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America East Basketball: 2020 conference tournament preview and predictions

By Joe Weidenburner

CATONSVILLE, MD - FEBRUARY 21: The American East Conference logo on the floor before a college basketball game between the Vermont Catamounts and the UMBC Retrievers at the Event Center on February 21, 2019 in Catsonville, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
CATONSVILLE, MD - FEBRUARY 21: The American East Conference logo on the floor before a college basketball game between the Vermont Catamounts and the UMBC Retrievers at the Event Center on February 21, 2019 in Catsonville, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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America East Basketball
CATONSVILLE, MD – FEBRUARY 21: Joe Sherburne #13 of the UMBC Retrievers (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

Coming off its fourth straight America East Basketball regular-season championship, Vermont looks to repeat as tournament champions. Can anyone unseat the Catamounts from its league perch?

Ho-hum, another year, another 1-seed for Vermont in the America East Basketball tournament. The Catamounts have hosted the last three conference title games (winning two) and have played in four championship games in a row. Vermont comes off another impressive regular season performance compiling a 14-2 league record and having faced high-major competition early in non-conference play with wins over St. Bonaventure and St. John’s and losses to Virginia and Cincinnati.

Overall the Catamounts are 24-7 with top-80 rankings in the NET and KenPom and are the clear-cut best team in this league. Barring an early exit, the 2020 America East champion likely will be crowned again in Burlington.

The conference is usually one of haves and have-nots with stark stratification between the good and not so good teams. This year has differed from that trend, as much of the conference has hovered around or below the .500 mark both overall and in conference play. While Vermont is the clear-cut favorite, the rest of the teams are wide open, with no true second banana emerging

One of only two conference teams to take down the mighty Catamounts this year, Stony Brook is the closest thing to a second-best team in the conference and looks to repeat 2016 where the Seawolves toppled Vermont en route to the school’s first and only NCAA Tournament appearance. Geno Ford’s first year at the helm finished with a 10-6 conference record and 19-12 overall. Beyond that, UMBC remains a possibility to recreate the March magic it showed in 2018, but it’s been an uncharacteristically down year for the Retrievers finishing conference play at 8-8 and compiling a 15-16 overall record.

Keeping with recent history, this is Vermont’s tournament title and automatic bid to lose, and any other team representing the America East conference in the NCAA Tournament would be a big surprise.

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