The Northeast Conference has an interesting set up for their conference tournament. Only the top four regular season teams qualified for the tournament. Last year’s matchup was Robert Morris vs. Saint Francis U; with neither of those teams being there this year, we will get a new Northeast champion. The following contains the Northeast Tournament bracket and schedule, as well as a preview of what we can expect to see.
Northeast Conference Basketball Standings
| Team | Conference Record | Overall Record | Tournament Outlook |
| Wagner | 13-5 | 13-6 | 1 |
| Bryant | 10-4 | 14-5 | 2 |
| Sacred Heart | 9-7 | 9-8 | 3 |
| Mount Saint Mary’s | 9-7 | 10-10 | 4 |
| LIU | 9-9 | 9-9 | N/A |
| Merrimack | 9-9 | 9-9 | N/A |
| St. Francis Brooklyn | 9-9 | 9-10 | N/A |
| Farleigh Dickenson | 8-10 | 9-15 | N/A |
| Saint Francis U | 5-13 | 6-16 | N/A |
| Central Connecticut | 5-13 | 5-16 | N/A |
Northeast Conference Basketball Tournament Schedule
Dates: March 6 & 9
TV: ESPN2, ESPN3
Site: Higher seeded team hosts games
Byes: N/A
Most Recent Champion: Robert Morris
Northeast Conference Basketball Tournament Bracket
First Round/Semifinals
- (1) Wagner 60 vs. (4) Mount St. Marys 66
- (2) Bryant 85 vs. (3) Sacred Heart 55
Championship
- (2) Bryant 68 vs. (4) Mount St. Mary’s 73
Mount St. Mary’s advances to the NCAA Tournament
Northeast Conference Breakdown
After Robert Morris moved to the Horizon League, the Northeast Conference is wide open. In last year’s championship, Robert Morris took down Saint Francis U, adding to Saint Francis U’s second straight championship loss. This season won’t be the same for the Red Flash as they did not qualify to be a part of the tournament this season.
Top seed Wagner features two players who both average over 17 points a game. After starting the season 1-5, the Seahawks rattled off ten straight wins.
Although that winning streak for Wagner propelled them to the number one seed, it seemed like Bryant was the best team in the conference. The Bulldogs feature five players who score in the double digits. Four of those players are guards. The team though runs through Peter Kiss, who averages 17-6-3. Bryant should be able to take advantage of pulling big guys out of the paint with a five-out offense. The Bulldogs are sixth in the nation in scoring at 84.6 points per game.
The preseason rankings for the Northeastern Conference were slightly off as they did not predict the top two seeds correctly. The biggest underachiever in relation to the preseason rankings was Farleigh Dickenson, who was projected to finish first, but ultimately finished eighth. The biggest overachiever in relation to the preseason rankings was Wagner, who was projected to finish eighth, but finished first.
