2020–21 America East Conference men's basketball season

2020-21 America East Conference Men's Basketball Season
2020-21 America East Conference Men's Basketball Season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	10
TV partner(s)	ESPN+, ESPNU, ESPN3, Regional Networks
2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Season champions	UMBC, Vermont
Season MVP	Ryan Davis, Vermont
America East Conference tournament
Champions	Hartford
Runners-up	UMass Lowell
Finals MVP	Austin Williams, Hartford
America East Conference men's basketball seasons
	← 2019–20 2021–22 →

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]

2020–21 America East Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	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

Preseason

The America East announced its preseason honors and polls on November 11, 2020.^[2]

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)

Award	Recipients
All-Conference Team	Zach Cooks (NJIT) Nick Guadarrama (New Hampshire) Cam Healy (Albany) Obadiah Noel (UMass Lowell) Stef Smith (Vermont)

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

The 2021 America East men's basketball tournament took place following the end of the conference regular season.^[3]

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

Seed	Bracket	School	1st Round	2nd Round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Championship

^ "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.
^ "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.
^ ^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.