Charleston Cougars

The College of Charleston Cougars play at TD Arena in one of college basketball's most historic port cities. A perennial CAA contender, Charleston has become the league's dominant program of the 2020s, riding disciplined, well-coached teams to multiple conference titles and a school-record 31-win season. The Cougars' fan base has come to expect March basketball nearly every year.

Charleston has fielded basketball since 1898 and moved to Division I in 1991, previously winning an NAIA national championship in 1983. The Cougars have won three CAA tournament titles (2018, 2023, 2024), with the 2022-23 team going 31-4 — a Division I-era program record — before an NCAA Tournament run. Charleston is 1-7 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, with its lone win coming in 1997.