Patriot League Notebook
It was an exciting and interesting final weekend for the eight teams of the Patriot League. Very appropriately, the final game of the Patriot League season came down to a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Bucknell’s Chris Niesz – the lone Bison senior on Senior Night – to beat Colgate. The game was the end of yet another wild regular season, one that surely portends a very exciting and unpredictable Patriot League Tournament. The conference tournament begins on Friday at Holy Cross and Bucknell.
This season didn’t see any major surprises or disappointments that have dotted the Patriot League landscape in past years, but things never seem to go exactly to plan. See how my preseason predictions match up with the year-end standings:
Preseason Predictions: Year-End Results: 1. Bucknell 1. Holy Cross 2. Lehigh 2. Bucknell 3. Holy Cross 3. American 4. American 4. Lehigh 5. Lafayette 5. Colgate 6. Navy 6. Navy 7. Colgate 7. Lafayette 8. Army 8. Army
Sure enough, I got the service academies right on, and the rest of the teams fell closely in place to what I envisioned at the beginning of the season. Of course, there are still some things that people (myself included) didn’t see coming:
Biggest Surprise I: Holy Cross
I don’t think anyone foresaw the incredible season that the Holy Cross Crusaders would have, although I picked them one spot higher than the official league preseason poll. The team simply played amazingly throughout the regular season, losing its season opener before cruising the rest of the league schedule. Ralph Willard and his Crusaders are looking very poised for a fourth league title in five seasons.
Biggest Surprise II: Colgate
The team that exceeded expectations the most (besides the Crusaders), in my opinion, is Colgate. The Raiders fielded a very young team that was missing two of its potential sophomore starters (Kendall and Kyle Chones) and yet finished in a tie for fourth place in the league. Emmett Davis did very well to keep his job secure with a very solid season, which gives much hope for the future of Raider basketball.
Biggest Disappointment: Bucknell
Okay, so this is a minor stretch, but since the Bison were the consensus top pick for the league this season, anything less than first place would seem a disappointment. Still, Bucknell managed to finish in second place in the league and took the only league game this season from Holy Cross, and so I think Pat Flannery and his team aren’t too disappointed with their season.
Easiest Call: Army
The Black Knights are simply not a good basketball team. With the fourth-lowest RPI in Division I, the Knights won only one D-I basketball game all season (over Navy, on their home floor), along with two D-III wins. Granted, the team only had two upperclassmen on the team this season, but that’s still not a good enough excuse for the wretched season put together at West Point.
Regular Season Awards
Player of the Year: Kevin Hamilton, Holy Cross
The junior from Queens Village, N.Y., ranked second in the Patriot League in scoring (15.2 points per game) and upped that averaged to an even 16 ppg once league play began, as he led Holy Cross in scoring in 17 of 27 games. Hamilton also ranked first in the league in steals (3.0 steals per game), sixth in assists (3.0 assists per game) and seventh in rebounding (5.9 rebounds per game). Overall, the guard provided a steady and dominating presence in the Crusader backcourt, leading the team in minutes played and taking over games whenever needed. Without Hamilton, the Crusaders simply would not be sitting atop the Patriot League standings right now.
Co-Rookies of the Year: Corey Johnson, Navy; Kyle Roemer, Colgate
As hard as I tried, I couldn’t come to a clear decision between Johnson and Roemer, symbolized in the fact that the two players tied for 18th in the league in scoring (9.7 ppg). Roemer was the better shooter, shooting 44 percent from the floor (12th in the league) and 45 percent from three-point range (first overall); Johnson, meanwhile, might have been the better overall player, ranking third in steals (2.0 spg), sixth in assists (3.0 apg) and seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio. Both players stepped in as rookies to make significant contributions to their starting fives, something that is not easy when adapting to collegiate play.
Newcomer of the Year: Joe Knight, Lehigh
The junior transfer from Columbia, Tenn., made an immediate impact in his first season in Bethlehem, ranking second on the team (and tied for ninth in the league) in scoring at 12.5 ppg. Also on the offensive end, Knight led the Patriot League in assists, dishing out 4.4 helpers per contest.
Coach of the Year: Ralph Willard, Holy Cross
For the first time in three seasons, this award does not go to Lehigh’s Billy Taylor; instead, Willard earns it for the superb job he has done in leading the Crusaders to yet another Patriot League regular season title. In his sixth season behind the Holy Cross bench, Willard continues to work his magic in Worcester, keeping his squad a perennial contender for the league crown, upping his record at The HC to 111-66 in six seasons.
Looking To The Postseason
But now that the regular season has concluded, the records go out the window and it suddenly becomes anyone’s game once again. Here is how each team looks headed into the Patriot League Tournament, listed by seeding.
Holy Cross Crusaders (13-1 Patriot League, 22-5 overall)
The Crusaders finish the regular season first in the following statistical categories: scoring defense, scoring margin, blocked shots, assists, steals, turnover margin and assist-to-turnover ratio. This team is good. Behind the stellar guard play of Kevin Hamilton, Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas, the Crusaders have by far the largest scoring margin in the league and hold so many weapons on the offensive end that can frustrate the opposition.
The best thing about the Crusaders is that they get it done on both ends of the court. On the defensive end, Holy Cross led the league by giving up only 56 points per game and allowing its opponents to shoot under 39 percent all season long. The team also averaged almost two blocks and 1.5 steals more per game than the second ranked team in the Patriot League. Whether it’s by scoring lights out or by absolutely shutting down the opposition’s offense, Holy Cross always finds a way to win.
Holy Cross is looking as good as it has in a few years, and the team doesn’t seem to be slowing down any in the near future. The Crusaders have won 14 consecutive games, the longest streak in Worcester since 1950 and the fourth longest in school history, heading into the tournament. With the HC on a tremendous roll, it will take a huge effort for any Patriot League team to take down the top dogs. Frankly, I don’t see that happening.
Bucknell Bison (10-4 PL, 19-9 overall)
The Bison carry some momentum into the postseason, thanks to the team’s lone senior, Chris Niesz, who hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to propel Bucknell to a storybook 60-59 win over Colgate on Senior Night. Niesz, of course, is not a big piece of the offensive puzzle for Bucknell: that job is in the hands of Kevin Bettencourt, Charles Lee and Chris McNaughton, who combine to average over 38 points per game. Like Holy Cross, Bucknell is another team that relies on its defense, as the Bison rank second in the league in defense behind the Crusaders.
The Bison head into the Patriot League Tournament in pretty good shape, as the team will host the first two rounds of the tournament. The Bison have not lost a home league game in over two years, which does not bode well for Lafayette, American or Navy, who will have to ender Sojka Pavilion this weekend. The team, however, will likely have to go on the road for the championship game, so we will have to see if Bucknell can get it done on the road.
American Eagles (8-6 PL, 15-11 overall)
The Eagles have relied very heavily on the efforts of Andre Ingram and Jason Thomas, the league’s top-ranked and seventh-ranked scorers, respectively. The duo provide almost 29 combined points per contest, giving the Eagles one of the most potent guard combinations in the league. For the most part, American uses a six-man rotation that doesn’t leave head coach Jeff Jones too many options off the bench. Come tournament time, however, the benches tend to get shorter, and so the lack of true depth may not hurt American very much late in the season.
After losing four consecutive games, the Eagles rebounded to win their last two and take over third place in the league. With third place, American has a much better chance of making it to the league championship game for the fourth time in its four years in the Patriot League; of course, the team has yet to get over that final hump and actually win the league title. After settling down at the end of the season, the team will likely have to go through Bucknell on the Bison’s home court – the Eagles lost by 13 at Sojka Pavilion in early February.
Lehigh Mountain Hawks (7-7 PL, 13-14 overall)
Much like the Eagles, Lehigh relies almost exclusively on its starting five – no bench player averages more than 13 minutes per game. Jose Olivero and Joe Knight, who rebounded from a midseason slump to finish strongly, provide much of the Lehigh offense and need to step up their play come tourney time. The Hawks rank near the bottom in most offensive categories, including last in field goal percentage, and so will have to rely on their defense, which ranked third in the Patriot League (60.7 ppg). Without a solid defensive effort, the Hawks may have trouble keeping up with some of the league’s high-scoring teams.
The Mountain Hawks head into the Patriot League tournament on a four-game losing skid. The squad had a chance to clinch the third position with three games left, but lost to Navy and then to American and Lafayette to barely hold onto fourth place. Right now, I think Lehigh may be too inconsistent to win even one game in the postseason, never mind repeat last season’s Patriot League Tournament championship. I see them falling in the opening round.
Colgate Raiders (7-7 PL, 12-15 overall)
This Raider team could have just as easily been 10-4 in the Patriot League with a little more consistency, but alas that has not happened. The Raiders are very average, ranking near the middle of the pack in most categories, although they are the only team to place three scorers in the top 12 of the league (Alvin Reed, Andrew Zidar and Jon Simon). If Reed or first-year player Kyle Roemer can get hot, the team could beat anybody, but there is also a lot of inexperience on the bench that may hurt the team in the short term.
Colgate has done very well to even get itself to this point in the season, and for the team to succeed it must not simply be happy for where it has gotten so far. The team played Bucknell very well in two games this season and should have given Holy Cross a better game last weekend, and so have proven that Colgate can play well against the top teams. But the postseason – on the road – is an entirely different matter, and the Raiders have yet to show they can perform well under pressure circumstances.
Navy Midshipmen (5-9 PL, 9-18 overall)
The Middies come at you without flair, but with steadiness and determination. The squad places no players in the top 14 in the league in scoring, but then holds four of the next six spots – it is a team that lacks a true superstar, with all the advantages and disadvantages that come with that. The team has the highest scoring offense in the league (69.2 ppg), but counters that with the second worst defense in the league (74.0 ppg). The team is going to need to shoot the ball better and stop the opponents from doing likewise if they are going to upset anyone this season.
Last season, the team was seeded eighth and almost knocked off top seeded Lehigh in the opening round, so this team has no confidence problems. After a very slow start to the year, the Middies have played well at times down the stretch and badly at times, and so it is a matter of which Navy team will show up in Lewisburg this weekend. Do not be shocked to see Navy take down American, if the Middies can only play some defense and shoot relatively well on offense.
Lafayette Leopards (5-9 PL, 9-18 overall)
The Leopards didn’t set their expectations too highly coming into the season, and they proved those expectations to be correct. Much like Navy, Lafayette scores a lot of points (68. 3 ppg, second in the league) but gives up even more (75.1 ppg, last in the league), giving the team little opportunity to win consistently. Sean Knitter is the team’s only double-digit scorer – coming off the bench – which shows that no one Lafayette player is able to take over a game when needed. Some players – Knitter, Bilal Abdullah, Jamaal Douglas – have shown flashes of brilliance, but nobody has been able to contribute on a dependable basis.
The Leopards enter the tournament after a big win against archrival Lehigh on Saturday afternoon, which should give them some sort of energy boost. The team simply does not have enough experience this season to do much in the tournament. Until one Leopard player decides to carry the team on his back, the Leopards will not win a game in the league tournament, especially playing on Bucknell’s home court.
Army Black Knights (1-13 PL, 3-23 overall)
It’s getting to the point where you begin to feel bad for the Black Knights. Army has lost nine in a row and 19 of its last 20 against Division I opponents. Matt Bell has been the lone bright spot for the Knights this season, ranking third in the league in scoring (14.3 ppg) and fourth in free throw percentage (82 percent). Army has by far the worst offense in the league (56.5 ppg) for the second consecutive season, and therefore has been outscored by an average of 11.1 points this season – ranking near or at the bottom in most offensive categories.
Until the Black Knights can learn to put the ball in the basket with any sort of consistency, there is no chance of them winning a tournament game this season – especially when up against Holy Cross, which held the Knights to 29 points earlier in the season. At this point, the team can only hope to leave a good impression on the Crusaders and begin looking towards next year, when the team will finally have a solid group of juniors.
