Poll: Who Will Win the Northeast Conference?

CHN's favorite is Mount St. Mary's. Post your thoughts on the 2009-10 NEC title race here:

Quinnipiac is my number 1, with Mt. St. Mary's a close second. After that I feel that dropoff is big. Robert Morris loses A LOT from last year and LIU will be without Faggiano/Audomitias who had to leave the team to attend to family issues as well as potentially playing without Julian Boyd (last year's NEC ROY) due to a heart condition. The team that is a sleeper could be my beloved Monmouth who returns Whitney Coleman from injury as well as adds Rutgers transfer wing Justin Sofman to last year's talented but young squad. CCSU could also be a player as a sleeper team led by Horton and Thompson, quite the inside-out combo. If Sacred Heart can get some big man production from the combo of Sahan/Potter/Greenbacker they could also surprise with the aid of a very solid guard rotation.

Robert Morris is poised to defend there title and return to the NCAA tournament. They do lose a lot but have a very good class coming in and plenty of athleticism to play Mike Rice's system. They may struggle to score at times but when Langhurst and Robinson get going its as good as any inside/out duo in the league. They have a good amount of athletes that could really turn into great scorers. If the team finds someone to step and hit big shots at the end of the game, they will be very very good. The Mount should have a solid year and will contend, but RMU will take it home again.

As for LIU I don't think losing Faggiano was a huge deal; remember that they didn't start last season with him either. But losing Boyd is huge. His emergence last year took some pressure off of Wisseh to do everything, and if it gets back to that the Blackbirds could be in trouble. I expect them to finish top half of the standings but losing Julian may be too much in regards to winning the league.

As Monmouth Marc pointed out as well, look out for the Hawks. They were pretty young in terms of their core last season and could turn some heads this time around.