntosh. 

The field is wide-open, which leaves the potential for plenty of March magic.