2017–18 Northeast Conference men's basketball season

The 2017–18 Northeast Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2017, followed by the start of the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play started in late December and concluded in February 2018.

2017–18 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	Wagner
Season MVP	Junior Robinson, MSM
Top scorer	Junior Robinson, MSM
NEC tournament
Champions	LIU Brooklyn
Finals MVP	Joel Hernandez, LIU

2017–18 Northeast Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Wagner	14	–	4		.778			23	–	10		.697
Saint Francis (PA)	12	–	6		.667			18	–	13		.581
Mount St. Mary's	12	–	6		.667			18	–	14		.563
LIU Brooklyn †	10	–	8		.556			18	–	17		.514
St. Francis Brooklyn	10	–	8		.556			13	–	18		.419
Robert Morris	9	–	9		.500			16	–	17		.485
Fairleigh Dickinson	9	–	9		.500			13	–	18		.419
Central Connecticut	7	–	11		.389			14	–	18		.438
Sacred Heart	5	–	13		.278			10	–	21		.323
Bryant	2	–	16		.111			3	–	28		.097
† 2018 NEC tournament winner

The NEC tournament will be held from March 1 through March 7 with the higher-seeded team hosting each game.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

On April 18, 2017, LIU Brooklyn announced Derek Kellogg as the 14th head coach in program history.^[1] Kellogg replaced Jack Perri, whose contract was not renewed;^[2] Perri became an assistant at Boston University.

Coaches

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Year at school	Overall record	NEC record	NEC tournament championships	Tournaments championships
Bryant	Tim O'Shea	Ohio	10	93–183	57–85	0	0
Central Connecticut	Donyell Marshall	Buffalo (asst.)	2	6–23	4–14	0	0
Fairleigh Dickinson	Greg Herenda	UMass Lowell	5	47–76	29–41	1	0
LIU Brooklyn	Derek Kellogg	UMass	1	0–0	0–0	0	0
Mount St. Mary's	Jamion Christian	VCU (asst.)	6	83–81	55–33	2	0
Robert Morris	Andrew Toole	Robert Morris (asst.)	8	134–106	82–42	1	0
Sacred Heart	Anthony Latina	Sacred Heart (asst.)	5	45–80	30–40	0	0
St. Francis Brooklyn	Glenn Braica	St. John's (asst.)	8	102–118	67–57	0	0
Saint Francis (PA)	Rob Krimmel	Saint Francis (PA) (asst.)	6	61–95	41–47	0	0
Wagner	Bashir Mason	Wagner (asst.)	6	87–69	56–32	0	0

Notes:

• All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
• Year at school includes 2017–18 season.
• Overall and NEC/NCAA records are from time at current school and are before the beginning of the 2017–18 season.
• Previous jobs are head coaching jobs unless otherwise noted.

Preseason

Preseason coaches poll

Source^[3]

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

() first place votes

Preseason All-NEC team

Source^[4]

Recipient	School
Isaiah Blackmon	Saint Francis (PA)
Keith Braxton	Saint Francis (PA)
Joseph Lopez	Sacred Heart
Junior Robinson	Mount St. Mary's
Darian Anderson	Fairleigh Dickinson

NEC regular season

Conference matrix

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	–	2–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–0
vs. Central Conn.	0–2	–	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	0–0
vs. Fairleigh Dickinson	0–1	1–1	–	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–0
vs. LIU Br'klyn	0–1	1–1	1–1	–	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	0–1
vs. Mount St. Mary's	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	–	0–0	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–0
vs. Robert Morris	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–0	–	0–2	0–1	1–0	2–0
vs. Sacred Heart	1–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	1–0	2–0	–	1–1	2–0	1–0
vs. St. Francis Brooklyn	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	–	1–0	0–1
vs. Saint Francis (PA)	0–1	1–0	0–0	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–2	0–1	–	2–0
vs. Wagner	0–1	0–0	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–2	0–1	1–0	0–2	–
Total	1–9	5–5	4–6	5–5	6–4	7–3	2–8	6–4	6–4	8–2

Player of the week

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 13, 2017	Raiquan Clark, LIU Brooklyn	Koby Thomas, Robert Morris
November 20, 2017	Junior Robinson, MSM Deion Bute, CCSU	Jalen Jordan, SFBK
November 27, 2017	Dachon Burke, RMU	Koby Thomas (2), RMU
December 4, 2017	Dachon Burke (2), RMU	Nigel Jackson, WC Jon Williams, RMU
December 11, 2017	Dachon Burke (3), RM	Koby Thomas (3), RM
December 18, 2017	JoJo Cooper, WC	Jahlil Jenkins, FDU
December 26, 2017	Keith Braxton, SFPA	Alex Watson, SHU
January 2, 2018	Keith Braxton (2), SFPA	Noah Morgan, FDU
January 8, 2018	Junior Robinson (2), MSM	Koby Thomas (4), RMU Jonah Antonio, MSM
January 15, 2018	Junior Robinson (3), MSM	Donald Carey, MSM
January 22, 2018	JoJo Cooper (2), WC	Jalen Jordan (2), SFBK
January 29, 2018	Junior Robinson (4), MSM Tyler Kohl, CCSU	Chauncey Hawkins, SFBK Jonah Antonio (2), MSM
February 5, 2018	Joel Hernandez, LIU	Mark Flagg, SFPA
February 12, 2018	Dachon Burke, RMU Junior Robinson (5), MSM	Brandon Carroll, BU
February 19, 2018	JoJo Cooper (3),WC Jamaal King (2), SFPA	Jalen Jordan (3), SFBK
February 26, 2018	Keith Braxton (3), SFPA	Jahlii Jenkins (2), FDU

Source^[5][6]

Postseason

NEC tournament

Main article: 2018 Northeast Conference men's basketball tournament

• March, 2018 Northeast Conference Basketball Tournament.

	Quarterfinals March					Semifinals March					Championship March
	1	Wagner	73
	8	Central Connecticut	61
						1	Wagner	75
						7	Robert Morris	64
	4	LIU Brooklyn	73
	5	St. Francis Brooklyn	50
											1	Wagner	61
	(Pairings are reseeded after the first round)
											4	LIU Brooklyn	71
	2	Mount St. Mary's	56
	7	Robert Morris	60
						4	LIU Brooklyn	78
						6	Farleigh Dickinson	77
	3	Saint Francis (PA)	75
	6	Farleigh Dickinson	84

All games will be played at the venue of the higher seed

NCAA tournament

Main article: 2018 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

Seed	Region	School	First Four	2nd round	3rd round	Sweet 16	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship
16	East	LIU Brooklyn	L 61–71 vs. #16 Radford – (Dayton)

National Invitational Tournament

Main article: 2018 National Invitation Tournament

Seed	Bracket	School	1st round	2nd round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Championship
8	Baylor	Wagner	L 59–80 vs. #1 Baylor – (Waco)

CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament

Main article: 2018 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament

School	1st round	2nd round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Championship
Saint Francis (PA)	L 61–84 vs. UIC – (Chicago)

All-NEC honors and awards

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

Honor	Recipient
Player of the Year	Junior Robinson, MSM
Coach of the Year	Bashir Mason, WC
Defensive Player of the Year	Chris Wray, MSM
Rookie of the Year	Koby Thomas, RMU
Most Improved Player of the Year	Andre Wolford, SFPA
All-NEC First Team	JoJo Cooper, WC
	Keith Braxton, SFU
	Joel Hernandez, LIU
	Jamaal King, SFU
	Junior Robinson, MSM
All-NEC Second Team	Dachon Burke, RMU
	Rasheem Dunn, SFBK
	Blake Francis, WC
	Mike Holloway, FDU
	Tyler Kohl, CCSU
All-NEC Third Team	Raiquan Clark, LIU
	Darnell Edge, FDU
	Adam Grant, BU
	Romone Saunders, WC
	Chris Wray, MSM
All-NEC Rookie Team	Jonah Antonio, MSM
	Jahlil Jenkins, FDU
	Jalen Jordan, SFBK
	Noah Morgan, FDU
	Koby Thomas, RMU