America East and Ivy Preseason Polls Released

Two more conferences released their preseason polls on Wednesday, with Boston University (America East) and Cornell (Ivy League) being named unanimous choices to win their respective leagues. The Terriers return their top six scorers from a season ago but also welcome a new head coach in Patrick Chambers, who takes over following a successful tenure as an assistant at Villanova. The entire poll shook out as follows:

1. Boston U. (8) 64
2. Vermont (1) 56
3. Albany 43
4. Stony Brook 42
5. New Hampshire 39
T6. Hartford 27
T6. UMBC 27
8. Maine 14
9. Binghamton 12 

America East coaches also selected a preseason all-conference squad, naming three players from last year's First-Team All-America East to the roster. They are: 

F Marqus Blakely (Sr., Vermont)
G/F John Holland (Jr., Boston U.)
G Corey Lowe (Jr., Boston U.)
G Muhammad El-Amin (Sr., Stony Brook)
G (tie) Tim Ambrose (Jr., Albany)
G (tie) Joe Zeglinski (Jr., Hartford) 

Unanimous selection in italics

The Ivy League went with a media poll, and they fully expect the Big Red to win their third consecutive league crown. And with all five starters returning it should be no surprise that Steve Donahue's team received all sixteen first-place votes. Princeton is the pick to finish second, followed by Penn and Harvard. 

1. Cornell - 128 points (16 first-place votes)
2. Princeton - 96
3. Penn - 92
4. Harvard - 86
5. Yale - 59
6. Columbia - 55
7. Brown - 41
8. Dartmouth - 19 

Lastly, if you're a fan of MAAC basketball you need to check out the Siena Saints Blog. Currently they're posting some good previews on each of the ten teams in the conference.