Hanging on a wall inside TU Arena is a banner commemorating the 1990-91 Towson men’s basketball team that was the program’s last representative in the NCAA Tournament. It is daily viewing for redshirt sophomore point guard Dylan Williamson.

“The crazy thing is, I look up there before every practice,” he said during the team’s preseason media day on Wednesday.

Securing a coveted spot in the NCAA Tournament is the objective for the more than 350 Division I schools — many of which will tip off the 2024-25 season on Monday. It is especially compelling for the Tigers, who were voted to finish first in the Coastal Athletic Association preseason poll.

Since joining the conference in 2001, Towson has been predicted to finish first in the CAA twice before — in 2013-14 and 2022-23. The program’s best finish in the regular season was a tie for first place in 2021-22 but it is 0-5 in the league tournament semifinals.

The Tigers’ position atop the CAA preseason poll isn’t unwarranted. They return four of five starters from the team that went 20-14 overall and 11-7 in the league before falling to eventual tournament champion College of Charleston by five points in the conference tournament semifinals.

Here’s what you need to know about Baltimore-area men’s college basketball teams:

Coppin State

Coach: Larry Stewart, second season

Last season: 2-27, 1-13 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference

Postseason: Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal, No. 8 seed

Preseason conference poll: Eighth of eight teams

Starters gone (3): SF Justin Winston (13.2 points per game, 5.3 rebounds per game), PG Greg Spurlock (8.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.6 assists per game), PF Toto Fagbenle (5.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg)

Starters back (2): SG Camaren Sparrow (6.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg), SG Aa’Reyon Munir-Jones (3.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg)

One-liner: Point guard Ryan Archey, who averaged 9.3 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists primarily as a reserve last winter, figures to slide into the starting lineup after being named to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference’s preseason second team.

Loyola Maryland

Coach: Josh Loeffler, first season

Last season: 7-25, 5-13 Patriot League

Postseason: Patriot League Tournament first round, No. 10 seed

Preseason conference poll: Tenth of 10 teams

Starters gone (3): PG Deon Perry (17.3 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.5 steals per game), SG D’Angelo Stines (9.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg), PF Golden Dike (7.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg)

Starters back (2): PF Milos Ilic (7.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg), SF David Brown III (4.9 ppg, 2.8 rpg)

One-liner: Loeffler, who was an assistant coach with the Greyhounds from 2013 to 2017 and replaced Tavaras Hardy, guided Johns Hopkins to a 114-27 record and four NCAA Division III Tournament appearances in six years before spending last winter as an assistant at Cincinnati.

Maryland

Coach: Kevin Willard, third season

Last season: 16-17, 7-13 Big Ten

Postseason: Big Ten Tournament second round, No. 12 seed

Preseason conference poll: Tenth of 18 teams

Starters gone (2): PG Jahmir Young (20.4 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 4.2 apg), PF Donta Scott (11.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg)

Starters back (3): PF Julian Reese (13.7 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 1.9 bpg), SG DeShawn Harris-Smith (7.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.2 apg), SF Jordan Geronimo (5.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg)

One-liner: For the Terps, all eyes will be on the trio of transfers — junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie (Belmont), fifth-year senior shooting guard Selton Miguel (South Florida) and sophomore shooting guard Rodney Rice (Virginia Tech) — to see if they can improve on last year’s 28.9% efficiency from 3-point range.

Morgan State

Coach: Kevin Broadus, sixth season

Last season: 11-20, 7-7 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference

Postseason: Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal, No. 5 seed

Preseason conference poll: Fourth of eight teams

Starters gone (1): PF Allen Udemadu (7.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg)

Starters back (4): SG Wynston Tabbs (14.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.9 apg), SF Will Thomas (14.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.9 apg), PG Kameron Hobbs (10.1 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.4 apg), SG Amahrie Simpkins (8.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg)

One-liner: In addition to welcoming back their top five scorers, the Bears return 80.3% of their scoring, 70.9% of their rebounding, 87.6% of their assists and 83.3% of their steals from last season.

Mount St. Mary’s

Coach: Donny Lind, first season

Last season: 13-19, 9-11 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference

Postseason: Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament first round, No. 8 seed

Preseason conference poll: 11th of 13 teams

Starters gone (3): SG Dakota Leffew (17.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.9 apg, 1.5 spg), SG Joshua Reaves (8.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg), SF George Tinsley (5.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg)

Starters back (2): PF Jedy Cordilia (6.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg), SF Dola Adebayo (6.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg)

One-liner: After leading the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in shooting percentage (.473) and ranking third in scoring (72.7), the Mountaineers might run into some difficulty repeating those numbers without Leffew, who transferred to Georgia, and Reaves, who transferred to the University of Illinois Chicago.

Navy

Coach: Ed DeChellis, 14th season

Last season: 13-18, 8-10 Patriot League

Postseason: Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal, No. 7 seed

Preseason conference poll: Eighth of 10 teams

Starters gone (2): SG Mac MacDonald (8.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg), SG Austin Inge (5.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.6 apg)

Starters back (3): PG Austin Benigni (17.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.8 apg), SF Donovan Draper (9.5 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 1.9 spg), SF Mitch Fischer (5.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg)

One-liner: The Midshipmen will lean on Benigni and Draper to help transform an offense that ranked last in the conference in field-goal percentage (.396) and 3-point efficiency (.300).

Towson

Coach: Pat Skerry, 14th season

Last season: 20-14, 11-7 Coastal Athletic Association

Postseason: Coastal Athletic Association Tournament semifinal, No. 5 seed

Preseason conference poll: First of 14 teams

Starters gone (1): PF Charles Thompson (9.6 ppg, 8.2 rpg)

Starters back (4): SG Christian May (10.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg), SF Tyler Tejada (10.1 ppg, 3.3 rpg), SG Nendah Tarke (9.8 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.5 spg), SF Messiah Jones (5.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg)

One-liner: In addition to the four starters, the Tigers welcome back point guard Dylan Williamson (10.2 ppg, 2.9 apg and 1.6 rpg) and small forwards Tomiwa Sulaiman (5.7 ppg and 4.1 rpg) and Mekhi Lowery (3.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg), who will be expected to play larger roles.

UMBC

Coach: Jim Ferry, fourth season

Last season: 11-21, 6-10 America East

Postseason: America East Tournament quarterfinal, No. 7 seed

Preseason conference poll: Fifth of nine teams

Starters gone (2): SG Dion Brown (19.0 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 2.6 apg), PF Max Lorca-Lloyd (6.1 ppg, 5.1 rpg)

Starters back (3): SG Marcus Banks Jr. (15.1 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.9 apg), PG Ace Valentine (6.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.7 apg), SG Devan Sapp (3.9 ppg, 2.6 rpg)

One-liner: The departure of Brown to Boston College puts an onus on the rest of the Retrievers to replicate last year’s offense that led the America East in 3-point efficiency (.357), ranked second in field-goal percentage (.466), and was tied for third in points per game (78.7).