MAAC Monday: Modified tiebreakers, stat leaders, power rankings

MAAC Monday returns today with a different look in its opening segment than what would normally be the case. Before the stat leaders and power rankings in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference are updated, the first piece of this week’s feature was suggested by Mike Ferraro, director of athletic communications and men’s basketball media contact at Marist, in light of Manhattan and Monmouth’s two games having been postponed in light of what turned out to be a false positive COVID-19 test in the Hawks’ program. Manhattan was initially slated to be this week’s team spotlight, but with the Jaspers being sidelined, the prospect of the MAAC’s modified tiebreakers for this season will be explained further in this space.

With the growing possibility that not every team will be able to complete a full 20-game MAAC schedule, the conference’s tiebreakers, in the event that one or more teams do not play the full schedule, will be determined by conference wins. If each team is able to complete the 20-game MAAC schedule, normal tiebreakers apply.

Losses and winning percentage would be irrelevant under the modified tiebreaker format. Therefore, it would not be inconceivable for a team to go 10-4, for instance, and earn the No. 1 seed in the MAAC tournament over a team that went 9-3, even though the nine-win team would have a better winning percentage.

At the time of publication, the current MAAC standings and tournament seeds under the modified tiebreaker format are as follows, with explanations listed below:

1) Siena (7-1)

2) Monmouth (7-3)

3) Marist (6-6)

4) Niagara (5-7)

5) Rider (4-8)

6) Manhattan (4-4)

7) Saint Peter’s (4-4)

8) Fairfield (3-7)

9) Iona (3-1)

10) Canisius (3-3)

11) Quinnipiac (2-4)

Siena would be the No. 1 seed today by virtue of its regular-season sweep of Monmouth in January 3 and 4.

Rider, Manhattan and Saint Peter’s, each of whom own four MAAC wins, would enter a three-team mini-conference. With Rider and Manhattan having split the regular-season series with one another, and Saint Peter’s having yet to play Rider or Manhattan, the one win for the Broncs and Jaspers against each other would relegate Saint Peter’s to the No. 7 seed. Rider would earn the No. 5 seed today by virtue of a January 22 win over Marist, who swept Manhattan.

Fairfield, Iona and Canisius, each of whom own three MAAC wins, would also enter a three-team mini-conference that, at the moment, has a nearly exact scenario to the one explained above. Fairfield and Iona split the regular-season series with one another while neither have played Canisius yet, which would relegate the Golden Griffins to the No. 10 seed today. Fairfield’s January 16 win over Marist, whom Iona has yet to face, would land the Stags the No. 8 seed at the present time.

More information regarding tiebreakers and the almost certain changes to a seeding scenario that will be fluid with every game played, will be available here and on Twitter in the days and weeks to come.

Scoring Leaders

1) Isaiah Ross, Iona (22.3 PPG)

2) Deion Hammond, Monmouth (18.3)

3) Dwight Murray, Jr., Rider (15.4)

4) Jordan King, Siena (14.9)

5) Marcus Hammond, Niagara (14.6)

6) Anthony Nelson, Manhattan (14.4)

7) George Papas, Monmouth (13.7)

8) Manny Camper, Siena (13.3)

9) Kobi Nwandu, Niagara (13.2)

10) KC Ndefo, Saint Peter’s (12.6)

Rebounding Leaders

1) Manny Camper, Siena (10.4 RPG)

2) Nelly Junior Joseph, Iona (7.5)

3) Fousseyni Drame, Saint Peter’s (7.2)

4) Warren Williams, Manhattan (7.1)

5) Malek Green, Canisius (7.0)

6) Dylan van Eyck, Iona (6.9)

7) Jacob Rigoni, Quinnipiac (6.6)

8) Dwight Murray, Jr., Rider (6.5)

9) Seth Pinkney, Quinnipiac (6.4)

10) Marcus McClary, Monmouth (6.4)

Assist Leaders

1) Dwight Murray, Jr., Rider (4.6 APG)

2) Asante Gist, Iona (4.2)

3) Manny Camper, Siena (3.8)

4) Matthew Lee, Saint Peter’s (3.7)

5) Savion Lewis, Quinnipiac (3.6)

6) Raheim Sullivan, Marist (3.4)

7) Jacco Fritz, Canisius (3.2)

8) Samuel Chaput, Monmouth (3.1)

9) Dylan van Eyck, Iona (2.9)

10) Caleb Green, Fairfield (2.8)

Field Goal Percentage Leaders

1) Seth Pinkney, Quinnipiac (.833)

2) Jackson Stormo, Siena (.651)

3) Ajiri Ogemuno-Johnson, Rider (.649)

4) Jordan Jones, Marist (.609)

5) Nelly Junior Joseph, Iona (.565)

6) Melik Martin, Monmouth (.524)

7) George Papas, Monmouth (.517)

8) Warren Williams, Manhattan (.509)

9) Isaiah Ross, Iona (.508)

10) KC Ndefo, Saint Peter’s (.504)

Free Throw Percentage Leaders

1) Dwight Murray, Jr., Rider (.891)

2) Ahamadou Fofana, Canisius (.889)

3) Jacob Rigoni, Quinnipiac (.875)

4) Taj Benning, Fairfield (.864)

5) Anthony Nelson, Manhattan (.857)

6) Jordan King, Siena (.824)

7) Asante Gist, Iona (.818)

8) Doug Edert, Saint Peter’s (.815)

9) Ricardo Wright, Marist (.789)

10) Marcus Hammond, Niagara (.772)

3-Point Field Goal Percentage Leaders

1) George Papas, Monmouth (.484)

2) Jordan Henderson, Canisius (.455)

3) Brendan McGuire, Quinnipiac (.429)

4) Isaiah Ross, Iona (.424)

T-5) Manny Camper, Siena (.421)

T-5) Asante Gist, Iona (.421)

7) Dwight Murray, Jr., Rider (.415)

8) Allen Powell, Rider (.413)

9) Daryl Banks III, Saint Peter’s (.412)

10) Donovann Toatley, Monmouth (.405)

Steal Leaders

1) Berrick JeanLouis, Iona (2.3 SPG)

2) Elijah Buchanan, Manhattan (2.1)

3) Myles Ruth, Monmouth (1.9)

4) Deion Hammond, Monmouth (1.6)

5) Majesty Brandon, Canisius (1.5)

Blocked Shot Leaders

1) KC Ndefo, Saint Peter’s (4.1 BPG)

2) Seth Pinkney, Quinnipiac (2.9)

3) Jordan Jones, Marist (2.4)

4) Warren Williams, Manhattan (1.8)

5) Nelly Junior Joseph, Iona (1.5)

Power Rankings

1) Siena (7-1, 7-1 MAAC)

Last Week: 1

Last Game: Saturday 1/23 vs. Saint Peter’s (W 47-40)

Next Game: Saturday 1/30 at Marist, 1 p.m.

2) Monmouth (7-4, 7-3 MAAC)

Last Week: 2

Last Game: Saturday 1/16 vs. Quinnipiac (W 70-63)

Next Game: Friday 1/29 at Niagara, 4 p.m.

3) Saint Peter’s (7-6, 4-4 MAAC)

Last Week: 4

Last Game: Saturday 1/16 at Siena (L 47-40)

Next Game: Friday 1/29 vs. Manhattan, 8 p.m.

4) Iona (5-3, 3-1 MAAC)

Last Week: 3

Last Game: Wednesday 12/23 vs. Coppin State (W 85-65)

Next Game: Wednesday 2/3 vs. Manhattan, TBD

5) Marist (8-6, 6-6 MAAC)

Last Week: 7

Last Game: Saturday 1/23 at Rider (W 76-67)

Next Game: Friday 1/29 vs. Siena, TBA

6) Canisius (3-3, 3-3 MAAC)

Last Week: 5

Last Game: Saturday 1/2 vs. Saint Peter’s (W 63-60)

Next Game: Saturday 1/30 vs. Quinnipiac, 1 p.m.

7) Manhattan (5-4, 4-4 MAAC)

Last Week: 6

Last Game: Saturday 1/16 vs. Niagara (W 58-55)

Next Game: Friday 1/29 at Saint Peter’s, 8 p.m.

8) Niagara (6-8, 5-7 MAAC)

Last Week: 8

Last Game: Saturday 1/23 at Quinnipiac (L 78-69)

Next Game: Friday 1/29 vs. Monmouth, 4 p.m.

9) Rider (4-11, 4-8 MAAC)

Last Week: 10

Last Game: Saturday 1/23 vs. Marist (L 76-67)

Next Game: Saturday 2/6 vs. Canisius, TBA

10) Quinnipiac (4-6, 2-4 MAAC)

Last Week: 9

Last Game: Saturday 1/23 vs. Niagara (W 78-69)

Next Game: Saturday 1/30 at Canisius, 1 p.m.

11) Fairfield (3-12, 3-7 MAAC)

Last Week: 11

Last Game: Saturday 1/16 at Marist (W 55-52)

Next Game: Friday 2/5 at Saint Peter’s, TBA