America East women's basketball champion Maine will make its seventh NCAA appearance when it plays Texas Tech Saturday in Missoula, Mont. Two-time America East men's basketball champion Vermont will play Connecticut in Buffalo Thursday.
Maine (25-6) is a No. 13 seed and will meet No. 4 seed Texas Tech at Adams Center. Host and No. 12 seed Montana will play No. 5 seed Louisiana Tech.
Vermont (22-8) is a No. 15 seed and will play No. 2 Connecticut at HSBC Arena. The Huskies are led by coach Jim Calhoun, who won five America East titles while at Northeastern from 1979-86.
Boston University (23-5), the regular-season champion and top seed in the Choice Hotels International Men's Basketball Championship, will play in the National Invitation Tournament for the second-straight year. The Terriers will play at Rhode Island Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in an Opening Round game. The winner of the Boston University-Rhode Island game will meet the winner of the West Virginia-Kent State game.