Not a single seed for the 2012 America East Basketball Championship is set in stone, but that could change after tonight. Albany plays its regular-season finale tonight while the other seven teams in action have two games remaining before the conference tournament.
Boston U. (20-7, 13-1 AE) hosts its second straight game with the opportunity to clinch the number one seed. To do so, the Terriers must defeat visiting UMBC (14-13, 8-6 AE), but also get some help from Albany (19-9, 13-2 AE) where the Great Danes host Binghamton (12-15, 6-8 AE). With a loss by the Great Danes and a win in Boston, the Terriers would claim the regular-season championship and top seed and Albany would settle into the second seed. If either fails to happen, it will all come down to Boston U.'s game at Hartford on Saturday, where the Terriers would need to win to earn the number one seed.
The Terriers are looking for a sweep after they defeated the Retrievers 59-53 in Baltimore on Jan. 25. The Great Danes defeated the Bearcats 37-36 last month and hope to pull out another victory on senior night.
Hartford (18-10, 9-5 AE) takes its seven-game win streak, the longest active streak in the conference, to Stony Brook (4-23, 1-13 AE) tonight in the hopes of picking up its 10th conference win. The Hawks defeated the Seawolves 63-44 in the teams' first meeting. Stony Brook will be celebrating Senior Night as well as its Play 4Kay game.
New Hampshire (14-12, 7-7 AE) will also have its senior night festivities tonight when it welcomes Maine to Lundholm Gym. The Wildcats currently sit in fifth place and a win tonight would greatly improve their chances of staying put or even climbing higher. The program hasn't entered the America East Championship better than a six seed since 2005.
Maine (6-21, 3-11 AE) can also help its playoff chances tonight. A win keeps the Black Bears in contention for the seven seed, while a loss will hold them back as an eight or nine seed and lock Vermont (10-18, 4-11 AE), who is idle tonight, in as the seven seed.
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Wednesday, Feb. 22
*Binghamton at Albany, 7 p.m. l Live stats l Live video l Binghamton audio l
*Hartford at Stony Brook, 7 p.m. l Live stats l Live video l Hartford audio l SBU audio l
*Maine at New Hampshire, 7 p.m. l Live stats l Live video l Maine audio l UNH audio l
*UMBC at Boston U., 7 p.m. l Live stats l Live video l Boston U. audio l