The Metro Atlantic men's and women's basketball tournaments descend on Springfield Thursday with Iona and Marist as the respective favorites.
Iona men's basketball coach Tim Cluess hopes to pilot his team to the NCAA tournament by way of Springfield.The Iona College men’s basketball team is favored to return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006 when the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference men’s and women’s basketball tournaments land in the birthplace of basketball later this week.
The MAAC is holding its championships at Springfield’s MassMutual Center for the first time after agreeing to a deal that will keep the tournaments downtown through 2014.
Iona landed the No. 1 seed in tournament pairings released Sunday by virtue of finishing with the best regular-season record, and the Gaels will receive a first-round bye when men’s play begins Friday.
The women’s championship opens Thursday with a doubleheader starting at noon and concludes Monday with the final televised live on ESPNU at noon.
Top-seeded Marist begins defense of its title Friday at 1:30 p.m. The Red Foxes earned a bye to the quarterfinals after suffering just one conference loss. Marist’s top competition for the women’s title, Fairfield, starts tournament play at 9:30 a.m. Friday.
The men’s tournament opens Friday at 7:30 p.m. with a doubleheader kicked off by No. 8 Marist vs. No. 9 Saint Peter’s followed by No. 7 Niagara vs. No. 10 Canisius. The winners advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals.
Saturday brings a men’s quadrupleheader starting at 2:30 p.m. when No. 4 Fairfield meets No. 5 Rider. Iona follows at 4:30 against the winner of Marist-St. Peter’s. The Gaels will be looking to earn the automatic NCAA tournament berth awarded to the conference champion after falling in last year’s finals to Saint Peter’s.
After the Iona quarterfinal concludes, No. 2 Loyola meets the Niagara-Canisius winner at 6:30. Loyola, which staggered to the finish line with three losses in its final five games, seeks just the second NCAA tournament berth in program history.
The Greyhounds’ only prior NCAA appearance came in 1994, when they were ousted 81-55 in the first round by eventual Final Four participant Arizona.
Saturday’s slate finishes with No. 3 Manhattan vs. No. 6 Siena, scheduled for 8:30. Siena won three straight MAAC championships from 2008-2010.
Whichever teams survive the men’s quarterfinals advance to a semifinal doubleheader Sunday beginning at 2 p.m. The finals will be televised at 7 p.m. Monday.
All-session and single-session tickets can be purchased at each school’s ticket office as well as www.ticketmaster.com, www.maacachusetts.com or the MassMutual Center box office.