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NEC MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Sacred Heart
- Central Connecticut
- Fairleigh Dickinson
- Merrimack
- Wagner
- Stonehill
- Long Island
- Saint Francis U
- Le Moyne
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-NEC TEAM:
-Ansley Almonor – JR, F – Fairleigh Dickinson
-Kellen Amos – SR, G/F – Central Connecticut
-Nico Galette – SR, G – Sacred Heart
-Joey Reilly – SR, G – Sacred Heart
-Max Zegarowski – SR, G – Stonehill
COMMENTS FROM DAVID GRIGGS:
We at Hoops HD absolutely LOVE this conference! The rivalries are great, the atmosphere at the venues is great, and the games are typically exciting. That being said, it is perennially one of the weaker leagues in all of D1, and last year it was historically weak as no team in the entire conference managed to finish in the top-300 of the NET. I do not believe an entire conference finishing outside the top-300 has ever happened before! But after all that, Fairleigh Dickinson upset Purdue in the NCAA Tournament and this conference won not just one but TWO NCAA Tournament games last year! I do not think anything could be more NEC than the combination of those two things!!
-Sacred Heart, who has never won the NEC before, is the consensus (and near unanimous) favorite to win it this year. They were just 8-8 in conference play a year ago, but with four starters back, which include Nico Galette/Joey Reilly, the Pioneers have both talent and experience in the backcourt.
-Central Connecticut won just ten total games last year and finished just 7th in the conference, but the expectations for them are high as three starters return including Kellen Amos, who is perhaps the best frontcourt player in the conference. They also have some promising-looking transfers coming in so it is understandable why so many are expecting them to substantially improve.
-Fairleigh Dickinson was a good-but-not-great 10-6 in league play last year. They also failed to win the conference tournament but made the NCAA Tournament by default because Merrimack was not eligible to play in the NCAAs. With a final NET of just 301 they were the lowest-rated team in any major metric that I could ever remember actually making the NCAA Tournament. They then went on to beat Purdue in the Round of 64, which I would personally name as the biggest upset in college sports history. It was not just that a 16-seed beat a 1-seed: it was that a team outside the top-300 beat a team that many thought could win it all. This year three starters are back and they appear to have a very strong frontcourt so I am a little surprised they are only being picked 3rd. They are a little unproven at the guard position but they do have a decent-looking transfer in DeVante Jamison coming in, so I for one think FDU is good enough to win the league again. Or, should I say…win it for a first time since they did not actually win it last year. Jack Castleberry is taking over as head coach and he has some pretty good pieces to work with.
-Merrimack was last year’s 1st-place team/tournament winner. However, because they were in their fourth in final year of transitioning up to D1 they were ineligible to participate in a postseason tournament. So, despite being the most deserving team in the league they could only watch the NCAA Tournament on TV. The transition is now complete, though: they are eligible for it this year! Unfortunately they lost some of their top players and are having to rebuild the roster. As unfair as this seems, they are not as good in their first year of being eligible for the postseason as they were in their last year of being ineligible for it.
-Wagner is always a team that I seem to pick to do well in this league, and while they are not my pick to win the league this year I like them a lot more than where they are being picked to finish. Three starters are back, they have an experienced backcourt, they picked up some pretty-good-looking transfers, and while they were not great down the stretch last year they were not terrible either.
-Stonehill is a transitional team that tied for second place in its first-ever D1 season last year. The transition from year-one to year-two is often a hard one. Key players leave and it is then hard to replace them because they are on probation. They were a good defensive team last year and likely will be again this year, and Max Zegarowski (a very good outside shooter) returns to the roster so they do have some weapons.
-Long Island won just one conference game a year ago and is in a bit of a rebuild mode this year. We should see some improvement…but having said that it would be difficult for them to do any worse.
-Saint Francis was a respectable 9-7 in conference play a year ago, but with all five starters gone from a year ago the Red Flash are having to start over and with so many new pieces the lack of experience could result in another long year.
-Le Moyne is a transitional team that begins their first season this year: welcome to D1!! Unlike Stonehill last year the expectations are not high.