Bracketology
Besides Iona, every other seed was up for grabs on the last day of the regular season which was Saturday, March 5. It is so hard to pick between teams that really could win any night every night out with only a few games that separated each other and a lot of series splits. These predictions were tough, especially when last year it was the No. 9 and No. 5 seeds in the conference title game, anything can happen in March.
However, with COVID not as derailing as last year, the teams at the top look far and away better than last year but some upsets may be brewing in the bottom tier games.
First Round – Tuesday, March 8
No. 8 Manhattan Jasper vs No. 9 Rider Broncs – 5 P.M., ESPN+
For Manhattan, having the arguable player of the year in Perez helps here. Dimencio Vaughn coming back to Rider after his one year at Ole Miss helps the Broncs, but Manhattan has just looked like the better team this season. Both are 1-1 in head-to-head, but Manhattan came away with the more recent victory. I feel it’ll be a tight game throughout, but Perez will go on a stretch late to open up the game for the Jaspers and go on to win to set up a rematch with Iona.
Prediction: Manhattan 70, Rider 63
No. 7 Fairfield Stags vs No. 10 Canisius Golden Griphs – 7:00 P.M., ESPN+
The Golden Griphs have been super hot as of late. Winners of three straight and barely losing to Iona before that, and coming back down 13 at half to Quinnipiac on Quinnipiac’s senior night for the team’s first road win of the season, the team looks to have some confidence after being at the bottom of the conference for majority of the season.
Fairfield has been really inconsistent after its championship game appearance last season. Head coach Jay Young and the rest of the team just seem to have stumbled their way into the seventh spot, while Canisius is riding high and going to keep doing so into the first round ever so slightly.
Prediction: Canisius 67, Fairfield 65
No. 6 Marist Red Foxes vs. No. 11 Quinnipiac Bobcats – 9:00 P.M., ESPN+
If there was one more player for key players, it would have been Marist’s Jao Ituka. The most likely winner of the rookie of the year did not have the best game last time against Quinnipiac, a 67-66 Marist victory, only scoring five points, but Ituka has had a tremendous season for Marist. The Red Foxes are on a two-game skid but were winners of six straight before that.
The team seems to have found something of late and come away with a victory here against the Bobcats who just have fallen very hard and very fast after a stronger start to the season.
Prediction: Marist 74, Quinnipiac 70