The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I. Its current 11 full members are located in four Northeastern states: Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Maryland. It was announced on October 23, 2023 that Sacred Heart University and Merrimack College will join the conference beginning in the 2024-25 season.
Harold Tommy Amaker Jr. is an American college basketball coach and the head coach of the Harvard University men's basketball team. He has also coached for the University of Michigan and Seton Hall University. He played point guard and later served as an assistant coach at Duke University under Mike Krzyzewski. An All-American player, Amaker set numerous records and earned many honors and awards. He took Seton Hall to the post season in each of his four seasons as their coach, helped Michigan win the National Invitation Tournament the year after a probationary ban from postseason play, and had the three highest single-season win totals in the history of Harvard basketball, the school's first six Ivy League championships and first NCAA tournament victory.
Tom Brennan is a radio and television sportscaster and former men's basketball head coach at the University of Vermont from 1986 to 2005.
Total Mortgage Arena is a 10,000-seat multi-purpose arena in downtown Bridgeport, Connecticut. It is the home venue of the Bridgeport Islanders of the American Hockey League (AHL) and PWHL New York of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL).
The Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, Division I college basketball, and Division I college baseball teams. The football version of the poll has been known officially as the US LBM Coaches Poll since 2023.
The UConn Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Connecticut, located in Storrs. The school is a member of the NCAA's Division I and the Big East Conference. The university's football team plays at Rentschler Field, and the men's and women's basketball teams play on-campus at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion and off-campus at the XL Center.
The Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team is an NCAA Division I college basketball team competing in the Big Ten Conference, that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Home games are played at the State Farm Center, located on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's campus in Champaign. Illinois has one pre-tournament national championship and one non-NCAA tournament national championship in 1915 and 1943, awarded by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll. Illinois has appeared in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament 32 times, and has competed in 5 Final Fours, 9 Elite Eights, and has won 18 Big Ten regular season championships.
The Memphis Tigers men's basketball team represents the University of Memphis in NCAA Division I men's college basketball. The Tigers have competed in the American Athletic Conference since 2013. As of 2020, the Tigers had the 26th highest winning percentage in NCAA history. While the Tigers have an on-campus arena, Elma Roane Fieldhouse, the team has played home games off campus since the mid-1960s. The Tigers moved to the Mid-South Coliseum at the Memphis Fairgrounds in 1966, and then to downtown Memphis at The Pyramid, initially built for the team in 1991 and later home to the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies. In 2004, both teams moved to a new downtown venue, FedExForum. ESPN Stats and Information Department ranked Memphis as the 19th most successful basketball program from 1962 to 2012 in their annual 50 in 50 list.
Nicholas Albert Giaquinto is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Miami Dolphins and the Washington Redskins, where head coach Joe Gibbs nicknamed him "The Trashman" for his ability to fill many roles on the team. During the 1983 season, Giaquinto played as the first H-Back in NFL history. He played in the 1982 and 1983 Super Bowls with the Redskins and retired after the 1983 season, ending his four-year NFL career. He played college football at the University of Connecticut and the University of Bridgeport. He holds the single-game rushing record at UConn of 277 yards, set in a 1976 game against Holy Cross. He attended Stratford High School in Stratford, Connecticut where he was an All-State and National High School All American selection in football.
The Sacred Heart Pioneers are the 32 sports teams representing Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut in intercollegiate athletics. The Pioneers compete in the NCAA Division I and are members of the Northeast Conference, Atlantic Hockey, Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, and New England Women's Hockey Alliance.
The Women's Basketball Coaches Association is an association of coaches of women's basketball teams at all levels.
The Merrimack Warriors are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Merrimack College, located in North Andover, Massachusetts, in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sporting competitions. All of the Warrior athletic teams compete at the Division I level. Men's and women's ice hockey compete in the Hockey East conference, and men's lacrosse competes in the America East Conference, while the remaining teams are members of the Northeast Conference. Starting July 1, 2024, Merrimack will leave the NEC, and its primary affiliation for sports will be in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
The FIU Panthers are the athletic teams representing Florida International University, an American public university located in Miami, Florida. The Panthers currently compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I athletics as members of Conference USA. The men's soccer and swimming & diving teams compete in the American Athletic Conference. Until 2011, they were known as the FIU Golden Panthers.
The Sacred Heart Pioneers baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States. The team is a member of the Northeast Conference, which is part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. Sacred Heart's first baseball team was fielded in 1966. The Pioneers are coached by Pat Egan, who lead his first season as head coach in 2023.
The 2012–13 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began in November with the 2K Sports Classic and ended with the Final Four in Atlanta, April 6–8.
The 2014–15 Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team represented the University of Virginia during the 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, in their 110th season of play. The team was led by head coach Tony Bennett, in his sixth year, and played their home games at John Paul Jones Arena as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Edward Murphy is a retired American professional professional basketball player. During his playing career, Murphy was nicknamed Radar, "Lucky Luke", and "Ed-la-Gâchette", which in French means, “Ed-the-Trigger”. During his pro club career, Murphy won two European-wide third-tier level FIBA Korać Cup championships, in the 1981–82 and 1982–83 seasons. He also won the Belgian Basketball League championship in the 1979–80 season, three French Pro A League championships, three French Federation Cup titles, and two Swiss Cup titles.
The Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year is a basketball award given to head coaches in the Northeast Conference (NEC). The award is presented to the head coach voted to be the most successful that season by the league's coaches. The award was first given following the 1982–83 season, the second year of the conference's existence, to Matt Furjanic of Robert Morris.
The 1995–96 NCAA Division I men's basketball season concluded in the 64-team 1996 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament whose finals were held at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Kentucky Wildcats earned their sixth national championship by defeating the Syracuse Orangemen 76–67 on April 1, 1996. They were coached by Rick Pitino and the NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player was Kentucky's Tony Delk.
Keith Bennett is an American-Israeli former basketball player. He played the guard and forward positions. He played 10 seasons in the Israel Basketball Premier League.
