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CAA basketball tourney heading to D.C. in 2020

Drexel's conference will stage its tournament in South Carolina this season before beginning a three-year deal in D.C.

Drexel's Kurk Lee brings the ball downcourt against Quinnipiac during the first half, December 18, 2017. TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Drexel's Kurk Lee brings the ball downcourt against Quinnipiac during the first half, December 18, 2017. TOM GRALISH / Staff PhotographerRead moreTOM GRALISH
    by Marc Narducci | Columnist
    Published 

Drexel's conference, the Colonial Athletic Association, has signed a three-year agreement to play its men's basketball tournament in Washington, D.C., beginning in 2020.

The 2019 tournament will be played at the North Charleston (S.C.) Coliseum, the third and final year of the current deal.

Then the tournament will move to Washington, to be played at the new Entertainment & Sports Arena. The 4,200-seat ESA is the home of the WNBA's Washington Mystics and the NBA G League's Capital City Go-Go as well as the training facility for the Washington Wizards.

According to the CAA, six of the league's 10 member schools are located within 250 miles of Washington, and nearly 400,000 alumni from CAA institutions reside within 100 miles of the city.

Drexel, which went 13-20 and 6-12 in the CAA, beat James Madison, 70-62 in the first round of last season's CAA tournament before losing to the College of Charleston, 66-59, in the second round.