WASHINGTON — “March Madness” seems an apt description of what Towson men’s basketball is trying to accomplish.

Not only are the top-seeded Tigers — who captured their second Coastal Athletic Association regular-season title in four years — attempting to end a 34-year absence from the NCAA Tournament, but they are also trying to do so at a competitive disadvantage when compared with their peers.

Coach Pat Skerry said the College of Charleston used $1.1 million in NIL revenue to build its roster and UNC Wilmington invested $500,000 into its team. Meanwhile, Towson had $120,000 to retain and attract players.

Skerry said he will need “five times, six times, seven times” that amount to contend with the other schools in the conference. He credited athletic director Steven Eigenbrot with agreeing to try to drum up more financial support for the team.Skerry is a realist. As rewarding as claiming the CAA regular-season championship was for a program that has gone 54-18 in the league since the 2021-22 season, he knows that many will judge the team’s success on whether it wins the tournament crown and earns the automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament.

“I know we’re good,” he said. “Just making sure we play the right way. … What defines you is how you play these three days.”

The Tigers (22-10) held off No. 8 seed Drexel, 82-76, in Sunday afternoon’s quarterfinal at the Carefirst Arena and will meet No. 12 seed Delaware (15-19) in a semifinal on Monday at 6 p.m.

Towson men’s basketball granted The Baltimore Sun an inside look at their preparations for and journey through the CAA Tournament in their quest for their first NCAA Tournament bid since 1991.

8 a.m.: Towson conducted a walkthrough in Ballrooms 4 and 5 of the second floor of the Washington Marriott Georgetown, which also hosted Monmouth and Northeastern. Under the direction of assistant coach Chris Conway, the players ran through defensive schemes labeled “Seal lob,” “Baseline out,” and “Staggered.” Skerry reminded the players that, in late shot-clock situations, Drexel’s 6-foot-8, 250-pound junior power forward Cole Hargrove tends to hang around the rim for a lob. “Show your hand and play football,” Skerry instructed.

8:16 a.m.: The team settled into a short film session with Conway running through which Dragons contributors are primarily right-handed. (Junior small forward Victor Panov was the only left-handed player cited.) Conway emphasized the need to be physical, especially in the lane. “Can’t fall asleep,” he said. “There should be collisions in the post.” Skerry wrapped up the session at 8:25 a.m. by chanting, “Tick tick,” and the players finished it off with “Boom.”

9:30 a.m. The university’s 40-member band and 13-member cheerleading squad formed a two-line corridor for the players and coaches to walk through before boarding a bus. While the school’s fight song was played, sophomore shooting guard Mekhi Lowery was first, Skerry was last, and several players recorded short videos on their phones.

10:06 a.m. After a quiet ride with many players listening to music or scrolling through their phones, the bus arrived at the arena.

10:30 a.m. The Tigers began pregame warmups in black Under Armour T-shirts emblazoned with “DOUBT US” on the front.

11:40 a.m. Most of the team walked back to the locker room in front of a vocal phalanx of fans. After sophomore shooting guard Tyler Tejada and redshirt senior shooting guard Nendah Tarke finished attempting to drain shots from half-court, they ran past the same group of fans, and Tarke motioned for them to raise the volume.

12:48 p.m. Redshirt sophomore point guard Dylan Williamson’s jumper gave Towson a 36-25 lead with 1:46 left in the first half — the team’s largest advantage of the opening frame.

12:53 p.m. The Tigers took a 38-29 lead into halftime.

1:24 p.m. Tejada’s layup padded Towson’s advantage to 60-45 with 13:30 remaining – the team’s biggest lead of the game.

1:56 p.m. Senior shooting guard Yame Butler dropped in a layup to cap a 31-17 comeback for Drexel (18-15) that narrowed the score to 77-76 with 1:54 to go.

2:02 p.m. After senior small forward Tomiwa Sulaiman grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw by Tarke, Williamson drained a pull-up 3-pointer from the left elbow to give the Tigers an 80-76 cushion.

2:06 p.m. Tarke sought a fist bump from CAA commissioner Joe D’Antonio. Perhaps in the interest of remaining neutral, D’Antonio did not reciprocate.

2:06 p.m. Tejada converted two free throws to cement the victory.

2:15 p.m. Skerry, Williamson (career highs with 32 points, 12 field goals and seven 3-pointers) and Tejada (21 points) attended the postgame news conference. “I’m not sure what I’m doing here,” Skerry quipped. “The guy to my left and the guy to my right are the reason why we’re still standing today.”

2:16 p.m. Asked about a performance that included scoring 24 points in the second half on 9 of 12 shooting (6 of 6 from 3-point range), Williamson said, “I came out a little slow in the first half. In the second half, I wanted to get myself going,” he said. “I was finally getting space and open shots. And at the end of the game, I’ve been doing this a lot this year. We work on this every day.”

2:17 p.m. Tejada said he and his teammates know who to go to when a game is on the line. “Every time the clock’s running down and we’re in a tight game, we give the ball to No. 4,” he said, referring to Williamson’s jersey number. “Life’s easy when you’ve got D-Will on your side.”

2:45 p.m. As the second quarterfinal between William & Mary and Delaware tipped off, Skerry, associate head coaches Pat O’Connell and Parfait Bitee and assistant coach John Auslander scouted the game from media row. Everyone else watched from the stands.

3:40 p.m. While O’Connell and Bitee stayed at the arena to continue watching the Blue Hens upset the No. 4 seed Tribe (17-15), the rest of the coaches and players returned to the hotel.

4:10 p.m. Back at the hotel, the team dined on boxed meals from Mission BBQ with some eating in the ballroom and others taking them back to their rooms.

7 p.m. The Tigers participated in their second walk-through of the day, focusing on Delaware’s schemes based on film collected from wins of 76-66 on Jan. 30 and 75-70 on Feb. 13.

8 p.m. The players and coaches stopped for dinner and called it a day.

Like some players, Skerry said he gets a little nervous on game days. A little ginger ale before games helps, but a victory is a much better salve.

“I’m anxious because I want it to go well for the guys,” he said. “They deserve this.”

Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at eklee@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.