2022 Northeast Conference men's basketball tournament

2022 Northeast Conference men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season2021–22
Teams9
SiteCampus sites
ChampionsBryant (1st title)
Winning coachJared Grasso (1st title)
MVPPeter Kiss (Bryant)
TelevisionNEC Front Row, ESPN3, ESPN2
← 2021
2023 →
2021–22 Northeast Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Bryant † 16 – 2   .889 22 – 10   .688
Wagner 15 – 3   .833 21 – 6   .778
LIU 12 – 6   .667 16 – 14   .533
Merrimack* 10 – 8   .556 14 – 16   .467
Mount St. Mary's 9 – 9   .500 14 – 16   .467
St. Francis Brooklyn 7 – 11   .389 10 – 20   .333
Sacred Heart 6 – 12   .333 10 – 20   .333
Saint Francis (PA) 5 – 13   .278 9 – 21   .300
Central Connecticut 5 – 13   .278 8 – 24   .250
Fairleigh Dickinson 5 – 13   .278 4 – 22   .154
* ineligible for the 2022 NCAA tournament due to transition period
† 2022 NEC tournament winner

The 2022 Northeast Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Northeast Conference (NEC) for the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The tournament took place on four dates between February 28 and March 8, 2022, with each game hosted by the higher-seeded school. The tournament winner, the Bryant Bulldogs, received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, the first for the Bulldogs. This was also Bryant's final season in the NEC, as the school joined the America East Conference that July.

Seeds

All nine of the eligible teams in the conference qualified for the tournament. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.

The tiebreakers used by the NEC are 1) head-to-head records of teams with identical records, 2) comparison of records against individual teams in the conference starting with the top-ranked team(s) and working down and 3) NCAA NET Rankings available on day following the conclusion of Northeast Conference regular-season play. The round-robin record tiebreaker was used to place Saint Francis (PA), Fairleigh Dickinson, and Central Connecticut in that order for the last three seeds.[1]

  • Note: Merrimack College joined the Northeast Conference from the Division II Northeast-10 Conference in 2019.[2] At the time, the NEC did not allow transitional members to play in the conference tournament, making the Warriors ineligible until 2024. After the 2021–22 season, the NEC presidents voted to allow transitional members to compete in the conference tournament starting with their third transitional seasons, making Merrimack eligible for the tournament starting with the 2023 edition.[3]
Seed School Conf. NET ranking[4]
(February 27, 2021)
1 Bryant 16–2 218th
2 Wagner 15–3 132nd
3 LIU 12–6 243rd
4 Mount St. Mary's 9–9 267th
5 St. Francis Brooklyn 7–11 314th
6 Sacred Heart 6–12 325th
7 Saint Francis (PA) 5–13 329th
8 Fairleigh Dickinson 5–13 348th
9 Central Connecticut 5–13 345th

Schedule

Session Game[5] Time* Matchup Score Television
Opening Round – Monday, February 28
1 1 7:00 pm No. 9 Central Connecticut at No. 8 Fairleigh Dickinson 67–66 NEC Front Row
Quarterfinals – Wednesday March 2
2 2 7:00 pm No. 9 Central Connecticut at No. 1 Bryant 59–73 NEC Front Row
3 7:00 pm No. 5 St. Francis Brooklyn at No. 4 Mount St. Mary's 48–78
3 4 7:00 pm No. 7 Saint Francis (PA) at No. 2 Wagner 53–82
5 7:00 pm No. 6 Sacred Heart at No. 3 LIU 75–82
Semifinals – Saturday, March 5
4 6 6:00 pm No. 4 Mount St. Mary's at No. 1 Bryant 69–70 ESPN3
7 8:00 pm No. 3 LIU at No. 2 Wagner 62–82
Championship – Tuesday, March 8
5 8 7:00 pm No. 2 Wagner at No. 1 Bryant 43–70 ESPN2
*Game times in ET. Rankings denote tournament seed

Bracket

Opening Round
Monday, February 28
NEC Front Row 		Quarterfinals
Wednesday March 2
NEC Front Row 		Semifinals
Saturday, March 5
ESPN3 		Championship
Tuesday, March 8
ESPN2
1 Bryant 73
8 Fairleigh Dickinson 66 9 Central Connecticut 59
9 Central Connecticut 67 1 Bryant 70
4 Mount St. Mary's 69
4 Mount St. Mary's 78
5 St. Francis Brooklyn 48
1 Bryant 70
2 Wagner 43
2 Wagner 82
7 Saint Francis (PA) 53
2 Wagner 82
3 Long Island 62
3 Long Island 82
6 Sacred Heart 75

* denotes overtime period.

Awards and honors

Tournament MVP: Peter Kiss

Championship game brawl

Main article: Bryant–Wagner brawl

During the Championship game between Bryant and Wagner, a fight between fans of both teams broke out with 4:37 left in the second half.[6] The altercation lasted almost half an hour resulting in many fans being escorted out in addition to Wagner guard Will Martinez being ejected from the game.[7][8] The game was later resumed resulting in a 70–43 Bryant victory.[9] Before the Bryant fans would be able to storm the court, Wagner had to exit the floor to prevent any more conflict.[10] After the game, 20-year-old Bryant student Connor Gleim was arrested by the Rhode Island State Police. Gleim was charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing an officer in execution of duty.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ "NEC Basketball Tiebreaker Procedure". Northeast Conference. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  2. ^ "Northeast Conference - Merrimack College Accepts Invitation to Join Northeast Conference". northeastconference.org. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  3. ^ "2022 NEC Spring Meeting Recap" (Press release). Northeast Conference. June 28, 2022. Retrieved June 30, 2022.
  4. ^ "NCAA Statistics - NET Ranking MBB 2/27/2022". National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
  5. ^ "2022 Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Championship - Northeast Conference". northeastconference.org. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  6. ^ "Melee breaks out at Bryant right before team secures NCAA Tournament berth". WPRI.com. March 9, 2022. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  7. ^ "Wild fan brawl disrupts NEC Championship between Wagner and Bryant for over 25 minutes". For The Win. March 9, 2022. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  8. ^ Evans, Jace. "Northeast Conference championship game between Bryant and Wagner delayed after fight breaks out in stands". USA TODAY. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  9. ^ Jackson, Wilton. "Wagner Player Ejected After Brawl Involving Fans at NEC Title Game". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  10. ^ Holmlund, Ted (March 9, 2022). "Wagner-Bryant NEC title game delayed by fans fighting in stands". New York Post. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  11. ^ "Student from Mass. arrested after brawl breaks out at college basketball game". WCVB. March 10, 2022. Retrieved March 10, 2022.