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 surpirse 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 Vascan 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 that gave 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 Connecitcut 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 that have played limited minutes in the past, so they’ll 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 that played limited minutes at the D1 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 Head Coach and like a lot of schools in the NEC the roster consists of guys with limited D1 experience. Freddy Hassan is a player to watch. He was a good scorer and 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 aren’t all that much higher for this year. They have some guys transferring in who put up impressive numbers outside of D1 last year and they’ll 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 that were solid players at nonD1 schools a year ago. Not great players. Just solid. Can they step up and be successful at the D1 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’m not sure why. It’s one thing to not be able to break through nationally. It’s 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 that are good enough to finish in the top half of the conference. Landon Bussie is in his second year as Head Coach and he has just one starter back. It’s 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’m not overly optimistic.
-New Haven is in their second year of the D1 transition. They didn’t 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 nonD1 programs a year ago to step up this year.
