America East Basketball Championships Will Return to Campus in 2012

The America East basketball tournaments will be held on campus March 1-4, 2012.

For the third straight year, the America East Conference has chosen the University of Hartford to host its Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships. The 2012 tournaments will be held on campus from March 1-4.

“Being able to host the men’s and women’s basketball championship for a third-straight year is a unique opportunity,” said University Director of Athletics Patricia H. Meiser. “I am thrilled that the conference would like to continue to build off of the momentum from the past two conference championships held at Hartford. This opportunity is very much made possible because of the support from the campus and the community. Our arena provides a unique and fan-friendly environment in hosting the championship and we look forward to welcoming all nine conference schools, their teams and their fans back to campus in March.”

Using a format adopted for the 2010 Championship, Hartford will host the first round, quarterfinal and semifinal games at Chase Family Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion. Both first round games will be held on Thursday, March 1, and the women’s quarterfinals will follow on Friday, March 2. The men’s quarterfinals will be scheduled for Saturday, March 3, and both the men’s and women’s semifinals will take place on Sunday, March 4. The highest seeds remaining in both the men’s and women’s tournaments will host the championship games, with the men’s title game on Saturday, March 10, and the women’s final to be determined.

The last two America East Championships, which were presented by Newman’s Own, have drawn nearly 30,000 fans to Chase Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion, the University’s 3,508-seat facility. The last two tournaments have also featured the largest title sponsor in conference history in Newman’s Own, whose Foundation also sponsored a Campus Community Challenge, which has contributed more than $200,000 to organizations in America East communities over the last two years.