It will be a new-look America East Conference when the college basketball season begins next week.

Delaware, Hofstra, Drexel and Towson are gone. Stony Brook, Albany and Binghamton have joined the league.

After all the changes, the Boston University men and the Vermont women have been selected by the league’s coaches to lead the way in their respective divisions this season.

The Terriers came out on top in the men’s poll, garnering five first-place votes and 77 points to narrowly edge out Maine, which received four first-place votes and totaled 76 points.

Coach John Giannini’s Black Bears finished fourth in the league last season with a semifinal loss to Hofstra and posted a 18-11 overall record and a 10-8 league slate. They were selected well ahead of third-place Northeastern (59 points), No. 4 Vermont (54) and fifth-place Hartford (40).

New Hampshire (37 points), Stony Brook (35), Albany (16) and Binghamton (11) round out the men’s field.

Giannini said the revamping of the conference may create more inconsistencies in the poll this season.

“Normally, you can put a lot of stock in these polls, because the coaches are more familiar than anyone else with the team,” Giannini said. “BU, Maine, Hartford, Northeastern and Vermont have a lot of new starters and key players. The New York schools are very much unknowns, so this is probably as unpredictable as it gets.”

As for the Bears’ pick at No. 2, the recent departure of Huggy Dye (disciplinary action) and Ricky Green (personal reasons) have adversely affected UMaine’s fortunes.

“The poll was before we lost two key players and we’re definitely extremely thin at the guard spot,” Giannini admitted. “At some point, we’re going to play well. I just hope that it’s sooner rather than later.”

UMaine did not place any players on the men’s preseason all-conference squad, which is made up of Jason Grochowalski and Matt Turner of BU, Trevor Gaines and T.J. Sorrentine of Vermont, and Ricky Cranford of Northeastern.

On the women’s side, perennial America East power Vermont was the coaches’ choice, garnering eight of the nine first-place votes. The Catamounts, who return three of the four returning all-conference selections from last season, rolled up 80 points to finish well ahead of second-place pick Hartford, which picked up the other first-place vote and 69 points.

Coach Sharon Versyp’s UMaine team is comfortably entrenched in the No. 3 spot after rallying to finish fourth in the conference last winter with a 12-16 record, including a 9-9 league mark.

“I pretty much voted exactly how the poll came out,” Versyp said. “Vermont, everybody knew, was going to be at the top of the pack. Hartford really came on strong at the end of the year.”

As for UMaine’s position, it represents a step forward after the Bears were picked to finish sixth in last year’s poll.

“I feel real comfortable around the third spot,” said Versyp, who views UMaine as a bit of a sleeper because of its youthful roster.

New Hampshire was picked fourth with 49 points, followed by Boston University and Northeastern (tied at 41), Stony Brook (26), Binghamton (23) and Albany (12).

Bears sophomore forward Heather Ernest of Temple was among the five players accorded preseason all-conference recognition. She set the tone for UMaine last season, averaging 13.9 points and 10.3 rebounds per game on her way to All-America East third-team honors and All-Rookie accolades.

“How Heather played last year, she got a lot of respect in the conference,” Versyp said. “Seventeen double-doubles (points and rebounds) speaks for itself.”

Ernest is joined on the all-conference squad by Morgan Hall of Vermont, Janeka Lopp of Hartford, Katie Terhune of Boston University and Stony Brook’s Sherry Jordan.

UMM volleyball team in regional

The University of Maine-Machias volleyball team will be competing for the right to advance to the national tourney when it competes in the NAIA Region 10 tourney in Wilmington, Del., this weekend.

The Clippers won their third straight Maine Athletic Conference last weekend when they rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat St. Joseph’s College of Standish.

Coral Snowdeal, a former Machias High School standout athlete, is coaching the team for the first year and guided them to a 19-9 record. Team members include Heidi Colbeth, Christine Davis, Amanda Haponski, Jill Piscitelle, Heather Steenburgh, Katie Wallace, Kelly Wells and April Yapana.

Consolante on first team

Linda Consolante, a freshman defensive standout for the UMaine women’s soccer team, was named to the All-America East first team Thursday.

Consolante, a back, was one of only three freshmen on the first team and was the only non-Hartford or Boston University player named to the first team. Consolante played in 16 games and scored two goals while also earning All-Rookie America East honors.

UMaine junior goalie Naomi Welch gained a second-team All-America East pick. Welch played every minute in goal for the Bears while compiling a 7-6-3 record with an 0.93 goals-against average, the lowest ever by a UMaine goalkeeper.

Maine sophomores Jen Buckley and Katie Hodge were America East honorable mentions. Buckley tied for the team lead in scoring with 10 points and led the Black Bears with five goals while Hodge notched three goals and three assists.