Indianapolis – St. Thomas Aquinas was the lone East Coast Conference member in the 64-team NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship bracket unveiled on late Sunday evening.
St. Thomas Aquinas moved their streak of consecutive NCAA Championship appearances to seven after winning the ECC Championship to clinch the conference’s automatic berth earlier this afternoon. Despite a region-best 26 wins, the Spartans earned the No. 7 seed in the East Region portion of the bracket.
STAC's first round opponent will be No. 2 Franklin Pierce from the Northeast 10. The Spartans hold a 5-2 lead in the all-time series between the two schools, but this will be their first meeting since the 1999-2000 season.
The other matchups in the East Region bracket will feature NE10 Champion and regional host, No. 1 Bentley taking on Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Champion No. 8 Felician, No. 3 Saint Anselm facing No. 6 New Haven, and No. 4 Dominican squaring off against No. 5 Pace.
The Spartans went 0-2 vs. their fellow regional participants during the regular season, dropping contests to Dominican and Saint Anselm.
The tournament, which will take place at the Dana Center on the campus of Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, gets underway on Saturday, March 12. The semifinals take place the following day, Sunday, March 13, and after a day off, the championship game will be on Tuesday, March 15.
To view the full 64 team bracket, click here.
2022 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball East Regional
Quarterfinals - Saturday, March 12
No. 1 Bentley (22-4) vs. No. 8 Felician (19-9)
No. 2 Franklin Pierce (18-10) vs No. 7 St. Thomas Aquinas (26-4)
No. 3 Saint Anselm (17-10) vs. No. 6 New Haven (17-8)
No. 4 Dominican (21-7) vs. No. 5 Pace (19-9)
Semifinals – Sunday, March 13
No. 3-No. 6 winner vs. No. 2-No. 7 winner
No. 1-No. 8 winner vs. No. 4-No. 5 winner
Championship – Tuesday, March 15
