2018 America East men's basketball tournament
The 2018 America East men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the America East Conference, which was held on March 3, 6, and 10, 2018. All tournament games were played on home arenas of the higher-seeded school. UMBC defeated regular-season champion Vermont in the championship game to win the tournament and receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. UMBC went on to defeat Virginia to become the first 16th-seeded team to beat the No. 1 seed in one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history.[1]
| 2018 America East men's basketball tournament | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Division I |
| Season | 2017–18 |
| Teams | 8 |
| Site | Campus sites |
| Champions | UMBC (2nd title) |
| Winning coach | Ryan Odom (1st title) |
| MVP | Jairus Lyles (UMBC) |
| Attendance | 17,062 |
| Television | ESPN3 ESPN2 |
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vermont | 15 | – | 1 | .938 | 27 | – | 8 | .771 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UMBC † | 12 | – | 4 | .750 | 25 | – | 11 | .694 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hartford | 11 | – | 5 | .688 | 19 | – | 14 | .576 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Albany | 10 | – | 6 | .625 | 22 | – | 10 | .688 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stony Brook | 7 | – | 9 | .438 | 13 | – | 19 | .406 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New Hampshire | 6 | – | 10 | .375 | 10 | – | 21 | .323 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UMass Lowell | 6 | – | 10 | .375 | 12 | – | 18 | .400 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maine | 3 | – | 13 | .188 | 6 | – | 26 | .188 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Binghamton | 2 | – | 14 | .125 | 11 | – | 20 | .355 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † 2018 America East tournament winner | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Seeds
The top eight teams in the conference standings qualified for the tournament. UMass Lowell was eligible for the tournament for the first time following their four-year transition to Division I. The teams were seeded by record in conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. Binghamton was the only team to not qualify.
| Seed | School | AEC Record | Tiebreaker |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vermont | 15–1 | |
| 2 | UMBC | 12–4 | |
| 3 | Hartford | 11–5 | |
| 4 | Albany | 10–6 | |
| 5 | Stony Brook | 7–9 | |
| 6 | New Hampshire | 6–10 | 1–1 vs. Albany |
| 7 | UMass Lowell | 6–10 | 0–2 vs. Albany |
| 8 | Maine | 3–13 | |
| DNQ | Binghamton | 2-14 | |
Schedule
| Game | Time | Matchup | Score | Television | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterfinals – Saturday, March 3 | |||||
| 1 | 1:00 pm | No. 7 UMass Lowell at No. 2 UMBC | 77–89 | ESPN3 | 1,518 |
| 2 | 4:00 pm | No. 6 New Hampshire at No. 3 Hartford | 60–71 | 1,727 | |
| 3 | 7:00 pm | No. 8 Maine at No. 1 Vermont | 60–75 | 3,266 | |
| 4 | 7:00 pm | No. 5 Stony Brook at No. 4 Albany | 69–60 | 1,785 | |
| Semifinals – Tuesday, March 6 | |||||
| 5 | 7:00 pm | No. 5 Stony Brook at No. 1 Vermont | 51–70 | ESPN3 | 3,266 |
| 6 | 7:30 pm | No. 3 Hartford at No. 2 UMBC | 60–75 | 2,234 | |
| Championship – Saturday, March 10 | |||||
| 7 | 11:00 am | No. 2 UMBC at No. 1 Vermont | 65–62 | ESPN2 | 3,266 |
| Game times in ET. Rankings denote tournament seeding. All games hosted by higher-seeded team.[2] | |||||
Bracket and results
[3] Teams are reseeded after each round with highest remaining seeds receiving home court advantage.
| Quarterfinals Saturday, March 3, 2018 ESPN3 | Semifinals Tuesday, March 6, 2018 ESPN3 | Championship Saturday, March 10, 2018 ESPN2 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Vermont | 75 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Maine | 60 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Vermont | 70 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Stony Brook | 51 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Albany | 60 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Stony Brook | 69 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Vermont | 62 | ||||||||||||
| (Pairings are reseeded after the first round) | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | UMBC | 65 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | UMBC | 89 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | UMass Lowell | 77 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | UMBC | 75 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Hartford | 60 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Hartford | 71 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | New Hampshire | 60 | ||||||||||||
References
- Reed, Steve (March 17, 2018). "No. 16 UMBC stuns No. 1 Virginia 74–54 to make NCAA history". Philadelphia, PA: WPVI-TV. Associated Press. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
- "America East tournament Schedule". America East. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
- "2018 America East Men's Basketball Playoffs" (PDF). America East Conference. Retrieved April 30, 2022.