Corey Johns of UMBC Sports Blog is the RTC correspondent for the America East Conference.

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Corey Johns is the RTC correspondent for the America East Conference.

Over the past two weeks Boston U and Albany played their way out of contention for the regular season conference championship.  Albany just went in a free fall down the standings, losing five straight while Boston U needed to win out for hope but most recently lost to Stony Brook, taking them out.  It’s down to Vermont and Binghamton.  If Binghamton wins out they are the champion.  They beat Vermont twice this year and have the tie breaker.  But if they slip at all Vermont is in perfect position to take the title.

Team    Overall Record    Conference Record

• Vermont    21-7    12-3
• Binghamton    18-8    11-3
• Boston U    14-12    9-5
• Stony Brook    15-12    7-7
• New Hampshire    11-14    6-7
• UMBC    12-14    6-8
• Albany    13-13    5-8
• Maine    9-17    4-9
• Hartford    6-22    2-12

Projected Awards

First Team All-Conference

• D.J. Rivera, G, Binghamton- (20.4ppg, 6.5rpg, 1,7spg, .487 FG%)
• Darryl Proctor, F, UMBC (20.2ppg, 8.4rpg, 1.3spg, .490 FG%)
• John Holland, F, Boston U (17.9ppg, 5.5rpg, 1.9spg, .461 FG%)
• Mike Trimboli, G, Vermont (16.0ppg, 4.8apg, 3.7rpg, .467 FG%)
• Marqus Blakely, F, Vermont (15.6ppg, 8.9rpg, 2.7bpg, .598FG%)

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Corey Johns is the RTC correspondent for the America East Conference.

Everybody is beating everybody in the America East this year.  It’s a good thing to show how deep the conference is but it’s a bad thing for the NCAA tournament.  When everybody has multiple conference losses, that 14-15 seed teams in this conference hopes for can drop to a 16-play-in game.  But what it does mean right now is nobody is safe, and everybody has a chance to win, shown by the bottom teams being just two conference wins away from the top at this point.

Standings

1. Binghamton    12-7 (5-2)
2. Vermont    13-6 (4-2)
3. Boston U    9-9 (4-2)
4. Albany    11-8 (3-3)
5. Maine    8-11 (3-3)
6. New Hampshire    10-9 (2-4)
7. Stony Brook    10-9 (2-4)
8. UMBC    8-10 (2-4)
9. Hartford    6-14 (2-4)

The Contenders

Vermont- The Catamounts have hit their stride as of late and definitely look like they are the top team in the conference having now won four straight (three on the road).  Mike Trimboli (15.8ppg, 4.7apg), Marqus Blakely (15.2ppg, 8.5rpg), and Colin McIntosh (13.2ppg, 5.6rpg) are a great trio of scorers that have been consistent all season.  The reason Vermont is hot right now though is Michigan state transfer Maurice Joseph has finally become the scoring threat they expected in Vermont.  In the past four games he’s averaged 10.8ppg.  With four guys scoring in double figures on a team, it’s hard to beat them.  But there biggest strength is their bench.  Vermont has been running a six man bench for significant minutes lately, allowing them to play full court press more often and really shutting down teams offenses.

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