Men’s Basketball Picked to Finish First in Northeast-10
SOUTH EASTON, MA – Merrimack College has been selected to
claim the Northeast-10 men’s basketball regular season title
this season as voted by the conference’s head coaches.
Overall, the Warriors received 214 points to put them on the top of
the preseason coaches’ poll.
Merrimack advanced to the NCAA tournament last season, finishing
the year with a 21-9 overall record. The Warriors picked up seven
of the possible 16 first-place votes in the poll.
Bentley University also received seven first-place votes and was
edged out by the Warriors to finish second after picking up 212
points. The Falcons made it all the way to the East Regional Finals
last season with an overall record of 26-7. The University of
Massachusetts-Lowell received one first-place vote with a total of
191 points in the poll, for third place, slightly ahead of Le Moyne
College, who picked up 189 points. Stonehill College, who received
the final first place vote, received 164 points to round out the
top five.
The Northeast-10 placed the second most teams in last year’s
NCAA Tournament with five, including Assumption, Bentley,
UMass-Lowell, Merrimack, and Stonehill. That marked the fourth time
the Northeast-10 placed five teams in the tournament (2005, 2006,
2008, and 2009).
Head Coach Bert Hammel will lead Merrimack in his
30th season when the Warriors tip-off on November 18 against
reigning regular season champion, Bentley University at 7:30pm at
the Volpe Gym.
The Northeast-10 Championship begins on Saturday, February 27 with
first round action and will conclude on Saturday, March 6 with the
championship final.
2009-10 Men’s Basketball
Preseason Coaches’ Poll
Overall/Conf.
Team------------------------ Points
08-09 Record
1. Merrimack (7) ------ 214
21-9/16-6
2. Bentley (7) ------------- 212
26-7/18-4
3. UMass-Lowell (1) ----- 191
21-8/16-6
4. Le Moyne --------------- 189
20-11/13-9
5. Stonehill (1) ------------ 164
21-8/16-6
6. Saint Anselm ----------- 140
17-13/10-12
7. Assumption ------------- 132
23-10/15-7
Southern NH ------------ 132
18-12/12-10
9. Adelphi ------------------ 120
20-10/14-6*
10. American Int’l --------- 102
15-13/11-11
11. Saint Rose ------------- 88
11-17/9-13
12. Pace -------------------- 68
9-19/7-15
13. Franklin Pierce -------- 55
11-17/8-14
14. Saint Michael’s -------- 50
10-15/7-15
15. New Haven ------------ 48
8-19/6-16
16. So. Connecticut ------- 15
2-25/1-21
(First place votes in parentheses.)
* Member of the East Coast Conference in 2008
