UMaine joining ‘first of its kind’ basketball challenge next year

The University of Maine women’s and men’s basketball teams will take part in a new basketball showcase next year as members of the America East Conference.

America East and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference are teaming up to create a new early season basketball challenge, the first of its kind for Division I athletics in the Northeast, according to the leagues.

Basketball challenges are agreements between different conferences to have teams play against each other in non-conference play, typically with both a home and away contest for each matchup. This particular challenge will launch next year for the 2026-2027 season, and will run for two years.

“Basketball is the priority for both America East and MAAC and this challenge, the first of its kind for two northeast-based Division I conferences, is the perfect fit and will bring exciting action to the start of the 2026 season and hopefully beyond,” America East Commissioner Brad Walker said in a statement.

In addition to UMaine, the other America East member schools are University of Albany, Binghamton University, Bryant University, University of Maryland Baltimore County, UMass Lowell, University of New Hampshire, New Jersey Institute of Technology and University of Vermont.

The MAAC is made up of Canisius University, Fairfield University, Iona University, Manhattan University, Marist University, Merrimack College, Mount St. Mary’s University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Sacred Heart University, Saint Peter’s University and Siena University.

“We are excited to collaborate with the America East on a basketball challenge,” said MAAC Commissioner Travis Tellitocci. “With college basketball moving to a 32-game schedule in 2026 and the season starting a week earlier, this initiative is both timely and logical. It provides our men’s and women’s basketball programs with quality competition at home and on the road, helping to ease the challenges of non-conference scheduling while offering regional opponents to reduce travel demands.”

The first America East-MAAC Basketball Challenge is slated to be held Nov. 5-8, 2026. More details about game times and matchups will be available closer to next year’s event.

Inter-conference basketball challenges like this are not new in college basketball. The Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference are heading into their year of such an agreement, for example. But according to this week’s announcement from the America East and MAAC, the newly announced challenge will be the first of its kind between two northeast-based Division I leagues.