Stony Brook ruled ineligible by America East to compete for conference titles after announcing move to CAA
Stony Brook Seawolves players including guard Jahlil Jenkins in the second half of an NCAA Division I men's basketball game against the Vermont Catamounts at Island Federal Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The America East Conference announced Wednesday that Stony Brook's athletic programs would not be eligible to compete for conference championships and the automatic NCAA Tournament qualifying bids that accompany them.
The ruling comes after Stony Brook accepted an invitation in January to join the Colonial Athletic Association starting on July 1, 2022.
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The America East Conference announced Wednesday that Stony Brook's athletic programs would not be eligible to compete for conference championships and the automatic NCAA Tournament qualifying bids that accompany them.
The ruling comes after Stony Brook accepted an invitation in January to join the Colonial Athletic Association starting on July 1, 2022.
The America East constitution allows the remaining members to determine if a departing school will be eligible to compete in championships for the remainder of its tenure.
The ruling effectively ends any chance for Stony Brook's men's and women's basketball teams to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. As of Wednesday morning, the men’s team (13-7, 5-2) was in second place in the America East and the women’s team (17-2, 8-1) was in first place. For either team to receive an at-large bid to their respective NCAA Tournaments is a longshot.
The conference’s announcement said the decision to rule the Seawolves programs out was "unanimous" and that Stony Brook was an America East member that in 2005 supported adding the constitutional article that allows remaining members to exclude a departing member.
Stony Brook athletic director Shawn Heilbron issued a statement saying the school "plans to review all options, legal and otherwise, to address this decision."
The America East announcement said, "This decision was not made lightly, and the Board of Presidents recognizes that some may disagree with it. The Conference has an obligation to prioritize the remaining members who are committed to the league’s advancement and the student-athletes who compete at those institutions, now and in the future."
The Seawolves’ women’s lacrosse team — arguably their most consistently successful program — will likely reach the NCAA Tournament even without the automatic qualifier. The women’s tennis team also is unaffected as it competes in the Missouri Valley Conference.
This is not the first time the America East has taken this action with a departing institution. It did so with Boston University in 2012 after the school announced a planned move to the Patriot League. However, earlier in this school year, it did not take the same action with Hartford, which is departing to step down to Division III.
"Following our announcement that we will move to the Colonial Athletic Association, we were extremely disappointed to be informed by the America East that Stony Brook student-athletes would not be allowed to compete for conference championships and therefore the opportunity to earn NCAA team automatic qualification," Heilbron said in his statement. "This decision does nothing to advance the interests of the conference, but instead punishes Stony Brook University’s talented student-athletes and runs contrary to the decision that the Board of Presidents made last spring when the University of Hartford announced they were leaving the conference . . . "