Actual NEC champion still cheering them on

COLUMBUS, Ohio — There are many elements to the magical March Madness run that Fairleigh Dickinson is on after the Knights stunned No. 1 seed Purdue on Friday night.

Many of them have been welldocumented, beginning with the Knights’ coach, Tobin Anderson, who only 10 months ago was hired from Division II St. Thomas Aquinas in Rockland County to take over FDU, and who brought three of his players with him. One of those players — Columbus, Ohio, native Sean Moore — was the hero on Friday night.

One under-the-radar element to the FDU story is the fact the school got into the NCAA Tournament on a technicality.

Merrimack, from Andover, Mass., won the Northeast Conference Tournament and, under normal circumstances, would have been awarded the automatic NCAA bid. But these aren’t normal circumstances.

After moving from Division II to Division I, Merrimack is in the final year of what the NCAA calls a fouryear “transition’’ period, during which a school moving up a division isn’t eligible for NCAA Tournament play.

So, instead of experiencing the magic FDU has enjoyed this week, Merrimack coach Joe Gallo and his players are home watching on TV.

“I think people probably are picturing me sitting in front of the TV angry and screaming, ‘This could be us,’ but that’s not my thinking at all,’’ Gallo told The Post on Saturday when reached at his home in New Hampshire. “We did everything we could do. We finished the season on an 11-game winning streak. We won the last game that we were allowed to play.

“I think what FDU is doing is just great for the NEC, because people have been a little down on the NEC all year. Not only what they did [Friday] was incredible, but they absolutely ran away with the thing in their first game [against Texas Southern in the First Four]. It’s great for the league and I hope they continue to win.’’

Gallo said he and FDU coach Tobin Anderson have been friends for a long time.

“We played against each other my first year at Merrimack and his [St. Thomas Aquinas] team knocked us out of NCAA Division II Tournament,’’ he said. “We have a ton of mutual respect for each other.’’

Gallo, in fact, was one of the first to text Anderson congratulations after the win over Purdue.

“I’m happy for him and I’m happy for the league,’’ Gallo said.