The holiday break falls not quite at the midway point of the college basketball season, but the Christmastime marks a pivotal transition. 

Before the New Year, a new season begins around the Colonial Athletic Association. Conference competition tips off following the break, and in the CAA, the Big Picture outlook has a feel very much like the national scene. 

Parity defines basketball in an unprecedented way. Projecting who might cut down the nets in Atlanta at the Final Four or Washington D.C. in the finale of the CAA Tournament is an exercise in futility. 

The Big Picture recommends kicking back for the next few months and enjoying some basketball Madness come early. 

No Clear No. 1

A record five different teams held the No. 1 ranking before Christmas, which never happened prior to this season -- and a game with a CAA connection ensured a sixth No. 1 in the final poll before the holiday. 

Villanova’s 56-55 defeat of Kansas on Dec. 21 continued the top-ranking curse that has shaped this wild season. One week prior to knocking off the Jayhawks, the Wildcats faced a stiff test from Delaware. 

Two-time national championship-winning coach Jay Wright offered high praise for the Fightin’ Blue Hens. 

“Delaware had a great game plan, executed it really well and played with great intensity,” Wright said in his postgame press conference. 

“[Nate Darling] is a heck of a player,” Jermaine Samuels told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “The ability to shoot the ball, and I think people underrated his ball-handling ability to get downhill.”

Delaware’s play through the campaign’s opening stretch, most notably the Villanova showdown, reflects the season-at-large. There are projections and rankings coming in, but any number of teams can compete for a title. 

With Darling, a surprising name to watch in the CAA Player of the Year once league competition begins, the Fightin’ Blue Hens have the look of Colonial contenders. But then, the same can be written of multiple CAA teams. 

No Average Joe

The preseason pick to win the CAA, Hofstra, has done nothing through its first 13 games to downplay the Pride’s hope of a second straight regular-season title. Hofstra’s non-conference schedule included some memorable moments, like shooting UCLA out of the House John Wooden Built. 

More recently, Joe Mihalich passed aforementioned national championship coach Jay Wright as the second-most winning coach in Hofstra history. Mihalich coached the Pride to a program-record 27 wins last season, and sits just 32 behind Tom Pecora for No. 1. 

Hofstra’s chase to repeat as CAA regular-season champion will move Mihalich closer to the record. And closing out non-conference play on a three-game winning streak, the Pride have built up positive momentum. 

“We’re far from a finished product but I think it’s a good — pretty good team,” Mihalich told Newsday following the Dec. 2 win over Manhattan. 

Challenged Charleston

Opponents like Villanova lined the non-conference schedules for a variety of CAA programs. No Colonial team played a collectively more difficult out-of-conference slate than College of Charleston, however, which moves into league play with the nation’s No. 73 strength of schedule. 

The Cougars’ stretch leading into the holiday break was especially challenging, pitting Charleston against surprising Richmond and perennial NCAA Tournament candidate VCU. Earl Grant’s bunch took both to the wire, but the loss to VCU on Dec. 18 in particular demonstrated how dangerous the Cougars can be. 

“It sucks we can't replay those two minutes,” Grant said in his postgame press conference, referring to a stretch VCU went on a 10-0 run that flipped a Charleston lead. “We played well enough to win a game like this, but give them credit. They did what they needed to do to win the game."

Near-misses in the out-of-conference schedule against high-quality competition could be a springboard into a CAA title run. Such contests can be identity-revealing -- and in the case of Charleston, the emergence of Brevin Galloway as a scoring threat alongside Grant Riller is a part of the Cougars’ identity. 

Surprise Tigers Can Earn Their Stripes

Of the six CAA teams ranked in the KenPom.com top 200, perhaps the most surprising is Towson. The Tigers went .500 playing a non-conference schedule almost as brutal as Charleston’s, facing Florida, Xavier, Vermont and Liberty. 

Florida coach Mike White lavished praise on Towson after it put a scare into the Gators down in Gainesville last month. 

“Towson is really good and Pat [Skerry] does a terrific job. They execute well and their guards were fantastic,” White told reporters. “Their bigs really move well and defend well and rebound well.”

Brian Fobbs was scoring effectively for the first month of the regular season, and that was before his 3-point shot started to fall. 

Skerry’s team will have an opportunity to provide some immediate clarity into their championship aspirations. The Tigers open CAA play with back-to-back games against last season’s regular-season and tournament champions, Hofstra and Northeastern. 

Fast-Growing Freshmen

Even in an era of one-and-done stars commanding the spotlight around college basketball, the learning curve for the majority of freshmen is steep. Those first-year players who can get up to speed through non-conference play emerge as X-factors in conference title races, though, and the first month-and-change of CAA offers up some candidates. 

Tyson Walker at Northeastern has been a nice complementary scorer around the CAA’s most productive point producer, Jordan Roland. The backcourt of Walker, Roland and Bolden Brace is one of the most entertaining trios in the nation. 

Michael Christmas is a gift to the uptempo James Madison Dukes. Christmas is making an impact on offense and defense, averaging more than a blocked shot per game, and hitting better than 46 percent from behind the 3-point line. 

At Drexel, Mate Okros has parlayed experience overseas into a burgeoning role with the Dragons. 

“[Okros] is a freshman in the college world, but he’s played a lot of games internationally, and you can see that,” Zach Spiker said to the Philadelphia Inquirer following a defeat of Quinnipiac. “That’s what excites us about him. He’s making the most of his opportunities.”