It is the time of year that makes Seawolves basketball players and fans more excited than any other. The brisk weather with the promise of spring to come always brings with it at least one thing in the world of collegiate athletics: playoff basketball. The winter of discontented Stony Brook basketball fans, who have been waiting to see the finish of the regular season, is almost at an end.

The Stony Brook men’s and women’s basketball teams will embark to Hartford, Conn., this upcoming weekend to compete in the America East conference tournament. For the men, this is a chance to capture the conference title that narrowly escaped their grasp last March and put the finishing touches on an already successful season. For the women, this is their opportunity to make up for any disappointments this season. For both squads, the regular season is over, and all that matters now is how well they perform in individual forty-minute games.

The women will play the first game of their tournament this coming Thursday at 6:05 p.m. against their opponents, the University of Maine Black Bears. Should the Seawolves be victorious, they will go on to play the top-seeded Boston University Terriers on Friday.

As for the men, the team will be able to rest on the first day of competition as 9th-seeded Binghamton University plays the University of Maryland, Baltimore County on Thursday.

Stony Brook will play the winner of this game the next day. It would be the first of three games that the Seawolves would have to play should they go to the championship game. Because of their win against the University of Maine on Sunday, that championship game would be played on Stony Brook’s court if the Seawolves make it that far.

“All season we’ve been looking for that home game and that championship,” senior guard Bryan Dougher said. “Anybody in this league can win on any given night.”

Stony Brook hopes to carry the night of the last day of the tournament on its home court in front of its fans.