BRACKET
CENTERVILLE, MA…For the 27th time in 28 years, the New Jersey City University men's basketball team will participate in a post-season tournament. The Gothic Knights, winners of a record six Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Metro championships in their history, will begin the quest for a seventh, when No. 7-seeded NJCU visits second-seeded New York University on Wednesday, March 3 at 7 p.m. at the Coles Sports Center.
NJCU (13-12), which has already guaranteed a .500 or better record for the 39th time in 40 years, can lock up its 34th winning campaign in 35 seasons with a win over the host Violets (16-9). NJCU has allowed its opponents just 61.3 points per game, the 21st lowest total in NCAA Division III this year and its best defense since the 1981-82 season. Meanwhile, the Knights will enter ranked ninth in the country in field goal percentage defense at .379.
In the 77-year history of NJCU men's basketball, the Knights have only faced NYU four times and each meeting came in the post-season. NJCU leads the all-time series, 3-1, and 2-0 in the ECAC Tournament. NJCU won all three of the games played in Jersey City—March 2, 1991 (88-65) in the ECAC Quarterfinals, March 5, 1998 in the NCAA Tournament First Round (71-58), and March 4, 2001 in the ECAC Finals (94-89). NYU won the lone contest in Manhattan on March 6, 1997 in the NCAA First Round (94-84).
Historically, NJCU has been tremendously successful in the ECAC Tournament, owning a 26-10 all-time record for a .722 winning percentage in 36 games. NJCU has won a record six ECAC Metro championships, with titles in 1981, 1983, 1993, 1994, 2001 and 2006. In all, this will be NJCU's 17th appearance in the ECACs. The Knights also qualified in 1976, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008, but have lost their last two ECAC games.
In 2008, NJCU was also the #7 seed before dropping a quarterfinal game at York College (NY). Since 1982-83, NJCU has made 15 appearances in the ECACs and 12 in the NCAA Tournament.
NYU, which went 7-7 in the University Athletic Association (UAA), qualified for the ECAC Tournament for the fourth consecutive year, reaching at least the semifinals in each of the previous three seasons. The Violets won the tournament title in 2007 and advanced to last year's championship game.
The winner of the game will face the winner of No. 3 seeded York (21-7) and #6 seeded St. Joseph's College (LI) (17-9) on Saturday, March 6 at the site of the higher remaining seed at a time to be determined. The ECAC final will be played on Sunday, March 7.
The remainder of the bracket released on March 1 includes #1 seeded SUNY Old Westbury (20-7) hosting #8 Medgar Evers College (13-13) and No. 4 Stevens Institute of Technology (18-8) against fifth-seeded Baruch College (20-7).
NJCU is the lone participant from the New Jersey Athletic Conference. In all, the 2010 ECAC Tournament has three CUNYAC and two Skyline Conference qualifiers. Stevens is a member of the Empire 8 Conference and NYU the UAA.
—www.njcugothicknights.com—
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Wednesday, March 3:
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Quarterfinals:
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GAME 1
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7 pm
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(1) SUNY Old Westbury (20-7) vs. (8) Medgar Evers College (13-13) at Old Westbury, NY
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GAME 2
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7 pm
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(4) Stevens Institute of Technology (18-8) vs. (5) Baruch College (20-7) at Hoboken, NJ
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GAME 3
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7 pm
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(3) York College (NY) (21-7) vs. (6) St. Joseph's College (NY) (17-9) at Jamaica, NY
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GAME 4
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7 pm
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(2) New York University (NY) (16-9) vs. (7) New Jersey City University (13-12) at New York, NY
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Saturday, March 6
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Semifinals: (at higher seed)
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GAME 5
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TBA
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Winner of Game #1 vs. Winner of Game #2
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GAME 6
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TBA
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Winner of Game #3 vs. Winner of Game #4
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Sunday, March 7:
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Finals:
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GAME 7
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TBA
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Semifinal Winners
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