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MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL
- Long Island
- Sacred Heart
- Saint Francis University
- Fairleigh Dickinson
- Robert Morris
- Bryant
- Mount Saint Mary’s
- Saint Francis Brooklyn
- Wagner
- Central Connecticut
- Merrimack
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-NEC TEAM
E.J. Anosike – Sacred Heart, JR, G/F
Keith Braxton – Saint Francis University, SR, G
Raiquan Clark – Long Island, SR, G/F
Adam Grant – Bryant, SR, G
Jahlil Jenkins – Fairleigh Dickinson, JR, G
NOTES FROM DAVID. We at HoopsHD absolutely love this league!! The rivalries are great, the venues where the games are played are small, but intimate and full of energy, and because the conference tournament is at campus sites, the games during the regular season really matter. More often than not the winner of this league ends up on the #16 line, but it’s still a fun league!
Long Island (formerly the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds) begins their first year after being rebranded as the Sharks as the favorites to win the conference. All five starters are back from a team that was really playing well down the stretch last season. They went 4-1 in their last five before losing in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
Fairleigh Dickinson was last year’s champions, and with three starters back they should finish at or near the top of the league again this year. I’m a little surprised they were picked as low as 4th in the preseason poll. Replacing their starting PG won’t be easy, but they have two really good outside shooters in Kaleb Bishop/Xzavier Malone-Key. They should also get some help from their bench, and from a fairly decent group of newcomers.
Sacred Heart, who finished in a tie for 3rd last year, has four starters back and is another team that will likely contend for first place. They do need to replace their top scorer, but a lot of the returning players were also capable of scoring, and they should get some help from their bench as well.
Saint Francis U tied for first last year, but fell short in the NEC Championship game and missed out on the Big Dance. They are also looking to replace their top scorer, but have three starters back and should once again be good if they can get some guys to step up in their new roles.
Robert Morris also has four starters back from a team that finished the season strong. They had a really rough stretch in February, but outside of that they looked pretty good. If they can consistently play up to their ceiling they could potentially be a surprise team this year.
Bryant has some new players coming in that are pretty good, but they may need to get some experience before we can start talking about them as a league contender.
Saint Francis Brooklyn lost their two top players, but they do have three starters back as well as some other pieces. Still, they’ll need some guys to step up this year if they’re going to be competitive.
Mount Saint Mary’s has all five starters back, but they won just seven total games a year ago, and while the experience should help them out some, they could have also probably benefited from some new players.
Wagner and Central Connecticut also look to be in rebuild mode.
And Merrimack joins the league and will begin their transition up from D-2! Four starters are back from a team that won 22 games at the D-2 level last year.