NEWARK, NJ – One, two or three.  It's that simple – and that complicated – for Rutgers-Newark entering Wednesday night's final regular-season match ups in the down-to-the-wire race for seeding for the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship Tournament.

NJAC Men's Basketball Standings

The Scarlet Raiders (18-6, NJAC 14-3) are deadlocked with Richard Stockton (20-4, NJAC 14-3) for the league lead going into the final games while William Paterson (19-5, 13-4) is lurking a game behind in the standings.  Each team split with the other two in their regular season series, so it could bring tie-breakers into play in determining who gets the top seeding and home court advantage for the semifinals and finals.  The top two seeds get opening round byes in the tournament.

A Rutgers-Newark win at Kean (12-12, NJAC 8-9) on Wednesday coupled with a Richard Stockton loss at Rowan (12-12, NJAC 7-10) would give the Raiders the first top seed in the tournament in the history of the program.  That's the only way that Rutgers-Newark can get the top slot.

A William Paterson loss on Wednesday would guarantee the Raiders a first-round bye in the playoffs.

A 61-52 loss at New Jersey City in the first conference game of the year could haunt the Raiders.  NJCU (13-11, NJAC 8-9) plays at cellar-dwelling Rutgers-Camden (4-20, NJAC 2-13) on Wednesday and a Gothic Knight win would give them the fourth seed if Rutgers-Newark downs Kean.  An NJCU win at Rutgers-Camden is far from a given.  The Scarlet Raptors fell in Jersey City on January 15, 39-38 in overtime, in one of the more bizarre games of the year.

If both Rutgers-Newark and Stockton win on the final evening, Stockton would be the top seed based on the second level tie-breaker.  Both teams would have split with third place William Paterson, but the Raiders split NJCU while Stockton took both games against the Gothic Knights.  The edge would go to the Ospreys.

A second seed for the Rutgers-Newark would match last season's best-ever ranking for the Raiders in the league playoffs.  Rutgers-Newark fell in the championship game at Ramapo by two points to narrowly miss its first NJAC title in the sport.

If the Raiders lose and William Paterson gets past Ramapo (9-15, NJAC 6-11) on the road on Wednesday – regardless of what Stockton does – Rutgers-Newark could slide to the third seed and lose an opening round bye in the tournament.  The Raiders would have a split with Kean as well as New Jersey City while the Pioneers and Ospreys each swept those opponents. 

And if you think it's a jumble at the top, there could be a 4-way tie for fourth place.   A Byzantine series of tie-breakers will not be locked into place until all of the games are in on Wednesday night.

The opening round games are set for Saturday at the home courts of the highest seeds.  The sixth seed travels to the third and the fifth seed to the fourth.  The winners advance to the home courts of the top two seeds on February 26.

The only thing certain today is that head coach Joe Loughran will lead his Scarlet Raiders into the NJAC tournament field for the third straight season and for the eighth time in the last 10 years.  Rutgers-Newark is 7-7 in conference tournament play during that span with two appearances in the league title game (2009 and 2013).