Kraus and his Skyhawks are in good position to claim a 15th NCAA Tournament bid next month |
Skyhawks seek 15th NCAA Tournament bid, first since 2016 Elite Eight campaign
NCAA II Men's Basketball Regional Rankings
EASTON, Mass. (February 20, 2020) – The Stonehill College men's basketball team is ranked No. 6 in the first NCAA Division II East Regional rankings, released by the Division II Men's Basketball Championships committee on Wednesday.
Stonehill (16-10, 11-5 NE10) is one of five Northeast-10 Conference programs appearing in the first public NCAA East Regional ranking of the year. The NCAA regional rankings are used to determine the participants for the upcoming NCAA Tournament from each of Division II's eight regions. Each of the three conferences in the East Region (NE10, ECC and CACC) earn automatic bids from their conference tournament, leaving five at large bids for the NCAA Tournament. University of Bridgeport (21-2, 13-0 ECC) from the East Coast Conference (ECC) holds the top position in the regional rankings, followed by fellow ECC member Saint Thomas Aquinas College (21-4, 11-2 ECC) in second and then Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) member Jefferson University (23-2, 16-0 CACC) in third. Le Moyne College (19-7, 15-3 NE10) begins a run of NE10 programs in fourth, followed by Saint Anselm College (16-8, 12-5 NE10) in fifth and Stonehill in sixth. Daemen College (21-6, 10-3 ECC) from the ECC is seventh, Dominican (N.Y.) College (19-6, 12-4 CACC) of the CACC eighth, Franklin Pierce University (15-9, 10-7 NE10) ninth and then Adelphi University (18-8, 11-6 NE10) in tenth.
Stonehill, currently second in the NE10's Northeast Division a half game behind Saint Anselm, has played seven of the other nine teams appearing in the first East Regional ranking of the year. The Skyhawks are 5-4 in their nine games against those regionally ranked opponents, with wins over Le Moyne (80-69) on January 11, Daemen (82-76) on January 4 and Adelphi (74-57) on January 14, to go with splits against Saint Anselm and Franklin Pierce in their regular season series. Stonehill's opponents this season have posted a winning percentage of .560, which ranks second in the region to Saint Anselm (.579), while its overall schedule winning percentage of .561 is also second to the Hawks (.568) and ranks 26th nationally in Division II for toughest schedule.
Stonehill, under the direction of head coach Chris Kraus, '06, in his seventh season, seeks the 15th NCAA Tournament bid in program history, but its first since winning the East Region Championship and advancing to the Division II Elite Eight for the third time in program history in 2015-16. The Skyhawks will be making their 33rd NE10 Tournament appearance next week, having clinched a first round bye for the first time since 2016 with its 73-56 win at Saint Michael's College last night. Stonehill can sew up home court advantage for the NE10 quarterfinals with a win in its regular season finale against Southern New Hampshire University on Saturday or Franklin Pierce loss in one of its two remaining games. The Skyhawks can earn a share of the NE10 Northeast Division title with a win on Saturday and Saint Anselm loss in one of its two remaining games.
The 2020 NE10 Tournament commences with first round play on Friday, February 28, between the No. 4 and 5 seeds from the two divisions. Quarterfinal Round play is scheduled for Sunday, March 1, with the Semifinals on Wednesday, March 4, and the NE10 Championship scheduled for Saturday, March 7, at 1 p.m. Higher seeds host throughout the tournament. NCAA Division II Tournament bids will be announced the night of March 8, with regional competition commencing the weekend of March 14-17.
Stonehill is back in action on Saturday, when it wraps up its regular season schedule with a Senior Day matchup with Southern New Hampshire at Merkert Gym at 3:30 p.m.
For the latest on Stonehill Athletics, follow the Skyhawks via social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Fans can also download the Stonehill Skyhawks "Front Row" mobile app, powered by PrestoSports, on iTunes and the Android Market.
