America East Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season

With the 2020-21 campaign starting on November 25th, what will America East Basketball look like heading into the season?

The field had been set for the America East Conference Tournament Championship with Vermont versus Hartford, which had been scheduled for March 14, 2020. Vermont was looking forward to what would have been their fifth straight appearance in the America East Basketball title game.

On the other end, Hartford had never made it into the NCAA Tournament and was looking to pull off the upset. Still, we will be asking ourselves “what if” to the countless number of unanswered questions due to the canceled 2020 March Madness Tournament.

As of today, there are five teams that have never made it to the NCAA Tournament from the America East. These five teams are Hartford, Maine, New Hampshire, UMass Lowell, and conference newcomer NJIT. NJIT joins the America East this season from their previous conference, the Atlantic Sun.

While some teams will look the same by retaining their entire starting lineup, other teams lost the majority of their key pieces and will have new faces inside their starting five. Out of the 15 All-Conference players for the 2019-20 season, only four players will return back to the conference. Two of those players made First-Team All-Conference last season, while two teammates made Third-Team All-Conference.

With the expansion of a tenth team with NJIT, the America East holds plenty of opportunities this season for up and rising players to prove themselves on the court in the conference. In this article, we will dive into what the outlook of the America East Conference will look like for this upcoming 2020-21 college basketball season.