2024–25 Northeast Conference men's basketball season

Sports season

2024–25 Northeast Conference men's basketball season

League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Duration	November 4, 2024 – March 21, 2024
Number of teams	9
NBA draft
Regular season
NEC tournament
Northeast Conference men's basketball seasons
← 2023–242025–26 →

2024–25 Northeast Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Central Connecticut	2	–	0	1.000	11	–	4	.733
LIU	2	–	0	1.000	6	–	11	.353
Fairleigh Dickinson	1	–	0	1.000	5	–	11	.313
Stonehill*	1	–	1	.500	9	–	8	.529
Mercyhurst**	1	–	1	.500	7	–	10	.412
Chicago State	1	–	1	.500	1	–	16	.059
Le Moyne*	0	–	1	.000	5	–	11	.313
Wagner	0	–	2	.000	8	–	7	.533
Saint Francis	0	–	2	.000	5	–	11	.313
* ineligible for the 2025 NCAA tournament due to transition from Division II
** ineligible for both the 2025 NEC tournament and the 2025 NCAA tournament due to transition from Division II

† 2025 NEC tournament winner As of January 5, 2025

The 2024–25 Northeast Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2024, followed by the start of the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's basketball season on November 4. Conference play will start on January 3, and end on March 1, 2025. This is the 44th season of Northeast Conference men's basketball. Central Connecticut and Merrimack were the 2023–24 regular-season co-champions, but only Central Connecticut is defending its title, since Merrimack left the NEC and joined the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). Wagner is the defending conference tournament champion.

The NEC tournament will be held in March with the higher-seeded team hosting each game. All eight eligible teams qualify for the tournament; Mercyhurst is ineligible until 2027. The winner will advance to the 2025 NCAA Division I tournament, unless that team is ineligible, in which case another team will represent the conference.

This is the first season of NEC membership for both Chicago State, which joined after two seasons as a Division I independent, and Mercyhurst, which began its transition from Division II.

Offseason

Merrimack and Sacred Heart left the conference after the 2023–24 school year to join the MAAC.

For the third straight year, the NEC changed its rules regarding eligibility for the conference tournament. Teams transitioning from Division II may participate in the NEC tournament starting with the third year of their transition. Therefore, Mercyhurst will not be eligible for the NEC tournament until 2027. The change is prospective rather than retroactive. Consequently, Le Moyne, in their second transition year, remain eligible for the 2025 tournament.

Head coaches

Team	Head coach	Previous position	Year at school	Overall record	NEC record	NEC tournament championships
Central Connecticut	Patrick Sellers	Fairfield (asst.)	4	38–57	25–25	0
Chicago State	Scott Spinelli	Boston College (interim head coach)	1	0–0	0–0	0
Fairleigh Dickinson	Jack Castleberry	Fairleigh Dickinson (asst.)	2	15–17	9–7	0
Le Moyne	Nate Champion	Florida Southern (asst.)	5	61–56	9–7	0
LIU	Rod Strickland	NBA G League Ignite (program director)	3	10–48	7–25	0
Mercyhurst	Gary Manchel	Ohio (asst.)	22	373–219	0–0	0
Saint Francis	Rob Krimmel	Saint Francis (asst.)	13	155–210	100–110	0
Stonehill	Chris Kraus	Stonehill (asst.)	11	148–143	12–20	0
Wagner	Donald Copeland	Seton Hall (asst.)	3	32–29	15–17	1

Notes: All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.; Year at school includes 2024–25 season.; Overall and NEC/NCAA records are from time at current school and are before the beginning of the 2024–25 season.; Previous jobs are head coaching jobs unless otherwise noted.

Le Moyne did not play during the 2020–21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, this is Champion's sixth year as the team's head coach but only his fifth season.
Stonehill did not play during the 2020–21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, this is Kraus's 12th year as the team's head coach but only his 11th season.

Preseason

Preseason coaches' poll

The table below shows the preseason rankings of NEC teams based on a poll of the conference's coaches as well as each team's preseason Pomeroy ranking among the 364 Division I teams.

Rank	Team	Pomeroy rank
1 (tie)	Central Connecticut (5)	303
1 (tie)	Wagner (4)	272
3	Fairleigh Dickinson	352
4	Le Moyne	335
5	LIU	354
6	Chicago State	340
7	Mercyhurst	356
8 (tie)	Saint Francis	351
8 (tie)	Stonehill	358

() first-place votes

Preseason All-NEC team

Source:

Player	School
Malachi Davis ( Junior, Guard)	LIU
Jo'el Emanuel (Junior, Forward)	Fairleigh Dickinson
Darrick Jones Jr. (5th-yr. Senior, Guard)	Le Moyne
Jordan Jones (Senior, Guard)	Central Connecticut
Jeff Planutis (Graduate, Forward)	Mercyhurst

Regular season

Early-season multi-team events

Source:

Team	Event	Host	Record
Central Connecticut	None	–	–
Chicago State	Sunshine Slam	Northeast Conference	0–3
Fairleigh Dickinson	Metro NY/NJ Classic	Fairleigh Dickinson, Army and Manhattan	1–1
Le Moyne	Island U Invitational	Texas A&M–Corpus Christi	1–1
LIU	Lafayette Classic	Lafayette	0–3
Mercyhurst	Cal Classic	California	1–2
Saint Francis	Hoya MTE	Georgetown	0–2
Stonehill	Urban-Bennett Invitational	Robert Morris	1–2
Wagner	None	–	–

Pre-conference season notes

Conference season notes

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference regular-season play. The home team's score is shown in boldface type. Future home games are shown in italics.

	Central Connecticut	Chicago State	Fairleigh Dickinson	Le Moyne	LIU	Mercyhurst	Saint Francis	Stonehill	Wagner
vs. Central Connecticut	–	Jan 26 Feb 20	Jan 18 Feb 6	Jan 24 Feb 27	Jan 12 Jan 30	50–62 Feb 13	59–74 Feb 15	Feb 1 Feb 22	Jan 10 Mar 1
vs. Chicago State	Jan 26 Feb 20	–	Jan 20 Feb 13	Jan 18 Feb 15	53–39 Feb 1	Feb 6 Feb 27	Feb 8 Mar 1	Jan 12 Jan 24	52–64 Feb 22
vs. Fairleigh Dickinson	Jan 18 Feb 6	Jan 20 Feb 13	–	Jan 10 Jan 30	Feb 15 Mar 1	Feb 1 Feb 20	Jan 12 Feb 2	Jan 26 Feb 27	59–71 Feb 8
vs. Le Moyne	Jan 24 Feb 27	Jan 18 Feb 15	Jan 10 Jan 30	–	78–62 Feb 22	Jan 12 Feb 8	Feb 6 Feb 20	Jan 20 Mar 1	Feb 1 Feb 13
vs. LIU	Jan 12 Jan 30	39–53 Feb 1	Feb 15 Mar 1	62–78 Feb 22	–	Jan 20 Jan 26	Jan 18 Jan 24	Jan 10 Feb 8	Feb 6 Feb 27
vs. Mercyhurst	62–50 Feb 13	Feb 6 Feb 27	Feb 1 Feb 20	Jan 12 Feb 8	Jan 20 Jan 26	–	Jan 10 Jan 20	69–76 Feb 15	Jan 18 Jan 24
vs. Saint Francis	74–59 Feb 15	Feb 8 Mar 1	Jan 12 Feb 22	Feb 6 Feb 20	Jan 18 Jan 24	Jan 10 Jan 30	–	64–60 Feb 13	Jan 20 Jan 26
vs. Stonehill	Feb 1 Feb 22	Jan 12 Jan 24	Jan 26 Feb 27	Jan 20 Mar 1	Jan 10 Feb 8	76–69 Feb 15	60–64 Feb 13	–	Jan 30 Feb 20
vs. Wagner	Jan 10 Mar 1	64–52 Feb 22	71–59 Feb 8	Feb 1 Feb 13	Feb 6 Feb 27	Jan 18 Jan 24	Jan 20 Jan 26	Jan 30 Feb 20	–
Record	2–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–2

Record against other conferences

Regular season

NEC vs. power conferences	Record
ACC	0–8
Big East	0–10
Big Ten	0–7
Big 12	0–1
SEC	0–3
NEC vs. power conferences total	0–29

Other NCAA Division I conferences	Record
America East	5–5
American	1–0
ASUN	0–1
Atlantic 10	2–8
Big Sky	1–0
Big South	0–3
Big West	0–2
CAA	1–2
CUSA	0–0
Horizon League	0–3
Ivy League	1–2
MAAC	6–9
Mid-American	0–1
MEAC	3–0
MVC	0–1
MWC	1–1
OVC	1–1
Patriot League	4–5
SoCon	0–1
Southland	2–2
SWAC	0–0
Summit	0–1
Sun Belt	0–0
WAC	0–2
WCC	0–2
Other Division I total	28–52
NCAA Division I total	28–81
NCAA Division III	15–0
USCAA Division I	1–0
USCAA Division II	5–0
Grand total	49–81
Through games of December 29, 2024

Postseason

NEC vs. power conferences	Record
ACC	0–0
Big East	0–0
Big Ten	0–0
Big 12	0–0
SEC	0–0
NEC vs. power conferences total	0–0

Other NCAA Division I conferences	Record
America East	0–0
American	0–0
ASUN	0–0
Atlantic 10	0–0
Big Sky	0–0
Big South	0–0
Big West	0–0
CAA	0–0
CUSA	0–0
Horizon League	0–0
Ivy League	0–0
MAAC	0–0
Mid-American	0–0
MEAC	0–0
MVC	0–0
MWC	0–0
OVC	0–0
Patriot League	0–0
SoCon	0–0
Southland	0–0
SWAC	0–0
Summit	0–0
Sun Belt	0–0
WAC	0–0
WCC	0–0
Other Division I total	0–0
NCAA Division I total	0–0

Games against ranked non-conference opponents

The table below shows games played by NEC teams against opponents ranked by the Associated Press at the time of the game.

Date	Visitor	Home	Site	Score	NEC record
Nov. 4	LIU	No. 24 Ole Miss	SJB Pavilion ● University, MS	Ole Miss 90−60	0−1
Nov. 6	Wagner	No. 25 Rutgers	Jersey Mike's Arena ● Piscataway, NJ	Rutgers 75−52	0−2
Nov. 10	Fairleigh Dickinson	No. 15 Creighton	CHI Health Center Omaha ● Omaha, NE	Creighton 96−70	0−3
Nov. 13	Le Moyne	No. 3 UConn	XL Center ● Hartford, CT	UConn 90−49	0−4
Nov. 13	Wagner	No. 22 St. John's	Carnesecca Arena ● Queens, NY	St. John's 66−45	0−5
Nov. 13	Le Moyne	No. 3 UConn	XL Center ● Hartford, CT	UConn 90−49	0−6
Nov. 27	Stonehill	No. 10 Marquette	Fiserv Forum ● Milwaukee, WI	Marquette 94−59	0−7
Nov. 30	Chicago State	No. 15 Wisconsin	Kohl Center ● Madison, WI	Wisconsin 74−53	0−8

Rankings

The table below shows the rankings of NEC teams among the 364 Division I teams throughout the season. The preseason ranking is the Pomeroy rating. The remaining weekly rankings are the NET rankings reported by the NCAA beginning with the initial release at the start of week 5. NET rankings are not updated during the NCAA tournament. The rankings shown for week 20 are the final rankings at the conclusion of regular-season and conference-tournament play.

**Legend**
		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking

	Pre	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Week 10
Central Connecticut	303	204	141	134	135	134	135
Chicago State	340	359	360	358	356	357	354
Fairleigh Dickinson	352	338	339	329	319	318	304
Le Moyne	335	283	328	326	313	323	335
LIU	354	307	314	303	317	319	301
Mercyhurst	356	321	338	342	340	344	337
Saint Francis	351	238	240	257	299	299	320
Stonehill	358	268	265	267	274	269	268
Wagner	272	323	317	297	318	315	345

Postseason

NEC tournament

Main article: 2025 Northeast Conference men's basketball tournament

Games will be played on March 5, 8, and 11, 2025, at campus sites. Since Mercyhurst is ineligible, all eight eligible teams in the conference will participate.

NCAA tournament

Main article: 2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

Awards and honors

Weekly conference awards

Throughout the regular season, the Northeast Conference named players of the week and rookies of the week.

Week	Player of the week	Rookie of the week
1 – November 11, 2024	Jordan Jones, CCSU	Darin Smith Jr., CCSU
2 – November 18, 2024	Terrence Brown, FDU	Darin Smith Jr. (2), CCSU
3 – November 25, 2024	Malachi Davis, LIU	Shadrak Lasu, LIU
4 – December 2, 2024	Josh Morgan, STO	Darin Smith Jr. (3), CCSU
5 – December 9, 2024	Devin Haid, CCSU	Troy McKoy Jr., CHST
6 – December 16, 2024	Devin Haid (2), CCSU	Jakob Blakley, LEM
7 – December 23, 2024	Devin Haid (3), CCSU	Juan Cranford Jr., SFU
8 – December 30, 2024	Tyree Barba-Bey, FDU	Hermann Koffi, STO

School	Player of the week awards	Rookie of the week awards
Central Connecticut	4	3
Chicago State	0	1
Fairleigh Dickinson	2	0
Le Moyne	0	1
LIU	1	1
Mercyhurst	0	0
Saint Francis	0	1
Stonehill	1	1
Wagner	0	0

References

"Windy City Welcome: Chicago State Roars into NEC" (Press release). Northeast Conference. December 5, 2023. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
"Welcome to the Lake Show: Mercyhurst University Accepts Northeast Conference Membership Invite". Northeast Conference. April 4, 2024. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
"MAAC Welcomes Merrimack College and Sacred Heart University as Newest Full Members" (Press release). Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. October 23, 2023. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
"A New Chapter: Chicago State & Mercyhurst Officially Join NEC". Northeast Conference. July 1, 2024. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
"Preseason Power Play: Wagner and CCSU Rise to Top in Deadlocked #NECMBB Coaches' Poll". Northeast Conference. October 24, 2024. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
^ "2025 Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings". The Forecast Factory LLC. November 4, 2024. Archived from the original on November 4, 2024. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
"2024–25 Preseason All-NEC Men's Basketball Team Unveiled". Northeast Conference. October 24, 2024. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
Dobbertean, Chris (November 30, 2023). "2023–24 Men's College Basketball Early Season Tournaments and Exempt Multi-Team Events (MTEs)". Blogging the Bracket. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
"2024–25 D-I Men's Basketball NET Ranking thru Games 12/01/2024". NCAA. December 2, 2024. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
"2024–25 D-I Men's Basketball NET Ranking thru Games 12/08/2024". NCAA. December 9, 2024. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
"2024–25 D-I Men's Basketball NET Ranking thru Games 12/15/2024". NCAA. December 16, 2024. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
"2024–25 D-I Men's Basketball NET Ranking thru Games 12/22/2024". NCAA. December 23, 2024. Retrieved December 23, 2024.
"2024–25 D-I Men's Basketball NET Ranking thru Games 12/29/2024". NCAA. December 29, 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
"2024–25 D-I Men's Basketball NET Ranking thru Games 01/05/2025". NCAA. January 5, 2025. Retrieved January 6, 2025.
"2025 Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Championship". Northeast Conference. Retrieved December 15, 2024.

External links

NEC website

v t e Northeast Conference men's basketball
Current teams	Central Connecticut Blue Devils Chicago State Cougars Fairleigh Dickinson Knights Le Moyne Dolphins LIU Sharks Mercyhurst Lakers Saint Francis Red Flash Stonehill Skyhawks Wagner Seahawks
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 2024–25

v t e 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's basketball conference season
ACC America East American ASUN Atlantic 10 Big 12 Big East Big Sky Big South Big Ten Big West CAA CUSA Horizon Ivy League MAAC MAC MEAC Mountain West MVC Northeast Ohio Valley Patriot SEC Southern Southland Summit Sun Belt SWAC WAC West Coast

Category:

2024–25 Northeast Conference men's basketball season

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