1. American - American looks to repeat its Patriot League Championship from last year and earn a second straight tournament bid. They return their leading scorer from last year in Garrison Carr as well as Derrick Mercer and Brian Gilmore.
Coach Jeff Jones signed a long extension to stay with American instead of moving onto a bigger conference school. American lost two starters but both of them were role players and return all of their top scorers.
He scheduled a few tough contests in the non-conference schedule, including games against Georgetown and Maryland.
2. Lehigh -Finished tied for third in the league last year, and return two of their stars from last year, aforementioned Marquis Hall and Zahir Carrington. Although they lost Bryan White, who averaged 10 points and eight rebounds a game, Lehigh should be able to recover.
They are off to a 5-1 start, including a win against Rutgers and a one point loss to a solid Rider team. Lehigh looks to challenge American for the the championship this year.
3. Navy -Finished second a year ago and return two high scoring guards from last year's squad. Chris Harris and Kaleo Kina look to lead the Midshipmen's backcourt. The frontcourt is led by Adam Teague and Mark Veazey.
They have a couple of formidable opponents coming up, including games against Virginia Tech and Villanova. Navy should be able to win this year's rivalry matchup with Army, which gets less press coverage than its football counterpart but is just as intense.
4. Colgate -The Raiders finished tied for third in the league last year and made it to the Patriot League tournament final only to lose to American. Colgate lost three starters from last year's team and will rely on sophomore guard Mike Venezia, who came off the bench last year.
Colgate plays Syracuse and Cal in the upcoming weeks. Colgate adds three solid freshmen in Yaw Gyawu, Nick Pascale, and Anthony Hill.
5. Lafayette -The Leopards are led by a scoring trio of guards Jeff Kari and Andrew Brown along with forward Jared Mintz. They finished 5th in the league last year and are off to a 2-3 start, with losses to Temple, Rider, and Colorado. The Lehigh-Lafayette rivalry is another one to look out for this season. The Leopards wisely chose to keep their non-conference schedule relatively easy this season.
6. Holy Cross - The Crusaders started this season with an overtime upset victory over St. Joseph's, but then proceeded to lose four straight and now sit at 2-4. The loss of Tim Clifford will hurt Holy Cross this season.
Freshman guard R.J. Evans has looked good so far this season and junior forward Adam May has also provided points. Holy Cross finished last in the Patriot League and looks to move out of the cellar this season.
7. Bucknell -A few years ago a Patriot League powerhouse, the Bison are currently in the rebuilding stage. Last year, they finished second to last in the league and this year they currently sit at 1-3 overall.
Justin Castleberry and Bryan Cohen form a strong backcourt duo but the Bison need to get better on defense if they want to make any noise in the league. They are currently allowing 75.8 points per game.
8. Army -Army finished tied with Bucknell and Lafayette for second to last in the league last year. The Black Knights won their opener against Dartmouth but then proceeded to lose their next five games, three of them to Ivy League opponents. Guards Josh Miller and Cleveland Richard lead Army with 11.6 and 11.2 points per game respectively.
Army looks like it is going to have a tough time holding its own this year in the Patriot League, and one can expect a loss in their rivalry game against Navy.
2 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete