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Image: USA Today Sports
As millions around the country fill out their brackets this week, some may notice that a certain city will not be represented in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Even with a few teams in close contention for a bid, none of our nine teams in the Metro Poll will be present in March Madness. Let's take a look at the final rankings for this year, and what the future holds for some of our Metro Teams.
The Metropolitan Poll-Final
What's Next?
For Iona, the sting of losing to Rider in the MAAC Tournament is going to be felt for a long time, and even with an NIT matchup with Florida on the horizon, it's pretty clear that Rick Pitino and company are pretty disappointed with where they'll finish this year. That being said, if they can turn that disappointment into fuel for a good run in the NIT, then I think this Iona team will be scary. They've already taken down a much better SEC team this season when they beat Bama, so who's to say that lightning can't strike twice?
As for the Johnnies, who were well out of the bubble conversation by the beginning of last week, they were still somehow able to break their fans hearts in their loss to Villanova. Julian Champagnie, who could definitely test the pro waters this offseason, does have up to two more years of eligibility. Considering the fact that Mike Anderson has not taken the Johnnies to the postseason, next year could be the perfect time to lock in once again. The same could be said for Wagner's Alex Morales, as the Seahawks will no doubt look to redeem themselves after losing the NEC Regular Season and Tournament title to Bryant. For Hofstra, they'll likely enter a bit of a rebuild following the departure of Jalen Ray.
For the rest of the teams down the poll, we've got five programs in various states of development. Fordham had their best season in six years, Manhattan has a lot of work to do next year, and for the rest of the NEC teams, well, good luck competing with the big boys of your conference next year.
With that, the 2021-2022 Metropolitan Poll comes to a close. A huge thank you to Will Tondo, Jake Zimmer, Josh Adams, and Jaden Daly for voting in this year's poll, and a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to read.
See you Next Year!