THE Northeast Conference has taken some hits in recent seasons. The league champion had to win the play-in game two years ago just to secure a No. 16 seed in the NCAA tournament, and in the past five years, the conference’s representative has had no better than a No. 15 seed.
Selection Sunday is still nine days away, and with the league’s tournament just under way, who knows what will happen this time around. But if the regular season is any indication, the league is in store for better news.
“There’s never an easy battle in this league,” said Robert Morris rookie coach Mike Rice, a former Fordham guard who was an assistant at Pitt last season. “And from my first go-around here, this is a very competitive conference. There are no easy games, home, road, neutral, it doesn’t matter. Every night, you have to fight, scratch and claw.”
Rice’s Colonials, who met Monmouth last night in the first round, won the regular-season title. They outlasted Wagner by one game. Combined, those two top clubs amassed 47 regular-season wins and were two of six teams in the 11-school league to finish over .500.
“We were in close game after close game in this league (during the regular season),” Wagner coach Mike Deane said, “and because of our experience, we were able to win all of them.”
Strangely, Deane’s right. In a statement to perhaps how much better the conference has gotten, the Seahawks had just three league losses, all of them blowouts. Catching a certain team on a given night, it seemed, anything could happen in this league, which had an RPI of 23 out of 31 conferences before last night.
“We were picked to finish last in the conference,” LIU coach Jim Ferry said. “So, obviously, we were motivated, and it was a goal of ours to make the NEC Tournament.”
Fairleigh Dickinson, St. Francis (NY), and St. Francis (Pa.) did not make the party, which concludes with the league final Wednesday night at 7 on ESPN2. But Ferry’s Blackbirds did reach their goal, taking on Wagner last night in the opening round.
LIU was one of the more inspiring stories in the league this season, especially out of conference, where they won eight of 10 games to open. Included in that run were victories over teams from the Patriot League, the Ivy League, the MAAC, and America East.
But LIU wasn’t alone in making out-of-league noise. Robert Morris took Seton Hall to overtime, and beat Fordham and Boston College. Monmouth also lost to Seton Hall in overtime and beat Charlotte. Wagner beat Bucknell. Mount St. Mary’s beat Winthrop.
“We were happy to do what we did in the regular season,” Mountaineers coach Milan Brown said. “Year by year, we’ve taken strides to become one of the upper-echelon teams in the league, and we just have to continue to try and get better.”
Clearly, that strategy won’t be as easy as it used to be.
“It’s good to just be in the (league) tournament,” said Monmouth coach Dave Calloway, whose Hawks defeated Hampton in that 2006 play-in game. “We’re excited to be in it.”
As tough as the league has become, everyone should be.
tsullivan@nypost.com