It has been a long time since the MAAC has seen success in the NCAA Tournament. The last time that a MAAC team won a tournament game was when #9 Siena beat #8 Ohio State in double overtime during the First Round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament. Since then, the MAAC has trended downward, including instances of fielding 16 seeds in recent tournaments. This year looks a little better than that; most bracket projections have the MAAC champion as either a 14 or a 15 seed in this year's tournament. Rider and Canisius split the championship this year and will be looking to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 1990s.
The MAAC Tournament will feature all eleven teams playing in four rounds. The top five teams received a bye to the quarterfinals. The entire tournament will be played in Times Union Center in Albany, New York.
First Round-Thursday, March 1st
#9 St. Peters vs. #8 Monmouth
#10 Siena vs. #7 Quinnipiac
#11 Marist vs. #6 Fairfield
Quarterfinals-Friday/Saturday, March 2nd/3rd
#8 Monmouth vs. #1 Rider
#5 Manhattan vs. #4 Iona
#7 Quinnipiac vs. #2 Canisius
#6 Fairfield vs. #3 Niagara
Semifinals-Sunday, March 4th
#4 Iona vs. #1 Rider
#6 Fairfield vs. #2 Canisius
Final-Monday, March 5th
Iona has represented the conference in the NCAA Tournament for four out of the last six tournaments, including once as an at-large bid. Rider and Canisius did not dominate the conference, so it is not hard to imagine a lower-seeded team like Iona using that experience to make a third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Iona 80, Canisius 84
No comments:
Post a Comment