Mid-Eastern Athletic conference tournament preview

This is part 15 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:
North Carolina Central 16-0
Norfolk St 12-4
Maryland-Eastern Shore 11-5
Howard 10-6
Delaware St 9-7
Hampton 8-8
South Carolina St 7-9
Bethune-Cookman 7-9
Coppin St 6-10
North Carolina A&T 6-10
Morgan St 5-11
Savannah St 5-11
Florida A&M 2-14

Conference tournament format:  Your host is Norfolk, so the #2 seed gets virtual homecourt advantage here.  NCCU's gonna have to earn this one.

It's a straight-up 12 team bracket.  Florida A&M got APR'd, so they're not present.  The tournament lasts 6 days (6!).  1st round Monday/Tuesday March 9/10...quarterfinals for two days, then semis Friday March 13 and championship Saturday March 14.  If you're wondering, the women's tournament is running at the same site at the same time, hence the elongated format.

Bracket:
1) North Carolina Central vs. 8/9) Bethune Cookman/Coppin St
4) Howard vs. 5/12) Delaware St/Savannah St
2) Norfolk St vs. 7/10) South Carolina St/North Carolina A&T
3) Maryland-Eastern Shore vs. 6/11) Hampton/Morgan St

Note the top 2 seeds play the first day of quarterfinals, so they get the advantage of a day off.

The stakes:
The MEAC is the 2nd worst conference in the country.  However, NCCU figures to overcome it to avoid the 16 line, at least.  When you sweep the conference, that's one big thing in your favor.  The RPI just north of 100 helps.  The 130 non-con SoS also helps.  They played many big games (UNC, Creighton, Cincy, Maryland, Memphis) to pump up their numbers.  Now, they didn't beat any of them, so they're not getting higher than a 15, but still.  The committee has shown they'll give more credence to your RPI number when you get this deep in the bracket.  And they played (and won) a significant number of road/neutral games.

Everyone else would more or less be looking at a play-in game if they somehow beat NCCU.  Norfolk St beat Texas Southern and St Francis(NY), which could be very useful in head-to-head situations for seeding teams on the 15-16 lines.

Beyond the top 2, UMES and Howard also have winning records.  4 postseason teams for the MEAC?  I doubt it, but there's 4 eligible.  (Delaware St would also get there with 2 wins)