Upheaval could be theme of this year’s CAA Tournament

William and Mary basketball coach Tony Shaver plans to show his team all of the Tribe's inspiring highlights from last year's Colonial Athletic Association tournament.

Fifth-seeded William and Mary used an almost fairy-tale series of last-second shots to win three games and make it to the championship game.

History was against the Tribe, though, and repeated itself in a loss to No. 3 George Mason.

Since the CAA began doling out byes to the top four seeds eight years ago, no team without one has won the tournament. Only two teams seeded lower than fourth -- George Mason and William and Mary -- have made it to the title game.

Which brings us to this year. Some eyebrow-raising upsets and close games throughout this season have planted the seed that this really could be the year a byeless team breaks through and earns what certainly will be the CAA's only NCAA tournament berth.

"I hope so," said Hofstra coach Tom Pecora, whose team (20-10) is seeded fifth and plays No. 12 UNC Wilmington (7-24) in the first round tomorrow at the Richmond Coliseum.

"I'll talk to my team about making history. I know it's happened in other conferences, so why not have it happen in this one?"

Coaches point to Feb. 4, when then-last-place William and Mary knocked off then-first-place Northeastern, and then-next-to-last place UNC Wilmington took down then-second-place Virginia Commonwealth.

"My first few years at William and Mary, the question we were asked consistently was, 'Can William and Mary win [a game] in the tournament?'" Shaver said. "The question now is, 'Can we repeat what we did last year, maybe take it a step further.'"

Can they, as the 10th seed with a 10-19 record?

"Absolutely," Shaver said. "I just think the league is that balanced. There's no question that somebody from the bottom half of this league can make a great run at the championship."

Some teams may not be capable of winning four straight games, but they certainly are capable of taking out the top teams.

Top-seeded Virginia Commonwealth (21-9) lost to No. 9 Delaware (13-18) and UNCW. Second-seeded George Mason (20-9) lost to No. 7 James Madison (18-13) and Delaware. Third-seeded Northeastern (18-11), which has dropped five of its past eight games, lost to William and Mary and No. 8 Georgia State (11-19). Fourth-seeded Old Dominion (20-9) lost to Georgia State and James Madison.

"This league has proven to be very challenging for everyone," George Mason coach Jim Larranaga said. "Anyone is very, very capable of getting hot at the right time. We just hope that's our team."

Three of Mason's conference wins were by a point. ODU, the hottest team with nine wins in its past 10 games, had four wins by four points or less.

UNCW lost to Mason by a point and took Hofstra to overtime Saturday before losing.

"We are a dangerous team because we've been competitive," UNCW coach Benny Moss said. "It's not like it was in early January, when we go on the road to Mason and VCU and lose by 40 and lose by 30. We haven't won as many as we would have liked, but we've been in almost every single game. We've had chances. We feel we're playing our best basketball."

Historically, the best teams have won the CAA tournament. Of the 23 tournaments, the first or second seed has won 18.

This year?

"If the regular season has taught us anything," VCU coach Anthony Grant said, "it's that anything can happen in the tournament."

Tim Pearrell at (804) 649-6965 or .