NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College men's basketball team won the outright 2020 Northeast Conference (NEC) Regular Season Championship on Saturday, becoming the first program in NCAA history to win an outright conference regular season title in its first season of Division I reclassification.
The Warriors clinched at least a share of the NEC title on Thursday after beating Central Connecticut State University at Hammel Court, and claimed the outright crown after Robert Morris University defeated Saint Francis University on Saturday. If Saint Francis had won, Merrimack would have shared the regular season title with the Red Flash.
Merrimack's victory has generated national media attention as the Warriors have grabbed the gaze of the college basketball world:
ESPN'S College Gameday: https://youtu.be/123HE8Vx1ac
Associated Press: https://apnews.com/4641311bbdbbccba5c44c6ead447f743?utm_medium=AP_Top25&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter
Boston.com: https://www.boston.com/sports/college-sports/2020/02/28/merrimack-basketball-d1-northeast-conference-record-stats?s_campaign=bcom:socialflow:twitter
NJ.com: https://www.nj.com/setonhall/2020/02/march-madness-2020-bob-hurleys-legacy-at-st-anthonys-lives-on-in-nec-champion-merrimack-even-if-warriors-cant-go-dancing.html
Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timcasey/2020/02/27/how-merrimack-colleges-mens-basketball-program-went-from-division-2-to-verge-of-winning-division-1-conference-title/
The program closed is regular season with 20 wins, tied for the most of any NEC program during the regular season. It marked the 12
th 20-win season in school history; the Warriors have won at leat 20 games in three straight seasons for the first time in program annals. Merrimack now awaits its playoff fate, which will likely see the Warriors compete in one of the various postseason tournaments available to NCAA Division I programs.
