Coming off a championship season, some coaches worry about complacency setting in. Head Coach Howie Dickenman, who will be entering his 12th season knows that shouldn’t be a problem at Central Connecticut State this winter because there’s almost no one left from last year’s NEC championship

Head Coach Tom Green who will be entering his 25th season and inconsistent might be the best way to sum up last season. it might be more of the same this season for one of the NEC’s top program the last five years.

Last season, Long Island and Head Coach Jim Ferry who’ll be entering his 6th year, were poised for a breakout season. But instead the Blackbirds limped to the finish, losing three of four, and were on the outside looking in come conference tournament time.

The 2006-2007 NEC favorite suffered a dramatic fall from grace, snapping a string of six consecutive winning years. Only a handful of players return but there’s a significant building block in Rookie of the Year Jhamar Youngblood.

The up-and-coming Mount is fresh off its first NEC Tournament win in seven years and is 20-16 in league play over the past two seasons. This year’s cast returns three starters for Head Coach Milan Brown who’ll be entering his 5th season still looking for his first winning campaign.

First-year Head Coach Tom Moore takes over a program that has primarily struggled in nearly a decade in Division I. The one nice luxury of playing in the NEC is that teams don’t stay down for long, and if the Bobcats can piece together the right rotation, they could make some noise this season.

First-year Head Coach Mike Rice steps into a potentially promising situation. After a highly regarded club stumbled in 2006-2007, four starters, several reserves and a few newcomers are poised to lead RMU to its first NEC championship since 1992.

Head Coach Dave Bike and Sacred Heart had seven players that averaged over eight points per game during the 2006-2007 campaign. Only one of them is gone and two more are ready to cover the loss, and then some. A talented backcourt, led by Drew Shubik, has the Pioneers the favorites to win the NEC.

Third-year Head Coach Brian Nash feels the Terriers, with four starters returning, are ready to make a move into the upper echelon of the NEC. The Terriers aren’t big inside, but hope to compensate with a motion offense and a solid half-court defense.

Entering his ninth year at St Francis Head Coach Bobby Jones has seen everything that could go wrong for in recent years go wrong. But the cloud began to lift late last season. It returns virtually its entire roster, so the key will to carry that momentum into this season.

Mike Deane will be entering his fifth season as Head Coach and he knows that while the Seahawks look good on paper, which guarantees nothing in the unpredictable NEC. The Seahawks have done some good things under Deane this might be the year take the conference title.