2016 Northeast Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament Field Set - NEC Skip To Main Content
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2016 Northeast Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament Field Set

2/28/2016

 
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Somerset, NJ -- It was a rollercoaster ride this year in the Northeast Conference (NEC), but the final day of the regular season brought some clarity to the standings as well as finalized pairings for the 2016 NEC Men's Basketball Tournament. 

Wagner will enjoy home court advantage throughout the playoffs, having clinched its second NEC regular season title this past Thursday.  The Seahawks also earned the league's automatic bid to the Postseason NIT should they falter in the tourney.

The 35th annual NEC Basketball Tournament will consist of an eight-team playoff format with all games played at the home of the higher seed.  After the quarterfinals, the teams will be reseeded so the highest remaining seed plays the lowest remaining seed in the semifinals.
2016 Northeast Conference
Men’s Basketball Tournament
(all games played at home of higher seed)

Quarterfinals*
Wednesday, March 2
 
#8 Robert Morris at #1 Wagner, 7:00 pm
#7 Saint Francis U at #2 Fairleigh Dickinson, 7:00 pm
#6 LIU Brooklyn at #3 Sacred Heart, 7:00 pm (TV: MSG & FCS)
#5 Mount St. Mary's at #4 St. Francis Brooklyn, 9:00 pm (TV: MSG & FCS)

* All four NEC quarterfinal games will air on NEC Front Row

Semifinals*
Saturday, March 5
 
Lowest Remaining Seed at Highest Remaining Seed, 2 or 4:00 pm (TV: MSG+, FCS)
3rd Highest Remaining Seed at 2nd Highest Remaining Seed, 2 or 4:00 pm (TV: MSG+, FCS)

* Both NEC semifinal games will air on NEC Front Row

Championship
Tuesday, March 8

7:00 pm on ESPN2, ESPN3
 
NEC Tournament quarterfinal play commences on Wednesday, March 2, followed by the semifinal round on Saturday, March 5. Two men's quarterfinal game will air on MSG and FCS with LIU Brooklyn visiting Sacred Heart at 7:00 pm, followed by St. Francis Brooklyn hosting Mount St. Mary's at 9:00 pm. Both men’s semifinal games will be televised on MSG+ and FCS. The championship game, to be televised by ESPN2, will be contested on Tuesday, March 8 at 7:00 pm. All NEC quarterfinal and semifinal games will also air on NEC Front Row.

The NEC’s return to a playoff format in 2005 came after an eight-year absence that saw the league’s annual postseason tournament contested at one campus site (1999), at a municipal arena (2000-01) and at a single campus site for the quarterfinals and semifinals, followed by the highest remaining seed hosting the championship game (1998, 2002-04). The conference had previously employed a high-seed hosting format from 1991-97, though teams were not reseeded after the quarterfinals as the tournament is currently constructed.

Wagner (20-9, 13-5 NEC) claimed its second NEC regular season crown with its 69-54 win over Saint Francis U on Thursday. The Seahawks also finished first in the regular season back in 2002-03, the same year the Green & White captured their lone NEC Tournament title. Wagner will now host playoff games at the Spiro Center as long as it remains alive in the tourney. The Seahawks have advanced to the NEC semifinals in three of the last four years. Wagner will take on eighth-seeded Robert Morris (10-21, 8-10 NEC) in the quarterfinals. The Colonials are the defending NEC champion and proud owner of a league-record eight NEC Championships. RMU has qualified for 13 consecutive NEC Tournaments and reached the NEC title game six of the past seven years. The #8 seed for RMU is the program's lowest during its 13 straight postseason appearances. A #8 seed has never beaten a #1 seed in the history of the NEC Tournament. Wagner won both meetings this season, including an eight-point triumph in Staten Island on Saturday.

2015-16 meetings: WC 72, RMU 69 (1/4); WC 62, RMU 54 (2/27)

Fairleigh Dickinson (15-14, 11-7 NEC) defied all expectations after being picked ninth in the NEC preseason poll. Coming off a three-win regular season in 2014-15, the second-seeded Knights finished 11-7 in NEC play to earn the program's highest tourney seed winning the NEC regular season title during the 2005-06 campaign. FDU has won four NEC championships, the last coming in 2005. After going 18 years without an NEC Tournament win, seventh-seeded Saint Francis U (13-16, 9-9 NEC) reached the conference  semifinals in each of the last two years. The Red Flash won on the road both times to advance. SFU has now qualified for the postseason in each of the last three years. FDU swept the season series with the highlight being an 86-82 overtime win in Hackensack on January 28 in one of the best games of the NEC regular season.

2015-16 meetings: FDU 71, SFU 59 (1/14); FDU 86, SFU 82 (OT) (1/28)
 
Sacred Heart (12-17, 11-7 NEC) is peaking at the right time, winners of ten of its final 14 games to close out the regular season following a 1-3 NEC start. The #3 seed is the highest for the Pioneers since being seeded third in 2009, the same year SHU last won an NEC Tournament game. In what should be yet another high-scoring affair between the two teams, SHU will take on sixth-seeded LIU Brooklyn (15-14, 9-9 NEC) on Wednesday. The Blackbirds will be making their second consecutive NEC Tournament appearance. LIU became the first team to win three straight NEC Tournament titles from 2011-13 and has claimed five league crowns in school history. The Blackbirds won six of their last nine to close out regular season play.

2015-16 meetings: LIU 92, SHU 84 (1/27); SHU 98, LIU 90 (2/6)
 
St. Francis Brooklyn (15-16, 11-7 NEC) has now qualified for the postseason all six years under Glenn Braica and will be looking for the program's first NEC Tournament title and initial NCAA Tournament appearance. The fourth-seeded Terriers were the top seed in the 2015 NEC Tournament and fell to Robert Morris in the title tilt. SFBK won four straight and six of its last seven to close out the regular season. The Terriers will do battle with fifth-seeded Mount St. Mary's (13-18, 10-8 NEC) in the quarterfinals. The Mount will be making its tenth NEC Tournament appearance in the last 11 years. The Mountaineers have won four NEC Tournament titles - the last coming in 2014 - and have competed in the final twice in the last three years. The Terriers and Mount split in a pair of low scoring games this season, including a 44-40 Mount win in overtime on January 4. The two teams met in Brooklyn on Saturday with the Terriers securing a six-point victory.

2015-16 meetings: MSM 44, SFBK 40 (OT) (1/4); SFBK 55, MSM 49 (2/27)

About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 35th year, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of 10 institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to four of the largest markets in the United States - New York (#1), Pittsburgh (#23), Baltimore (#27), and Hartford/New Haven (#30).  Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 22 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 14 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Bryant, Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU Brooklyn, Mount St. Mary’s, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Google+, all @NECsports.