For just the second time in its history, America East will send three men's basketball teams to the postseason as Vermont, Stony Brook and Boston University each received tournament bids on Sunday. The Catamounts captured the league's automatic NCAA bid, while the Seawolves received an invitation to NIT by virtue of its regular-season title. The Terriers will play in the College Basketball Invitational. It's the sixth time in eight years the league will send multiple teams to the postseason.
Vermont (25-9), which captured its fourth league title with an 83-70 victory over Boston University Saturday, earned a No. 16 seed and will face Syracuse, a No. 1 seed, on Friday at 9:40 p.m. in Buffalo, N.Y. The game will be televised nationally on CBS. UVM, winners in 10 of its last 11 games, tied a program record for wins this season. The 'Cats will be making their first NCAA appearance since 2005, when they stunned the Orange with a first-round upset.
Stony Brook (22-9), the America East regular-season champion, will host Illinois in an NIT first-round contest on Wednesday at Stony Brook Arena at 9 p.m. on ESPNU. The Seawolves, who set a Division I program record for wins this season, will become just the second America East squad to host a postseason game and first since Niagara hosted an NIT contest in 1987.
Boston U. (19-13), which posted its best record since the 2004-05 season, was one of 16 invitees to the CBI and will take on Oregon State in Corvallis on Wednesday. The Terriers upset the Seawolves in the semifinals of the America East Championship to reach its first title game since 2003.
The league last sent three teams to the postseason in 2005 when Vermont earned the conference's NCAA berth and Boston University and Northeastern each received NIT bids.
Stay tuned to AmericaEast.com and follow the league on Twitter and Facebook for complete postseason coverage.