Vermont Tops Men's #AEHoops Preseason Poll, Lamb Highlights Preseason All-Conference Honorees 10/17/2018 10:00:00 AM BOSTON – Embarking on its 40th men’s basketball season, America East unveiled it’s 2018-19 preseason poll and all-conference team on Wednesday morning highlighted by Vermont’s placement atop the poll and five former all-leaguers earning preseason all-conference honors. The poll and all-conference team were voted on by the league’s nine head coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own them. Vermont, last year’s regular-season champion, received six-first place votes and topped the poll with 62 points while Hartford matched its best ever predicted finish coming in second after earning the other three first-place tallies and 59 points. Five former all-conference standouts comprised the preseason all-conference team that features three seniors and two juniors as well as two sets of teammates from the top two teams in the preseason poll. The team is led by Vermont junior Anthony Lamb, who missed the majority of last season due to injury, but was an all-conference honoree as a freshman. 2018-19 America East Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll No. School Points (1st Place Votes) 1. Vermont 62 (6) 2. Hartford 59 (3) 3. UMBC 44 T4. Albany 40 Stony Brook 40 6. Binghamton 29 T7. Maine 19 New Hampshire 19 9. UMass Lowell 12 2018-19 America East Men’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team John Carroll, Sr., Forward, Hartford Ernie Duncan, Sr., Guard, Vermont Jason Dunne, Sr., Guard, Hartford Anthony Lamb, Jr., Forward, Vermont Akwasi Yeboah, Jr., Forward, Stony Brook Twelve players who earned All-Conference, All-Defensive or All-Rookie honors last year return for the 2018-19 season, which culminated in UMBC’s historic upset over Virginia in the NCAA tournament. The Retrievers became the first #16 seed to ever beat a #1 seed in the tournament’s history. The 2018-19 season begins on November 6 with conference play starting on January 5. Conference positioning will again prove key for the #AEPlayoffs. After drawing record-attendance figures each of its first four years, every round of the #AEPlayoffs will take place on the higher seed’s home court for the fifth-straight season. The league champion will earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, where America East teams have won nine games all-time, including UMBC a year ago, and is in the midst of its best four-year seeding average since 1999-2002. Fans will once again be able to watch every #AEHoops home game on The AE on ESPN. The majority of games will air on ESPN+ or ESPN3. Follow the @AEHoopsNews Twitter account to stay up-to-date on #AEHoops news all season long.