It’s been a great season for the women’s basketball team.

Head coach Rich Conover deserves serious consideration for coach of the year after overcoming the graduation of Jen Blues, Jen Haubrich and Rachel Laws and then dealing with prolonged injuries to many of his stars. A fourth place finish is something this team should be extremely proud of.

That said, you have a better chance of seeing Baxter the Bearcat wearing an Albany jersey than seeing the BU women cutting down the nets at the Events Center this weekend.

And this isn’t a knock against the Bearcats. Or Vermont, or UMBC. Or any other team in the America East that doesn’t play in West Hartford or on Long Island.

All season the AE has been a two-team conference, and that’s not going to change in the tournament. Mark it down, this Sunday it will be Stony Brook and Hartford facing off, just like everyone expected all season.

The America East has grown into one of the most respected mid-major women’s basketball conferences in the country, and that is mainly because of Jen Rizzotti’s Hawks and Maura McHugh’s Seawolves.

And sure, I’d love to see the Bearcats win this tournament and go on to the NCAAs. Nothing could be better for this school, and few coaches deserve it as much as Conover does ‘ but it’s not happening this year. Hartford and Stony Brook are just too strong.

If not for an overtime loss to Vermont in January, Hartford would have finished the America East with a perfect 16-0 record. This is a team that played one of the most impressive non-conference schedules the AE has seen, playing against UConn, Michigan State and Seton Hall and beating then-No. 23 Brigham Young University.

The Seawolves have rolled through the conference even more impressively, losing to Hartford twice but mowing down every other team. SBU’s Mykeema Ford’s biggest rival for player of the year might be teammate Jessica Smith.

Ford and Smith rank first and second in the conference in scoring, while Smith and teammate Dana Ferraro rank one and two in rebounding.

Top two in scoring and in rebounding? And you’re going to try to tell me this team won’t be playing on the final day of the tournament?

Not a chance.

Yes, the Events Center is great, but it’s not enough to overcome the fact that Stony Brook and Hartford are just plain better than the Bearcats.

But for all the teams that will fall to the Hawks and Seawolves this weekend, don’t despair. Seeing two teams dominate like this, potentially making noise on a national stage, is great for the conference. The America East is going to keep growing in stature and before long the Bearcats, Great Danes and Black Bears will catch up.

But until then the AE belongs to Hartford and Stony Brook.