The America East Conference announced their 2019-2020 preseason coaches poll on Wednesday. The defending champion Maine Black Bears were the unanimous choice to repeat as conference champions, garnering eight of the nine votes. Coaches aren’t allowed to vote for their own team in the poll.
All eight opposing coaches picked Maine to finish first. Stony Brook finished second and Albany finished third in the poll with one first place vote. The Black Bears are trying to become just the fifth team in conference history to win three straight titles, winning the championship in 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Senior guard Blanca Millan was also named to the preseason All-Conference team for a second straight season. Maine returns three starters who were three of their top five scorers from last season in Millan, Fanny Wadling, and Dor Saar. The Black Bears begin their season with an exhibition game against Stonehill College on October 27 at 4 pm at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. Maine opens their season November 8 at Delaware and the home opener is November 17 against Boston University. Below is the full result of the coaches poll:
1. Maine (8)
2. Stony Brook
3. Albany (1)
4. Binghamton
5. Hartford
6. Vermont
7. UNH
8. UMBC
9. UMass-Lowell
