Bryant Claims 1st #AEHoops Regular-Season Crown, Jersey Mike's #AEPlayoffs Bracket Set Ex

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BOSTON – For the first time since 2010, the #AEPlayoffs will feature a first-time #1 seed as Bryant claimed its first-ever America East men’s basketball regular-season title on Tuesday evening. The Bulldogs sit atop the bracket for the 2025 Jersey Mike’s America East Men’s Basketball Playoffs, which start in just four days!

The drama of postseason basketball will take place on a minimum of four America East campuses for the 11^th-straight season on the men’s side with the higher seeds hosting each round. Joining Bryant as quarterfinal hosts are #2 Vermont, #3 Maine and #4 UAlbany.

Bryant (20-11, 14-2 AE) – First team other than Vermont to earn outright regular-season title since 2016; #AEPlayoffs No. 1 seed for the first time; First 20-win season since 2021-22; winners of 14 of last 16 games
Vermont (20-11, 13-3 AE) – Seeded #2 for first time since 2010; Aiming for sixth America East title in the last seven seasons; 16th-straight 20-win campaign in a full season; Riding nine-game win streak
Maine (18-13, 10-6 AE) – Highest seed since 2010-11 season; Most overall and conference wins since 2009-10
UAlbany (16-15, 8-8 AE) – Top four seed for the first time since 2018; most wins since 2017-18 season
Binghamton (15-16, 7-9 AE) – Earn #5 seed for third-straight season; Matched last season’s win total
UMass Lowell (17-14, 6-10 AE) – Reached three of last four America East title games; Winning record for the third-straight season
New Hampshire (8-22, 6-10 AE) – Reached semifinals in each of the last two seasons
UMBC (13-18, 5-11 AE) – Reached AE title game three times since 2018

Tonight, Bryant trailed New Hampshire by as many as nine in the first half but used an impressive 42-4 run bridging the first and second halves to win, 90-56, and lock up the No. 1 seed. The Bulldogs are the league’s first outright regular-season champion other than Vermont since 2016. In Orono, Maine held off UMass Lowell, 71-70, to earn the No. 3 seed while Vermont beat UAlbany, 79-71, behind 24 points from TJ Hurley and NJIT knocked off Binghamton in its season finale, 75-72, on Tim Moore Jr.’s three-pointer as time expired.

Quarterfinal action takes place on Saturday, March 8 with No. 2 Vermont hosting No. 7 New Hampshire to kick off the day’s action at 3 p.m. Top-seeded Bryant will face No. 8 UMBC at 4 p.m. in Smithfield while No. 6 UMass Lowell visits No. 3 Maine with a 6 p.m. tip. No. 5 Binghamton takes the quick trip down Route 88 to face #4 UAlbany at 7 p.m. to wrap up the day.

The four quarterfinal winners will square off in the semifinals on Tuesday, March 11 at the two highest remaining seeds. The bracket will be re-seeded with the highest-remaining seed hosting the lowest-remaining seed and the second-highest remaining seed hosting the second-lowest remaining seed. One of the games will tip at 9 p.m. ET and air on ESPN2.

The two semifinal winners will play for the America East title and an automatic NCAA bid on Saturday, March 15 at 11 a.m. at the highest remaining seed’s home court. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2.

Tickets can be obtained by contacting each host’s ticket office or visiting #AEPlayoffs Central.

All 2025 #AEPlayoffs action can be watched on ESPN networks. The entire championship will air on ESPN+ as part of The AE on ESPN with a simulcast for international viewers on AmericaEast.TV. One semifinal will also air on ESPN2 at 9 p.m. while the championship game will be also be nationally televised on ESPN2. All three rounds will also be available via the ESPN app.

Complete postseason information can be found at americaeast.com/mbbplayoffs.

ABOUT AMERICA EAST
Founded in 1979, the America East Conference is an elite NCAA Division I athletic conference that fosters an environment for student-athletes to become champions. Comprised of academically renowned, like-minded member institutions located in the Northeast region of the United States, America East is committed to broad-based excellence and progressive in its approach to supporting its more than 3,500 student-athletes across 18 sponsored sports. For more information, visit www.AmericaEast.com and follow the America East Conference its social media channels, @AmericaEast.