2009 Northeast Conference Tournament Preview

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/03/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 28th annual Northeast Conference Tournament gets underway on Thursday, March 5th with four quarterfinal-round games to be played on the home court of the higher seeds. After the opening round, the teams will be reseeded so the highest remaining seed plays the lowest remaining seed in the semifinals.

Mount St. Mary's is the defending NEC Tournament champion, and the team earned the No. 2 seed in this year's event following a season in which it went 17-12, 12-6 in conference. The top seed is Robert Morris as the Colonials logged a 21-10 overall mark, including a 15-3 ledger in NEC play, en route to their second straight NEC regular season title. Sacred Heart and Long Island both finished with 12-6 league ledgers to tie Mount St. Mary's, and while the Mountaineers were awarded the second seed, the Pioneers claimed the third seed and the Blackbirds settled for the fourth.

All games will start at 7:00 pm (et) on Thursday, with top-seeded Robert Morris facing eighth-seeded St. Francis-NY. The Colonials have performed well at both ends of the floor this season, ranking second in the NEC in both scoring offense (71.3 ppg) and scoring defense (66.4 ppg). They are led by Jeremy Chappel and his 16.6 ppg (third-best in the conference), and Rob Robinson adds 11.6 ppg while Jimmy Langhurst chips in with 10.1 ppg. Chappel is also the team's leader on the boards, coming up with 6.3 rpg, while pacing the league in steals (2.55 per game). Robert Morris is the league's top three- point shooting team (.397), but its worst at defending the long-range shot (.377).

As for St. Francis-NY (10-19, 7-11 NEC), it is averaging a mere 65.9 ppg despite being in the top half of the conference in three-point shooting (.365). Ricky Cadell is the Terriers' top point producer, checking in at 15.1 ppg behind 47 percent field goal efficiency. SFNY was the only NEC team to beat RMU on its home floor this season, taking an 87-79 decision on December 4, 2008. No eight seed has ever knocked off the No. 1 seed in the history of this event.

No. 2 seed Mount St. Mary's gets a crack at seventh-seeded Wagner in the quarterfinals, and the defending NEC Tournament champs boast three double- digit scorers, led by Jeremy Goode and his 15.8 ppg. One of the top playmakers in the conference, Goode has dished out 120 assists and is shooting nearly 40 percent from beyond the arc. The team, which leads the league in scoring defense (63.3 ppg), owns a scoring advantage of 5.5 points, as well as positive differentials in both rebounding (+1.4) and turnovers (+1.6).

Wagner (16-13, 8-10 NEC) is a middle-of-the-pack team in most statistical categories, netting 67.6 ppg while allowing 68.2 ppg. The Seahawks rank third in the conference in both three-point shooting (.381) and turnover margin (+0.28). The team is led offensively by Joey Mundweiler (14.0 ppg), Jamal Smith (11.9 ppg), Llewchean Radford (11.2 ppg) and Justin Drummond (10.5 ppg). Mundweiler is coming off a record-setting performance as he drained 11 three- pointers in the regular-season finale against Monmouth, helping Wagner win for the fourth straight time.

Third-seeded Sacred Heart, the league's top scoring team during the regular season (73.7 ppg), opens the tournament by hosting Central Connecticut State (13-16, 8-10 NEC), which was awarded the sixth seed after losing a tie-breaker with Wagner. The Pioneers, who have won five straight coming into the postseason by an average of nearly 21 ppg, knocked down 48.3 percent of their field goal attempts this season, which includes a 39.3 percent showing from downtown. As good as Sacred Heart is beyond the arc, the team is also effective in thwarting the long-range aspirations of the opposition, yielding just a 32.9 percent success rate through 29 games. The Pioneers are the NEC's top team in assists (17.07 per outing) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.05), while ranking second in steals (7.86 per game). Joey Henley (15.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg) is the club's top man both in scoring and on the glass, while Corey Hassan (11.2 ppg) contributes as well.

CCSU is averaging just 64.8 ppg despite a solid showing both from the field (.446) as well as the foul line (.724). The Blue Devils, however, are one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the conference (.318, 4.17 three-point FGs made per contest). Ken Horton finished the regular season as the NEC's second-leading scorer at 16.6 ppg.

The fourth-seeded Long Island Blackbirds kick off tournament play at home against No. 5 seed Quinnipiac. Even though Long Island is the worst shooting team in the conference (.409), it ranks third in scoring offense (70.4 ppg). The Blackbirds are led by Jaytornah Wisseh and his 15.3 ppg, and Kyle Johnson and Julian Boyd average double digits as well with 13.7 and 10.3 ppg, respectively. Ron Manigault ranks second in the NEC in rebounding (8.7 rpg), less than a board per game behind Quinnipiac's Justin Rutty (9.5 rpg).

Rutty, a 60.3 percent shooter from the field, ranks second on the Bobcats (14-15, 10-8 NEC) with his 14.9 ppg, while James Feldeine paces the team and the conference with 16.8 ppg. Quinnipiac finished the regular season ranked atop the league in rebounding margin (+5.6) and third in scoring defense (66.7 ppg). Free-throw shooting has really been a problem for the 'Cats this season, as they rank dead last in the NEC at a mere 62.0 percent. LIU was a league- best 12-2 at home this season, although one of those losses came against Quinnipiac, which swept the season series from the Blackbirds.