2018–19 Northeast Conference men's basketball season

2018–19 Northeast Conference men's basketball season
2018–19 Northeast Conference men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	10
TV partner(s)	NEC Front Row, ESPN2, MSG, FCS, Regional Sports Networks
NBA Draft
Regular season
First place	Saint Francis (PA)
Season MVP	Keith Braxton, SFPA
Top scorer	Raiquan Clark, LIU
NEC tournament
Champions	Fairleigh Dickinson
Finals MVP	Darnell Edge, FDU
Northeast Conference men's basketball seasons
	← 2017–18 2019–20 →

2018–19 Northeast Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Saint Francis (PA)	12	–	6	.667	18	–	15	.545
Fairleigh Dickinson †	12	–	6	.667	21	–	14	.600
Sacred Heart	11	–	7	.611	15	–	17	.469
Robert Morris	11	–	7	.611	18	–	17	.514
St. Francis Brooklyn	9	–	9	.500	17	–	16	.515
LIU Brooklyn	9	–	9	.500	16	–	16	.500
Wagner	8	–	10	.444	13	–	17	.433
Bryant	7	–	11	.389	10	–	20	.333
Mount St. Mary's	6	–	12	.333	9	–	22	.290
Central Connecticut	5	–	13	.278	11	–	20	.355

† 2019 NEC tournament winner

The 2018–19 Northeast Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2018, followed by the start of the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play started in January and concluded in March 2019.

The NEC tournament was held from March 3 through March 9 with the higher-seeded team hosting each game.

Head coaches[edit]

Coaching changes[edit]

On April 2, 2018, Bryant announced Jared Grasso as the 8th head coach in program history.^[1] Grasso replaced Tim O'Shea, who retired after last season.^[2]

On May 10, 2018, Mount St. Mary's announced Dan Engelstad as the 22nd head coach in program history.^[3] Engelstad replaced Jamion Christian, who went on to become the head coach at Siena.^[4]

Coaches[edit]

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Year at school	Overall record	NEC record	NEC tournament championships
Bryant	Jared Grasso	Iona (asst.)	1	0–0	0–0	0
Central Connecticut	Donyell Marshall	Buffalo (asst.)	2	20–41	11–25	0
Fairleigh Dickinson	Greg Herenda	UMass Lowell	6	60–94	38–50	1
LIU Brooklyn	Derek Kellogg	UMass	2	18–17	10–8	1
Mount St. Mary's	Dan Engelstad	Southern Vermont	1	0–0	0–0	0
Robert Morris	Andrew Toole	Robert Morris (asst.)	9	150–123	91–51	1
Sacred Heart	Anthony Latina	Sacred Heart (asst.)	6	55–101	35–53	0
St. Francis Brooklyn	Glenn Braica	St. John's (asst.)	9	115–136	77–65	0
Saint Francis (PA)	Rob Krimmel	Saint Francis (asst.)	7	79–108	53–53	0
Wagner	Bashir Mason	Wagner (asst.)	7	110–79	70–36	0

Notes:

All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
Year at school includes 2018–19 season.
Overall and NEC/NCAA records are from time at current school and are before the beginning of the 2018–19 season.
Previous jobs are head coaching jobs unless otherwise noted.

Preseason[edit]

Preseason coaches poll[edit]

Source^[5]

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

() first place votes

Preseason All-NEC team[edit]

Source^[6]

Recipient	School
Raiquan Clark	LIU Brooklyn
Keith Braxton	Saint Francis
Mike Holloway	Fairleigh Dickinson
Jamaal King	Saint Francis
Tyler Kohl	Central Connecticut

NEC regular season[edit]

Conference matrix[edit]

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. (x) indicates games remaining this season.

	Bryant	Central Conn.	Fairleigh Dickinson	LIU Br'klyn	Mount St. Mary's	Robert Morris	Sacred Heart	St. Francis Brooklyn	Saint Francis (PA)	Wagner
vs. Bryant	–	1–1	2–0	2–0	0–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	0–2
vs. Central Conn.	1–1	–	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–0
vs. Fairleigh Dickinson	0–2	1–1	–	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–1
vs. LIU Br'klyn	0–2	0–2	1–1	–	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0
vs. Mount St. Mary's	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	–	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1
vs. Robert Morris	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	–	1–1	0–2	2–0	0–2
vs. Sacred Heart	0–2	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	–	1–1	1–1	1–1
vs. St. Francis Brooklyn	1–1	1–1	2–0	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	–	1–1	0–2
vs. Saint Francis (PA)	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–2	1–1	1–1	–	1–1
vs. Wagner	2–0	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	–
Total	7–11	5–13	12–6	9–9	6–12	11–7	11–7	9–9	12–6	8–10

Player of the week[edit]

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 12, 2018	Tyler Kohl, CCSU	Koreem Ozier, SHU
November 19, 2018	Tyler Kohl (2), CCSU Josh Williams, RMU	Ian Krishnan, CCSU
November 26, 2018	Darnell Edge, FDU	Nana Opuku, MSM
December 3, 2018	Keith Braxton, SFU	Cameron Parker, SHU
December 10, 2018	Raul Frias, LIU	Dee Barnes, MSM
December 17, 2018	Jalen Jordan, SFBK	Cameron Parker (2), SHU
December 24, 2018	Tyler Kohl (3), CCSU Malik Jefferson, MSM	Joe Kasperzyk, BRY
December 31, 2018	Raiquan Clark, LIU	Joe Kasperzyk (2), BRY Vado Morse, MSM
January 7, 2019	E. J. Anosike, SHU	Vado Morse (2), MSM
January 14, 2019	Tyler Kohl (4), CCSU Romone Saunders, WAG	Joe Kasperzyk (3), BRY Ian Krishnan (2), CCSU
January 21, 2019	Jalen Jordan (2), SFBK	Vado Morse (3), MSM
January 28, 2019	Keith Braxton (2), SFU	Vado Morse (4), MSM
February 4, 2019	Tyler Kohl (5), CCSU	Malik Jefferson, MSM
February 11, 2019	Tyler Kohl (6), CCSU	Vado Morse (5), MSM
February 18, 2019	Glenn Sanabria, SFBK Keith Braxton (2), SFU	Vado Morse (6), MSM
February 25, 2019	Mike Holloway Jr., FDU	Damian Chong Qui, MSM

Postseason[edit]

NEC tournament[edit]

Teams are reseeded after each round with highest remaining seeds receiving home court advantage.

Quarterfinals Wednesday, March 6, 2019 NEC Front Row			Semifinals Saturday, March 9, 2019 ESPN3/NEC Front Row			Championship Tuesday, March 12, 2019 ESPN2

1	Saint Francis (PA)	67

8	Bryant	63
			1	Saint Francis (PA)	72

			6	LIU Brooklyn	64
4	Robert Morris	69^OT

5	St. Francis Brooklyn	65
						1	Saint Francis (PA)	76
(Pairings are reseeded after the first round)
						2	Fairleigh Dickinson	85
2	Fairleigh Dickinson	84

7	Wagner	46
			2	Fairleigh Dickinson	66

			4	Robert Morris	62
3	Sacred Heart	62

6	LIU Brooklyn	71

NCAA tournament[edit]

Seed	Region	School	First Four	1st round	2nd round	Sweet 16	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship
16	West	Fairleigh Dickinson	82–76 vs. (#16) Prairie View A&M – (Dayton, OH)	49-87 vs. (#1) Gonzaga – (Salt Lake City, UT)

National Invitational Tournament[edit]

Seed	School	1st round	2nd round	Quarterfinals	Semifianls	Championship
8	Saint Francis (PA)	72–89 at. (#1) Indiana – (Bloomington, IN)

CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament[edit]

School	1st round	2nd round	Quarterfinals	Semifianls	Championship
St. Francis Brooklyn	72–81 at. Hampton – (Hampton, VA)
Robert Morris	98–89^OT vs. Cornell – (Moon Township, PA)	70–77 vs. Presbyterian – (Moon Township, PA)

All-NEC honors and awards[edit]

Following the regular season, the conference selected outstanding performers based on a poll of league coaches.^[7]

Honor	Recipient
Player of the Year	Keith Braxton, SFPA
Coach of the Year	Rob Krimmel, SFPA
Defensive Player of the Year	Jare'l Spellman, SHU
Rookie of the Year	Vado Morse, MSM
Most Improved Player of the Year	E.J. Anosike, SHU
All-NEC First Team	Keith Braxton, SFPA
	Raiquan Clark, LIU
	Darnell Edge, FDU
	Sean Hoehn, SHU
	Jamaal King, SFPA
All-NEC Second Team	E.J. Anosike, SHU
	Jalen Jordan, SFBK
	Romone Saunders, WC
	Mike Holloway Jr., FDU
	Tyler Kohl, CCSU
All-NEC Third Team	Ty Flowers, LIU
	Glenn Sanabria, SFBK
	Adam Grant, BRY
	Sabastian Townes, BRY
	Josh Williams, RMU
All-NEC Rookie Team	Joe Kasperzyk, BRY
	Ian Krishnan, CCSU
	Vado Morse, MSM
	Koreem Ozier, SHU
	Cameron Parker, SHU

References[edit]

^ "Bryant Announces Jared Grasso As Men's Basketball Head Coach". NortheastConference.org. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
^ "Bryant's Tim O'Shea to announce retirement". providencejournal.com. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
^ "Dan Engelstad Named Mount St. Mary's Men's Basketball Head Coach". NortheastConference.org. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
^ "Jamion Christian Named Siena Basketball Head Coach". sienasaints.com. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
^ "Flash Forward! Saint Francis U Chosen to Capture the 2018-19 NEC Men's Basketball Title". Northeastconference.org. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
^ "Two Saint Francis Players Tabbed To Preseason All-NEC Men's Basketball Team". Northeastconference.org. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
^ "SFU's Keith Braxton Named NEC Men's Basketball Player of the Year". Northeast Conference. Retrieved March 5, 2019.

External links[edit]

NEC website

[1] "Bryant Announces Jared Grasso As Men's Basketball Head Coach". NortheastConference.org. Retrieved January 10, 2019.

[2] "Bryant's Tim O'Shea to announce retirement". providencejournal.com. Retrieved January 10, 2019.

[3] "Dan Engelstad Named Mount St. Mary's Men's Basketball Head Coach". NortheastConference.org. Retrieved January 10, 2019.

[4] "Jamion Christian Named Siena Basketball Head Coach". sienasaints.com. Retrieved January 10, 2019.

[5] "Flash Forward! Saint Francis U Chosen to Capture the 2018-19 NEC Men's Basketball Title". Northeastconference.org. Retrieved January 16, 2019.

[6] "Two Saint Francis Players Tabbed To Preseason All-NEC Men's Basketball Team". Northeastconference.org. Retrieved January 16, 2019.

[7] "SFU's Keith Braxton Named NEC Men's Basketball Player of the Year". Northeast Conference. Retrieved March 5, 2019.

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v t e Northeast Conference men's basketball
Current teams	Central Connecticut Blue Devils Fairleigh Dickinson Knights Le Moyne Dolphins LIU Sharks Merrimack Warriors (leaving in 2024) Sacred Heart Pioneers (leaving in 2024) Saint Francis Red Flash Stonehill Skyhawks Wagner Seahawks
Future teams	Chicago State Cougars Mercyhurst Lakers (both joining in 2024)
Championships & awards	Regular season champions Conference tournament Coach of the Year Player of the Year Defensive Player of the Year Rookie of the Year "Battle of Brooklyn"
Seasons	1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24