Last season, Merrimack won the NEC Tournament in its first season as a Division I program, but wasn’t eligible for the NCAA Tournament. The team they beat in the finals, Fairleigh Dickinson, went on to beat No. 1 Purdue as a 16 seed. Merrimack, which made the Division II NCAA Tournament in three-straight years (2017-19), are bidding for back-to-back titles.
Merrimack tied with Central Connecticut for the regular-season title. The Warriors won 10 consecutive games before dropping the regular-season finale on Saturday in a high-scoring affair to Sacred Heart (89-85). The Warriors are big favorites against lowly Long Island University on Wednesday.