There are three seasons for the Binghamton University men’s basketball team. There are the out-of-conference games, the in-conference games and then there is the America East tournament.

As the students head home for winter break this week, the Bearcats will leave one part behind and enter the second phase of their season.

But the transition won’t be easy.

Binghamton has four out-of-conference games left, and while three of them are home, they will be facing Atlantic-10 powerhouse George Washington this Thursday at 7 p.m., Chicago State, a team they lost to by 21, this Saturday at 2 p.m., a road game against another tough A-10 opponent, Fordham, on Dec. 28 at 2 p.m., and then host a team that beat them by 17 to open the season, in St. Bonaventure on Dec. 30 at 4 p.m.

‘We’re searching,’ said BU head coach Kevin Broadus. ‘We have to find a way to win.’

The Bearcats sit at 1-7, and while the record could get worse over the next couple of weeks, that won’t deter them from their ultimate goal.

‘We have a lot of potential to make it to the America East championship game,’ said senior guard Richard Forbes, who leads the team in scoring averaging 16.9 ppg.

And as Binghamton hopes to learn from their out-of-conference games as they enter 2008, it doesn’t get easier as conference play and a new season begins.

Their first AE opponent will be a road game against Vermont on Jan. 3 at 7 p.m. before returning home to face the preseason favorite Boston University on Jan. 6 at 2 p.m. The Bearcats will then hit the road again to face Hartford on Jan. 9 at 7 p.m. and Albany on Jan. 12 at 2 p.m. The Bearcats will then have a home, televised game against Stony Brook Jan. 15 at 7 p.m. and will take on UMBC on Jan. 19 at 2 p.m. The Bearcats will finish out the month of January on the road at New Hampshire on Jan. 24. at 7 p.m. and at Maine on Jan. 27 at noon.

While the make up of this year’s team is still in question, there is no doubt that Binghamton has a tough road ahead and will need to pick things up on both sides of the ball. And while they won’t be playing in front of a packed student section while they are on break, the Bearcats are going to have to create their own excitement.

And as the Counting Crows song goes, it’s ‘a long December and there is reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last.’

Binghamton hopes they will be singing that same tune come January and the start of America East play.