Monday, February 29, 2016

Northeast conference tournament preview

This is part 7 of a 32-part series that will take a look at every conference and conference tournament in the country.  We'll recap who's playing and what the stakes are for each team in the conference.

The standings:
Wagner 13-5 (20-9)
Fairleigh Dickinson 11-7 (15-14)
Sacred Heart 11-7 (12-17)
St Francis(NY) 11-7 (15-16)
Mount St Mary's 10-8 (13-18)
LIU 9-9 (15-14)
St Francis(PA) 9-9 (13-16)
Robert Morris 8-10 (10-21)
Bryant 5-13 (8-23)
Central Connecticut St 3-15 (4-25)

Tournament format:
All games are played at the site of the highest seed left.  Wednesday March 2, Saturday March 5, and Tuesday March 8 are the relevant dates.  Only the top 8 play this tournament, but I'm guessing no one's gonna miss Bryant or CCSU here.

The matchups:
8) Robert Morris at 1) Wagner
5) Mount St Mary's at 4) St Francis(NY)
7) St Francis(PA) at 2) Fairleigh Dickinson
6) LIU at 3) Sacred Heart

The stakes:
Conference is 29th in the CRPI.  Wagner's the only one sub-200.  The winner's going to the 16 line, and probably Dayton.  Easiest analysis ever.

Wagner's in the NIT at least.  FDU isn't really even a viable postseason candidate based on resume, and LIU surely isn't.  This conference is the most likely to be stuck with just 1 postseason team, if Wagner wins the conference tournament.  11-7 was 2nd place in this conference, so there isn't even a candidate based on conference performance.  This is the easiest write-up I'll have this year.

No comments: