The MAAC basketball tournament kicks off on Thursday, and we’re here to help you catch up on everything you need to know heading into this weekend’s festivities in Albany

The MAAC basketball tournament gets underway on Thursday, and you should be very excited. Despite being one of the lowest rated conferences in KenPom, the MAAC tournament could be one of the best of the 32. Our own Connor Hope ranked it #7 overall, and for very good reason; there’s as much parity in the MAAC as any other conference in the country, and might be the most geographically compact. Eight of the conference’s eleven teams lie in a belt that stretches from Hamden, Connecticut in the east, to Lawrenceville, New Jersey in the west. Combine that with two of the Buffalo Big 4, and this conference is packed full of intense, local rivalries.

Every team in the Metro-Atlantic finished between 12-6 and 6-12. Four teams finished tied for second, one game behind first place Iona, at 11-7. Monmouth trailed at 10-8, finishing six of the eleven teams within two games of first place. All of the drama down the stretch of the regular season will certainly follow the league’s teams into the tournament, and despite disappointing campaigns for a lot of the league’s teams, the only bid to be had out of the conference is still on the line.

This year’s tournament is back at the Times Union Center in Albany, home of the Siena Saints. It’s the fifth straight year the tournament has been in Albany, but it will move down to Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City starting next season. Iona has won the last three conference tournaments, and is looking to add a fourth consecutive title to the regular season title they clinched on the last game of the regular season. They ended the regular season with seven straight wins, and will probably be the favorite heading into the weekend. But in a league with so much parity, literally anything can happen.