MAAC Basketball: The oddity of the mid-major conference

As of mid-January, the MAAC basketball league is wide open with multiple teams having a shot to climb the standings.

Coming into the 2016-17 season, the MAAC was thought to be the deepest it’s been in years, if not ever.

But the depth was expected to lie at the top of the league, with Monmouth, Iona, Siena, and Fairfield all battling for the regular season crown, and potentially a second NCAA Tournament bid for the league.

Instead, it’s a mad scramble.

Sure, Monmouth still leads the league at 6-2, but Siena sits in fourth, Iona surprisingly is in fifth and Fairfield checks in at eight. Unexpected teams like Saint Peter’s and Canisius are second and third respectively in the standings, and just a week ago, Rider was on top of the MAAC.

The breakdown of the league is odd, to say the least.

While Manhattan, Niagara, and Marist are a combined 7-17 and all sit at the bottom of the league, the Jaspers still have Steve Masiello on the sidelines and a solid defense, the Red Foxes have a capable scorer in Khallid Hart, and Niagara beat Siena at home.

Also, in the second half of the conference standings is Fairfield. They have the leading scorer in the conference in Tyler Nelson, a capable talent in Curtis Cobb (he dropped 46 at Manhattan) and the leading rebounder in the MAAC in Amadou Sidibe. Also, Quinnipiac and Rider have shown flashes despite sitting in sixth and seventh respectively.

But that’s not all.

Iona was the lone MAAC team to make the NCAA Tournament last year via their run through the conference tournament in March. While they lost A.J. English and a couple of other key pieces, Jordan Washington is still in the fold, Schadrac Casimir is back from injury, the Gaels landed two key transfers in Jon Severe and Sam Cassell Jr. and they’re still as potent as ever on offense.

Siena has loads of talent and is tough to beat at home, Canisius distributes the ball at an awfully high level and Saint Peter’s is known for their defensive toughness.

Monmouth is the best team in the league, at least in my opinion, but with what has happened so far this season, I’m not so sure that they are a guarantee to reach March Madness. Also, remember what happened last season, the Hawks were far and away the best squad in the conference, but they failed to knock off Iona in the conference tournament final and failed to earn an at-large bid.

Next: Five reasons why the Boilermakers can win it all

No, the MAAC isn’t going to receive more than one bid to the NCAA Tournament. No, they are not the best mid-major conference in the country. And no, Monmouth is not the team they were last season when they beat USC, Notre Dame, UCLA and Georgetown in the non-conference portion of their schedule. However, this conference will feature numerous upsets for the remainder of the season and has surprisingly become one of the more entertaining mid-major leagues in the nation.