Monday, March 3, 2014

Northeast conference tournament

This is part 6 of a 32-part series covering each conference and conference tournament.  These previews are meant to provide every bracketologist with the information they need to make informed projections about the teams of the conference.

The final standings:
Robert Morris 14-2
Wagner 12-4
Bryant 10-6
Mount St Mary's 9-7
St Francis (NY) 9-7
St Francis (PA) 7-9
Central Connecticut St 7-9
Fairleigh Dickinson 6-10
LIU 4-12
Sacred Heart 2-14

Tournament format:
Only the top 8 teams will play in this tournament, so say bye to LIU (9-20) and Sacred Heart (5-26) for this season.  Every single game will be played on the home court of the higher seed, and it's reseeded after the quarterfinals so that lowest remaining seed plays highest remaining seed.  Quarterfinals March 5.  Semifinals March 8.  Championship March 11.

The matchups:
8) Fairleigh Dickinson (10-20) at 1) Robert Morris (19-12)
7) Central Connecticut St (11-18) at 2) Wagner (18-11)
6) St Francis (PA) (9-20) at 3) Bryant (18-13)
5) St Francis (NY) (18-13) at 4) Mount St Mary's (13-16)

The stakes:
Barring upsets elsewhere in small school tournaments, the winner, even Robert Morris, is staring a 16 seed in the face.  No one really has anything in their profiles that would suggest anything better.  RMU would probably avoid Dayton, but for everyone else, Dayton is a real threat.  Wagner actually is tracking towards a sub-200 RPI in 2nd place here.  The NEC's power numbers and conference RPI would suggest a borderline 15/16 seed, so this all fits in place.

I figure Wagner, Bryant, and St Francis (NY) will all get cursory looks from the CBI and CIT.  A couple of them probably make it to get invites if they want.

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