Well ladies and gents, the day has finally arrived. The America East Championship is here and things could not be looking any better for this Division I conference. I would say that this season has been unlike any we have ever seen before. It is a Renaissance, a rebirth of the America East basketball program.

So much progress has been made this year for many of the programs.

We’ve had three teams — Binghamton, Vermont and Boston — who have been going head-to-head all season long for the chance to clinch the No. 1 spot in the conference. We have New Hampshire and UMBC who have refused to lose games and have climbed up the ranks since the beginning of the season. And who can forget Stony Brook, a team that is giving only a taste of things to come in the future? We’ve had teams that were once on the bottom, come up to the top of the ranks and things just can’t get anymore exciting. The numbers are still close, the game outcomes are still unpredictable and the chance to dance in the NCAA is still at reach for all nine teams.

I still can’t decide what my favorite moment is of this Bearcats season. Is it the victory over Rutgers in December, defeating Vermont twice, the come-from-behind-win over Maine or clinching the season title after beating UMBC?

If you were to ask me at the beginning of the season what I thought this year would be like for the Bearcats, I would have told you it was going to be one of those rebuilding years. Never did I ever see our chance at the No. 1 spot at reach in the beginning, but apparently coach Broadus did.

He proved that he had the capability to take a whole new set of players (some who at one point in their lives went astray), rise above all the negative publicity, bind them together to work as a team and win games. Granted there were potholes along the way, but in the end we got there. Some people disapprove of Broadus’ methods, and yes, I do agree they are a bit eccentric, but if there is one thing I learned this year, you need to push the barriers just a little bit to get some results.

In this issue, you will find different features on players from all around the America East, some fun stuff, as well as player-to-player matchups and previews. (By the way, don’t take the NBA player comparisons to heart.)

I can’t help but grin ear-to-ear on how far our program has come, and that I am here to witness it and you, the fan, should too. No matter who is reading this paper, whether you are a Bearcat, a Black Bear, a Catamount, a Great Dane, a Hawk, a Retriever, a Seawolf, a Terrier or a Wildcat, cheer your team on until they leave that SEFCU stadium because they represent you and your school.

Remember, it’s your team baby.

Now embrace it.