Betting Northeast Conference Tournament 2025: Preview, picks, odds, projections

The Northeast conference tournament tips off Wednesday with eight teams battling for an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament. Mercyhurst will not be participating in the tournament as the Lakers are reclassifying from Division II. This tournament begins directly in the quarterfinal round and teams will be re-seeded in the semifinal round, so the highest remaining seed plays the lowest remaining seed. Here's a look at how the bracket sets up in the Northeast conference tournament.

Northeast Conference Tournament Schedule

Quarterfinals

QF1 - No. 1 Central Connecticut vs. No. 8 Le Moyne
QF2 - No. 2 LIU vs. No. 7 Chicago State
QF3 - No. 3 Saint Francis vs. No. 6 Wagner
QF4 - No. 4 Fairleigh Dickinson vs. No. 5 Stonehill

Semifinals

SF1 - Highest remaining seed vs. lowest remaining seed
SF2 - Next highest remaining seed vs. next lowest remaining seed

Final

Winner of SF1 vs. Winner of SF2

Central Connecticut (-210 to win on FanDuel) is the clear favorite in this tournament and projects to be the only NEC team in the NCAA Tournament, per Jerry Palm's latest bracketology update on CBS Sports. The Blue Devils only lost twice in conference play this season, and both losses came by 5 points or less. They have a balanced scoring attack with three players averaging double figures, led by Jordan Jones (14.4 ppg). However, defense is the real strength of this Central Connecticut squad. The Blue Devils are second in the conference in points per game allowed and opponent field-goal percentage. 

LIU (+340) did beat Central Connecticut once in the regular season and Malachi Davis is the second-best scorer in the conference at 17.1 points per game. Over the last six games, Davis is up to 19.6 points per game. If he gets hot, the Sharks could make a run to the final. One potentially worrisome data point for those looking to back LIU is the quarterfinal matchup against Chicago State. The Sharks did lose to the Cougars in overtime on Feb. 1. Saint Francis (+1500) may have some confidence after winning each of its last three games in overtime but the Red Flash did lose to Wagner (+2700) twice in the regular season.

College basketball fans are familiar with Fairleigh Dickinson after the Knights shocked No. 1 Purdue in the NCAA Tournament two years ago. However, FDU has struggled this season with a 12-19 overall record. The Knights (+1600) did beat Stonehill twice in the regular season, so they should have a good chance of getting to the semifinal round. Even though they have the conference's leading scorer in Terrence Brown (20.6 ppg), the Knights did not register a win against CCSU, LIU or Saint Francis during the regular season. Even though they were tournament darlings a few seasons ago, it's hard to see them making a run in this year's Northeast conference tournament.

SportsLine expert Thomas Casale believes Central Connecticut and LIU will meet in the final, and he's backing the Blue Devils to win the conference tournament. But which teams are experts backing in the other conference tournaments? You can get the best bets for every conference tournament at SportsLine. You can also find the SportsLine Projection Model's simulations for every game.