MAAC Basketball: 2020 conference tournament preview and predictions

By Pan Karalis | Mar 9, 2020

BRIDGEPORT, CT - MARCH 07: (L-R) Ryan Bacon #4, Jeron Belin #5, Wesley Jenkins #15 and Nick Leon #22 of the St. Peter's Peacocks celebrate with the conference championship trophy after they won 62-57 against the Iona Gaels during the final of the MAAC men's conference basketball tournment at Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard on March 7, 2011 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. (Photo by Chris Chambers/Getty Images) /

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LAS VEGAS, NV – NOVEMBER 24: Dimencio Vaughn #14 of the Rider Broncs g (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images) /

Key Players

Jalen Pickett – Siena

The reigning MAAC rookie of the year didn’t need to do as much heavy lifting in his sophomore year with a stronger supporting cast helping lift the Saints to the regular-season title, but Jalen Pickett is still one of the most versatile and dangerous backcourt players in mid-major basketball; he scored over 20 points six separate times this season and was second in the league in assists. He’s a candidate for MAAC Player of the Year and will be a major factor in the tournament this week.

Rich Kelly – Quinnipiac

Quinnipiac’s junior guard has been one of the best three-point shooters in the conference during his three seasons with the Bobcats, and stepped up into a larger leadership and scoring role with the departure of program all-timer Cameron Young. Kelly’s 16.7 points and 4.5 assists helped Quinnipiac plug the massive hole left by Young and sneak into the last bye this week, and if the Bobcats do make any noise in Atlantic City, it’ll likely be riding Kelly‘s almost forty-percent efficiency from behind the arc.

Deion Hammond – Monmouth

The conference’s leading scorer, Monmouth’s Hammond is another three-point specialist that regularly launches more shots from three-point range as he does from inside the arc. His performance in last year’s conference tournament earned him all-tournament honors after helping bring Monmouth from the sixth seed without a bye all the way to the tournament’s championship game against Iona.

He scored 19 against heavily favored Canisius in the semifinals. The junior broke out playing alongside talented Ray Salnave in Monmouth’s backcourt, and they’ll likely need a similar all-tournament effort from Hammond to get themselves back to the championship game.

Dimencio Vaughn – Rider

The junior forward from New York developed a stronger all-around game while keeping himself healthy this season, raising his field-goal percentage, three-point percentage, assist rate, and rebounding effort while leading the Broncs in scoring with 14.8 a game.