The East Coast Conference accepted State University of New York at Buffalo yesterday as its seventh member for the 1991-92 season, prompting commissioner John Carpenter to say last night that the league was stable.

Buffalo was voted in yesterday afternoon in a vote of the six school presidents, including Towson State president Hoke L. Smith, at league headquarters in Bordentown, N.J.

"Our immediate concern was to get things stable," Carpenter said. "Seven gives us more flexibility. I think our league has gained a lot of credibility for salvaging things."

Asked whether the ECC was where it wants to be with the addition of Brooklyn College and Buffalo for next season, Carpenter said: "You're never where you want to be, but the picture is much brighter now. I don't know if we'll settle on any number of teams for the league. Eight is a realistic number, and if we ever went further than that, we might go to 12 teams so we could have two divisions in basketball."

Carpenter wouldn't speculate on an eighth team for the ECC, but he said: "One thing the presidents talked about was staying away from long overnight trips. There has been some interest from some schools."