2019–20 Northeast Conference men's basketball season

The 2019–20 Northeast Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2019, followed by the start of the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play started in January and ended in February 2020.

2019–20 Northeast Conference men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	11
TV partner(s)	NEC Front Row, ESPN2, MSG, FCS, Regional Sports Networks
NBA Draft
Regular Season
First place	Merrimack
Season MVP	Isaiah Blackmon (SFPA)
Top scorer	Raiquan Clark (LIU)
NEC Tournament
Champions	Robert Morris
Finals MVP	Dante Treacy (RMU)

2019–20 Northeast Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Merrimack*	14	–	4		.778			20	–	11		.645
Robert Morris †	13	–	5		.722			20	–	14		.588
Saint Francis (PA)	13	–	5		.722			22	–	10		.688
Sacred Heart	12	–	6		.667			20	–	13		.606
LIU	9	–	9		.500			15	–	18		.455
Fairleigh Dickinson	9	–	9		.500			11	–	19		.367
Mount St. Mary's	7	–	11		.389			11	–	21		.344
Bryant	7	–	11		.389			15	–	17		.469
St. Francis Brooklyn	7	–	11		.389			13	–	18		.419
Wagner	5	–	13		.278			8	–	21		.276
Central Connecticut	3	–	15		.167			4	–	27		.129
*Ineligible for NEC championship (reclassification from Division II)
† 2020 NEC Tournament winner As of January 19, 2021; Rankings from AP Poll

The NEC Tournament was held in March with the higher-seeded team hosting each game. The quarterfinals were played on March 4, the semifinals on March 7, and the championship game on March 10.

Changes from last season

Merrimack College joined the Northeast Conference from Division II Northeast-10 Conference.[1] They are not eligible this year for the NEC Tournament.

On October 3, 2018 Long Island University announced that it would combine its two existing athletic programs—NEC member LIU Brooklyn and the Division II program at LIU Post—into a single Division I program under the LIU name. The new LIU program, nicknamed Sharks,[2] maintained LIU Brooklyn's existing memberships in Division I and the NEC.[3]

Head coaches

Team	Head coach	Previous position	Year at school	Overall record	NEC record	NEC Tournament championships
Bryant	Jared Grasso	Iona (asst.)	1	10–20	7–11	0
Central Connecticut	Donyell Marshall	Buffalo (asst.)	3	31–61	16–34	0
Fairleigh Dickinson	Greg Herenda	UMass Lowell	6	81–108	52–54	2
LIU	Derek Kellogg	UMass	2	34–33	19–17	1
Merrimack	Joe Gallo	Robert Morris (asst.)	3	61–34	0–0	0
Mount St. Mary's	Dan Engelstad	Southern Vermont	1	9–22	6–12	0
Robert Morris	Andrew Toole	Robert Morris (asst.)	9	168–140	103–58	1
Sacred Heart	Anthony Latina	Sacred Heart (asst.)	6	70–118	46–60	0
St. Francis Brooklyn	Glenn Braica	St. John's (asst.)	9	132–152	86–74	0
Saint Francis (PA)	Rob Krimmel	Saint Francis (asst.)	7	97–123	65–59	0
Wagner	Bashir Mason	Wagner (asst.)	7	99–85	66–42	0

Notes:

• All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
• Year at school does not include 2019–20 season.
• Overall and NEC records are from time at current school and are before the beginning of the season. Because the current LIU athletic program inherited the athletic history of LIU Brooklyn, Kellogg's record includes his two seasons at LIU Brooklyn before the LIU athletic merger.

Preseason

Preseason Coaches Poll

Source[4]

Rank	Team
1.	LIU (5)
2.	Sacred Heart (3)
3.	Saint Francis (PA) (1)
4.	Fairleigh Dickinson (2)
5.	Robert Morris
6.	Bryant
7.	Mount St. Mary's
8.	St. Francis Brooklyn
9.	Wagner
10.	Central Connecticut
11.	Merrimack

() first place votes

Preseason All-NEC team

Source[5]

Recipient	School
Keith Braxton, (Senior, Guard)	Saint Francis (PA)
Raiquan Clark, (R-Senior, Swingman)	LIU
E.J. Anosike, (Junior, Swingman)	Sacred Heart
Adam Grant, (Senior, Guard)	Bryant
Jahlil Jenkins, (Junior, Guard)	Fairleigh Dickinson

NEC regular season

Player of the week

Throughout the regular season, the Northeast Conference offices named player(s) of the week and rookie(s) of the week.

Week Player of the week Rookie of the week November 11, 2019[6] Juvaris Hayes, MC Charles Pride, BRY November 18, 2019[7] Keith Braxton, SFPA Jordan Minor, MC November 25, 2019[8] E.J. Anosike, SHU Charles Pride (2), BRY December 2, 2019[9] Raiquan Clark, LIU Greg Outlaw, CCSU December 9, 2019[10] E.J. Anosike (2), SHU Jermaine Jackson Jr., LIU Benson Lin, BRY December 16, 2019[11] Chauncey Hawkins, SFBK Benson Lin (2), BRY December 23, 2019[12] E.J. Anosike (3), SHU Deniz Celen, SFBK Tyler Thomas, SHU December 30, 2019[13] Jalen Gibbs, MSM Jordan Minor (2), MC January 6, 2020[14] Isaiah Blackmon, SFPA Tyler Thomas (2), SHU January 13, 2020[15] Josh Williams, RMU Mykel Derring, MC January 22, 2020[16] A.J. Bramah, RMU Rob Higgins, SFBK Benson Lin (3), BRY January 27, 2020[17] Jaleel Lord, MC Charles Pride (3), BRY February 3, 2020[18] Juvaris Hayes (2), MC Devon Dunn, FDU February 10, 2020[19] Keith Braxton (2), SFU Ty Flowers, LIU Larry Moreno, SFBK February 17, 2020[20] E.J. Anosike (4), SHU Jahlil Jenkins, FDU Larry Green III, BRY February 25, 2020[21] Isaiah Blackmon (2), SFU Larry Green III (2), BRY March 2, 2020[22] E.J. Anosike (5), SHU Keith Braxton (3), SFU Charles Pride (4), BRY

School Player of the week Awards Rookie of the week Awards Bryant 0 9 Central Connecticut 0 1 Fairleigh Dickinson 1 1 LIU 3 0 Merrimack 3 3 Mount St. Mary's 1 0 Robert Morris 2 0 Sacred Heart 5 2 St. Francis Brooklyn 2 2 Saint Francis (PA) 5 0 Wagner 0 0

Against other conferences

Conference newcomer Merrimack produced the biggest upset of the season for an NEC team when they defeated the Northwestern Wildcats, 71–61.[23] For Merrimack, it was just their second Division I game since moving up from Division II this past season. It was the lone victory for an NEC team against a Power Five conference team; NEC teams produced a 1–15 overall record against that group of schools.

NEC versus other Division I conferences Conference Outcome America East Conference 6–13 American Athletic Conference 0–1 Atlantic Coast Conference 0–6 Atlantic Sun Conference 3–2 Atlantic 10 Conference 2–9 Big East Conference 0–9 Big South Conference 2–1 Big Ten Conference 1–4 Big West Conference 1–1

NEC versus other Division I conferences Conference Outcome Big 12 Conference 0–1 Colonial Athletic Association 2–2 Conference USA 0–2 Horizon League 0–3 Ivy League 4–6 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 5–5 Mid-American Conference 1–2 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference 6–0 Mountain West Conference 0–2

NEC versus other Division I conferences Conference Outcome Pac-12 Conference 0–2 Patriot League 8–7 Southeastern Conference 0–2 Southland Conference 0–1 Sun Belt Conference 0–1 Western Athletic Conference 1–1 Total 42–83 (33.6%) As of December 29, 2019 In bold are the Power Five conferences.

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.

	Bryant	Central Conn.	Fairleigh Dickinson	LIU	Merrimack	Mount St. Mary's	Robert Morris	Sacred Heart	St. Francis Brooklyn	Saint Francis (PA)	Wagner
vs. Bryant	–	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	0–2	1–1	0–2
vs. Central Conn.	1–1	–	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–1
vs. Fairleigh Dickinson	0–2	1–1	–	2–0	2–0	0–2	0–2	2–0	1–0	1–0	0–2
vs. LIU	0–1	0–2	0–2	–	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1
vs. Merrimack	1–1	0–2	0–2	1–1	–	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–1	0–1
vs. Mount St. Mary's	0–2	0–1	2–0	0–2	1–1	–	2–0	1–0	1–1	2–0	2–0
vs. Robert Morris	0–1	0–2	2–0	0–1	1–1	0–2	–	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–2
vs. Sacred Heart	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2	2–0	0–1	2–0	–	0–2	2–0	0–1
vs. St. Francis Brooklyn	2–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	–	1–1	1–1
vs. Saint Francis (PA)	1–1	0–2	0–1	1–1	1–0	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	–	0–2
vs. Wagner	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–0	0–2	2–0	1–0	1–1	2–0	–
Total	7–11	3–15	9–9	9–9	14–4	7–11	13–5	12–6	7–11	13–5	5–13

All-NEC honors and awards

At the conclusion of the regular season, the conference selects outstanding performers based on a poll of league coaches,[24] below are the results.

Honor Recipient Player of the Year Isaiah Blackmon , SFPA Coach of the Year Joe Gallo, MER Defensive Player of the Year Juvaris Hayes, MER Rookie of the Year Michael Green III, BRY Most Improved Player of the Year Damian Chong Qui, MSM All-NEC First Team Keith Braxton, SFPA Raiquan Clark, LIU E.J. Anosike, SHU Juvaris Hayes, MER Isaiah Blackmon , SFPA

Honor Recipient All-NEC Second Team AJ Bramah, RMU Ty Flowers, LIU Adam Grant, BRY Jahlil Jenkins, FDU Josh Williams, RMU All-NEC Third Team Chauncey Hawkins, SFBK Deniz Celen, SFBK Kaleb Bishop, FDU Damian Chong Qui, MSM Koreem Ozier, SHU All-NEC Rookie Team Rob Higgins, SFBK Benson Lin, BRY Michael Green III, BRY Devon Dunn, FDU Myles Baker, CCSU

Postseason

NEC Tournament

The NEC Tournament features the top eight eligible teams from the field of eleven participate. The teams are seeded according to their conference records, and when there are similar records between teams, tie-breakers are applied. After the first round, teams are reseeded after each round, with highest remaining seeds receiving home court advantage.

Regular-season champion Merrimack was ineligible under NEC rules as a transitional D-I school. #1 Seed Robert Morris won the NEC Tournament for a NEC record 9th time.[25]

	Quarterfinals Wednesday, March 4, 2020 NEC Front Row					Semifinals Saturday, March 7, 2020 ESPN3					Championship Tuesday, March 10, 2020 ESPN2
	1	Robert Morris	59
	8	St. Francis (NY)	58
						1	Robert Morris	86
						4	LIU	66
	4	LIU	73
	5	Fairleigh Dickinson	72
		(Pairings are reseeded after the first round)									1	Robert Morris	77
											2	St. Francis (PA)	67
	3	Sacred Heart	61
	6	Mount St. Mary's	59
						3	Sacred Heart	72
						2	St. Francis (PA)	84
	2	St. Francis (PA)	87
	7	Bryant	61

NCAA Tournament

Seed	Region	School	First Four	1st Round	2nd Round	Sweet 16	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship
		Robert Morris

See also

2019–20 Northeast Conference women's basketball season

References

1. "Northeast Conference - Merrimack College Accepts Invitation to Join Northeast Conference". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
2. "Welcome to the Shark Tank: Long Island University Chooses the Shark as New Mascot" (Press release). Long Island University. May 15, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
3. "Long Island University Announces Unification Into One LIU Division I Program" (Press release). LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds. October 3, 2018. Archived from the original on October 12, 2018. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
4. "Shark Attack! LIU Picked As 2019-20 NEC Men's Basketball Favorite". Northeastconference.org. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
5. "Shark Attack! LIU Picked As 2019-20 NEC Men's Basketball Favorite". Northeastconference.org. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
6. "Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (11/11)". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
7. "Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (11/18)". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
8. "Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (11/25)". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
9. "Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (12/2)". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2019-12-02.
10. "Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (12/9)". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
11. "Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (12/16)". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
12. "Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (12/23)". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2019-12-23.
13. "Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (12/30)". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
14. "Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (1/6)". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
15. "Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (1/13)". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2020-01-17.
16. "Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (1/22)". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
17. "Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (1/27)". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
18. "Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (2/3)". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
19. "Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (2/10)". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
20. "Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (2/17)". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
21. "Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (2/25)". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
22. "Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (3/2)". northeastconference.org. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
23. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/28038304/merrimack-stuns-northwestern-second-division-game
24. "Saint Francis U's Isaiah Blackmon Tabbed NEC Men's Basketball Player of the Year". Northeast Conference. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
25. "Robert Morris Secures Ninth #NECMBB Crown, Dancing For First Time Since 2015". Northeast Conference. Retrieved 2020-03-11.

External links

• NEC website