The America East has announced their pre-season basketball polls and pre-season all-conference teams both on the men’s and women’s side.
On the men’s side, Vermont was tabbed for the fifth straight season as favorites in the conference. The Catamounts garned eight of the 10 first place votes, followed by UMBC in second place who took the other two. Vermont is joined by Kentucky as the only two teams in Division I in the country to be picked to win their conference five straight years. Obdiah Noel and Steph Smith make the all-conference pre-season team from Vermont, joined by Zach Cooks (NJIT), Nick Guadarrama (UNH), and Cam Healy (Albany). Following Vermont and UMBC in the poll are UNH, Albany, Stony Brook, Hartford, UMass-Lowell, NJIT, and Binghamton and Maine who are tied for ninth.
On the women’s side, Maine is being picked as conference favorites for the third straight season. The Black Bears took six of the 10 first place votes, followed by Stony Brook with four. Maine will look to advance to an America East championship game for a fourth straight season, as the Bears will seek their third straight title after having their previous championship tilt with Stony Brook canceled back in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Maeve Carroll, Blanca Millan, and Don Saar led the Maine players on the all-conference pre-season team joined by Kharis Idom (UMass-Lowell) and India Pagan (Stony Brook). Following Maine and Stony Brook in the poll are UMass-Lowell, Albany, Binghamton and UMBC tied for fifth, Vermont, Hartford, UNH, and NJIT.
