2021 Hercules Tires MAAC Basketball Championships Program

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NCAA game. Ensor, taking a second, responded simply “I can’t tell you how much I personally regret having to do this, I share their pain.” Fast forward about 360 days later. The world is a different place than it was on March 12, 2020, but the MAAC is making its return to Atlantic City and Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall for the 2021 championships. The 2020–21 season is a historic one for the conference in more ways than one. Not only has the MAAC navigated through one of the most unfamiliar and treacherous times in sports history, but it has done so on its 40 th birthday. The MAAC celebrates 40 years of excellence in academics and athletics this season, dating back to 1980 when the conference was founded by six charter members: the U.S. Military Academy, Fairfield University, Fordham University, Iona College, Manhattan College, and Saint Peter’s College. On Jan. 2, 1982, Army travelled to Iona for the first ever MAAC men’s basketball game – the MAAC story had begun. Since then, the MAAC Basketball Championships have made several stops across the Northeast. The first ever championships were held at the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where Pat Kennedy’s Iona Gaels captured the first ever men’s title with a 66-61 victory over the Saint Peter’s Peacocks – Rory Grimes was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. The Gaels would go on to win three of the first four conference tournaments. On the women’s side, Mike Granelli and Tournament MVP Blanche Jones led the Saint Peter’s Peahens team to a 65-51 win over Army to cap the 1982 season. The Peahens would go on to capture the first three MAAC titles on the women’s side under Granelli. Granelli, considered one of the greatest coaches in MAAC history, would go on to win nine conference championships with Saint Peter’s. The MAAC Tournament would go on to make stops in Albany, New York; Buffalo, New York; Trenton, New Jersey; Springfield, Massachusetts; and Bridgeport, Connecticut. Last season, the MAAC’s biggest stage

RETURN TO ATLANTIC CITY returned to New Jersey – the home of Monmouth University, Rider University, and Saint Peter’s University. “MAAC basketball is all about the connection fans feel to the member schools, the student-athletes and coaches, and to the game of basketball,” said Commissioner Ensor. “The MAAC Strategic Plan sought to identify a neutral site for championships in a destination city, which lead to the selection of Atlantic City, a place that has an abundance of first-class hotels and restaurants, casino attractions, a historic arena that is eager to host college basketball events, and an active sports commission to support the championships and the fans traveling to New Jersey.” In recent years, theMAACMen’s andWomen’s Basketball Championships have shown excitement, history, and dominance. You might remember the Quinnipiac women’s team making six consecutive title games from 2014–19, winning four championships in the process. Take that a step further for the Iona men’s program, who made the title game every year from 2013–19 and collected five MAAC titles along the way, including a record four consecutive MAAC Championships from 2016–19. There’s good, there’s great, then there’s dominant. This year is different though, nobody knows what to expect. It has been a year shrouded in mystery, a year where we dove head first into the unknown. It’s been a bumpy ride, sure, there have been over 300 changes to the basketball schedules alone. Who will win? We don’t know that. One thing we do know is that, with this year, you have to expect the unexpected. So here we are in Atlantic City – one year after “The day the sports world stopped”, ready to crown our newest champions. The MAAC is back, and we’re ready for anything.

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