The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Basketball team has been ranked #6 in the East Region in the latest NCAA Division II Men's Basketball poll, released on Wednesday afternoon. Following STAC's sweep of contests last week over Queens College and Molloy University to end the 2022-23 Regular Season, the Spartans earned their sixth East Coast Conference Regular Season crown since 2015 (2015, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023) and now holds an impressive 24-4 overall record and a 15-1 mark in the conference, as the team prepares for the upcoming ECC Tournament.
Around the ECC, Daemen University holds #8 position in this week's table, with no other conference teams cracking the top 10.
Eight teams will be represent the East Region in this season's NCAA Tournament, with automatic bids going to tournament champions from the ECC, Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC), and the Northeast-10 (NE10), and the remaining five berths being awarded on an at-large basis. Bentley University (NE10) captures the top spot in this week's poll, with Saint Anselm College (NE10) and Southern New Hampshire University (NE10) rounding out the top three.
STAC has earned a bye into the semifinal round of the ECC Men's Basketball Tournament, which will be held at Aquinas Hall Gym, this Saturday, March 4. The top-seeded Spartans will tip-off at noon against #4 seed University of the District of Columbia. The winner will face either #2 Daemen University or #6 Roberts Wesleyan University (3:00 p.m.), the very next day (Sunday, March 5 - 2:30pm) for the right to be called ECC Men's Basketball Champion. Following the crowning of a champion on Sunday afternoon, NCAA brackets and locations will be announced later that night. Regional play takes place the very next weekend (March 11-14), with the Elite Eight to be held from March 21-25 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.
NCAA Division II Men's Basketball East Region Rankings (Games Through Feb. 26)
- Bentley (21-5)
- Saint Anselm (20-7)
- Southern New Hampshire (20-7)
- New Haven (19-9)
- Pace (20-10)
- St. Thomas Aquinas (24-4)
- Dominican (20-7)
- Daemen (18-7)
- Franklin Pierce (17-12)
- Southern Connecticut State (18-12)