| |
| History |
The basketball championship has been held since the inception of the conference in 1986 when it was the NEW 6. The inaugural title was won by Wellesley College as they defeated Wheaton College 67-58. In 1987, Wheaton made their second straight trip to the finals and captured their first crown by defeating Babson College 60-55. The next two championships went to Brandeis University in 1988, the last year of the NEW 6, and 1989, the first year that WPI and Mt. Holyoke were eligible for the championship as new conference members. Brandeis beat Babson 77-75 in two overtimes, the longest title game in 1988 and then beat Smith 70-59 at Smith in 1989. Wheaton returned back to the top of the conference by defeating WPI 57-45 at home in 1990. In 1991, the conference saw Babson capture their first championship as they defeated Brandeis 58-54 at WPI. At the end of the 1992 season, Brandeis would win what would be their last NEW 8 basketball championship when they beat Babson in a rematch of the previous year's final 64-62 on the Beaver's home court. Babson won their second title in three years by beating Wellesley 63-56 at Smith in 1993. Wheaton would reign as champions for the next two seasons as they beat Babson at Wellesley in 1994 and then would repeat in 1995 by defeating WPI 73-48 at Brandeis.
In 1996, Clark University would replace Brandeis as a conference member and made their presence felt as they would make it all the way to the championship game before losing in overtime to city rival WPI 88-81 at MIT. In 1997, Clark again would find themselves in the title game, but this time they would not be denied as they beat Babson 96-70 at Mt. Holyoke. The last year of the NEW 8 conference would see the Cougars repeat as champions. They defeated Smith College at Babson.
In 1999, the conference began sponsoring men's sports and changed the name to the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference. The first final was hosted by Wheaton and Babson ended Clark's reign as champion with a 53-45 victory. In 2000, Clark won their third championship by defeating Wellesley 62-57 and earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Springfield College was crowned the 2001 NEWMAC Champion after winning the regular season and defeated Wellesley 52-51 to win the tournament and advance to the NCAA's. In 2002, Springfield repeated as NEWMAC Champion and earned the right to represent the conference in the NCAA Tournament with a 64-46 victory over Wellesley in the tournament finals. Springfield captured its third consecutive conference championship by winning the 2003 tournament as the fourth seed, edging Coast Guard 50-47 in the title game. 2004 saw Clark regaining the NEWMAC tournament championship from Springfield College, following Springfield's regular season NEWMAC championship.
|
| Regular Season Champions |
Tournament Champions |
| 2004 Springfield College |
2004 Clark University |
| 2003 Babson College |
2003 Springfield College |
| 2002 Springfield College |
2002 Springfield College |
| 2001 Springfield College |
2001 Springfield College |
| 2000 Babson College |
2000 Clark University |
| 1999 Clark University |
1999 Babson College |
| 1998 Clark University |
1998 Clark University |
| 1997 Clark University |
1997 Clark University |
| 1996 WPI |
1996 WPI |
| 1995 Wheaton College |
1995 Wheaton College |
| 1994 Babson College |
1994 Wheaton College |
| 1993 Babson College |
1993 Babson College |
| 1992 Brandeis University |
1992 Brandeis University |
| 1991 Brandeis University |
1991 Brandeis University |
| 1990 Brandeis University |
1990 Wheaton College |
| 1989 WPI |
1989 Brandeis University |
| 1988 Babson College |
1988 Brandeis University |
| 1987 Babson College |
1987 Wheaton College |
| 1986 Wellesley College |
1986 Wellesley College |
|
|
Standings
|
Conference
Schedule |
Composite
Schedule |
Weekly
Reports |
Championships
|
Awards
|
Coaches
|
History
