By Max Dickstein
How about those Seahawks?
The surprise run to the NCAA Tournament by the Wagner College men’s basketball for the first time in more than two decades has fans buzzing on Grymes Hill and throughout the region.
The Seahawks punched their ticket to March Madness by winning the Northeast Championship trophy on Tuesday night, earning an automatic NCAA Tournament bid with a 54-47 defeat of reigning champion Merrimack in the final.
While Wagner fans await news of their team's first-round opponent, here is a look at the team’s remarkable accomplishments by the numbers.
68
The Seahawks (16-15) are guaranteed a spot in the 68-team field of teams competing for a national championship. On Sunday at 6 p.m. on CBS, the Seahawks will learn their next opponent, which is likely to be one of the First Four matchups on Tuesday or Wednesday night in Dayton, Ohio.
3 a.m.
Time on Wednesday morning when Wagner’s team bus finally pulled into campus after the celebratory trip home from the final in North Andover, Massachusetts.
3rd, 1st, 2nd
Seeds the sixth-seeded Seahawks knocked off during their NEC title run, all on the road — the first time in the conference tournament’s 43-year history that a team had won three road games.
7
The number of healthy, regular players head coach Donald Copeland had available during the Seahawks’ final third of the season, including the conference title run.
1
The singular walk-on guard and Wagner College quarterback — Damien Mazil — whom the team added to its roster in February to provide much-needed depth.
6th
Wagner’s national rank in scoring defense, allowing a stingy 62.1 points per game. The Seahawks held Merrimack to just 47 points on 26.3% shooting in the NEC final.
14.6
Points per game averaged by leading Seahawks scorer Melvin Council Jr. The junior guard from Rochester also leads the teams in rebounding, averaging 5.7 boards-per-game. He was a First Team All-NEC selection.
22
Game-high points total registered in the final against Merrimack by 6-foot-5 guard Tahron Allen, the 2024 NEC All-Tournament Team MVP.
21
Years since Wagner’s last NCAA tournament berth. The Seahawks won their lone NEC championship in 2003, falling to No. 2-seeded Pittsburgh in the NCAA Tournament’s first round as a 15th seed. They reached the NEC final in 1993 (losing to Rider), 2005 (losing to FDU), 2016 (losing to FDU), 2018 (losing to LIU), and 2022 (losing to Bryant).
4
NCAA Tournament appearances by Wagner College coach Donald Copeland. As a head coach, he is taking the Seahawks to the Big Dance in 2024. As an assistant coach, he helped lead Seton Hall to the NCAA Tournament in 2022. And from 2002 to 2006, when Copeland was an All-Big East guard for Seton Hall, he twice led to the Pirates to March Madness appearances, reaching the second round in 2004. (Two is also the number of degrees Copeland has earned since his playing days — a bachelor’s in communications and media studies from Seton Hall and, in 2017, a master’s in business administration from Wagner College.)
Read more at Wagner Athletics.
