year, but all UML teams except for ice hockey were ineligible for postseason play until the 2017–18 academic year due to their Division I transition period. Since Lowell is within the Boston metropolitan area, the addition of UML allowed the America East to keep their presence in the Boston television market. Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference The MAAC, after having lost Loyola to the Patriot League, sought to shore up its numbers, and also took an opportunity to expand further within its Northeastern footprint. On December 14, 2012, the conference announced that two schools from the Northeast Conference (NEC)—Monmouth University, located in New Jersey, and Quinnipiac University, located in Connecticut—would both join the MAAC in July 2013. Quinnipiac became the second MAAC member from Connecticut, joining Fairfield, while Monmouth joined two other New Jersey schools in Rider and Saint Peter's. At the time, the MAAC was reportedly seeking to expand to 12 members, with Wagner College, an NEC member located on Staten Island, being seen as the likeliest candidate for the 12th slot. However, Wagner reportedly had second thoughts about the financial commitments involved. If and when the MAAC reaches 12 members, each school is set to have a regional travel partner; Monmouth was expected to be Rider's partner, and presumably Fairfield and Quinnipiac would be paired. These moves were closely monitored by the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), which at the time was the only member of the Great West Conference that had not announced plans to join another league for the 2013–14 school year. With NJIT long seeking to join a conference with an automatic bid to the NCAA basketball tournaments, the school was expected to push hard for an invitation to either the NEC or the America East Conference. The moves of Monmouth and Quinnipiac opened up potential NEC slots, while the America East was set to lose Boston University to the Patriot League in July 2013. According to a report by The Star-Ledger of Newark, the America East was more interested than the NEC in inviting NJIT. (NJIT would spend two years as a Division I independent before joining the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2015, and moved to the America East in 2020.) Missouri Valley Conference As the Big East basketball schools re-formed as a non-football conference retaining the Big East name, they invited Missouri Valley member Creighton University to join them, along with Xavier and