Stony Brook and Albany have forged quite a rivalry in recent years. The two teams have met in the America East tournament final for the last two seasons, with the Great Danes coming away with the ticket to the NCAA Tournament both times. However, the Seawolves have been excellent this season, and will be gunning to finally make their very first trip to the Big Dance in 17 years of existence.
Get a quick breakdown of the favorites, sleepers and long shot to win the America East tournament. Meanwhile, don’t forget to check out our previews of the Atlantic Sun and MAAC tournaments.
March Madness News & Predictions
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- 2016 March Madness Longshots and Best Long Shots Picks and Predictions
- 2016 March Madness Preview
- 2016 NCAA March Madness Expert Picks
2016 America East Conference Tournament Preview
Favorites
Stony Brook Seawolves
Stony Brook is having its best season under 10-year head coach Steve Pikiell. The Seawolves stormed through conference play with a 14-2 record, although both of their losses – including a road loss to main rivals Albany – came in their last three games.
Meanwhile, they can count on three-time defending America East Player of the Year Jameel Warney – 19 points, 10 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game this season – to be a force on both ends of the court.
Albany Great Danes
Not to be outdone, Will Brown and his Albany Great Danes are also having a terrific year. The Great Danes (24-7) are set to finish with single-digit losses for the second-consecutive year as they went 13-3 in conference play.
Albany is an incredibly balanced team that managed to put up 78 points per game despite no player averaging over 13 PPG. Meanwhile, their team defense is also terrific. They held opponents to just under 30 percent from beyond the arc, sixth-best in the country.
Albany has won the America East tournament three years running, and beat Stony Brook in the final in each of the last two years.
Sleepers
Vermont Catamounts
It has been an unusual down year for Vermont. The Catamounts went 11-5 in conference play, which will them outside the tournament’s top two seeds for the first time since 2008.
Still, Vermont remains a very dangerous team because of head coach John Becker’s trademark balanced and efficient offense. Despite no player averaging over 12 PPG, the Catamounts still finished with the most efficient offense in the conference per KenPom’s number.
They’ll also come into the tournament on a nice roll. They won their last five regular season games – four by double-digits – and thrashed Stony Brook by 14 on the road in their season finale.
New Hampshire Wildcats
The New Hampshire Wildcats have infamously never qualified for the NCAA tournament in their 78-year history, and their chances of breaking that unfortunate run this year are slim to say the least. But the way they ended their regular season gives at least a glimmer of hope.
The Wildcats went 10-3 in their last 13 games, with their only losses coming against Vermont (twice) and Stony Brook (by a single point on the road). With their very good rebounding and serviceable defense, they have the tools to grind their way toward an unexpected tourney run.
Long Shot
Binghamton Bearcats
As if the odds aren’t already stacked against the conference’s weaker teams, the America East tournament’s reseeding format makes it virtually impossible for the lower seeds to go all the way.
At least Binghamton has the best chance of making it past the first round as the Bearcats face No. 4 New Hampshire. To say the Bearcats’ offense is awful is an understatement, so they’ll have to play out of their minds defensively to pull off a minor miracle in the tournament.
Writer’s Prediction
Stony Brook finally gets over the hump as the Seawolves scrape past Albany in the final.
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