2002 Northeast Conference men's basketball tournament

The 2002 Northeast Conference men's basketball tournament was held in March. The tournament featured the league's top eight seeds. Central Connecticut won the championship, its second, and received the conference's automatic bid to the 2002 NCAA Tournament.

2002 Northeast Conference men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2001–02
Teams	8
Site	Spiro Sports Center Staten Island, NY
Finals site	William H. Detrick Gymnasium New Britain, CT
Champions	Central Connecticut (2nd title)
Winning coach	Howie Dickenman (2nd title)
MVP	Damian Battles (Central Connecticut)
Northeast Conference men's basketball tournaments ← 2001 2003 →

2001–02 Northeast Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Central Connecticut †	19	–	1		.950			27	–	5		.844
Wagner	15	–	5		.750			19	–	10		.655
UMBC	15	–	5		.750			20	–	9		.690
Monmouth	14	–	6		.700			18	–	12		.600
St. Francis (NY)	13	–	7		.650			18	–	11		.621
Robert Morris	11	–	9		.550			12	–	18		.400
Quinnipiac	10	–	10		.500			14	–	16		.467
Sacred Heart	7	–	13		.350			8	–	20		.286
Saint Francis (PA)	5	–	15		.250			6	–	21		.222
Long Island	5	–	15		.250			5	–	22		.185
Fairleigh Dickinson	4	–	16		.200			4	–	25		.138
Mount St. Mary's	2	–	18		.100			3	–	24		.111
† 2002 NEC tournament winner

Format

The NEC Men’s Basketball Tournament consisted of an eight-team playoff format with the quarterfinal and semifinal games played at the Spiro Sports Center in Staten Island, NY. The Championship game was played at the court of the highest remaining seed, Central Connecticut.

Bracket

	Quarterfinals Spiro Sports Center					Semifinals Spiro Sports Center					Championship Game William H. Detrick Gymnasium
	1	Central Connecticut	66
	8	Sacred Heart	54
						1	Central Connecticut	58
						5	St. Francis (NY)	54
	4	Monmouth	61
	5	St. Francis (NY)	71
											1	Central Connecticut	78
											7	Quinnipiac	71
	2	Wagner	78
	7	Quinnipiac	87
						7	Quinnipiac	75
						3	UMBC	72
	3	UMBC	85
	6	Robert Morris	76

All-tournament team

Tournament MVP in bold.^[1]

2002 NEC All-Tournament Team

Damian Battles, CCSU Rob Monroe, QU Peter Mulligan, UMBC Ron Robinson, CCSU Bill Romano, QU