2020–21 America East Conference men's basketball season

2020-21 America East Conference Men's Basketball Season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
Number of teams10
TV partner(s)ESPN+, ESPNU, ESPN3, Regional Networks
2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Season championsUMBC, Vermont
Season MVPRyan Davis, Vermont
America East Conference tournament
ChampionsHartford
  Runners-upUMass Lowell
Finals MVPAustin Williams, Hartford
America East Conference men's basketball seasons
2020–21 America East Conference men's basketball standings
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
Maine suspended its season on February 13, 2021.
† 2021 AmEast tournament winner

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

Main article: 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball 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

Main article: 2021 National Invitation Tournament
Seed Bracket School 1st Round 2nd Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship

References

  1. ^ "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.
  2. ^ "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.
  3. ^ 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.