CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- It took until the final game of the regular season for this year's America East men's basketball tournament bracket to be set, but after Hartford's win over New Hampshire Sunday, the seeds and matchups are finalized for the 2011 America East Basketball Championship presented by Newman's Own. The nine-team tournament begins with the first round contest on Thursday, March 3 and wraps up with the title game on Saturday, March 12.
University of Hartford's Chase Family Arena in West Hartford, Conn. will host the tournament's first, quarterfinal and semifinal rounds for the second straight year on March 3-6. The conference champion will be crowned on the court of the highest remaining seed on Saturday, March 12.
UMBC (5-24 overall, 4-12 America East) and Binghamton (7-22, 4-12) will kick things off with the first round contest Thursday night at 8:15 p.m. The Retrievers, who were idle Sunday, locked up the No. 8 seed by virtue of Binghamton's loss to Stony Brook while the Bearcats will be the No. 9 seed. The two teams split their regular-season series.
The winner of Thursday's contest will face top-seeded Vermont (22-7, 13-3) in the quarterfinals at 2:15 p.m. Saturday. The Catamounts are the top seed for the fourth time in the last 10 seasons and in search of their fifth conference title in that span.
Prior to Vermont's matchup with the first-round winner, No. 4 Albany (16-15, 9-7) and No. 5 Stony Brook (13-16, 8-8) will kick off quarterfinal action at 12:05 p.m. A rematch of last year's quarterfinal contest that the Seawolves took 68-59, this season's matchup features two teams playing their best basketball at the right time. The Great Danes, winners of four straight, knocked off Maine, 81-79, in overtime Sunday to finish in a tie for third place with the Black Bears. The Seawolves wrapped up their regular season with a 67-42 win over Binghamton, their fourth victory in their last five league games.
The league's hottest team, Boston University (18-13, 12-4) had already wrapped up the tournament's No. 2 seed but was able to extend its win streak to eight games with a 66-64 overtime win at Vermont Sunday. The Terriers, whose second-place finish is their best since the 2003-04 season, will face No. 7 New Hampshire (12-17, 6-10) in the third quarterfinal matchup Saturday at 6:05 p.m. The two teams split the regular-season series with each winning at home.
Maine, which locked up the No. 3 seed Thursday, will take on the host, Hartford (9-19, 7-9), in the final quarterfinal contest at 8:15 p.m. Saturday. The Hawks, who swept the regular-season series from the Black Bears, earned the No. 6 seed with their 64-52 win over New Hampshire Sunday.
The four quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinal round on Sunday, March 6. The Albany-Stony Brook winner will face winner of the Vermont-first round game winner matchup at 5:04 p.m. while the Boston U.-New Hampshire winner will take on the Maine-Hartford winner at 7:34 p.m. America East Television will produce both of Sunday's semifinals, which will also be available on ESPN3, as part of the ESPN Full Court package and for free on AmericaEast.com.
The championship game will be held Saturday, March 12 on the campus of the highest remaining seed and tip at 12:02 p.m. on ESPN2.
All-session ticket packages for the first three rounds of 2011 America East Men's and Women's Basketball Championships presented by Newman's Own are already on sale. Single-session tickets will go on sale Monday morning. Both are available through the University of Hartford Athletics Ticket Office and can be purchased on Hartford's website or via phone at 860-768-HAWK.