Academic sanctions and potential defections could give the Colonial Athletic Association a drastically different look.

Two CAA schools -- UNC Wilmington and Towson -- are facing Academic Progress Rate sanctions in men's basketball, and league powers VCU, George Mason and Old Dominion are talking behind closed doors about leaving the conference.

Commissioner Tom Yeager says it's all "a little surreal," particularly coming a year after the CAA was at its high point. The league sent three teams to the NCAA tournament last year, and saw Virginia Commonwealth make it to the Final Four.

Yeager in late March dismissed early defection talk as "a non-story," but says it's not just Joe Fan doing the talking now.

VCU, George Mason and Old Dominion have won eight of the last nine CAA tournaments.