Men's Basketball | 2/17/2016 12:56:00 PM
JAMAICA, N.Y.—The pairings for the 2016 City University of New York Athletic Conference basketball playoffs were announced on Wednesday morning. The York College men's basketball team has earned the #7 seed and will visit the City College of New York on Thursday, February 18 at 7 p.m. in the first round. The women's basketball team is the #8 seed and will visit #5 Baruch College on Friday, February 19 at 5 p.m.
This will be the first year of the new CUNYAC basketball format. In the first round, the #5 through #8 seeds play for a spot in the quarterfinals. The #3 and #4 seeds earn a first-round bye and will play the winners of the first round match-up. The #1 and #2 seeds have a bye all the way into the semifinals and await the winners of the second round games.
Therefore, the men's team, as the #7 seed, plays sixth-seeded CCNY at the Nat Holman Gymnasium in the first round. CCNY and York finished tied in the standings with a 7-9 CUNYAC record. However, CCNY earned the tiebreaker after defeating the Cardinals in both match-ups this season.
York lost to CCNY, 67-65, on December 4 and lost, 67-61, to the Beavers on January 22.
The women's team got the eighth and final seed in the CUNYAC playoffs and will take on eight-time defending CUNYAC champions Baruch College, who is the #5 seed.
York lost to Baruch, 71-49, on December 11 and 72-44 on January 27. Although it may seem like a tall order for the Cardinals to defeat a Bearcat team that has won eight straight CUNYAC Championships and won the last two meetings convincingly, the Cardinals could be playing Baruch at the perfect time.
York is coming off its best win of the season—an overtime victory over Hunter College— a team they had not beaten since 2011. Meanwhile, Baruch is trending in the opposite direction. Their team has been devastated by injuries of late, losing their top two players to season-ending injuries in recent weeks. The absence of its top players has been felt, as the Bearcats have dropped five straight heading into the game.
Admission to both contests are free. There is no streaming video available for either game but live stats for both can be found by going to yorkathletics.com/coverage.
The complete pairings for both tournaments are listed below:
Women's Seeding#1 Lehman College
#2 Brooklyn College
#3 College of Staten Island
#4 CCNY
#5 Baruch College
#6 Hunter College
#7 John Jay College
#8 York College
Men's Seeding#1 Lehman
#2 College of Staten Island
#3 Brooklyn
#4 Medgar Evers
#5 Baruch
#6 CCNY
#7 York
#8 Hunter
Schedule:Thursday, February 18th - Men's First Round#6 CCNY vs. #7 York
#5 Baruch vs. #8 Hunter
Friday, February 19th - Women's First Round#6 Hunter vs. #7 John Jay
#5 Baruch vs. #8 York
Saturday, February 20th – Men's Second Round#3 Brooklyn vs. #6/#7 winner
#4 Medgar Evers vs. #5/#8 winner
Sunday, February 21st – Women's Second Round#3 Staten Island vs. #6/#7 winner
#4 CCNY vs. #5/#8 winner
Tuesday, February 23rd – Men's Semifinals6:00 pm: #1 Lehman vs. #4/#5/#8
8:00 pm: #2 Staten Island vs. #3/#6/#7
Wednesday, February 24th – Women's Semifinals6:00 pm: #1 Lehman vs. #4/#5/#8
8:00 pm: #2 Brooklyn vs. #3/#6/#7
Friday, February 26th– Women's & Men's Championship Final6:00 pm: Women's Championship
8:30 pm: Men's Championship
