Just seven teams are competing because Georgia State and Old Dominion are leaving the conference and banned from participating. Also, Towson and UNC-Wilmington are out due to NCAA Academic Progress Rate shortcomings.
Drexel, tops in the CAA in scoring defense (63.2 ppg.), won its last two regular-season games and has a hot hand in 6-foot-6 sophomore Damion Lee.
"Damion Lee has a chance to go absolutely crazy," said George Mason coach Paul Hewitt in a conference call this week. "He is a terrific scorer and really a good player capable of going on a run and carrying a team three games."
Lee is third in the CAA in scoring (17.4 ppg.). In Drexel's second-to-last game, an 81-77 victory over Old Dominion, he scored a career-high 34 points.
Frantz Massenat (14 ppg., 4.2 apg.), like Lee up and down, is also hitting his stride.
"I think the last few games he has played as well as he had all year," Drexel coach Bruiser Flint said of Massenat, who has 22 assists and just three turnovers in his last five games.
Lee and Massenat on Friday were named to the all-CAA second-team.
Another key will be containing Mason 6-4 junior Sherrod Wright, who is averaging 16.5 points, and 6-3 junior Byron Allen, who leads the CAA in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.4).
Contact Marc Narducci at mnarducci@phillynews.com. Follow @sjnard on Twitter.
