2020–21 America East Conference men's basketball season
| 2020-21 America East Conference Men's Basketball Season | |
|---|---|
 | |
| League | NCAA Division I |
| Sport | Basketball |
| Number of teams | 10 |
| TV partner(s) | ESPN+, ESPNU, ESPN3, Regional Networks |
| 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season | |
| Season champions | UMBC, Vermont |
| Season MVP | Ryan Davis, Vermont |
| America East Conference tournament | |
| Champions | Hartford |
| Runners-up | UMass Lowell |
| Finals MVP | Austin Williams, Hartford |
| Conf. | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UMBC | 10 | – | 4 | .714 | 14 | – | 6 | .700 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vermont | 10 | – | 4 | .714 | 10 | – | 5 | .667 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New Hampshire | 9 | – | 6 | .600 | 10 | – | 9 | .526 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hartford † | 8 | – | 6 | .571 | 15 | – | 9 | .625 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Albany | 6 | – | 6 | .500 | 7 | – | 9 | .438 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UMass Lowell | 7 | – | 8 | .467 | 11 | – | 12 | .478 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stony Brook | 7 | – | 9 | .438 | 9 | – | 14 | .391 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NJIT | 6 | – | 10 | .375 | 7 | – | 12 | .368 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Binghamton | 4 | – | 10 | .286 | 4 | – | 14 | .222 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maine | 2 | – | 6 | .250 | 2 | – | 7 | .222 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † 2021 AmEast tournament winner Maine suspended its season on February 13, 2021. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2020–21 America East Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2020, followed by the start of the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November 2020. Conference play began in December and concluded with the 2021 America East men's basketball tournament. The America East expanded from 9 teams to 10 with the arrival of NJIT on July 1, 2020.[1]
Preseason
The America East announced its preseason honors and polls on November 11, 2020.[2]
Preseason Poll
| Rank | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vermont | 80 (8) |
| 2 | UMBC | 72 (2) |
| 3 | New Hampshire | 66 |
| 4 | Albany | 51 |
| 5 | Stony Brook | 44 |
| 6 | Hartford | 43 |
| 7 | UMass Lowell | 38 |
| 8 | NJIT | 28 |
| T9 | Binghamton | 14 |
| T9 | Maine | 14 |
| (first place votes in parentheses) | ||
Preseason All-Conference Team
| Award | Recipients |
|---|---|
| All-Conference Team | Zach Cooks (NJIT) Nick Guadarrama (New Hampshire) Cam Healy (Albany) Obadiah Noel (UMass Lowell) Stef Smith (Vermont) |
Regular season
Conference matrix
This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Each team is scheduled to play all other conference teams twice.[3]
| Albany | Binghamton | Hartford | Maine | New Hampshire | NJIT | Stony Brook | UMass Lowell | UMBC | Vermont | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs. Albany | – | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| vs. Binghamton | 0–0 | – | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| vs. Hartford | 0–0 | 0–2 | – | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| vs. Maine | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | – | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 |
| vs. New Hampshire | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | – | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| vs. NJIT | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | – | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| vs. Stony Brook | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | – | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| vs. UMass Lowell | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | – | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| vs. UMBC | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | – | 1–1 |
| vs. Vermont | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | – |
| Total | 6–6 | 4–10 | 8–6 | 2–6 | 9–6 | 6–10 | 7–9 | 7–8 | 10–4 | 10–4 |
Postseason
America East tournament
The 2021 America East men's basketball tournament took place following the end of the conference regular season.[3]
NCAA tournament
| Seed | Region | School | First Four | 1st Round | 2nd Round | Sweet 16 | Elite Eight | Final Four | Championship |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | South | Hartford | N/A | defeated by (1) Baylor |
National Invitation tournament
| Seed | Bracket | School | 1st Round | 2nd Round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Championship |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
References
- ^ "NJIT Welcomed as 10th America East Member Institution". America East Conference. americaeast.com. June 15, 2020. Archived from the original on September 4, 2020. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
- ^ "Vermont Once Again Tabbed Men's #AEHoops Favorites". America East Conference. americaeast.com. November 11, 2020. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
- ^ a b "2020-21 #AEHoops Schedules Unveiled". America East Conference. americaeast.com. November 2, 2020. Archived from the original on November 3, 2020. Retrieved January 5, 2021.