BOSTON - There is just one week left in the Women’s #AEHoops regular season and seeding for the America East Jersey Mike’s Playoffs is still up in the air, with battles all across the standings. Every team playing on Saturday has something at stake. Below is a breakdown of each matchup this weekend.
NJIT (8-5) at Vermont (11-2) – 2 PM
- UVM is riding an 11-game win streak entering Saturday, its longest win streak since 2002. Despite the streak, they are still 0.5 games back of UAlbany in the standings.
- The Catamounts split their season series with the Great Danes so if both finish with the same record then the top seed would be determined by the tiebreak procedure at the bottom of this release.
- A UVM win would guarantee they finish with a top-two seed in the playoffs.
- NJIT has won back-to-back games to improve to 8-5 in conference play. The Highlanders’ 75-70 victory over Binghamton clinched the season sweep.
- An NJIT win or Binghamton loss would secure NJIT at least a No. 5 seed in the playoffs.
- If NJIT wins two of its final three games they will secure their best #AEHoops record since joining the conference.
UNH (2-11) at UMBC (9-5) – 2 PM
- UMBC fell to UAlbany on Wednesday, dropping to 9-5 in conference play. A win on Saturday would assure that UMBC will be no lower than a No. 5 seed in the playoffs.
- If UMBC wins and NJIT loses, UMBC will be a top-four seed and earn a home quarterfinal contest.
- The Retrievers have their highest conference win total since going 13-3 and winning the 2010-11 regular season championship.
- UNH is 2-11 in conference play after falling to UVM on Wednesday. The Wildcats could still finish as a No. 7 or No. 8 seed whether they win or lose on Saturday.
- The Wildcats own the fourth ranked scoring defense in conference play at 60.8 points per game.
UMass Lowell (1-12) at Binghamton (6-7) – 2 PM
- Binghamton dropped to 6-7 in #AEHoops action with a loss at NJIT on Wednesday. The Highlighters secured the season sweep with the win and moved two games ahead of them in the standings.
- Despite the loss, the Bearcats are assured that they won’t fall below a No. 6 seed in the playoffs.
- The Bearcats could still finish with a 9-7 record in conference play if they win out, though they finish the season with contests against UVM and Maine.
- UMass Lowell is coming off a 63-54 loss to Bryant on Wednesday. They finished the season with a series split of Bryant who is one game ahead of them in the standings.
- Even if UMass Lowell loses on Saturday they could still earn the No. 7 or No. 8 seed in the playoffs, regardless of whether UNH wins on Saturday. Bryant has a bye this coming Saturday.
Maine (9-4) at UAlbany (12-2) – 7 PM
- UAlbany improved to 12-2 with a 74-67 victory over UMBC this past Wednesday.
- If UAlbany beats Maine then they are guaranteed a top-two seed in the playoffs. The Great Danes would also secure at least the No. 2 seed with one win in their final two contests. They were the No. 2 seed a season ago.
- Maine earned a crucial victory at New Hampshire on Feb. 13 to snap a three-game losing streak and improve to 9-4 in conference play.
- The Black Bears could finish anywhere from No. 1 to No. 5 in the standings, depending on the outcomes of their three games and a variety of tiebreakers. However, if Maine beats UAlbany they are not guaranteed a top-four seed, given the many tiebreakers still to be decided.
- A win for Maine over UAlbany would give them a season sweep of the Great Danes and could come into play if the two teams end up tied in the standings with matching 12-4 records. Maine also lost twice to Vermont this year and split with UMBC
- UAlbany, Maine & UVM could still finish tied atop the standings with a 12-4 record. If that happens, UVM would earn top seed in the tiebreak, Maine would take second and UAlbany would drop to the No. 3 seed. Against each other, UVM owns a 3-1 record, Maine would be 2-2 and UAlbany would be 1-3 record.
America East Tiebreaking Procedures
Ties for championship seeding will be broken from the top of the standings down. In the event of a tie between two or more teams, the tie shall be broken using the following criteria in order:
- Winning percentage in conference games versus the other teams with which it is tied (i.e., head-to-head competition).
- Winning percentage in conference games versus the other conference opponents in descending rank order. In the event of arriving at another group of tied teams (i.e., teams with identical records yet to be broken by tie break) when comparing records, each team’s record (winning percentage) versus the tied teams is used rather than the performance versus the individual tied teams.
- Winning percentage in conference road games. In the event a conference game was played on a neutral court, the team awarded the home game by the conference office when the schedule was issued is considered the home team.
- Better NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking through end of conference regular-season games.
- Draw conducted by the Commissioner or his/her/their designee.
Note: Once a tie is broken among three or more teams, immediately return to (1) to break the tie between the remaining teams.