It’s time. Let the madness begin.

This Friday at the Events Center, the America East tournament commences, and unlike the past two seasons, Taylor Coppenrath and TJ Sorrentine cannot make the playoffs a mere formality. The 2006 version of America East March Madness is anybody’s game.

For the home-standing Bearcats, confidence is running incredibly high. Anchored by a swarming, athletic defense, Binghamton had a legitimate shot to win all 16 conference tilts, losing four games by a combined 16 points. After stealing a win in Vermont, head coach Al Walker was never more buoyant.

“The Bearcats can’t be hotter than they are right now,” Walker gushed on the Binghamton radio postgame show after his team pulled off basketball’s version of highway robbery to leave the highly partisan Vermont crowd dazed.

If any conference foe rolled more than Binghamton, it was regular season champion Albany. The Great Danes met preseason media expectations and are primed to host the March 11 final at the RACC if they make it through Vestal. An improbable Albany stumble could allow Binghamton to play the AE Championship at home.

The explosive Great Danes are led by junior point guard and Player of the Year candidate Jamar Wilson, who ranks near or at the top of almost every statistical category. Center and BU Zoo favorite Kirsten Zoellner is one of the toughest players to guard in the conference because of his height at 7-foot-1.

Despite finishing first, Albany may have drawn the short straw. Although the Great Danes swept them, the Hartford Hawks will be motivated after getting embarrassed by Boston Sunday in the game that decided third place. Everyone knows of the dominant Kenny Adeleke, but Hartford’s perimeter players have really stepped it up. Aaron Cook finished the regular season as the AE’s fourth leading scorer and is the league’s most feared streak shooter. Physical freshman Paris Carter, a 6-4 wing/tank, also pieced together some amazing games as of late.

Hartford duels with New Hampshire in the 4/5 matchup. UNH is easily the biggest surprise of the season. Projected to finish last, mastermind coach Bill Herrion steered his team to a surprising mid-conference finish, highlighted by two thrilling overtime wins over Albany. Star Blagoj Janev elevated his game this season and could be in line for First-Team All-Conference honors. The usually morbid UNH basketball program is now lively and Wildcat fans are excited about the future.

Binghamton’s quarterfinal opponent will be No. 7 Maine. The Black Bears pulled off an amazing comeback to defeat UMBC last week, sending the Retrievers to the play-in game. On Sunday, they waxed Stony Brook by shooting 15-for-23 from downtown. Binghamton has embarrassed Maine twice in the regular season but the Black Bears have a propensity for pulling tournament upsets. They defeated a loaded Boston team in the 2005 quarterfinals and made an improbable run to the 2004 title game.

Three-time defending champion Vermont will battle fellow America East blueblood Boston. These royals usually joust at the end of the tournament, but with a lot of inexperience on both sides, they rumble in the 3/6 quarterfinal matchup. Both teams showcase a star freshman with the potential to light up the conference for three more seasons. Catamount point guard Mike Trimboli may be the first rookie in ages to be named AE First-Team All-Conference, and sweet-shooting Terrier Corey Hassan fires bombs from just about anywhere on the court.

The unfortunate UMBC Retrievers and Stony Brook Seawolves kick off festivities in the 8/9 play-in game. Despite UMBC head coach Randy Monroe’s motivational tactics, the Retrievers failed to win a road conference game and doomed themselves to play Friday. Stony Brook, the cellar dweller all year, gave nationally ranked Boston College a scare before eventually falling to the Eagles.

So what does all of this parity mean?

Considering how wild the crowd was last year in backing a Bearcat squad that stood little chance against Coppenrath and Sorrentine, the BU Zoo might provide the difference for a team with a legit shot to go dancing.