America East Basketball News & Notes: Eight Straight for Vermont

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They did it again! The Vermont Catamounts (23-6, 13-1), with their victory over Bryant on Saturday night, have claimed at least a share of the regular season title for the eighth straight year. They win America East outright one of two ways. Either UMass Lowell loses their Senior night home game vs Bryant on Thursday night. Or they can defeat the River Hawks when the two teams meet on Saturday afternoon in Burlington, VT. The eight straight regular season titles is the second-longest streak in the country. Gonzaga has the record, although that could be in jeopardy this year.

The weekly poll and rankings are out, here is how the league is doing. In the Small Conference Top-25 poll. Vermont is at #4, and UMass Lowell is at #5, a jump of six spots for them. Bryant is at #21 after the Saturday night loss to Vermont. In the Mid-Major Top-25 poll, Vermont is at #16. The Net Ranking looks like this, Vermont is at #100, UMass Lowell is at #139, Bryant is at #163 and New Hampshire is at #210.

The seeding for the upcoming America East Conference Tournament may be quite clear by the end of Thursday night. The River Hawks (19-7, 10-3) with their two wins at home vs Binghamton and UAlbany. Have secured at least a top-3 seed for the tournament. If they defeat Bryant on Thursday night, they will finish no worse than second place in the standings. However, a loss could make things a little more complicated. At the least, it would keep Bryant (17-11,9-4) alive to possibly take the second spot. Last season, the Bulldogs were the sixth seed in the tournament. The Wildcats (15-11,7-6) can lock up the four seed with a win over UAlbany (12-16, 4-9) on Thursday night. For the Wildcats to take the three seed, they would need help since they lost both games to Bryant this season.

The battle to stay out of the cellar in the league is now between UAlbany and NJIT (7-19, 3-11) Both teams will be in action on Thursday night. The Great Danes will be hosting the UNH Wildcats. The Highlanders will be trying to snap a four-game losing streak at home vs UMBC (10-19,5-9). If nothing is settled on Thursday, then on Saturday. UAlbany hosts Maine, while NJIT is at Bryant. For the Highlanders, that would be their final game of the season.

The number 70 is very important to the Binghamton Bearcats (12-14, 4-9) When they hold their opponents under that number in regulation their record is 11-2. When their opponents score more than 70 points, the Bearcats record is 1-12. When Binghamton scored 70 or more their record was 8-3. Under 70 points they are 4-10. The Bearcats were the worst 3-point shooting team in the league until they showed up in Lowell last Thursday night. They were a 29% 3-point shooting team before the game. They went 6-for-15 40% in that game. Guard Symir Torrence leads the league in assists with an average of 7.5 a game. He had 11 vs the River Hawks last week. He is second in the country, behind only Tyler Kolek of Marquette who has 7.7 a game. He is 45th in the nation in assists/turnover ratio at 2.69. That ratio is second best in AE.

UMass Lowell heads into their showdown game with Bryant as the best offensive team in the league. They scored an average of 81.3 points a game. While their defense is third best allowing 70.2. They are the only team in the league with a margin over double-figures at 11.1. They will face a Bryant team that is fourth in offense at 78.3 a game. seventh in defense at 75.1 a game. Their margin is third best at 3.2. Earl Timberlake is tied for the league lead in double-doubles with 11, which is tied for 28th in the country.

The AE Player of the Week is also the River Hawks’s newest 1,000-point scorer. Senior forward Max Brooks averaged 24.5 points, eight rebounds, and three blocked shots in the wins over the Bearcats and Great Danes. He shot 79% from the field, 15-of-19, and 95% from the foul line 19-of-20. He recorded his sixth double-double vs the Bearcats last Thursday night. It is his first weekly award of the year.

The Rookie of the Week in AE is Tariq Francis of NJIT. This is the eighth time he has won the award this season. That ties him for third-most in league history. He averaged 19.5 points, 4.5 assists, four rebounds and two steals. last week. On Thursday night vs UNH, Francis went for his seventh game with at least 20 points, when he scored 23 vs the Wildcats. He also added six assists.

It should be a fun week of hoops in America East. Next week we’ll see how it all shakes out.