BOSTON - For the first time since 2013, Vermont is the America East men's basketball preseason favorite, the conference office announced Thursday afternoon. Preseason poll voting was conducted by the conference’s nine head coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own teams.
Vermont, which returns 12 players from a team that hit the 20-win mark for an eighth-straight season a year ago, received six first-place votes and totaled 62 points. New Hampshire was tabbed second after winning a program-record 20 games last year. The Wildcats, led by the lone returning first-team all-conference selection from last year, Tanner Leissner, earned the remaining three first-place votes and 58 points. Here is the full poll:
2016-17 Men's #AEHoops Preseason Coaches' Poll
1. Vermont (6 1st-place votes), 62 pts
2. New Hampshire (3), 58
3. Albany, 49
4. Binghamton, 37
5. UMass Lowell, 31
6. UMBC, 29
7. Stony Brook, 27
8. Hartford, 23
9. Maine, 8
America East is coming off one of its best men’s basketball seasons in recent history as its conference RPI of 23 was its best in four seasons. The conference’s 58 non‐conference wins were its most in six seasons. Four teams made postseason appearances for the second-straight year and combined for three wins, including Vermont reaching the CBI semifinals for the second-consecutive year. Stony Brook’s #13 seed in the NCAA tournament was the best for an America East team since 2007.
Fourteen players who earned All‐Conference, All‐Defensive or All‐Rookie honors in past seasons return for the 2016‐17 season, while 12 of the conference’s top 20 scorers and rebounders are back as well.
The 2016-17 season begins on November 11 with conference play starting on January 4. Conference positioning will again prove key for the #AEPlayoffs. After drawing record-attendance figures each of its first two years, every round of the #AEPlayoffs will take place on the higher seed’s home court for the third-straight season. The league champion will earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, where America East teams have won eight games all-time including Albany in 2014 and Vermont in 2012.
Be on the lookout for individual team previews beginning on October 31.
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