America East Basketball: Vermont, Stony Brook, 2019 conference tournament favorites
By Cody Gerena
Quarterfinals Predictions
All games are played at home court of higher-seed which will then be re-seeded after each round.
(3) UMBC Retrievers vs. (6) Albany Great Danes
Saturday, March 9 at 1:00 pm EST on ESPN+
UMBC is 1-1 against Albany with their win being an overtime home win, but UMBC is 7-1 at home against America East opponents, so it’s hard not to put your faith in them. I see the tournament bid on the line motivating them to pull off wins that they would have some trouble with before more easily.
UMBC advances
(5) UMass Lowell River Hawks vs (4) Hartford Hawks
Saturday, March 9 at 5:00pm EST on ESPN+
These teams are 1-1 against each other as well. UMass Lowell is a team looking to prove everyone wrong after being chosen to finish near the bottom of the conference in the preseason poll, while Hartford was predicted to do well and has a lot of seniors hungry for their first NCAA Tournament appearance.
Hartford advances
(8) Maine Black Bears vs (1) Vermont Catacombs
Saturday, March 9 at 7:00pm EST on ESPN+
Vermont is the best team in this conference and they have the best player and some of the best players in the conference. Maine does not. Vermont beat Maine twice by over 20 points each time.
Vermont destroys Maine at least by 20
(7) Binghampton Bearcats vs (2) Stony Brook Seawolves
Saturday, March 9 at 7:00pm EST on ESPN+
This is basically a re-skin of the Vermont game. Good, dominant team with good players versus the bad team with not much value. Stony Brook won both matchups.