JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | After being denied an NCAA Division III Tournament at-large bid on February 29—one of the last three teams left on the board by the national committee, according to its committee chair—the New Jersey City University men's basketball team will instead set its sights on another prize: an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) championship.
 
NJCU (18-8), the New Jersey Athletic Conference regular season champions and the No. 1 ranked team in the NCAA Division III Atlantic Region on February 17 and 24 and third in the final rankings, will seek a record seventh ECAC title beginning on Wednesday, March 2 when it competes in the 2016 ECAC Division III Metro/Update tournament.
 
The Gothic Knights will be the tournament's No. 2 seed and face Centenary College (14-12), the No. 7 seed, in the ECAC Quarterfinals at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center (Coach Charlie Brown Court). The March 2 playoff game will tip at 7 p.m.
 
NJCU will play its first home ECAC Tournament game since falling in the semifinals on March 2, 2007 in the final game ever coached by Gothic Knight coaching icon Charlie Brown. The No. 2 seed is also NJCU's highest since also being No. 2 in the 2006-07 tournament.
 
In all, it will be the 32nd post-season appearance in 34 years for NJCU and its 39th overall season reaching a post-season. It's the first post-season appearance since 2014 when it was the tournament's eighth seed and fell in a close quarterfinal game at Staten Island.
 
NJCU will make its 21st appearance in the ECAC Tournament. The Knights own an all-time 27-14 (.656) record in 41 tournament games.
 
NJCU's record six ECAC Metro championships saw the Knights land titles in 1981, 1983, 1993, 1994, 2001 and 2006.The Knights also qualified in 1976, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008,  2010, 2012,  2013 and 2014.
 
In all, NJCU will be making its 39^th post-season appearance as an NCAA Division III program, including 18 NCAA Tournament appearances (17-21, .447, 38 games).
 
All inclusive, NJCU will be playing its 80^th post-season game in its history. It owns an all-time post-season ledger of 44-35 (.557).
 
Surprisingly, it will be the first-ever meeting between NJCU and Hackettstown, NJ based Centenary. The Cyclones went 10-8 in the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) this year and placed fourth in the 10-team league standings.
  
For the first time, the Metro and Upstate regions have been combined and with NJCU unable to host the semifinals or finals, Rutgers-Newark (20-7), whom the Knights swept this season, were awarded the No. 1 seed, received the only bye in the seven-team field and will host the weekend's semifinal and championship rounds.
 
The winner of the NJCU/Centenary game will face the winner of No. 3 seeded Baruch College (16-13) and No. 6 Farmingdale State College (14-12). The other semifinal will be No. 1 Rutgers-Newark against the winner of No. 4 Ithaca College (13-12) and No. 5 Medgar Evers College (13-13). The semifinals will be played on Saturday, March 5 at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. with the championship game on Sunday, March 6 at 3 p.m. at The Golden Dome in Newark.
 
Other than Rutgers-Newark, NJCU has not faced the other five teams in the bracket this year. NJCU and Rutgers-Newark are the lone representatives of the New Jersey Athletic Conference. Baruch and Medgar Evers give the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) a pair of teams while Farmingdale plays in the Skyline Conference. Empire 8 member Ithaca is the lone Upstate program in the tournament.