NEC MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Long Island
- Mercyhurst
- Central Connecticut (tied 3rd)
- Le Moyne (tied 3rd)
- Wagner
- Fairleigh Dickinson (tied 6th)
- Stonehill (tied 6th)
- Chicago State
- New Haven
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COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-Before you do anything else, you need to CLICK HERE AND BOOKMARK NEC FRONT ROW
-Long Island basically blew through this league last year. They were 15-3 in conference play and it was kind of a surprise that they even lost three. No starters return from that team, but they are once again the favorites. Daquan Davis comes in after a solid year at Florida State and Vasean Allette averaged double-figures for TCU. Those two guys should be dominant players in a league like the NEC. They also have some solid-looking JUCO players, so the Sharks appear to be set up for success.
-Jake Lemelman is a player to watch for Mercyhurst. He averaged just under 14ppg and is a very solid outside shooter. They also return some guys who gave them key minutes off the bench and should be able to step into bigger roles this year. They are still a transitional program, but they are positioned to make some real noise in the league.
-Central Connecticut had a solid season last year going 12-6 in NEC play, which was good enough for a 2nd-place finish. While two starters do return, they are still tasked with having to replace a lot of their roster. Most of this year’s roster seems to consist of guys who have played limited minutes in the past, so they will have to step up if CCSU is going to be in the mix this year.
-Le Moyne was a very respectable 10-8 in NEC play last year and is eligible for the NCAA Tournament this year. Just one starter is back and the roster has a lot of guys who played limited minutes at the D-1 level last year, but who were productive in the minutes that they did play. They were picked to finish 3rd (in a tie) and that seems about right. I kind of have a feeling about them: I think they can have a decent year.
-Dwan McMillan enters his second year as Wagner’s coach and like a lot of schools in the NEC the roster consists of guys with limited D-1 experience. Freddy Hassan is a player to watch. He was a good scorer/rebounder a season ago. If some other guys can step up then Wagner should be able to contend for a spot in the top half of the standings.
-Fairleigh Dickinson won just 11 total games last year and went out of the conference tournament kind of early. The expectations are not all that much higher for this year. They have some guys transferring in who put up impressive numbers outside of D-1 last year and they will need to step it up in order for FDU to be successful this year.
-Stonehill was 8-10 in NEC play last year and seems to have a roster of guys who were solid players at non-D-1 schools a year ago. Not great players: just solid. Can they step up and be successful at the D-1 level? It may be a tough transition.
-Chicago State is a team that I always find myself rooting for, but that cannot seem to get it going. I am not sure why. It is one thing to not be able to break through nationally. It is another thing to not be able to finish above the bottom of the NEC. They are in Chicago. They should be able to at least recruit NEC-caliber players who are good enough to finish in the top half of the conference. Landon Bussie is in his second year as coach and he has just one starter back. It is a mixture of JUCO players and others who saw limited mintues at Under the Radar programs a year ago. I hope they have a good year, but I am not overly optimistic.
-New Haven is in their second year of the D-1 transition. They did not do bad last year going 9-9 in league play, which is pretty solid for a transitional program. They are relying on guys who were big contributors at non-D-1 programs a year ago to step up this year.
