Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
March 3-7. All games at Siena.
kPOY: Justin Robinson, Monmouth.
The MAAC tips off with three games in Albany on Thursday.
Monmouth has won 25 games, four more than any previous Monmouth season. But the Hawks are far from a lock to win the MAAC tournament. Part of that is the untold story of the MAAC this season. While Monmouth earned Trump-style media coverage most of the season, Iona and Siena put together strong teams as well. And Siena gets to play the tournament in its own building.
For the record, I’ve watered down home-court advantage in events like these and the Big South tournament where all games are played at one site. However, even without an arena completely full of Saints’ fans and having to potentially use the visitor’s locker room for the last two games, Siena will enjoy some advantage here. It’s basically enough to close the gap between them and Monmouth in terms of their respective chances of winning.
Iona is lurking as well and it’s the last go-around for AJ English. He’s one of four players that scored 46 points in a game this season, the most in the land. The Gaels also have 6-8 Jordan Washington, who leads the country in usage, and draws and commits fouls at an epic rate. He’s also been known to get feisty in the handshake line.
Qtrs Semis Final Champ 1 Monmouth 100 83.5 66.0 34.9 3 Siena 100 88.1 54.8 33.9 2 Iona 100 82.9 39.4 21.8 5 Fairfield 100 53.6 14.9 3.8 4 Saint Peter's 100 46.4 11.8 2.6 8 Rider 70.0 13.7 6.6 1.5 7 Canisius 73.1 14.8 3.1 0.8 6 Manhattan 61.1 8.3 2.0 0.4 11 Marist 38.9 3.5 0.6 0.1 9 Quinnipiac 30.0 2.9 0.8 0.09 10 Niagara 26.9 2.3 0.2 0.03
MAAC tourney records (since 1999)
Siena 28-12 Iona 23-13 Niagara 19-15 Manhattan 15-13 Saint Peter’s 13-16 Canisius 13-17 Fairfield 13-17 Rider 12-17 Marist 10-17 Monmouth 1- 2 Quinnipiac 1- 2