NEC Women's Basketball Power Rankings 1/4/26

By Bobby Wilson

1. FDU

2. LIU

3. Wagner

4. New Haven

5. Stonehill

6. Mercyhurst

7. Le Moyne

8. Chicago State

9. CCSU

10. Saint Francis

FDU went 3-1 on the week and continues to dominate. The Knights held Saint Francis to 28 points on Sunday. LIU went 3-0 this week and seems to be the next in line. Mercyhurst picked up win No 1 of the season and looked good doing so at Le Moyne. We'll see how things shake out as the conference season progresses.

Player of the Week: New Haven's Aniya McDonald-Perry averaged 22.5 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 steals in two games this week. Including 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 steals in a victory over CCSU. McDonald-Perry is the third different Charger to win a Player of the Week award this season.

Win of the Week: New Haven 66 Stonehill 61. In the Chargers first ever NEC conference game they picked up a victory, just like their men. Winning both games this past week, the Chargers are a team to watch in NEC play.

FDU went 3-1 this week defeating Maryland Eastern Shore, at Mercyhurst, and at Saint Francis. LIU went 3-0 with wins over a non-D1, at CCSU, and Chicago State. Wagner also went 3-0 with wins over a non-D1, Chicago State, and at Stonehill. Mercyhurst won at Le Moyne and Le Moyne went 2-1 on the week with wins over a non-D1 and Saint Francis.

Upcoming Game of the Week: Saturday, January 10th New Haven at FDU at 2 PM EST.

New Haven hosts Le Moyne on Thursday and FDU goes to Chicago State. We could see two 3-0 conference teams on the floor in New Jersey Saturday afternoon

NEC Men's Basketball Power Rankings 1/4/26

By Bobby Wilson

1. LIU

2. CCSU

3. New Haven

4. Mercyhurst

5. Le Moyne

6. Stonehill

7. Wagner

8. FDU

9. Saint Francis

10. Chicago State

This week's ranking were extremely difficult because after one week of conference play LIU is 2-0, Chicago State is 0-2, and everyone else is 1-1. NEC fans know that this conference is very competitive, and we saw that in Week 1 of conference play. LIU defeated CCSU in the battle of No 1 vs No 2. CCSU turned around and defeated New Haven, who had a very solid week. You have to be ready every night for a battle in the NEC.

Player of the Week: LIU's Jamal Fuller averaged 19.7 points, 7 rebounds, and 4.7 assists in three games this week. Including a 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists performance against CCSU. This is Fuller's 2nd Player of the Week award this season.

Win of the Week: New Haven 70 Stonehill 55. The Chargers won their first ever NEC game and it was on the road at Stonehill. Kudos to the Chargers as they will be a tough out throughout this season.

This week saw LIU go 2-1 with wins against CCSU and at Chicago State. Wagner won at Chicago State and Le Moyne won at Saint Francis. FDU went 1-2 on the week winning at Mercyhurst. CCSU defeated New Haven, Mercyhurst defeated Le Moyne, Stonehill won at Wagner, and Saint Francis defeated FDU.

Upcoming Game of the Week: Thursday, January 8th Mercyhurst at LIU at 7 PM EST

Mercyhurst has a difficult week heading to both of the NYC schools. Le Moyne also has a difficult week hosting both New Haven and CCSU.

“It’s Fun When You Win”: New Haven Sweeps Its First-Ever NEC Contests

Credit: New Haven Athletics

Can New Haven compete in their first season in big league hoops?

Emphatically, yes.

The Chargers roared out to an undefeated start on opening night across both divisions of NEC hoops, with the men winning 70-55 on the road and the women’s squad winning 66-61 at home. Both contests were against the Stonehill Skyhawks.

On the men’s side, the Chargers took a halftime lead of 36-31 and added an additional +10 in the second half. The women had to survive a late Skyhawks rally after a flawless 3rd quarter where they outscored Stonehill 25-6. Anyia McDonald-Perry had 23 points for the women’s side, while the men spread the points out evenly. Notably, Aiden Losiewicz scored his 13 points on 3-5 shooting from downtown in just 16 minutes. Najimi George paced the men with 14 points.

“It’s fun when you win,” said Coach Hotaling on the men’s side. “Happy to get our first NEC win.”

It’s the first NEC win in program history for both sets of Chargers.

It’s an impressive pair of wins. But maybe the most impressive thing is what New Haven has done to compete- and fast.

Last season in Division II, the Chargers finished 12-17. They weren’t expected to make too much noise in the league this season. They were picked to finish 10th in conference out of a 10 team league. It was going to take time to be competitive. It’s not exactly unprecedented to make the transition from Division II and immediately show firepower in the league- Mercyhurst finished 9-7 in conference last season, after all- but at least the Lakers were a .500 team in a loaded PSAC the year prior. New Haven is coming off of a 7 win conference slate in the NE10. Stonehill, on the other hand, is one of the more highly touted teams in the conference, with a preseason #3 ranking in the NEC.

The women’s side didn’t look much different, with New Haven picked 9th and Stonehill picked 2nd.

No game is a referendum, and there’s a lot of action left in NEC play. The 17 games remaining will show us a lot about what New Haven basketball will add to the league. There was probably a lot of focus on the Chargers as a football addition (as well as volleyball, from this side of the reporting sphere). I think basketball was viewed as something we’d probably have to wait and see to find out more about. But what we’re seeing right now- and what we’ve seen so far from the Chargers- indicates that they’ll have plenty to say this season.

On the men’s side, the Chargers upset UMass Lowell, handled Delaware State, and had Boston College and NJIT on the ropes. Early on, this looks like one of the better teams in the conference. This is an NEC that has been able to consistently punch up in non-conference play. The Chargers certainly looked the part in their early slate.

The win against Stonehill- on both sides- has shown that it isn’t a fluke.

The early reviews are in. New Haven basketball looks like it’ll be ready to compete this season. The Chargers will have to keep building just a little while longer to make noise in the postseason when they’re eligible in a few seasons.

“The Most Important Missed Dunk in NEC History”

I was talking with Nelson Castillo (@NelCastNY on X) recently and brought up the missed dunk that the NEC hinged on in 2024-25. He responded that it was the most important missed dunk in NEC history. Unless someone out there has a better example, I think that’s right on the money. Let me set the stage for you here.

March 1, 2025.

23.9 seconds remaining, Saint Francis was up 68-65 on Chicago State in Loretto, Pennsylvania. The Cougars inbounded as the announcers discussed moped accidents. Despite the banter, this was actually a big moment late in the season for the NEC- then the Northeast Conference- and the opening shot of what we call March Madness.

If Saint Francis was able to hang on in these final 23 seconds, they’d earn a home game in Loretto for the NEC tournament and crucial homefield advantage for a Frankies team that needed as much help as they could get in the competitive league. Lose, and this was the final home game in Loretto this season, along with a road trip to start what would have been a road gauntlet to the Big Dance. If they could even make it that far. Even to this point, the Saint Francis run had been improbable. On Feb 15th, the Red Flash had lost on the road in New Britain, CT to drop to 5-8 on the season. After this, they rebounded to beat Le Moyne in overtime on the road in Syracuse and then won a second straight overtime game at home, this time against FDU. So, if nothing else, it was obvious the Red Flash knew how to play in these kind of situations.

The Cougars ran their play and Quincy Allen shot a good looking 3 attempt from the top of the circle. Drained. Tie game at 68. The Red Flash inbounded and moved quickly with Riley Parker streaking down the court with the ball, hoping to end it in regulation. He met Allen and lost possession. The ball landed, as if by magnetism, in the hands of a Cougar defender. Moving fast the other way, they passed the ball to Quincy Allen yet again, who had been Superman for the last 20 or so seconds. This was it; one bucket and it would be hard for Saint Francis to recover. He went up for the uncontested dunk and…

clang.

He missed.

The game would go to overtime and the Cougars could never get it rolling. Saint Francis held on to win their third straight overtime game and clinched the #3 seed and a home game.

"I've been in college basketball for almost 30 years, and I don't know that I've experienced a final 15 seconds in regulation like that,” said coach Rob Krimmel, who had just unknowingly coached his last home regular season game with Saint Francis.

He would next be coaching his last home playoff game in Loretto, although he probably didn’t know that then, either. This time, the Red Flash hosted Wagner in the opening round of the NEC tournament. SFU avoided overtime for the first time in four games.

With two seconds remaining and the score tied at 55, Riley Parker was fouled. He sank all 3 free throws and the Red Flash moved on. It’s impossible to say, of course, but would that really have happened if the Red Flash were playing on the road?

Assuming they did win, the likely next game would have been against #1 seed Central Connecticut State. Instead, we were treated to a road semifinal thriller against No. 2 LIU, where the Red Flash rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit to stun the Sharks 71-68. Juan Cranford, Jr. scored 17 in the second half and suddenly Saint Francis had rallied from a certain loss on their home court to Chicago State to the cusp of an NCAA Tournament berth. The game is undoubtedly the motivating force behind the favorite LIU Sharks this season, but at the time it was more like watching an unlikely tournament run mixed with The Butterfly Effect.

Perhaps Castillo (@NelCastNY) put it best in the moment with his tweet:

"I’ve been thinking about the ripple effect the Quincy Allen missed dunk from last Saturday had. If he had made that dunk, SFU would have likely lost and would’ve had to start on the road at Stonehill as a 5 seed and it [would] probably change the trajectory of this entire NEC tournament. Now SFU will be playing in a NEC final. It is pretty wild."

That final, played on March 11 at top-seeded Central Connecticut State's Detrick Gymnasium, was a defensive slog for the ages—the lowest-scoring NEC title game in history. Saint Francis ground out a 46-43 victory with neither team ever leading by more than four points. With seconds remaining, CCSU's last-gasp heave from near midcourt looked on line but clanged off the back rim, eliciting what I can only describe as the most tortured collective groan I’ve ever heard in a college basketball arena. The Red Flash bench erupted; their 34-year NEC title drought was over. CCSU, prohibitive favorites until the end, would be going home and wondering that age old question: what if?

Perhaps it’s fate that we’ll never wonder “what if” with the Red Flash. They completed an incredible run to the NCAA Tournament and to the top of the NEC, but just weeks later announced that they’d be transitioning to Division III. That announcement, of course, was delayed because the Frankies had just made the NCAA tournament. So while the missed dunk couldn’t stop what proved to be inevitable, at least it did delay it.

And we know it because of one missed dunk.

NEC Women's Basketball Power Rankings 12/29

By Bobby Wilson

1. FDU

2. LIU

3. Stonehill

4. Wagner

5. New Haven

6. Chicago State

7. Le Moyne

8. Mercyhurst

9. CCSU

10. Saint Francis

There were only three games this week, so there are no changes from last week's rankings. No 1 FDU hosts a tournament this week and plays two conference games as well. Four games in one week will test the Knights.

Player of the Week: New Haven's Addisen Sulikowski had 16 points and 7 rebounds at New Hampshire. New Haven fell just short on the road at New Hampshire.

Win of the Week: None

New Haven had a solid showing but fell just short at New Hampshire.

Upcoming Game of the Week: FDU Christmas Classic Monday, December 29th and Tuesday December 30th

Monday, December 29th Binghamton at FDU at 2 PM. The 8-3 Knights take on a 7-4 Binghamton squad. Win or lose the Knights will take on Penn (8-3) or Maryland Eastern Shore (7-8) at 4 PM. The Knights end the week at Mercyhurst and Saint Francis.

Men's Basketball Power Rankings 12/29

By Bobby Wilson

1. CCSU

2. LIU

3. Le Moyne

4. Mercyhurst

5. Wagner

6. New Haven

7. Stonehill

8. Chicago State

9. FDU

10. Saint Francis

There were only five games this week. FDU and Le Moyne both led in the second half against Boston College before falling in each matchup. With New Year's approaching, we see conference play about to tip off. We'll see how things shake out moving forward.

Player of the Week: Le Moyne's Shilo Jackson had 19 points, 15 rebounds, and 3 assists at Boston College. This is Jackson's third player of the week award through eight weeks of the season. He has been a force thus far this season.

Win of the Week: Wagner 74 Manor 57

The Seahawks recorded the lone win of the week and it came against a non-D1 opponent.

Upcoming Game of the Week: Friday, January 2nd CCSU at LIU

No 1 at No 2 to begin the conference slate. It doesn't get any better than that. Tune into NEC Front Row at 7 PM EST for this amazing NEC Matchup.

Women's Basketball Power Rankings 12/21/25

By Bobby Wilson

1. FDU

2. LIU

3. Stonehill

4. Wagner

5. New Haven

6. Chicago State

7. Le Moyne

8. Mercyhurst

9. CCSU

10. Saint Francis

Another week, another top ranking for the FDU Knights. They are clearly the top of the class on the women's side. LIU didn't play this week and Stonehill went 1-1, closing the gap for the number two spot. Chicago State makes a jump over Le Moyne after a solid showing out west this week in two defeats. CCSU was so close to picking up win number one on the season against New Hampshire, but fell just short.

Player of the Week: Stonehill's Brooke Paquette averaged 17.5 points and 9 rebounds in two games this week. She notched 17 points and 13 rebounds in Skyhawks narrow loss at Stetson this week.

Win of the Week: Stonehill 74 Bethune Cookman 68

Stonehill defeated Bethune Cookman on a neutral floor at Stetson. Brooke Paquette, Ella Pelletier, and Julia Webster all had good outings for the Skyhawks in the victory. FDU also defeated a non-D1 opponent this week.

Upcoming Game of the Week: Sunday, Dec 28th at 1 pm on ESPN+ New Haven at New Hampshire. A good opportunity for a road victory for the Chargers.

Short slate this week for Christmas break as there are only three games on Sunday the 28th. Stonehill travels to No 13 Vanderbilt and Chicago State hosts Clemson as well.

Men's Basketball Power Rankings 12/21/25

By Bobby Wilson

1. CCSU

2. LIU

3. Le Moyne

4. Mercyhurst

5. New Haven

6. Wagner

7. Stonehill

8. Chicago State

9. FDU

10. Saint Francis

CCSU and LIU both lost this week, so they drop closer to the pack. LIU had a very solid showing, losing by four at Mississippi State. CCSU lost at home to in-state foe Fairfield. Le Moyne had a solid showing in a loss at Saint Bonaventure. Mercyhurst jumps New Haven this week after a solid showing in a loss at Syracuse and beating Binghamton by 21 points. Wagner continues to narrow the gap after defeating Maryland Eastern Shore and is on a three game winning streak.

Player of the Week: LIU's Jamal Fuller averaged 18 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.5 steals, and 2.5 assists in two games this week. He notched 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 steals in the Sharks narrow loss at Mississippi State.

Win of the Week: Mercyhurst 82 Binghamton 61

The Lakers came away victorious over Binghamton and made a jump in this week's Power Rankings. Wagner also defeated Maryland East Shore and FDU defeated a non-D1 opponent this week as well.

Upcoming Game of the Week: Sunday, December 28th Le Moyne at Boston College at 2 pm on ACC Extra.

Boston College has already lost to CCSU this season and narrowly defeated New Haven. This week, both Le Moyne and FDU make the trip to Chestnut Hill. Another huge opportunity for the NEC.