For just the third time ever, America East will send three men's basketball teams to the postseason as league champion Vermont, regular-season champion Stony Brook and Albany, which has 19 wins, will all continue its seasons this week. The Catamounts, who won the conference title on Saturday, will be making their fifth NCAA appearance since 2003, while the Seawolves will play in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) for the second time in three seasons and the Great Danes will participate in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT).
Vermont (23-11), which beat Stony Brook, 51-43, Saturday to win the league's automatic NCAA bid, earned a No. 16 seed and will face Lamar, also a 16 seed, in the tournament's first round in Dayton, Ohio on Wednesday. The game will be televised nationally on truTV (channel finder). Ian Eagle (play-by-play) and Jim Sparnakel (analyst) have the call starting at 6:40 p.m. Should the Catamounts win, they would face top-seeded North Carolina in the second round in Greensboro, N.C. on Friday.
On Saturday, the Catamounts held the Seawolves to just 29 percent shooting, a record low in an America East title game, en route to their 14th win in their last 15 games. Four McGlynn scored a team-high 14 points while Brian Voelkel, the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, contributed five points, 15 rebounds and seven assists. Championship Central
This will be Vermont's fifth-ever NCAA appearance, all since 2003. The Catamounts, which reached the tournament previously in 2003, '04, '05 and '10, are the last America East team to earn an NCAA win. UVM upset Syracuse, 60-57, in overtime in 2005.
Stony Brook (22-9) fell just short of its first-ever NCAA appearance but received an automatic bid to the NIT, its second in three years, after winning the America East regular-season title. The Seawolves, a No. 8 seed, will visit top-seeded Seton Hall in the tournament's first round on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. The game will air on ESPN3.
Albany (19-14) will make its third postseason appearance since 2006 and first-ever CIT showing after compiling its most wins since the 2006-07 campaign. The Great Danes, who will host Manhattan on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in a first-round contest, are the fourth America East team to host a postseason game and third in as many years, joining Stony Brook (NIT, 2010) and Boston U. (CBI, 2010).
America East also sent three teams to the postseason in 2005 (Vermont, NCAA; Boston U., Northeastern, NIT) and 2010 (Vermont, NCAA; Stony Brook, NIT; Boston U., CBI). Overall, America East has sent 2005 when Vermont earned the conference's NCAA berth and Boston University and Northeastern each received NIT bids. Overall, 20 teams have reached the postseason in the last 10 years.
Stay tuned to AmericaEast.com, AExtra, Twitter and Facebook all week for postseason coverage.