Mike Christensen has been in this situation before.

This year, just like in 2006, Christensen and the New Hampshire Wildcats were picked to finish last. This year, just like in 2006, they defied expectations and avoided the Friday night play-in game. And this year, just like in 2006, the Wildcats will go into the tournament as heavy underdogs to the Hartford Hawks.

UNH hopes the result ends up the same. The Wildcats upset Hartford, 66-62, in 2006, a moment that Christensen says is his greatest AE Tournament memory, and one that could have a carry-over effect to this season. “This year the league is even more wide open than it was then, so it could lead to some good things.”

As far as New Hampshire being picked last in two out of three seasons, Christensen says it’s justified.

“It’s part of a natural thing, because we haven’t been competitors for a lot of years,” he says. “But if you asked anyone in the league, I’m sure they’d say they respect us.”

The upset in the 2006 tournament happened at Binghamton University’s Events Center: The same venue where Christensen reached 1,000 points earlier this season, and the same venue where he will have played in all three of his America East Tournaments (he missed last season’s, held in Boston, thanks to a broken foot).

“It’s a great arena,” Christensen said. “I’ve always enjoyed playing out there. The drive’s not the greatest thing, but it’s worth it.”

It’s thus fitting that the Events Center will be the place where Christensen will try one last time to achieve the goal he had when he got to New Hampshire: getting the Wildcats to a championship.

“I enjoyed my visit [to UNH], I thought it was a good opportunity to turn this program around,” said Christensen, who is originally from Virginia. He was also recruited by his current rivals Albany and Vermont, in addition to several southern schools.

“Academically and athletically New Hampshire was a good place to go to school,” Christensen said.

Christensen became the 25th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark this season. In his sophomore year he helped the team to a fifth place finish, its best since 1994. The year before that he was named to the AE All-Rookie Team.

He has defined the Wildcats for the past four seasons and this year has been no different. He’s averaging 12.4 points per game, 15th-best in the conference and a 12th-best 5.8 rebounds per game.

In 2006, when Christensen was a sophomore, he had older players to rely on. This year it’s up to him, a senior captain, to carry over what he learned from the last upset and teach it to a green team that sometimes starts four freshman.

“I have the experience factor,” he says. “Being in a situation where you win, you move on, or your season’s over.”

Regardless of this tournament’s outcome, Christensen knows how he wants to be remembered by Wildcats fans.

“Hopefully just as a guy who gave it all and tried to change the program’s outlook and did his best to take it to another level,” he says.

Christensen sounds off on the hardest place to play in the America East: Vermont. Binghamton’s hard to play, but you love to play there because of the facility. In Vermont the facility is terrible and they have a lot of fans.

What opposing player’s game he respects the most: Mike Gordon, Binghamton: Because of how clutch he is and he has been a consistently solid player in this league.