# 2017–18 Northeast Conference men's basketball season

The 2017–18 Northeast Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2017, followed by the start of the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play started in late December and concluded in February 2018.
The NEC tournament will be held from March 1 through March 7 with the higher-seeded team hosting each game.

## Head coaches
### Coaching changes

On April 18, 2017, LIU Brooklyn announced Derek Kellogg as the 14th head coach in program history. Kellogg replaced Jack Perri, whose contract was not renewed; Perri became an assistant at Boston University.

### Coaches

| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Year at school | Overall record | NEC record | NEC tournament championships | Tournaments championships |
| Bryant | Tim O'Shea | Ohio | 10 | 93–183 | 57–85 | 0 | 0 |
| Central Connecticut | Donyell Marshall | Buffalo (asst.) | 2 | 6–23 | 4–14 | 0 | 0 |
| Fairleigh Dickinson | Greg Herenda | UMass Lowell | 5 | 47–76 | 29–41 | 1 | 0 |
| LIU Brooklyn | Derek Kellogg | UMass | 1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mount St. Mary's | Jamion Christian | VCU (asst.) | 6 | 83–81 | 55–33 | 2 | 0 |
| Robert Morris | Andrew Toole | Robert Morris (asst.) | 8 | 134–106 | 82–42 | 1 | 0 |
| Sacred Heart | Anthony Latina | Sacred Heart (asst.) | 5 | 45–80 | 30–40 | 0 | 0 |
| St. Francis Brooklyn | Glenn Braica | St. John's (asst.) | 8 | 102–118 | 67–57 | 0 | 0 |
| Saint Francis (PA) | Rob Krimmel | Saint Francis (PA) (asst.) | 6 | 61–95 | 41–47 | 0 | 0 |
| Wagner | Bashir Mason | Wagner (asst.) | 6 | 87–69 | 56–32 | 0 | 0 |
Notes:
* All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
* Year at school includes 2017–18 season.
* Overall and NEC/NCAA records are from time at current school and are before the beginning of the 2017–18 season.
* Previous jobs are head coaching jobs unless otherwise noted.

## Preseason
### Preseason coaches poll

Source
| Rank | Team |
| 1. | Saint Francis (PA) (9) |
| 2. | Fairleigh Dickinson (1) |
| 3. | Wagner |
| 4. | Mount St. Mary's |
| 5. | Sacred Heart |
| 6. | LIU Brooklyn |
| 7. | Robert Morris |
| 8. | Bryant |
| 9. | Central Connecticut |
| 10. | St. Francis Brooklyn |
 first place votes

### Preseason All-NEC team

Source
| Recipient | School |
| Isaiah Blackmon | Saint Francis (PA) |
| Keith Braxton | Saint Francis (PA) |
| Joseph Lopez | Sacred Heart |
| Junior Robinson | Mount St. Mary's |
| Darian Anderson | Fairleigh Dickinson |

## NEC regular season
### Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. (x) indicates games remaining this season.
| | Bryant | Central Conn. | Fairleigh Dickinson | LIU Br'klyn | Mount St. Mary's | Robert Morris | Sacred Heart | St. Francis Brooklyn | Saint Francis (PA) | Wagner |
| vs. Bryant | – | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| vs. Central Conn. | 0–2 | – | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 |
| vs. Fairleigh Dickinson | 0–1 | 1–1 | – | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| vs. LIU Br'klyn | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | – | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| vs. Mount St. Mary's | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | – | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 |
| vs. Robert Morris | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | – | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| vs. Sacred Heart | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | – | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| vs. St. Francis Brooklyn | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | – | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| vs. Saint Francis (PA) | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | – | 2–0 |
| vs. Wagner | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | – |
| Total | 1–9 | 5–5 | 4–6 | 5–5 | 6–4 | 7–3 | 2–8 | 6–4 | 6–4 | 8–2 |

### Player of the week

Throughout the regular season, the Northeast Conference offices named player(s) of the week and rookie(s) of the week.
| Week | Player of the week | Rookie of the week |
| November 13, 2017 | Raiquan Clark, LIU Brooklyn | Koby Thomas, Robert Morris |
| November 20, 2017 | Junior Robinson, MSM Deion Bute, CCSU | Jalen Jordan, SFBK |
| November 27, 2017 | Dachon Burke, RMU | Koby Thomas (2), RMU |
| December 4, 2017 | Dachon Burke (2), RMU | Nigel Jackson, WC Jon Williams, RMU |
| December 11, 2017 | Dachon Burke (3), RM | Koby Thomas (3), RM |
| December 18, 2017 | JoJo Cooper, WC | Jahlil Jenkins, FDU |
| December 26, 2017 | Keith Braxton, SFPA | Alex Watson, SHU |
| January 2, 2018 | Keith Braxton (2), SFPA | Noah Morgan, FDU |
| January 8, 2018 | Junior Robinson (2), MSM | Koby Thomas (4), RMU Jonah Antonio, MSM |
| January 15, 2018 | Junior Robinson (3), MSM | Donald Carey, MSM |
| January 22, 2018 | JoJo Cooper (2), WC | Jalen Jordan (2), SFBK |
| January 29, 2018 | Junior Robinson (4), MSM Tyler Kohl, CCSU | Chauncey Hawkins, SFBK Jonah Antonio (2), MSM |
| February 5, 2018 | Joel Hernandez, LIU | Mark Flagg, SFPA |
| February 12, 2018 | Dachon Burke, RMU Junior Robinson (5), MSM | Brandon Carroll, BU |
| February 19, 2018 | JoJo Cooper (3),WC Jamaal King (2), SFPA | Jalen Jordan (3), SFBK |
| February 26, 2018 | Keith Braxton (3), SFPA | Jahlii Jenkins (2), FDU |
Source

## Postseason
### NEC tournament

* March, 2018 Northeast Conference Basketball Tournament.
| Quarterfinals March | Quarterfinals March | Quarterfinals March | | | Semifinals March | Semifinals March | Semifinals March | Championship March | Championship March | Championship March |
| 1 | Wagner | 73 | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Central Connecticut | 61 | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Central Connecticut | 61 | | | 1 | Wagner | 75 | | | |
| | | | | | 7 | Robert Morris | 64 | | | |
| 4 | LIU Brooklyn | 73 | | | 7 | Robert Morris | 64 | | | |
| 5 | St. Francis Brooklyn | 50 | | | | | | | | |
| 5 | St. Francis Brooklyn | 50 | | | | | | 1 | Wagner | 61 |
| (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | 1 | Wagner | 61 |
| (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | 4 | LIU Brooklyn | 71 |
| 2 | Mount St. Mary's | 56 | | | | | | | | | 4 | LIU Brooklyn | 71 |
| 7 | Robert Morris | 60 | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Robert Morris | 60 | | | 4 | LIU Brooklyn | 78 | | | |
| | | | | | 6 | Farleigh Dickinson | 77 | | | |
| 3 | Saint Francis (PA) | 75 | | | 6 | Farleigh Dickinson | 77 | | | |
| 6 | Farleigh Dickinson | 84 | | | | | | | | |
All games will be played at the venue of the higher seed

### NCAA tournament

| Seed | Region | School | First Four | 2nd round | 3rd round | Sweet 16 | Elite Eight | Final Four | Championship |
| 16 | East | LIU Brooklyn | L 61–71 vs. #16 Radford – (Dayton) | | | | | | |

### National Invitational Tournament

| Seed | Bracket | School | 1st round | 2nd round | Quarterfinals | Semifianls | Championship |
| 8 | Baylor | Wagner | L 59–80 vs. #1 Baylor – (Waco) | | | | |

### CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament

| School | 1st round | 2nd round | Quarterfinals | Semifianls | Championship |
| Saint Francis (PA) | L 61–84 vs. UIC – (Chicago) | | | | |

## All-NEC honors and awards

Following the regular season, the conference selected outstanding performers based on a poll of league coaches.
| Honor | Recipient |
| Player of the Year | Junior Robinson, MSM |
| Coach of the Year | Bashir Mason, WC |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Chris Wray, MSM |
| Rookie of the Year | Koby Thomas, RMU |
| Most Improved Player of the Year | Andre Wolford, SFPA |
| All-NEC First Team | JoJo Cooper, WC |
| All-NEC First Team | Keith Braxton, SFU |
| All-NEC First Team | Joel Hernandez, LIU |
| All-NEC First Team | Jamaal King, SFU |
| All-NEC First Team | Junior Robinson, MSM |
| All-NEC Second Team | Dachon Burke, RMU |
| All-NEC Second Team | Rasheem Dunn, SFBK |
| All-NEC Second Team | Blake Francis, WC |
| All-NEC Second Team | Mike Holloway, FDU |
| All-NEC Second Team | Tyler Kohl, CCSU |
| All-NEC Third Team | Raiquan Clark, LIU |
| All-NEC Third Team | Darnell Edge, FDU |
| All-NEC Third Team | Adam Grant, BU |
| All-NEC Third Team | Romone Saunders, WC |
| All-NEC Third Team | Chris Wray, MSM |
| All-NEC Rookie Team | Jonah Antonio, MSM |
| All-NEC Rookie Team | Jahlil Jenkins, FDU |
| All-NEC Rookie Team | Jalen Jordan, SFBK |
| All-NEC Rookie Team | Noah Morgan, FDU |
| All-NEC Rookie Team | Koby Thomas, RMU |