The St. Thomas Aquinas College men's basketball team has been ranked #7 in the East Region in the first NCAA Division II Men's Basketball poll of the season. The Spartans, coming off both their third consecutive East Coast Conference Tournament Championship and their third NCAA Tournament appearance last season, have remained among the region's best squads, entering the week at 19-5 overall and 11-3 in the ECC, in third place in the conference standings just one-half game behind Molloy College.

Conference frontrunner Daemen College is ranked #2 in this week's table, with no other ECC teams cracking the top 10. The Spartans have four games to go in the regular season, with three of those taking place at Aquinas Hall, where the Spartans are 10-1 this season. That string starts with Friday's showdown against Daemen, with STAC looking to avenge the road overtime loss to the Wildcats on January 25.

Eight teams will be represent the East Region in this season's NCAA Tournament, with automatic bids going to tournament champions from the ECC, Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC), and the Northeast-10 (NE-10), and the remaining five berths being awarded on an at-large basis. St. Anselm College (NE-10) captures the top spot in this week's poll, with Daemen, and University of New Haven (NE-10) rounding out the top three. 

After sweeping to the ECC Tourney title last season, St. Thomas Aquinas captured the conference's automatic berth and was awarded the #2 seed in last year's regional, falling to #7 Bloomfield after capturing the Regional Championship in 2017. STAC hosts Daemen on Friday and Roberts Wesleyan College on Sunday, travels to face Queens College on Wednesday, February 27, and wraps up the regular season hosting Molloy on Saturday, March 2.

They have already clinched a berth in the ECC Tournament, with first-round action starting on Wednesday, March 6 at high seeds, and semi-finals on Saturday, March 9 at the University of Bridgeport. Conference champs will be crowned on Sunday, March 10, with NCAA brackets and locations announced that night. Regional play takes place the weekend of March 15, with the Final Eight to be held from March 27-30 at Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.

NCAA Division II Men's Basketball East Region Poll (as of 2/19/19)

 1.  St. Anselm College (NE-10) (19-4)

 2.  Daemen College (ECC) (21-3)

 3.  University of New Haven (NE-10) (17-7)

 4.  Merrimack College (NE-10) (17-8)

 5.  Le Moyne College (NE-10) (14-8)

 6.  Bentley University (NE-10) (17-8)

 7.  St. Thomas Aquinas College (ECC) (19-5)

 8.  Adelphi University (NE-10) (18-8)

 9.  Jefferson University (CACC) (18-6)

10.  Dominican College (CACC) (17-6)