When former Boston University head coach Rick Pitino and the Louisville Cardinals hoisted the 2012-13 NCAA Championship trophy Monday night, the 2012-13 college basketball season official came to a close, concluding one of America East's best season in some time. The conference finished with its best conference RPI in four seasons and several of the league's teams and players ended the season ranked among the national leaders. The notes listed below highlight some of the season's top achievements. 2012-13 Season Notes- America East improved six positions in conference RPI from last season, moving up to No. 23 this season, the conference’s best finish since the 2008-09 campaign.- Eight of America East's nine teams improved their season-ending RPIs from last season to this season.- Stony Brook’s RPI (77) was the highest season-ending RPI for an America East team since Vermont (25) after the 2004-05 season.- America East had three 20-win teams (Stony Brook, 25; Albany, 24; Vermont, 21) for the first time in three seasons and just the second time since the 2004-05 season.- A record five America East teams reached the postseason (Albany, NCAA; Stony Brook, NIT; Vermont, CBI; Boston U & Hartford, CIT).
- Stony Brook defeated UMass in the first round of the NIT, America East's first NIT win since 1987.- America East teams have at least one postseason win four of the last five seasons.- Albany won its third America East championship, becoming the lowest seeded team (4th) to do so.- Stony Brook's Tommy Brenton received the Lefty Driesell Award, which is given to the top defensive player in the nation by CollegeInsider.com.- Stony Brook became the first school to sweep America East's annual awards as Brenton became just the second player to earn America East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors in the same season, Jameel Warney picked up Rookie of the Year accolades and head coach Steve Pikell was named Coach of the year for the third time in four years. - Stony Brook finished the season with a Division I-program record 25 wins and won its third America East regular-season title in the last four years.- The Seawolves were one of the best defensive teams in the nation, finishing the season ranked 13th in scoring defense (57.5 papg) and sixth in field goal percentage defense (.378) as well as 20th in scoring margin (+10.5) and 36th in rebound margin (+5.2).- New Hampshire was the best team in the country at limiting the three-point shot. The Wildcats finished first in the country in three-point field goal percentage defense, holding foes to just 28.1 percent shooting from deep.- Boston University finished 24th nationally, making 8.0 three-point field goals per game as a team.- Stony Brook's Jameel Warney finished fifth in the country in field goal percentage (.618). It's the highest percentage by an America East player since 2002 and the fifth-best percentage in league history.- UMBC's Brian Neller finished 24th in the nation in three-point field goals per game (2.94).- Albany's Jacob Iati shot 41.6 percent from three-point range, the 28th-best mark nationally.- Binghamton's Jordan Reed ranked 27th nationally overall and third among guards in rebounding (9.5 rpg). He became just the second freshman (Brian Voelkel, 20010-11) to lead America East in rebounding.- Reed was also 24th in double-doubles, collecting 13 on the season.- Stony Brook became the first team to lead the league in scoring offense (68.0 ppg) and scoring defense (57.8 papg) since Drexel during the 1995-96 season and just the second all-time.- Boston University led the league in field goal percentage (.449) for just the second time in school history and the first time since the 1994-95 campaign.- Maurice Watson led the league in assists (5.4 apg) becoming just the sixth freshman to do so and first since Vermont's Mike Trimboli in the 2005-06 season.- Maine's Justin Edwards led the conference in scoring (16.7 ppg), becoming the fifth sophomore to do so and the first since Marcus Blakley in 2007-08.- Stony Brook's Tommy Brenton concluded his career tied for third place on America East's all-time rebound list with 1,115.