NEC

Robert Morris the favorite to win automatic bid
By Raphielle Johnson

No one follows the team in the NYC Metropolitan area more than Raphielle Johnson. He previews the 19 local teams and ranks them throughout the season.

 

Click each link for a full preview.

 

In the era of the "superconference", more leagues are tipping off conference games in the month of December. Tonight, the MAAC, NEC, Ohio Valley and Horizon all had at least one conference game on tap. And with this being a blog on the northeast, I'll focus on the MAAC and NEC openers.

Niagara 89, Rider 77

Central Connecticut State (22-12, 16-2)

Mount St. Mary's (11-20, 9-9)

Robert Morris (17-11, 9-9)

Sacred Heart (18-14, 12-6)

Other (Wagner, FSU, Monmouth)

In tonight’s Northeast Conference championship game, Central Connecticut State and Sacred Heart will get together to determine who will represent the league in the NCAA Tournament. While the regular season champion Blue Devils have been in the position before, having won two of their previous four (2000, 2002) championship games, this is all new to the Pioneers. While Sacred Heart, led for the past 29 years by Dave Bike, has made thirteen appearances in the Division II NCAA Tournament, the two wins in

In what has been a topsy-turvy season for the majority of the Northeast Conference, it’s fitting that seeds along with who would play in the league’s conference tournament were not fully decided until the season’s last day. In a turn of events similar to the good fortunes experienced by the Kansas City Chiefs, St. Francis (NY) snagged the eight seed in the tournament by combining a win over Fairleigh Dickinson with losses by both Monmouth and Long Island. Sacred Heart got the two seed thanks to a win over Quinnipiac on the final day of the season, dropping

In a game that can be seen on ESPN2 at 11 am EST, Siena will visit Marist in hopes of winning a share of the MAAC regular season title. A Siena win today would also give surprising Niagara a shot at the title, so long as the Purple Eagles, winners of their last seven, take care of Rider on Sunday. Siena's Kenny Hasbrouck and Marist's Jared Jordan make up one of the better guard matchups in a game this season, but whichever team can get something from their bench today will win this one. Of the two teams, Marist (12-0 when their bench outscores the opponent's reserves) gets a little more on the average from their reserves, such as Wilfred "Spongy" Benjamin and Shae McNamara. Foul trouble, especially to the big men on both teams, could force both coaches to go past their comfort levels when it comes to how to use their bench. Due to the home court advantage, I like the Red Foxes to claim their first outright MAAC title ever. And if you're a Red Fox fan going to the game, be sure to wear white.

Am I the only person watching the Drexel/Creighton game tonight that was confused about the emphasis on "bench decorum"? Each head coach, Bruiser Flint of Drexel and Dana Altman of Creighton, was T'd up in this BracketBusters game that the visiting Dragons eventually won 64-58. Altman's technical, in which he was called for being about six inches outside of the coaches box, brought back memories of Dean Smith getting a T for the same offense in the 1991 Final Four. Coach Altman said nothing to the official to warrant this call, just happened to do something that coaches throughout the nation have been doing for years. Drexel went on a run after this, and things seemed to be going well for the Dragons until Coach Flint found himself on the wrong side of the whistle when yelling at his player for a foolish reach-in foul. Jumping into the air and yelling at his guy wouldn't have been a problem (nor should it be) had an official not been right next ot Flint. Luckily for Drexel, they were able to hold on despite some horrific foul shooting (at one point they had missed five straight from the charity stripe).

I begin this blog with a quote from my last post:

"Although you normally want to wait until a team plays more than two games to state that they are the clear favorite to win their conference, can anybody truly challenge Penn at the top of the Ivy League? Preseason prognosticators tabbed Princeton to finish second, but they're sitting in last place right now. Maybe Cornell or Yale? Who knows, but I'll take the Quakers over the field." (January 29th)

Whoops. After this weekend's games (a sweep of Princeton and Penn), James Jones' Yale Bulldogs are atop the Ivy League with a 5-1 conference record. Yale is led by the tandem of guard Eric Flato and guard/forward Casey Hughes. This is an experienced ballclub that should hang around for the duration of the season and challenge for the league's automatic bid. They've played two more games than Penn, which explains the two-game lead in the win column (they're tied in the loss category), and they've got the Columbia/Cornell road swing this coming weekend. If they can get through that with at least a split, if not a sweep, the Bulldogs have their next four games at home. The season ends with games at Penn and Princeton, and those games could indeed decide who represents the Ivy in the NCAA Tournament.

The first college basketball weekend of 2007 has delivered some interesting results. First off, how many people expected Hartford and Maryland-Baltimore County to be on top of America East after the first weekend of play? The Hawks, led by first-year head coach Dan Leibovitz, won a 62-60 thriller at Maine on opening night, then followed that win with an 80-75 double-OT home win over Boston University. The Hawks only have two seniors on the roster, so it would be understandable if people looked to their future instead of the present. Of course the two seniors, forwards Bo Taylor and Alex Zimnickas, are important contributors, but the Hawks also have some solid youngsters playing a part in their success. Freshman guard Joe Zeglinski is the team's second leading scorer, and sophomores Jaret Von Rosenberg, Michael Turner and Fabrice Tafo combined for 26 points off the bench in their win at Maine. A young team has its bumps in the road, but the future could be now for the Hawks.