2016–17 Northeast Conference men's basketball season explained

The 2016–17 NEC men's basketball season began with practices in October 2016, followed by the start of the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play started in late December and concluded in February 2017.

Mount St. Mary's clinched the regular season NEC championship with a win over St. Francis Brooklyn on February 25, 2017, marking their first NEC regular season crown in 21 years.^[1] LIU Brooklyn finished in second place in the regular season.

The NEC tournament was held from March 1 through March 7 with the higher-seeded team hosting each game. Mount St. Mary's defeated Saint Francis (PA) to win the NEC Tournament championship. As a result, Mount St. Mary's received the conference's bid to the NCAA tournament. Saint Francis (PA) received an invitation to CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

On April 6, 2016, Central Connecticut announced Donyell Marshall as the 10th head coach in program history.^[2] Marshall replaced Howie Dickenman, who retired after 20 years at Central Connecticut.

Coaches

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Year at school	Overall record	NEC record	NEC Tournament championships	Post-Season Tournament championships
style=	Bryant	Tim O'Shea	Ohio	9			0	0
style=	Central Connecticut	Donyell Marshall	Buffalo (asst.)	1			0	0
style=	Fairleigh Dickinson	Greg Herenda	UMass Lowell	4			1	0
style=	LIU Brooklyn	Jack Perri	LIU Brooklyn (asst.)	5			1	0
style=	Mount St. Mary's	Jamion Christian	VCU (asst.)	5			1	0
style=	Robert Morris	Andrew Toole	Robert Morris (asst.)	7			1	0
style=	Sacred Heart	Anthony Latina	Sacred Heart (asst.)	4			0	0
style=	St. Francis Brooklyn	Glenn Braica	St. John's (asst.)	7			0	0
style=	Saint Francis (PA)	Rob Krimmel	Saint Francis (PA) (asst.)	5			0	0
style=	Wagner	Bashir Mason	Wagner (asst.)	5			0	0

Notes:

• All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
• Year at school includes 2016–17 season.
• Overall and NEC/NCAA records are from time at current school and are before the beginning of the 2016–17 season.
• Previous jobs are head coaching jobs unless otherwise noted.

Preseason

Preseason Coaches Poll

Source^[3]

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

first place votes

Preseason All-NEC team

Source^[4]

Recipient	School
Earl Potts, Jr.	Fairleigh Dickinson
Corey Henson	Wagner
Jerome Frink	LIU Brooklyn
Michael Carey	Wagner
Darian Anderson	Fairleigh Dickinson

NEC regular season

Conference matrix

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

	style= width=75	Bryant	style= width=75	Central Conn.	style= width=75	FDU	style= width=75	LIU Brooklyn	style= width=75	Mount St. Mary's	style= width=75	RMU	style= width=75	Sacred Heart	style= width=75	St. Francis Brooklyn	style= width=75	Saint Francis (PA)	style= width=75	Wagner
CCSU	FDU	LIU	MSM	RMU	SHU	SFBK	SFU	WU -->	vs. Bryant	–	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–2	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1
vs. Central Conn.	2–0	–	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–0
vs. Fairleigh Dickinson	1–1	0–2	–	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	0–2	1–1	1–1
vs. LIU Brooklyn	0–2	1–1	1–1	–	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–2
vs. Mount St. Mary's	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	–	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2	1–1
vs. Robert Morris	2–0	0–2	1–1	1–1	2–0	–	0–2	0–2	2–0	1–1
vs. Sacred Heart	0–2	0–2	0–2	2–0	2–0	2–0	–	0–2	2–0	2–0
vs. St. Francis Brooklyn	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	–	2–0	2–0
vs. Saint Francis (PA)	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	0–2	0–2	0–2	–	1–1
vs. Wagner	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–2	1–1	–	CCSU	FDU	LIU	MSM	RMU	SHU	SFBK	SFU	WU -->
Total	9–9	4–14	9–9	13–5	14–4	9–9	8–10	2–16	11–7	11–7

Player of the week

Throughout the regular season, the Northeast Conference offices named a player of the week and a rookie of the week each Monday.

Date	Player of the week	Rookie of the week
November 14, 2016[5]	Mike Aaman, Wagner	Sabastian Townes, St. Francis Brooklyn
November 21, 2016[6]	Quincy McKnight, Sacred Heart	Jashaun Agosto, LIU Brooklyn
November 28, 2016[7]	Nisre Zouzoua, St. Francis Brooklyn Iverson Fleming, LIU Brooklyn	Keith Braxton, Saint Francis (PA)
December 5, 2016[8]	Joseph Lopez, Sacred Heart	Keith Braxton, Saint Francis (PA)
December 12, 2016[9]	Iverson Fleming, LIU Brooklyn	Adam Grant, St. Francis Brooklyn
December 19, 2016[10]	Quincy McKnight, Sacred Heart	Rasheem Dunn, St. Francis Brooklyn
December 26, 2016[11]	Kavon Stewart, Robert Morris	Ikenna Ndugba, Bryant
January 2, 2017[12]	Darian Anderson, Fairleigh Dickinson	Rasheem Dunn, St. Francis Brooklyn Keith Braxton, Saint Francis (PA)
January 9, 2017[13]	Jerome Frink, LIU Brooklyn Michael Carey, Wagner	Randall Gaskins, Jr., Saint Francis (PA)
January 16, 2017[14]	Quincy McKnight, Sacred Heart	Adam Grant, St. Francis Brooklyn Keith Braxton, Saint Francis (PA)
January 23, 2017[15]	Darian Anderson, Fairleigh Dickinson	Keith Braxton, Saint Francis (PA)
January 30, 2017[16]	Isaiah Blackmon, Saint Francis (PA)	Rasheem Dunn, St. Francis Brooklyn
February 6, 2017[17]	Josh Nebo, Saint Francis (PA)	Keith Braxton, Saint Francis (PA)
February 13, 2017[18]	Jerome Frink, LIU Brooklyn	Blake Francis, Wagner
February 20, 2017[19]	Raiquan Clark, LIU Brooklyn	Keith Braxton, Saint Francis (PA)
February 25, 2017[20]	Iverson Fleming, LIU Brooklyn	Dachon Burke, Robert Morris

All-NEC honors and awards

Following the regular season, the conference selected outstanding performers based on a poll of league coaches.^[21]

Honor	Recipient
Player of the Year	Jerome Frink, LIU
Coach of the Year	Jamion Christian, MSM
Defensive Player of the Year	Josh Nebo, SFU
Rookie of the Year	Keith Braxton, SFU
Most Improved Player of the Year	Iverson Fleming, LIU
All-NEC First Team	Michael Carrey, WAG
	Elijah Long, MSM
	Jerome Frink, LIU
	Quincy McKnight, SHU
	Nisre Zouzoua, BRY
All-NEC Second Team	Darian Anderson, FDU
	Keith Braxton, SFU
	Corey Henson, WAG
	Isaiah Still, RMU
	Junior Robinson, MSM
All-NEC Third Team	Isaiah Blackmon, SFU
	Iverson Fleming, LIU
	Stephan Jiggets, FDU
	Joseph Lopez, SHU
	Josh Nebo, SFU
All-NEC Rookie Team	Rasheem Dunn, SFC
	Jashuan Agosto, LIU
	Keith Braxton, SFU
	Adam Grant, BRY
	Miles Wilson, MSM

Postseason

NEC Tournament

See main article: 2017 Northeast Conference men's basketball tournament. All games will be played at the venue of the higher seed

NCAA tournament

See main article: 2017 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament

See main article: 2017 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

Milestones and records

• On November 11, 2016, the Wagner Seahawks upset 18th ranked UConn on the road, marking one of the most significant wins in program history.^[22]

See also

2016–17 Northeast Conference women's basketball season

External links

• NEC website

Notes and References

1. News: Mount wins first NEC regular-season title in 21 years. Swatek. Greg. The Frederick News-Post. 2017-07-31. en.
2. Web site: Donyell Marshall Named Central Connecticut Men's Basketball Head Coach. CCSU Blue Devils. April 16, 2016.
3. Web site: All Knight Long! FDU Chosen to Repeat as 2016-17 NEC Men's Basketball Champion. Northeastconference.org. 26 October 2016.
4. Web site: FDU & Wagner Place Two Apiece On Preseason All-NEC Men's Basketball Team. Northeastconference.org. 26 October 2016.
5. Web site: Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (11/14). Northeastconference.org. 22 November 2016.
6. Web site: Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (11/21). Northeastconference.org. 22 November 2016.
7. Web site: Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (11/28). Northeastconference.org. 29 November 2016.
8. Web site: Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (12/5). Northeastconference.org. 6 December 2016.
9. Web site: Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (12/12). Northeastconference.org. 15 December 2016.
10. Web site: Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (12/19). Northeastconference.org. 20 December 2016.
11. Web site: Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (12/26). Northeastconference.org. 29 December 2016.
12. Web site: Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (1/2). Northeastconference.org. 4 January 2017.
13. Web site: Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (1/9). Northeast Conference. en. 2017-08-01.
14. Web site: Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (1/16). Northeast Conference. en. 2017-08-01.
15. Web site: Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (1/23). Northeast Conference. en. 2017-08-01.
16. Web site: Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (1/30). Northeast Conference. en. 2017-08-01.
17. Web site: Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (2/6). Northeast Conference. en. 2017-08-01.
18. Web site: Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (2/13). Northeast Conference. en. 2017-08-01.
19. Web site: Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (2/20). Northeast Conference. en. 2017-08-01.
20. Web site: Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Weekly Release (2/27). Northeast Conference. en. 2017-08-01.
21. Web site: LIU Brooklyn's Jerome Frink Voted NEC Men's Basketball Player of the Year. Northeast Conference. 2017-08-01.
22. Web site: No. 18 UConn falls to Wagner; 1st loss in a home opener on campus. ESPN. 15 November 2016.