The four remaining Atlantic East Conference institutions will be folded into the United East Conference months after the two conferences announced plans to preserve both automatic qualifiers via a strategic partnership. The UEC will balloon to 17 institutions with the four AEC additions of Centenary (N.J.), Gwynedd Mercy, Immaculata and Marymount.
The decision effectively marks the end of the AEC, which began competition in 2018 with seven members. The AEC currently has six members — the minimum to maintain an AQ — but Pratt and Saint Elizabeth are moving to an unnamed rebranding of the City Conference of New York Athletic Conference in 2027-28, leaving four institutions in limbo.
The move will also lower the AQ count and raise the at-large berths by one.
-Ricky Nelson
