This is part 9 of a 33-part series in this blog, designed to give you all the information you need to know about each conference's tournament, and the postseason prospects of every single team in the conference.
Final standings:
Iona 17-3
Rider 15-5
Manhattan 13-7
Monmouth 13-7
Canisius 11-9
Quinnipiac 9-11
St Peter's 8-12
Siena 7-13
Niagara 7-13
Fairfield 5-15
Marist 5-15
Conference tournament format: Neutral site in Albany for everything. All 11 show up, and they're doing the women's tourney and men's tourney in the same place, so things are spread out on the schedule. 1st round Thursday March 5, quarterfinals on Saturday March 7, semis Sunday March 8, finals Monday March 9.
Bracket:
1) Iona vs. 8/9) Siena/Niagara
4) Monmouth vs. 5) Canisius
2) Rider vs. 7/10) St Peter's/Fairfield
3) Manhattan vs. 6/11) Quinnipiac/Marist
The stakes:
Everyone's used to the MAAC being pretty okay. Anywhere from 10-15 in conference RPI, the occasional at-large threat, and generally competent play, at least among the top 3-4 teams. Not this year though. They're buried in 22nd in conference RPI, which says everything. Iona is hanging around RPI 50, but that's the only team anywhere near double-digits.
So what exactly is in Iona's resume? Beat Cleveland St, won at Wake, beat FGCU...so competent. No non-con loss is egregious. So it's definitely not an at-large resume (they had chances to beat NIT-level competition and failed). But it feels like a 13 seed, partly based on old reputation. I don't think they need to worry about going too low.
The rest of the conference, not so much. They'd be direct threats to get a 16 seed. No analysis can save them from that. Even Rider, in 2nd solo, would be a probable 16 seed and would be nowhere near the NIT.
They'll pack the CBI/CIT fields, I guess. Rider is a cinch, and a couple out of Manhattan, Monmouth, Canisius, and Quinnipiac (your eligible teams) should be invited as well.
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