2015 Northeast Conference Tournament Preview

(SportsNetwork.com) – A seat at the NCAA Tournament table is up for grabs in the Northeast Conference, as member school saddle up for the annual tournament beginning on Wednesday.

What makes the NEC different from most other conference tournaments is that, instead of having one central location for all of the action over a short period of time, the league instead rewards teams for their efforts over the course of the entire season, giving higher seeds in the event the opportunity to host games from the quarterfinals through to the title game on March 10.

Presumably, top-seed St. Francis Brooklyn will be making the appropriate plans to host a semifinal matchup this Saturday as well as finding a place for the trophy once they’ve tackled all comers. The event for the Terriers (21-10, 15-3) begins with a matchup against eighth-seeded LIU Brooklyn (12-17, 8-10), which lost a tie-breaker against Wagner for seventh place in the standings.

While St. Francis has not had much luck at all in this event over the years, sporting a record well below .500, the Blackbirds are no strangers to success, having won it all a total of five times, most recently bringing home the trophy three years running (2011-13). However, this season the Terriers have the luxury of having Jalen Cannon, the NEC Player of the Year, on their side.

Cannon accounted for 16.5 ppg and 10.2 rpg, the latter ranking him 14th in the nation. Because of the efforts of Cannon, his team was tops in the league and 19th in the country in rebound margin (6.5 rpg).

While all signs point to a win for the Terriers, the Blackbirds have to deal with the fact that they ranked last in the NEC and near the bottom nationally with just 39.0 percent shooting from the floor.

Also taking the floor on Wednesday night will be seventh-seeded Wagner versus second-seed Robert Morris in the Keystone State. The Colonials (16-14, 12-6), winners of a tie-breaker in the standings versus Bryant (15-14, 12-6), just met up with the Seahawks (10-19, 8-10) on Feb. 26 and throttled the visitors in a 91-59 final, which was a major improvement over the first meeting back on Jan. 8 when RMU escaped with a 77-73 victory on the road.

History is on the side of the Colonials as they have won this event a total of seven times, the last championship coming in 2010. However, they’ve taken part in the title game in all but one of the last six years and have been runner-up three times in the last four.

Working against Wagner is a defense that ranks 315th in the country with 72.9 ppg allowed.

Taking on the Bryant Bulldogs will be sixth-seeded Sacred Heart (15-16, 9-9) after the Pioneers broke even through 18 league bouts. Bryant is one of the newcomers to the league and has little experience in this event, but don’t think for one moment that Dyami Starks, the conference’s top scorer with 18.5 ppg, is going to let this opportunity for national exposure escape him. A 91.1 percent shooter at the free-throw line, Starks gives the Bulldogs a solid chance for advancement.

As for the Pioneers, they ranked 43rd in the country in scoring with 73.4 ppg, but at the same time were 323rd nationally with an identical 73.4 ppg allowed, which means there is very little room for error.

In what should be a tighter matchup, based solely on their conference marks, fourth-seeded Mount St. Mary’s will host fifth-seeded Saint Francis (PA) in the fourth and final battle on Wednesday. The Mountaineers (15-14, 11-7) were roughed up quite a bit during the non-conference schedule, forced to take on the likes of Arizona, Wake Forest, Seton Hall, Notre Dame and Old Dominion, but all those early trials served to toughen them up and prepare them for a successful run in NEC play.

The Red Flash (15-14, 9-9), which just defeated the Mountaineers last week by a score of 63-60 at home, are a decent foe except for the fact that they are one of the worst rebounding teams in the country (30.9 rpg) as they average only 8.07 offensive rebounds per contest.

Unfortunately for Central Connecticut State and Fairleigh Dickinson, coming up with just three league wins apiece was simply not good enough in 2014-15 which means both schools will be watching the festivities of the eight-team tournament from home this time around.

With the best team in the league being rewarded for a job well done during the regular season, it only makes sense that St. Francis Brooklyn has the inside track on the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament this season.

Sports Network Predicted Champion: St. Francis Brooklyn

Categorized in: NCAA Basketball