Playoff shuffle

With Binghamton pulling out of the America East Conference tournament, the playoff pairings have been shuffled. The play-in game scheduled for Thursday between UMBC and Albany has been cancelled. The No. 6 through 9 seeds each moved up one slot. The new pairings look like this:

1. Stony Brook vs. 8. Albany
4. Boston U. vs. 5. Hartford
2. Vermont vs. 7. UMBC
3. Maine vs. 6. New Hampshire

The big loser appears to be Boston U., which goes from playing Binghamton to having to play Hartford on its home floor. The Terriers will be a prohibitive favorite, but the prospect of playing a lower seed on its home court is never attractive.

The big winners would be Albany and UMBC. Instead of one of those schools having to win a game just to get into the quarterfinal round, they are both in ... and rested to boot.