Albany NCAA Gameday - Media Round Up

After yesterday's media sessions at Texas A&M's Reed Arena, the Albany women's basketball team got some press leading up today today's game. Here are some of those links.

Albany's Coach Abe talking
with Texas A&M head coach
Gary Blair between practices
Friday afternoon.

The official AP preview on ESPN looks at how Texas A&M has become a contender while Albany is making just its first-ever tourney appearance.

Albany Times Union reporter Tim Wilkin poses the question of why can't Albany women's basketball make even more history after such a historic season for the program so far? A No. 14 seed has never beaten a No. 3 seed in NCAA Tournament history, but the Danes are looking to be the first.

The Times Union also published a piece in today's paper about Texas A&M's reaction to playing Albany in the first round and how impressed they are by the Great Danes' fundamentals, as well as a little concerned about facing another 6-8 center after seeing Baylor's Brittany Griner all conference season long.

Andrew Santillo of the Troy Record writes in his preview that the Danes need to stay in the moment, a moment that they feel well prepared for. Julie Forster speaks about how the battle on the boards will tell the tale in this game.

Bob Weiner also has a game preview today about how "underdog Albany is not going to roll over."

The Eagle in College Station talks about A&M staying home and hosting the first and second rounds and more about the mutual respect between Aggie head coach Gary Blair and Abrahamson-Henderson. The paper's women's college basketball notebook also talks about the Danes' new sweatsuits as well as Megan Craig.

Your News Now is in College Station with the team and also got Texas A&M's reaction and thoughts on Katie Abrahamson-Henderson's squad. The Aggies, the defending national champions, are definitely not overlooking the Danes.

The Stage Is Big In Texas For The Great Danes

Just like everything else in Texas, the stage is big.

For the Albany Great Danes, who are making the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, the stage may be big, but the game is still basketball.

"When you first get here, you notice the nervousness," said Albany junior forward Julie Forster. " But once you get playing, once the first whistle blows, you're playing basketball, it's something you've been doing all your life."

Ebone Henry, Julie Forster, Cassandra Callaway and Coach Katie
Abrahamson-Henderson at the NCAA press conference on the
eve of the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

During Friday's practice and press conference day at Texas A&M, host of the NCAA Women's Basketball first and second rounds where No. 14 seeded Albany will face the No. 3 seeded host Aggies, the message was clear that this Great Danes team traveled south this week to fight hard and play relentless Saturday night against the defending national champions. The game will tip off at approximately 6:30 tomorrow night and will air live on ESPN2 and on ESPN3.

When asked during the press conference about what her message to her team has been in preparation for the game, Albany head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson answered, "But they [Texas A&M] can only play 5 players on the court, and the basket is the same, the ball is the same, the rim is the same, the floor is the same. We just have to get through those first five minutes of nerves."

Following their press conference this afternoon, the Great Danes practiced on the game court at Reed Arena where Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair hopes to have 8,000 fans in the stands on Saturday. There's a lot of passion in Aggieland for this women's hoops squad.

"We sold somewhere near 5,500 tickets. I hope we're a last minute sell because I want to get around 8,000. I know we're on Spring Break, but I know there are another 140,000 people here too. Whether there are Aggie fans or basketball fans, come out and support something special," said Blair on Friday.

The largest crowd the Great Danes have played in front of this year was about 3,300 at Toledo back before Thanksgiving.

Head Coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson wearing the team's
newest "America East Champions" gear.

Coach Abe has been able to motivate this team plenty so far this year, evidenced by the story she told about the team's new gear they were all sporting around the arena.

"I brought these [black warmups] to them blank before we played in the final game of our championships, we had a week off in our conference. I brought them Thursday, and they were like 'ooh, these Jordan sweats are sweet.' And I said 'There's nothing on them, it depends on what you want to put on them. Do you want them to say 22-10 or 23-9?' Those are the little motivational things I do for them.

"I wanted them to be proud and walk around with their chests out and they've earned all that. So it just gives them a little bit of swagger as you say and walk around and be proud of what they are and what they're doing."

The Danes getting down to business and showing their serious side.

Albany has plenty to be proud about, including everything that got the team to where it is right now, somewhere that no other team in program history has been able to get to. At 23-9, the Great Danes have already won more games than any other team in program history and have more hardware than any of their predecessors.

But instead of reveling in all of the glory of what they've so far achieved, Julie Forster and the Great Danes are serious and business-like to how they approach this NCAA game.

"We're not here to enjoy Texas," asserted Forster. "We're here to play basketball. Looking back, I'm sure it [first tournament appearance] will be a great experience, but right now we're just focused on the game."

Vermont-North Carolina Live Blog

Welcome to the Greensboro Coliseum where 16th-seeded Vermont will take on top-seeded North Carolina in the second round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. Tip time in 4:18 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on TBS with Jim Nance and Clark Kellogg on the call. Follow along here for updates throughout the game.

6:18 p.m. (Final) - It's a final. North Carolina upends Vermont 77-58. The Catamounts hung with the No. 4 team in the country for much of the game, but in the end Carolina's size prevailed. Tyler Zeller recorded a double-double of 17 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Tar Heels. Sandro Carissimo led UVM with 11 points. Check out AmericaEast.com later for the full recap, highlights and postgame reaction.

6:09 p.m. (3:14 left in 2nd half) - UNC has extended its run to 26-11 and has a 73-47 lead as the game winds down. Tyler Zeller is done for the day after registering a double-double of 17 points and 15 rebounds.

5:55 p.m. (8:33 left in 2nd Half) - Carolina is on 9-2 run and has its largest lead of the day, 57-37, with 8:33 left to play.

5:13 p.m. (Halftime) - Four McGlynn's three-point try right before the half just missed and the Cats trail top-seeded North Carolina, 37-25, at the break. UVM is hanging with the Tar Heels in several areas. Both teams are shooting similarly (UNC - 41 percent, UVM - 38 percent) and Tar Heels hold a slight 19-17 edge on the boards. The difference has come at the free throw line as Carolina's vaunted front line has provided matchup problems for UVM. As a result, UNC as has going to the free throw line 15 times and made 11. On the other end, Vermont is unable to get to the hoop and is just 2-of-2 from the charity stripe. Sandro Carissimo leads UVM with six points while Tyler Zeller has 15 points and nine boards for the Tar Heels.

4:57 p.m. (3:56 left in 1st half) - Tyler Zeller has been the difference in this one so far. The seven-footer already has 10 points and nine rebounds. Carolina has scored seven of the game's last nine points and leads 26-19.

4:50 p.m. (7:17 left in 1st half) - Vermont has scored six of the game's last eight points and trails Carolina by just two, 17-15.

4:36 p.m. (10:45 left in 1st half) - Both teams are trying to find their rhythm on offense. The Catamounts are shooting just 31 percent (4-of-13) but that's better than North Carolina, which has hit 27 percent of its attempts (4-of-15). North Carolina leads 11-9.

4:28 p.m. (13:51 left in 1st half) - Vermont got to the all important first media timeout down by just three and trail North Carolina, 9-6, with 13:51 left in the first half. The Catamounts will have to stand toe to toe with the Tar Heels on the glass if they want to keep this game close. UNC leads the nation with a +10.8 rebound margin. So far the Tar Heels hold a slight 8-7 edge.

4:11 p.m.: Here are the starting lineups. The biggest piece of news is first-team All-ACC forward John Henson is out of the UNC lineup with an injured wrist. The Tar Heels will go with Kendall Marshall and Reggie Bullock at the guards and Harrison Barnes, James Michael McAdoo and Tyler Zeller up front. Vermont counters with its regular starting five of Sandro Carissimo and Brendan Bald in the backcourt and Luke Apfeld, Brian Voelkel and Matt Glass up front.

Day 3 Postseason Media Wrap

“Why not us?”

Those were John Becker’s words on Thursday when asked by media about a No. 16 seed, in this case his own Vermont Catamounts, defeating a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. It’s something never before accomplished in the history of the Big Dance but viewed as a special opportunity by UVM’s head coach and players.

Media personnel out of Burlington, who have certainly earned the road warrior label over the last few days, continue their coverage of the Cats from Greensboro as they prepare to take on No. 1 North Carolina this afternoon.

WCAX Channel 3 set up shop outside the Greensboro Coliseum yesterday for several live feeds back to Burlington. Scott Fleishman spoke with Becker about the preparations for the Tar Heels and also with several Catamount players.

The Burlington Free Press also made the trek to Greensboro and UVM beat writer John Fantino wrote a pair of stories for today’s paper. The first breaks down the team’s attitude about facing a Goliath today while in his second article, we hear from some Tar Heel players and head coach Roy Williams about what the Cats do so well.

There are UNC-UVM notes up on the North Carolina Basketball Blog on ESPN.com right now. Leading off: some details on how Four McGlynn became ‘Four.’

And as the Catamounts ready for the 4:10 tip-off today on TBS, they can rest assured that a pet goat back in Essex, Vt., picked them over the Tar Heels. Check out that story, here.

Vermont is not the only America East hoops squad in action this evening. The Hartford women are back in action for the first time in nearly two weeks when they host Syracuse in the first round of the WNIT. How will the two-week layoff impact the Hawks? The Hartford Courant has the answer.

The Albany women, meanwhile, continue to prepare for the defending national champion Texas A&M in their NCAA Tournament first round matchup on Saturday. This Great Dane team has come a long way in two seasons with Katie Abrahamson-Henderson at the helm. And as the Troy Record tells us, it all started with a little criticism of their handshakes.

Welcome to Greensboro: UVM Practice Report

It's been a whirlwind 24 hours for the Vermont men's basketball team. At this time yesterday, the Cats were taking on Lamar in the NCAA First Round in Dayton, Ohio. Fast forward to the present and UVM has just completed its open practice at the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina. In between was a win over the Cardinals, the program's second NCAA victory in five years, an 8 a.m. charter flight here and a 1:30 practice at Greensboro College.

When asked in today's press conference if the team was tired, Four McGlynn responded, "It's been a long couple days." That doesn't mean the Catamounts won't be ready to face top-seeded North Carolina tomorrow at 4:10 p.m. "We're going into the game as confident as we have been all year," said McGlynn, who scored a game-high 18 points in last night's win over Lamar. "We have been playing great as of late, been on a pretty good winning streak, and we know that everyone's doubting us. But at the end of the day, it comes down to 12 guys on our team and the coaches in the locker room that believe in us and we're going to believe in each other and go out there and fight and hopefully come out with a win."

Count Tar Heel head coach Roy Williams and guard Kendall Marshall among those impressed by the Catamounts' showing Wednesday. "I was extremely impressed with their intelligence on the offensive end of the floor and how hard they worked defensively," said Williams. "But the thing that got me is their intelligence on the offensive end of the court and (that they had)the right guys shooting the ball and they use the clock and ran it down to the end and got great shots at the end, which is hard to do."

"Vermont is a very good team, they're here for a reason," said second-team All-ACC guard Marshall. "They do a very good job of playing as a team. One thing that we have to do is not get frustrated. They do a great job of running their offense and really looking for the best shot available. They have no selfish players on their team, so those are the main things I got out of the game."

Tomorrow, Vermont will try to become the first No. 16 seed to ever beat a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament when it faces UNC. But for now, UVM coach John Becker says his young team, which relies on six underclassmen for major roles, is just enjoying the ride and ready for the challenge. "Murphy's law says it's (a 16 beating a 1) going to happen at some point and why not us?," said Becker, who became the fifth coach in America East history to win an NCAA game last night. "We have a game plan, and there's something about this group and I believe in these guys, and we're going to come out expecting to win tomorrow and try to hang around. And the longer we can hang around, the better it will be and we'll see what happens."

Full Vermont Press Conference Transcript
Full North Carolina Press Conference Transcript

America East Daily Word - March 15

The basketball postseason continues today for America East women’s basketball teams as New Hampshire and Boston University both take to the hardwood. The Terriers lace up for a WNIT first round matchup against St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia while the Wildcats head to Worcester, Mass. to take on Holy Cross in the WBI.

Boston U., making its third NIT appearance in the last 4 seasons, won the regular season championship this year to earn the automatic berth. The Terriers have a 1-2 record in the WNIT with the last win coming in 2009 over Central Connecticut State, 79-60.

Check out an in depth preview of this game between the Terriers and the Hawks.

New Hampshire, meanwhile, makes its first postseason appearance since 1999. Earlier this season, the Wildcats fell to tonight’s opponent, Holy Cross, but were without a very important piece of their team. Morgan Frame was not in uniform for that December matchup but will be tonight after putting together a fine second half of the season for UNH.

Check out this video promo for the game.

In other women’s hoops news, Vermont’s rookie tandem of Nikki Taylor and Kayla Burchill, both Maine natives, were featured in an article today in the Portland Press Herald. Both freshmen had great rookie seasons for the Catamounts in Burlington, Taylor landing on the all-rookie team while Burchill leading the team in three-pointers. The article takes a look at the contributions they made this year.

"They both had great seasons in very different types of areas," head coach Lori Gear-McBride said in the article. "It's so nice to have them step up for us and continue to grow and develop. I'm very excited about the future."

The Bangor Daily News published a story today updating us on the Maine softball teams’ season thus far. New head coach Lynn Coutts saw many positives during the Black Bears’ spring trips to Florida and California and now the team just needs to put things together. Check out the full article, here.

In women’s lacrosse action yesterday, No. 20 Albany saddled No. 14/12 Boston College with a road defeat. The Great Danes scored 11 first half goals en route to the 16-12 win over the Eagles. Also earning wins yesterday in women’s lax were New Hampshire, Boston University and UMBC.

For all your America East news, be sure to keep it locked on AmericaEast.com and AExtra!

Getting to Know Your AE Athletes

Think you can name the four Ninja Turtles? Or the Seven Dwarfs? If you could be on a reality television show, which one would it be?

Those are just some of the questions we threw at America East coaches and student-athletes over the last few months. The answers we got prompted the video below, the second edition of 'Getting to Know Your AE Athletes.'

Day 2 Postseason Media Wrap

It’s one of the only shows in town up in Burlington and now the show is headed to Greensboro for a date with No. 1 North Carolina.

The Vermont men’s basketball team punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament’s second round last night with a win over fellow No. 16 seed Lamar, 71-59, in a first round contest. This is the Cats’ second NCAA Tourney win, their last coming in 2005 over Syracuse.

This UVM team is quite different than the 2005 squad so USA Today thought it would be a good idea to get to know this group of Cats a little better. Check out a great article and some unique facts.

Head coach John Becker told Sports Illustrated after the game that he was "numb." The Magazine interviewed Becker's father and wife about the family's journey over the last four years when Becker first arrived in Burlington. The "gamble" has paid off for the first-year coach.

UVM pushed its lead over Lamar to 16 at one point in the second half. After Tuesday night’s action in Dayton, where no lead appeared to be safe, the Cats maintained control. Rusty Miller of the Associated Press breaks down how UVM was able to get the win.

Four McGlynn scored 18 points off the bench to pace UVM and naturally everyone wanted a chance to speak with the freshman. Sirius XM Radio chatted up the rookie after the victory last night as he and his teammates tried to soak in the feeling of winning a tourney game.

Speaking of bench production, UVM’s bench outscored the Lamar bench 35-5 on Wednesday. McGlynn was certainly a big part of that but Vermont native Pat Bergmann provided 8 points on 4-of-4 shooting off the bench. As John Fantino writes in the Burlington Free Press, the senior doesn’t want to go home just yet. Fantino was a busy man in Dayton, filing two more stories – a recap of the night’s action and a nice look at the Big Dance experience from a variety of perspectives.

WCAX Channel 3 sports reporter Scott Fleishman mentions a few factors that contributed to the UVM win in his video wrap. But it all comes down to defense and rebounding for the Hoopcats. Check out the story, here.

Highlights and postgame reaction? ESPN.com has all of that, plus UVM Athletics has a great photo gallery.

Now the Cats head to Greensboro, N.C. to face Harrison Barnes and the North Carolina Tar Heels. That game is scheduled to tip on Friday afternoon at 4:10. Make sure you keep it here on AExtra for all the coverage of the UVM tourney run.

One other postseason game to speak of last night as Albany took on Manhattan in the first round of the Collegeinsider.com Tournament. Despite a career-high 23 points from Jacob Iati and 18 from Gerardo Suero, Albany fell to the Jaspers, 89-79. The off-season will now begin for the Great Danes, but as point guard Mike Black pointed out to the Times Union and Troy Record (Video), things are looking up with everyone coming back.

Welcome to Dayton

Welcome to the University of Dayton Arena where Vermont will take on Lamar in the first round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship tonight at 6:40 p.m. The Catamounts are the last America East team to win an NCAA game (2005, Syracuse) and are looking to become the seventh overall to win an NCAA contest. To do so the Catamounts will need to beat the Cardinals, the Southland Conference champions. We'll keep you up-to-date all game long here on AExtra and on Twitter.

6:33:
Vermont is finishing up its warmups right now and looks loose. That's consistent with the Catamounts' demeanor all season. Head coach John Becker said as much yesterday. "If you've ever been around our team, it's a loose group," said Becker. "So I'm not worried about them getting too uptight. And we'll just continue to try to keep things as normal as possible for them and keep things as they've been every game and approach it the same way and let them enjoy, obviously, the experience."

7:01 p.m. (11:18 left in 1st half) - The Catamounts survived the first four minutes in which Lamar built an 8-4 lead and looked like the aggressor on both ends. The Cardinals hit their four of their first seven shots while the Catamounts started just 2-of-7. The tide has changed since the first media TO. Vermont has scored nine of the game's last 13 points and made four of their last six shots. Four McGlynn have provided the spark with nine points off the bench.

7:12 p.m. (6:50 left in 1st half) - Four McGlynn has taking little time to prove why he's the America East Rookie of the Year. The freshman has come off the bench and scored 10 points in just eight minutes of action, shooting 4-of-7 from the field and 2-of-3 from three-point land. McGlynn has sparked the Catamounts' 13-0 run and they lead 22-12 with 7:05 left.

7:38 p.m. (Halftime) - Vermont takes a 30-21 lead into halftime of its NCAA First Round contest. The Catamounts shot 46.4 percent in the first half while holding Lamar, a team that averages 73.9 points to just 21 points and 29 percent shooting. UVM's bench has a key factor in building the lead, outscoring the Cardinals' reserves 20-5. Four McGlynn led the way and has a game-high 10 points. Pat Bergmann has added six. Brian Voelkel, the league's leading rebounder, already has 10.

8:01 p.m. (14:50 left in 2nd half) - The Catamounts have continued their strong play into the second half. The Cats, who lead 43-29 with 14:50 left, are getting good looks inside and have hit 4-of-7 shots to start the period.

8:26 p.m. (6:18 left in 2nd half) - Held scoreless since the 8:26 mark of the first half, Four McGlynn just canned a huge three-pointer from the right wing to push Vermont's lead back up to 12. The Cardinals had climbed within seven. The Catamounts lead 59-47 with 6:18 left.

8:45 p.m. (Final) - For the second time since 2005, Vermont has won an NCAA tournament game, America East's seventh all time. The Catamounts shot 50 percent from the field and beat Lamar, 71-59, behind 18 points from Four McGlynn in the first round and advance to the second round in Greensboro where they'll face top-seeded North Carolina Friday. We'll have more in a bit.

12:15 a.m. - Check out the official recap, box score and press conference quotes here from Vermont's NCAA win over Lamar tonight. We'll have more coverage from Greensboro, N.C. tomorrow.

America East Daily Word - March 14

Things couldn’t have started any better for the Maine baseball team this season. Under the lights on a Friday night at then No. 16 Clemson, a two-run eighth inning rally propelled the Black Bears past the Tigers, 6-5, in the season opener.

Maine then hit a bout with inconsistency over the remaining portion of the southern trip, playing well at points but struggling at others.

Now the Black Bears search for that consistent play as they begin the northern portion of their schedule. Pete Warner of the Bangor Daily News wrote an article in today’s paper that breaks down the season so far.

“We played like a [NCAA] regional team at times and we played like a Little League team a times,” Maine coach Steve Trimper said in the article. “We just need to get a little more consistent and that will come.”

Check out Warner’s article on the Black Bears, here.

Maine looks to pick up the big hits up north starting Friday at the Strike Out Cancer Tourney against New Jersey Tech.

We’ve got a big day for women’s lacrosse today as all seven America East schools are in action. No. 19 Stony Brook, aiming to bounce back from its first loss of the season to Duke, fell to No. 6/5 Florida in Gainesville. Albany, meanwhile, knocked off nationally Boston College, 16-12, this afternoon.

Binghamton looks for consecutive win No. 3 when it travels to Lehigh, Boston University heads west to take on the Cal Golden Bears, UMBC plays host to Colgate, New Hampshire also makes a trek to the west coast for a date with Fresno State and Vermont makes the quick trip to Hanover, N.H. to take on Dartmouth.

Craving some postseason hoops? You can get your fill tonight as two America East men’s squads hit the hardwood in postseason tournaments.

Vermont goes after is second NCAA Tournament victory all-time in its fifth overall appearance in the Big Dance when it takes on Lamar tonight in Dayton, Ohio. The run of success over the last ten years for the Catamounts is staggering. AExtra has more on the turnaround of the Vermont program since the turn of the millennium.

Also in action tonight, Albany plays host to Manhattan in the Collegeinsider.com Tournament. The Great Danes are playing in their third post season tournament since 2006. Check out a preview from the Troy Record.

In other hoops news, three players, Boston U.’s Darryl Partin, Stony Brook’s Bryan Dougher and Albany’s Gerardo Suero were named to all-district teams by the National Association of Basketball Coaches today. Partin earned first-team honors while Dougher and Suero both appear on the second team.

Day 1 Postseason Media Wrap

Like we said yesterday, it is the most wonderful time of the year. And if you had any doubts of that, the first night of men’s hoops postseason play should have dispelled them immediately. A record seven America East hoops teams will take the court and experience the Madness this year.

Men’s basketball regular season champion Stony Brook got our teams started last night in the first round of the NIT against Seton Hall. After falling behind 12-2 to start the game, the Seawolves fought valiantly the rest of the evening, taking a 39-36 lead at one point in the second half. The Pirates regained the lead but Stony Brook had a shot to win it at the end of regulation trailing only by two, 63-61. Bryan Dougher’s long three-point try found the hands of Tommy Brenton but the Defensive Player of the Year’s follow hung on the rim and rolled off as time expired.

Newsday’s Greg Logan has all postgame reaction from South Orange, N.J., and check out the wrap from Mike Gleason and Tim O’Toole, the tandem who called the game on ESPN3.

Two more men’s hoops teams take the hardwood tonight as Albany plays in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament hosting Manhattan and Vermont makes its fifth appearance in the NCAA Tournament taking on Lamar in Dayton, Ohio tonight on TruTV.

Andrew Santillo of the Troy Record breaks down the matchup in today’s paper. A big theme throughout the story: how the Danes won’t have to wait until next season to forget about the finish against Stony Brook two weeks ago in Hartford. Also, hear from Jacob Iati and Gerardo Suero in a video put together by Albany Athletic Communications.

But the big game tonight, Lamar and Vermont. Catamounts and Cardinals. The winner moves on in the Big Dance to face No. 1 North Carolina on Friday in Greensboro.

Rivaling the consistency of UVM on the court has been the coverage of the Catamounts by Burlington media, which made the trek from Burlington to Dayton – and all 800 miles in between. Scott Fleishman of WCAX Channel 3 reported yesterday from the Cats’ practice at Wright State University. You can check out the full report, here.

Meanwhile, John Fantino of the Burlington Free Press has been with UVM every step of this journey and he continues with his pregame coverage today. Fantino wrote a preview article as well as a more in depth breakdown of the contrasting styles that UVM and Lamar bring to tonight’s action.

Use the TruTv channel finder to find the Catamounts in your viewing area. Tip-off tonight is scheduled for 6:40.

Vermont's Renaissance

After winning its fifth America East title in 10 years on Saturday, Vermont will play in the NCAA tournament for the fifth time in that span, starting tonight against Lamar in the NCAA First Four in Dayton. To fully grasp the scope of UVM's accomplishments over the past 11 years, let's go back in time...

It was March of the 2001 and Vermont had just wrapped up a 12-17 campaign with a loss in the America East quarterfinals. The story was all too familiar to the Catamounts. The losing season was their 24th in the last 32 years and their all-time America East Championship record ran to an unimpressive 6-19.

All that began to change during the 2001-02 season. The emergence of T.J. Sorrentine, who went on to be the league's Player of the Year that season, and the arrival of Taylor Coppenrath, the Rookie of the Year that season and subsequent three-time Player of the Year, began to turn the tides in Burlington. Vermont went 21-8 that season, it's first-ever 20-win campaign and won the America East regular-season title for the first time in school history. The Cats were upset in the conference tournament semifinals that year, but the seeds were sown for an unprecedented decade of success.

You all know what happened next. Vermont went on to win three straight America East titles, its first three in school history, and capped the amazing three-year run with an upset of Syracuse in the first-round of the NCAA tournament in 2005.

With Coppenrath and Sorrentine graduating, conventional wisdom made people wonder if Vermont would be able to sustain its success. Of course the Catamounts did. The great duo passed the torch to Mike Trimboli and Marqus Blakely, who have since handed it off to current stars Matt Glass and Brian Voelkel.

When you look inside the numbers, Vermont's turnaround is quite staggering. Zero 20-win seasons in its first 87 years of basketball have been erased with nine in the last 11 years. Five America East regular-season titles since 2002. A 6-19 tournament record through 22 seasons in America East has been flipped upside down with a 21-6 mark in the last 11 years. One title game appearance in 22 years is forgotten by the Cats reaching seven title games since 2002. No conference championships have turned into five in just 10 years.

As a result, Vermont will be making its eighth postseason appearance in 10 years starting tonight. A win over Lamar would give America East its seventh all-time NCAA win and add another milestone to Vermont's incredible 11-year run, all which seemed pretty improbable back in March of 2001.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It's the middle of March. Welcome to the madness. After a thrilling weekend in Hartford and two great championship games on Saturday, a record seven America East teams will continue their seasons this week, topping the previous high of six set just two years ago.

Four women's teams will continue their seasons for the first time, with conference champion Albany heading to Texas A&M for an NCAA First Round contest on Saturday. Boston University and Hartford will play in the WNIT, the second time in four years the league will have two teams in the tournament. The Terriers will play at Saint Joseph's on Thursday while Hartford will host Syracuse on Friday. New Hampshire will make its second-ever postseason appearance and first since 1999 when it plays at Holy Cross in the WBI Thursday.

Three men's teams are still playing. Stony Brook kicks off the week's action in the first round of the NIT tonight at Seton Hall. You can watch that game on ESPN3. Conference champ Vermont will play in the NCAA Championship for the fifth time in 10 years. The Catamounts face Southland champion Lamar in the NCAA First Four on Wednesday at 6:40 p.m. in Dayton. Albany will make its third-ever postseason showing, and first since 2007, when it hosts Manhattan in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament Wednesday. Men's Postseason Release

America East's communications staff had its bags packed and is on the road to bring you coverage all week long. Check in with AExtra for a behind the scenes look from the road and follow us on Twitter to get up to the minute news. As always, AmericaEast.com will have your official game stories and postgame reaction.

So sit back and enjoy all the action and coverage. Forget the holiday season, this is truly the most wonderful time of the year.

America East Daily Word - March 13

Thought the Albany women’s hoops team was excited when it won the America East tourney?

Well, you should have seen how excited the Danes got on Monday night when they found out their NCAA Tournament fate. Albany is College Station bound as the defending national champion Texas A&M Aggies wait. The NCAA selection committee awarded Albany a No. 14 seed, setting up the matchup with the No. 3 Aggies.

Prior to Monday night, Albany had been projected as a No. 15 seed by ESPN Bracketology so imagine the Danes’ reaction when they saw “Albany” with a “14” next to it. Several news stations in the capital region attended the viewing party to bring you exclusive video of Albany’s excitement. Fox 23, CBS 6 and even the Troy Record broke out the video cameras.

“This is cool, it’s crazy,” guard Lindsey Lowrie told the Times Union’s Tim Wilkin. “We thought we were going to be playing in Maryland. We’re glad we’re going to Texas. We’re all very excited.”

The Danes and Aggies tip-off on Friday night at about 6:30 p.m. EST from College Station. You can catch tip-off on ESPN2.

Also learning about their postseason fate were the women’s hoops squads from Boston University, Hartford and New Hampshire. The Terriers (automatic) and Hawks (at-large) will both take part in the WNIT while New Hampshire accepted an invitation to play in the WBI.

Bryan Dougher and the Stony Brook Seawolves get postseason play started for America East schools when they head to New Jersey to take on Seton Hall tonight. Dougher, a Jersey native, grew up rooting for the Pirates and is excited to play against his hometown team. Newsday’s Steve Marcus has more.

Vermont landed in Dayton last night to prepare for its First Four game against Lamar and spoke to media this morning. Four McGlynn was certainly happy to arrive. The Burlington Free Press ran a column today about Lamar head coach Pat Knight, the son of legendary coach Bob Knight.

While March Madness is certainly upon us, spring sports are in full swing. Stony Brook, Vermont and Binghamton take to the turf today in men’s lacrosse, Hartford hosts UMass on the diamond and Boston U. softball takes on Fordham in Clearwater, Fla.

Stony Brook’s women’s lacrosse team also cracked the national polls yesterday. This marks the first time Seawolves have ever been nationally ranked. Check out the deBeer Media Poll on Inside Lacrosse.

For the live coverage links and all your America East news, head over to AmericaEast.com.

America East Behind the Scenes

Ever wonder how those glorious floor logos end up on the hardwood during the postseason in the America East?

You know the ones. The Newman's Own and America East Championship logos?

Well take a look at this video and watch the America East staff put the floor logos down with incredible speed and efficiency before the first weekend of championship action at the University of Hartford.

America East Daily Word - March 12

Conference champions, national champions and NCAA Tournament bids. What a weekend!

The University of Vermont was championship central on Saturday with the men’s basketball team winning the America East title and Catamount ski team winning a national title.

Things got even more exciting on Sunday night in Burlington as the hoops team gathered at the Upper Deck Pub to find out its NCAA tourney fate. The Cats drew a No. 16 seed and they will face Lamar as part of the ‘First Four’ in Dayton, Ohio on Wednesday. Channel 3 and Channel 5 set up shop at the Upper Deck to get all the sights and sounds from the evening.

John Fantino of the Burlington Free Press also took in the scene and put together a preview of the Lamar-Vermont battle in Dayton.

That game will air on truTV at 6:30 p.m. and the winner earns a shot at No. 1 North Carolina on Friday, in Greensboro, N.C.

Meanwhile, the Albany women, after winning the program’s first America East Championship, will find out their NCAA Tournament opponent this evening. You can watch the selection show tonight at 7 p.m. on ESPN. In the meantime, though, take a look at Tim Wilkin’s article from the Times Union about the Great Dane women.

Yet another champion was crowned in track and field on Saturday, as well. Stony Brook’s Lucy Van Dalen came from behind in the last lap to win the national title in the mile run.  The senior finished with a time of 4:39.76. Van Dalen is the first national champion from the America East since 2008 when Rory Quiller won the pole vault. Check out Van Dalen’s post race interview.

The Stony Brook men’s basketball team fell short in the conference title game but quickly refocused on the NIT. Head coach Steve Pikiell and company learned their opponent last night and Seton Hall awaits in the first round Tuesday evening on ESPN3. ESPNNY.com and Newsday have coverage on this game. And despite the loss in the title game, Stony Brook fans are proud of what the Seawolves accomplished this season.

Women’s NIT selections will also be announced tonight as the Boston University women wait to learn when, where and who they will play. The Terriers are guaranteed a berth after winning the regular season championship.

If you missed any of the sights from the March Madness on Saturday, we have you covered with men’s and women’s game highlights and post game reaction.