CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – After winning its second straight women’s swimming & diving title and reaching the men’s basketball championship game, Boston University has taken over first place in the America East Stuart P. Haskell, Jr. Commissioner’s Cup standings. The Terriers, who have won seven of the last eight Cups overall, lead the 2009-10 standings after the completion of the winter season. The Commissioner’s Cup annually recognizes the strongest athletic program in America East as determined by a scoring system which rewards a school for success both during the regular season and at championship competition in the conference’s 20 sports.
Following the six winter championships, Boston University has 241 points and holds a 24-point edge over Stony Brook University, which sits in second place with 217 points after capturing the school’s first-ever regular-season men’s basketball title. New Hampshire is in third place with 192 points and holds a slim two-point lead over Binghamton (190 points), which is in fourth. University at Albany, which swept the indoor track & field crowns, is in fifth place with 168 points, and University of Vermont, which captured both men’s and women’s basketball titles, is sixth with 162. University of Maine and UMBC are tied for seventh place with 139 points, while University of Hartford, the regular-season champion in women’s basketball, rounds out the nine-school field with 128.
Boston University, which was in third place after the fall standings and trailed UNH by eight points, earned double-digit point totals in five of the six winter sports. The Terriers won the women’s swimming & diving title and placed second in men’s swimming and women’s indoor track & field. The Terriers also earned third-place points in men’s and women’s basketball, with the men’s squad reaching the title game, and the women falling in the semifinals.
Stony Brook, which was in sixth place at this time a year ago, won its first-ever regular-season title in men’s basketball and reached the semifinals of the league championship for the first time since 2004. The Seawolves also reached the conference’s final four in women’s basketball for the first time since 2006 to help build a 15-point stronghold on second place.
New Hampshire sits in third-place after top-four finishes by both the men’s and women’s teams at the Indoor Track & Field Championship. The Wildcats, who captured the men’s soccer regular-season crown in the fall to vault into first place, also earned significant points in men’s basketball by reaching the semifinals of the conference championship for the second straight year.
Binghamton finished second in men’s indoor track & field and third in men’s swimming & diving to remain just two points behind the Wildcats, who only compete in three of the eight spring sports, for fourth place.
Albany is in fifth after becoming the first school to sweep the indoor track & field titles since Northeastern in 1994 and is just the second program ever in league history to win both championships in one season.
Vermont earned the second-most points of any school in the winter (110) to move up from ninth to sixth place. The Catamounts became the first school to sweep the men’s and women’s basketball titles since Boston U. accomplished the feat in 1988.
Maine is in a tie for seventh place with UMBC after earning the No. 3 seed for the Men’s Basketball Championship, which was the Black Bears’ highest seed since 2000.
The Retrievers, whose 86 points were fourth most this winter, won their seventh straight men’s swimming & diving title and were the runners-up on the women’s side.
Hartford garnered the most points of any school in women’s basketball after winning the regular-season title and reaching the finals of the conference championship.
The Stuart P. Haskell, Jr. Commissioner’s Cup is named in honor of the first commissioner of America East. Haskell served as commissioner of the conference from 1987 until his retirement in 1997.
The scoring system for the Stuart P. Haskell, Jr. Commissioner’s Cup is as follows: In sports where regular-season round robin competition is conducted, the first-place institution in the final standings receives four points times the total number of teams involved in conference play. The second-place institution receives four less points; third place receives eight less points, and so on. Additionally, the America East (tournament) champion receives two points times the total number of teams participating in the championship. The second-place institution receives two less points; third place receives four less points and so on down to the last-place institution which receives two points.
In sports where regular-season round robin competition is not conducted (cross country, tennis, track and field, swimming and diving), the first-place institution at the America East championship receives two points times the total number of teams participating in the championship. The second-place institution receives two less points; third place gets four less points and so on down to the last place team which receives two points.
2009-10 Commissioner's Cup Standings
School Points
1. Boston U. 241
2. Stony Brook 217
3. New Hampshire 192
4. Binghamton 190
5. Albany 168
6. Vermont 162
7. Maine 139
UMBC 139
9. Hartford 128