Ray Floriani of College Chalktalk is the RTC correspondent for the NEC and MAAC conferences.
LYNDHURST, NJ – ‘It is a marathon not a sprint,’ the coaches tell you. That analogy of the college season is very true. In the case of the Northeast Conference race, Robert Morris grabbed the early lead and led a good portion of the way. Quinnipiac was at the head of the second pack, trying to keep the pace setter in sight. The Colonials hit the wall about the 24 mile mark (maybe the 25.5 mile as Robert Morris held the lead from January 30 until the season’s final day) and were caught by Quinnipiac. Both teams tied for first but the Bobcats earned the top seed on a tiebreaker. With the unbalanced schedule Quinnipiac and Robert Morris met once with the Bobcats taking the February 20 road decision. Both teams finished in a tie and that win gave Tom Moore’s team the top seed.
Ray Floriani of College Chalktalk is the RTC correspondent for the MAAC and NEC conferences, and was in attendance at the Monmouth at St. Peter’s game during ESPN’s 24 Hour Marathon.
To steal from a favorite Elton John song, “It’s four o’clock in the morning, damn it…”
Actually the mood when the alarm sounds is not anger but eager anticipation. Monmouth-St. Peter’s, 6 AM at the Yanitelli Center. The day, or morning, is here.
4:50 - College ChalkTalk colleague George Rodecker arrives and we make the eight mile trip from my Lyndhurst home to Jersey City.
5:10 - Easy parking and walking from the car. The St. Peter’s campus is quiet. As we near Yanitelli Center the sound builds.
On entering the center for our press credential, we find St. Peter’s students coming from a night of all-night games and organized activities in the “Yanitelli bubble” to the court to get their seats. The students — with faces painted, some carrying signs — are energized and ready.
Good day, friends. John Stevens, here, one of your faithful RTC contributors, with a quick reminder. ESPN’s 24 Hours of Hoops Marathon begins tonight at midnight on Monday night/Tuesday morning, and I’ll be live-blogging the whole thing in our famed Boom Goes the Dynamite format. I did this last year during the same event, and once again I’ll be happily disregarding the recommendations — nay, the very pleas — of my family, friends, and internist, and staying up the whole 24 hours, all the while absorbing those tasty rays from my TV and computer screens. I hope you’ll stop by and hit the refresh button a few times, and even lend a comment or two.
Here are the games ESPN is showing:
12:05 am Cal State Fullerton at UCLA
2:00 am San Diego State at Saint Mary’s – RTC Live Simulcast
4:00 am Northern Colorado at Hawaii
6:00 am Monmouth at St. Peter’s
8:00 am Drexel at Niagara
10:00 am Clemson at Liberty
12:00 pm Northeastern at Siena
2:00 pm Arkansas-Little Rock at Tulsa
4:00 pm Temple at Georgetown
5:30 pm Binghamton at Pittsburgh (ESPN2)
6:00 pm Charlotte at Duke (ESPN)
7:30 pm Arkansas at Louisville (ESPN2) – RTC Live Simulcast
8:00 pm Gonzaga at Michigan State
9:00 pm Duquesne at Iowa (ESPNU)
10:00 pm Memphis at Kansas – RTC Live Simulcast
Last year, if I recall correctly — and there’s a good chance that I don’t! — because I had worked a full day beforehand and gotten almost no sleep the previous night, I started hallucinating about 18 hours into this. I look to be a little better rested going in this time, so I anticipate it’ll be a total cake walk. Yeah, we’ll see. The executives here at RTC obviously think so, too, since my written requests for a short-term insurance policy were denied (read: returned to me in paper-doll-chain form). Alas.
Anyway, I hope you’ll join me for as much of it as you can endure. The updates will begin below promptly at midnight tonight. See you there!
11:53pm (11/16): And so here we find ourselves, again, my friends. Welcome to the RTC 24-hour live blog for ESPN’s 24-hour Hoops Marathon. This will be done in our Boom Goes The Dynamite format, meaning this post will update every so often, so keep hitting that refresh button during the time that you’re joining us. When three of us do this during a day’s games during the regular season, sometimes it’ll start with NVR, then I’ll take the baton, and rtmsf will finish the night with the late games. When that happens, I use an old basketball term and call it…the three man weave. I’m the only one who finds that clever, though. But I”ll say it…what we have here is a one man weave. I’ll have help from rtmsf as he goes all RTC Live on us from the San Diego State at St. Mary’s game at 2 am ET, and then again from St. Louis with the Arkansas-Louisville and Memphis-Kansas games later on Tuesday night. But I’m flyin’ solo without a net and I’m going caffeine-free, baby! That’s my pledge to you tonight. I, John Stevens, will be kept awake merely by my love for college hoops. I promise. We’ll get it goin’ with Cal State-Fullerton at UCLA in just a bit. Welcome!!
Ray Floriani of College Chalktalk is the RTC correspondent for the NEC and MAAC conferences. Click here for all of our 2009-10 Season Preview materials..
Predicted Order of Finish:
Mount St. Mary’s (15-3)
Robert Morris (14-4)
Quinnipiac (13-5)
Central Connecticut (12-6)
LIU (10-7)
FDU (9-9)
Monmouth (8-10)
Sacred Heart (7-11)
St. Francis (NY) (6-12)
Wagner (5-13)
St. Francis (PA) (4-14)
All Conference Team:
Jeremy Goode (G), 5′9 Sr., Mount St.Mary’s
Jaytonah Wisseh (G), 6′1 Sr., LIU
Rob Robinson (F), 6′8 Sr., Robert Morris
Ken Horton (F), 6′6 Jr., Central Connecticut
Justin Rutty (C/F), 6′7 Jr., Quinnipiac
6th Man of the Year.Julian Boyd (F), 6-1 So., LIUNewcomer of the Year. Mike Scott (G), 6-0 Jr., FDU
What you need to know.
The Northeast Conference is composed of 12 members. Eleven compete for the championship as newest member Bryant will not be eligible for the NEC title or NCAA tournament appearances until 2013.
The NEC is primarily a guard/small forward conference. Solid big men ruling the blocks are rare. Interestingly one who went on to a nice career hailed from the NEC. Rik Smits of Marist owned the low post in the mid-80s before heading to David Stern’s league.
The NEC post season tournament is contested among the conference’s top eight finishers. Naturally, a good deal of scoreboard watching is in vogue past Valentine’s Day. In addition some non-qualifiers can still play the spoiler in their last regular season games so the conference schedule carries weight throughout the campaign.
The ’Battle of Brooklyn’ is waged every year. LIU and St. Francis (NY) square off for bragging rights. The two schools are about a mile apart in distance.
The dreaded ’Western swing’ has had an effect and separated contenders from pretenders. The Western swing is the trip to the two Western Pennsylvania schools, St.Francis (PA) and Robert Morris.
Once again, ESPN is kicking off its college basketball coverage with a 24-hour hoops marathon on the various networks. For a sport that has long lacked a definitive opening day/night, ESPN deserves of a ton of credit (that was painful to say) for getting creative and implementing this marathon for us hoops nerds. Our own John Stevens is expected to be back for another coma-inducing live blog for the event (last year’s transcript), and in today’s daily Katz blog entry, the schedule was officially announced. Here are the games (all times EST on November 17):
Midnight- Cal State Fullerton @ UCLA (ESPN)- First chance to see if Malcolm Lee seems ready to take over the point guard role for the unproven Bruins.
2 AM- San Diego State @ Saint Mary’s (ESPN)- A possible MWC title contender heading to a raucous environment. Look out for the Aztecs star freshman Kawhi Leonard.
4 AM- Northern Colorado @ Hawaii (ESPN)- A reasonable 10 PM start for the Fightin’ Rainbows.
6 AM- Monmouth @ Saint Peter’s (ESPN)- Think the first half might be a little sluggish?
8 AM- Drexel @ Niagara (ESPN)- Don’t sleep on the Purple Eagles. This team has the talent to challenge Siena this season in the MAAC.
10 AM- Clemson @ Liberty (ESPN)- In exchange for filling a spot on their schedule last season, Clemson must travel to Lynchburg to take on the Curry-less Flames. This is our first look at the inside-outside combo of Trevor Booker and Noel Johnson for Clemson, whose fans should begin to worry if they get off to a good start.
12 PM- Northeastern @ Siena (ESPN)- Two teams that could be dancing this season. The Huskies spent much of last year near the top in the Colonial and returns four starters. We’re all very familiar with Siena at this point and coach Fran McCaffery has plenty of talent back in the fold.
2 PM- Arkansas-Little Rock @ Tulsa (ESPN)- This could be the year Memphis is dethroned from the top of Conference USA. The team most likely to do the unseating is the Golden Hurricane, led by seven footer Jerome Jordan.
4 PM- Temple @ Georgetown (ESPN)- This will be our first opportunity to see if the Hoyas can turn their negative campaign a season ago into a positive motivator in 2009-10.
5:30 PM- Binghamton @ Pittsburgh (ESPN2)- The Panthers lost DeJuan Blair, Levance Fields, Sam Young and Tyrell Biggs. Jermaine Dixon is unlikely to play due to a broken foot. This should be Jamie Dixon’s toughest coaching job yet. Ashton Gibbs is a player to watch this season.
6 PM- Charlotte/Elon @ Duke (ESPN)- Our first look at a Duke team that is much bigger than in previous seasons with the additions of Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly. Kyle Singler takes his first step towards a possible All-America honor in this Preseason NIT contest.
7:30 PM- Arkansas vs. Louisville in St. Louis (ESPN2)- Two teams that could go either direction this season. Louisville needs Samardo Samuels to make the leap and freshman Peyton Siva to contribute immediately. Arkansas fell apart a season ago and their last ten months have certainly been tumultous, but still boast talent in guard Courtney Fortson (so long as he’s not tweeting) and rookie forward Marshawn Powell.
8 PM- Gonzaga at Michigan State (ESPN)- The Zags will be a guard-oriented squad this year with Matt Bouldin, Demetri Goodson and Steven Gray. Michigan State has balance with Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers outside and Delvon Roe and Raymar Morgan inside. The Spartans could make another Final Four run.
9 PM- Duquesne at Iowa (ESPNU)- The Hawkeyes should be bottom-feeder in the Big Ten yet again, meaning Damian Saunders and the Dukes could keep this competitive.
10 PM- Memphis vs. Kansas in St. Louis (ESPN)- Our first look at the best team in the nation- Kansas. We know they’ll be great. The team to watch here is Memphis. Kansas poses an incredible test in November for a team dealing with a horde of losses from a season ago. Roburt Sallie, Willie Kemp and Elliot Williams must lead the way if the Tigers wish to win another conference title.
11:30 PM- TBA at Arizona State (ESPN2)- Could be a rebuilding year in Tempe with James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph no longer involved.
Gonzaga-Michigan State is the highlight of the slate, but there’s plenty of other reasons to tune in. I’m curious to see who will emerge for UCLA, if Memphis can hang with Kansas for even a half, if Arkansas can play more like their non-conference season a year ago than their SEC record, if Ashton Gibbs can be a star for Pitt and whether a Monmouth or St. Peter’s player falls asleep on the court. Should be another 24 hours of fun, and RTC will be back with John Stevens the whole way again.
Ray Floriani of College Chalktalk is the RTC correspondent for the NEC and MAAC Conferences.
SOUTH ORANGE, NJ – The postseason brackets are set and the Northeast Conference tournament tips off tonight. The schedule:
Thursday
Quinnipiac at LIU
Central Connecticut at Sacred Heart
St.Francis (NY) at Robert Morris
Wagner at Mount St. Mary’s
**Semifinals are Sunday at the home court of the higher seed and the finals are next Wednesday, 8:00 on ESPN2. Again at the home court of the highest remaining seed (see below bracket).
WYN2K. The NEC is currently going through a down cycle, but it hasn’t always been that way. In the 23-year history of the 65-team NCAA Tourney, the NEC has earned a non-#16 seed twelve times, getting a seed as high as #13 twice, in 1996 (Monmouth) and 1997 (LIU). Lately, though, the Northeast Conference has been stuck in #16 seed hell, having earned a bottom seed three years in a row (the 2006 appearance was in the PiG – Monmouth defeated Hampton). Over those last three years, the NEC’s OOC record is 94-215 (.304), featuring wins over Seton Hall (FDU – 2007), S. Illinois (Monmouth – 2006), Rhode Island (Wagner – 2006) and St. John’s (St. Francis (NY) – 2005). As you can see, it’s a better conference in general than the SWAC and MEAC, but it too typically cannot compete with first- and second-tier leagues.
Predicted Champion.Sacred Heart (#16 Seed NCAA). With twin NEC behemoths CCSU and Monmouth (6 of last 8 NCAA bids) likely to have down years, Sacred Heart is poised to take over the crown of the NEC. Five of the top seven players return from a team that finished winning seven of their last eight games before falling in a close one against CCSU in the NEC championship game.
Others Considered. Robert Morris returns a trio of high-scoring players for a team that was considered disappointing last year. Notable from a statistical oddity bent is that 6′0 guard Tony Lee shot a sizzling 67% on two-point FGs last year (150-224), which is an extremely high percentage for a small guard. Mt. St. Mary’s returns its leading scorer and assist man from a squad that earned a reputation of playing very hard on every possession. Wagner has everyone back from an 8-10 team that showed some promise midway through the conference season last year.
Games to Watch. Like a broken record, there will only be one NEC game on your television this winter.
NEC Championship Game (03.12.08). ESPN2.
RPI Booster Games. With only 18 games against BCS opponents, the NEC will have to make it count if they want to earn RPI points this year (the league was 1-20 vs. BCS teams in 2007). But there are a few opportunities for the league to take advantage of down years among several Big East teams (and one former Big East squad) if they catch them sleeping.
Robert Morris @ Seton Hall (11.18.07)
Sacred Heart @ St. John’s (11.20.07)
FDU @ St. John’s (11.25.07)
Sacred Heart @ Providence (12.18.07)
Robert Morris @ Boston College (01.07.08)
Odds of Multiple NCAA Bids. Again, zero.
Neat-o Stat. This isn’t a stat, but it’s neat-o nonetheless. Earl “The Goat” Manigault’s cousin, Ronald Manigault, is a junior college transfer at LIU this season. If he’s anything like his cousin (see video tribute below), LIU may become the And1 crowd’s underground team of choice this season.
64/65-Team Era. In 23 appearances, the NEC is actually the least successful conference of the era, going a measly 1-23 (.042) over this period. When you consider that the one win was Monmouth in 2006’s play-in game, it looks even worse. Despite getting two #13 and #14 seeds, the NEC has never been able to pull off the big upset.
Final Thought.The NEC champion has played well as a #16 seed vs. the #1 seed in two of its last three NCAA appearances, but simply wore down in the second half against a far superior team (2005 – CCSU down one at halftime to Illinois; 2006 – Monmouth down seven with six mins remaining vs. Villanova). In order to have a legitimate chance to win a game, the NEC champ will likely have to win enough nonconference games to improve its RPI enough to earn a #15 or #14 seed. Unfortunately, we don’t see a team capable of that in this year’s NEC.
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2010 conference tournaments | Tagged: central connecticut st, fairleigh dickinson, howie dickenman, jeremy goode, long island, monmouth, mt. st. mary's, nec, quinnipiac, robert morris, st francis (pa) | 
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