With the America East Conference Tournament at SEFCU Arena for the first time in Albany's 9-year history as a member of the conference; the Great Danes would head into the tournament as the #7 seed with a 6–10 conference record, and face the #2 seeded Catamounts yet again. Prior to the 2009 season the #7 seed had gone 0–23 in games against the #2 overall seed, however Albany would prevail and upset the higher seeded Catamounts 56–52, but would lose to UMBC in the semi-finals. Other tournament games included the #8–9 matchup in which the Hartford Hawks would beat Maine on Friday, March 6 to advance to a matchup against top-seeded Binghamton. The Bearcats would then beat the Hawks, and other semi-final games included UMBC upsetting the 3rd seeded Boston U. Terriers, and the UNH Wildcats would beat Stony Brook in the #4–5 matchup. The other Sunday semi-final matchup had #1 Binghamton beat #4 New Hampshire. Binghamton hosted UMBC on Saturday March 14 on ESPN2 for the 2009 Championship.