CAA is ranked 10th out of 32 conferences in RPI

3 teams are in the top 64.

Drexel (24-6)
RPI - 46
Big wins - JMU, Elon (beat Butler but their RPI is just 123)
Bad losses - None
Power 5 teams scheduled - 5

JMU (20-9)
RPI - 64
Big wins - JMU, Drexel, Liberty
Bad losses - St. Joseph's
Power 5 teams schedule - 5

Elon (21-7)
RPI - 47
Big wins - UCF, Alabama, JMU, Drexel
Bad losses - Delaware, W&M (Wake Forest with an RPI of 108)
Power 5 teams scheduled - 4 (also schedule UCF from the AAC)

1 of these 3 teams will most likely win the CAA. But do any of the other 2 have a chance? Drexel could possibly have 26 wins with no 100+ losses, and not win the championship. Is that enough to get them in?

The short answer is no. In the women's game if you dont have a top 30 rpi you are basically out of the question as a mid major. No big wins OOC either for any of the teams. Played good schedules, but lost to those top tier teams. Our conference will have an auto bid only and probably a 13 seed. The 2 losers will be in the WNIT.

Agree with dan10 (as usual) but we're not too far off. The OOC games are there, it's just a matter of starting to win more of those games. All three have returning talent next year, so the future is bright for the top of the conference.

Our league has always been a top heavy league. When ODU was good it was ODU/JMU then the rest of the league. After we dethroned ODU and that program fell it was JMU and Drexel/Hofstra/Delaware always had good squads. Hofstra and Delaware have fallen and now Elon joined the ranks last year. Next year will be JMU/Drexel again and maybe Elon stays up there, maybe NU keeps climbing, maybe Delaware rises again post EDD. But our conference will continue to be good at the top. Has been for a long time. OOC wins are important. Our league as a whole has never gotten over that hump of being able to beat those teams with an consistency. We have always been able to play them. JMU and Drexel both played schedules that with more wins could have been at larges, but neither won the games.

With both men's and women's basketball, it's really about the bottom teams. When Drexel men had the 19 game winning streak in 2012 it was 5 CAA teams with RPI's in the 200's that kept Drexel out. I think that for the CAA to be a multi bid conference in MBB or WBB, it would take all teams to pull their weight and win 60% of their OOC games. The CAA doesn't have the luxury to buy home games against lesser opponents like the Power 5 does, but if most of the teams can put tough enough squads on the court, and 2 of the teams dominate in the conference schedule, then an at large team is possible.

The CAA doesn't need every team to win 60% out of conference to get an at-large bid. Winning 60% as a whole could be good enough. Nevada (14th in the RPI), Rhode Island (16th), and Gonzaga (29th in the RPI and 6th in both polls) are locks from conferences that won under 60% out of conference. Middle Tennessee might get an at-large bid if they need it from Conference USA, which is below 50%. The Big 12 is the only Men's conference that had every team win more than 60% out of conference.