NEC at a Glance

--Lee Kunkel
--@Kunkel5

--

Another great weekend in the NEC has passed, and once again it was the Robert Morris University Colonials making the biggest statement.

The Colonials swept the Brooklyn trip for the first time since the 99-00 season, picking up huge wins over Long Island and St Francis Brooklyn and in the process, moved their record to an NEC best 9-1.

As for the rest of the league? Well there are a lot of battles going on within the league, including the battle for the last spot or two for the NEC tournament, and also positioning within the league as March approaches.

Here are the current standings:

Lets start at the bottom of the NEC, where there was some pretty big news this past Saturday.

Getting Vinales back is big for
Central Connecticut (SB Nation).

Central Connecticut, a team many thought could contend for a top four spot (including CTC's own Chris Cappella), got some very good news. Not only did they defeat Fairleigh Dickinson in overtime, but they got their star guard, Kyle Vinales, back from a broken finger. One would think that CCSU, who is currently 3-7, alone in 8th place (the final NEC tournament spot), will have enough in the tank now to outlast Sacred Heart (1-9) and LIU Brooklyn (2-8).

Speaking of the Pioneers and Blackbirds, they both had a tough weekend going 0-2 each. Both have an uphill battle to even make the NEC playoffs. It would be pretty amazing if LIU, the three time defending champs, missed the tournament entirely, but that appears to be the reality with just six games left.

Back to Central Connecticut.

The Blue Devils, as mentioned above, picked up a huge win over FDU, pulling them into eighth place, and they now stand only one game behind the Knights for seventh place. Central has already picked up wins at Wagner, and at Robert Morris so there is little doubt that with Vinales back, the Blue Devils have the potential to cause some trouble for someone in the opening round of the NEC tournament. It will be interesting to see where they end up.

For now, the Knights of FDU are still in good position to make the NEC tournament at 4-6 but they could really use a win. They have lost four straight, all on the road, and still have a tough schedule with Wagner, Bryant, RMU, and SFNY all remaining. The good news is four of their six are at home, including a game against 1-9 Sacred Heart. One more win this year probably gets them into the NEC tournament.

As we move up in the standings, it's all about positioning and the battle for home court. The Red Flash of St Francis (PA) have won four of five, and can really make a statement Thursday be beating the conference leaders (RMU) on their home court. They split the Brooklyn trip, losing to the Terriers Thursday, and beating LIU on Saturday. At 5-5 they are in sixth place, but are only one game out of third.

Then comes the fun. There are three teams, Wagner, Mount St Mary's, and St Francis Brooklyn, all at 6-4. Wagner had the best weekend, going 2-0 with wins over FDU and Sacred Heart. Mount and St Francis split their pair of games.

Rivers and Wagner should finish strong
with five of six at home (ESPN).

The Seahawks also have a huge advantage moving forward. They play at FDU this Thursday, and then they won't play a road game the rest of the regular season. Their final five games of the regular season are at home including games vs Mount, RMU, and Bryant.

If the Seahawks end the season going 5-1 or even 6-0, both very possible, they could catapult themselves from the middle of the pack up into the top two.

As for the other two in that cluster, Mount and St Francis, both had difficult endings to their past weekend. Mount lost a heartbreaker at Bryant, 78-75 after a questionable shot by star guard Julian Norfleet with the team down two in the final seconds. However, they will get another shot at the Bulldogs on Thursday, this time on their home court.

Then there is St Francis. The Terriers had a terrible weekend. They beat St Francis (PA) Thursday night, and it all went downhill from there. Three key players, Wayne Martin, Brent Jones, and P.J. Santavenere, were all suspended just before Saturday's game against RMU. Then the Terriers got blitzed by the Colonials losing by 22.

Ouch.

It will be interesting to see how long the suspensions will last, and could very well effect where the Terriers finish in the NEC standings.

Then there is the top two, where for weeks now, it's been a two horse race. Robert Morris at 9-1 leads the way, and Bryant at 8-2 are right on their heels, but RMU still holds that tiebreaker (two head-to-head wins). As mentioned, RMU swept their two games  this past weekend and the Bulldogs did the same beating CCSU and Mount.

Now things get interesting for the second place team, as they will play four of the final six on the road including two tough games this weekend, at Mount and at Wagner. This difficult scheduled, coupled with Wagner's easy schedule leads me to believe the Seahawks have a good chance at catching the Bulldogs for that second place spot.

I think Bryant will do just enough to hold on to that second place spot.

As for the first place Colonials, they may have locked up first place and home court in the NEC this past weekend. In their final six games, they play three at home, and three on the road, but the schedule isn't that difficult. Only the final game, at Wagner, will the Colonials not be favorites.

If RMU can go 3-3 in this stretch, and given how they're playing that shouldn't be too difficult, they should win the regular season. 12 wins seemed to be a magic number at the beginning of the year, and it appears that will be enough, but I expect the Colonials to win a few more then that.

If I had to take a guess, I think the NEC will end something like this:

In: 1. RMU, 2. Bryant, 3. Wagner, 4. SFNY, 5. Mount, 6. SFPA,7. CCSU, 8. FDU

Out: LIU, Sacred Heart

PS: There are some great articles on the Colonials over at nycbuckets.com, you should check them out.

NEC Simulations, The Colonials 2-3 zone, and a Tempo Free look at the standings.