The 2014-15 America East women’s basketball preseason rankings, released on Wednesday, look very similar to the final standings of the 2013-14 season: Albany on top, Binghamton on bottom. Binghamton was picked by the conference’s head coaches to finish in ninth place for the second consecutive year.
“Based on where we finished in conference last season, it’s not a surprise to be picked to finish in the bottom,” BU head coach Linda Cimino wrote via text message. “We have a challenging non-conference schedule that will prepare us for conference play and we are working hard to be ready to compete in conference. We will look to improve every time we step on the court.”
Albany received 64 points and all eight available first-place votes on Wednesday, as coaches are not permitted to give their own team a first-place vote. The Great Danes have won three straight America East Championships, the last two regular-season titles and 38 consecutive conference games before they had their streak snapped to Stony Brook last season.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Bearcats graduated their entire starting backcourt from last year’s team that went 5-25 and return only one starter in senior forward Sherae Swinson.
Directly trailing Albany in the standings is Stony Brook, which received 51 points. The Seawolves finished 13-3 last season — including their momentous 66-56 victory over Albany — but will have to replace former coach Beth O’Boyle, who left the job to take the helm at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Hartford and New Hampshire finished tied for third in the preseason rankings with 46 points. New Hampshire received the only other first-place vote.
Rounding out the rankings were Maine (43), UMBC (24) and UMass Lowell and Vermont, who tied for seventh with 21 points each.
The America East also announced the Preseason All-Conference Team, which features Albany junior forward Shereesha Richards, who led the conference in scoring with 20 points per game last season, and Stony Brook senior forward Sabre Proctor, who was a first-team AE player in 2013-14. Completing the team were UMass Lowell senior guard Shannon Samuels, Maine junior forward Liz Wood and New Hampshire junior forward Corinne Coia.