2010 Patriot League Tournament Preview

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/01/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The usual suspects in the Patriot League might be taking a backseat to a new crop of stars as the 20th annual conference tournament tips off this week.

American University, which is the two-time defending champion of this event after beating Colgate in 2008 and Holy Cross last season, is the fourth seed this time around, while a program like Holy Cross, with its 26-14 record and five titles in the tournament over the years, is the seven seed.

Lehigh (19-10, 10-4) earned the top seed in the tournament, but just barely. The Mountain Hawks closed the regular season with back-to-back wins over Bucknell and Holy Cross, giving the squad four wins in the last five outings overall. Lehigh was the top scoring team in the league with an average of 75.4 ppg, giving the squad the best scoring margin (plus-3.7 ppg) in the Patriot. Despite his freshman status, C.J. McCollum placed third in the league in scoring with his 18.8 ppg, while Marquis Hall and Zahir Carrington supplied some senior leadership with 11.3 and 10.5 ppg, respectively.

Army (14-14, 4-10), which lost to the Mountain Hawks by double digits in each meeting this season, began the 2009-10 campaign with favorable results by winning nine of the first 11 contests, but then the league schedule kicked in and not much went right for the Black Knights. The squad averaged a mere 60.9 ppg, the lowest average in the PL, but by coincidence the Knights also surrendered an identical 60.9 ppg as well, which meant they had the stiffest defense in the league. Cleveland Richard (12.8 ppg) and Julian Simmons (11.5 ppg) were crucial to the scoring effort, but it was field goal percentage defense (.408) and three-point percentage defense (.334) that kept the group competitive.

The Bucknell Bison (14-16, 9-5) were roughed up during the non-conference portion of the schedule and their loss to Lehigh in the final week of action proved to be costly as they dropped to the second seed and will now challenge seventh-seeded Holy Cross in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. The Bison finished seventh in the league in field goal shooting at a mere 41.1 percent, the team's 32.8 percent behind the three-point line being the worst in the league. From an offensive standpoint, the Bison failed to put a single scorer in the top-20, with Mike Muscala coming up with a team-best 9.9 ppg and Darryl Shazier another 9.8 ppg.

Like the Bison, the Crusaders (8-21, 5-9) scheduled a number of top-notch, non-conference opponents this season and because of it had a tough time mounting wins. Holy Cross, which lost two in a row and four-of-five games to close out the regular season, ranks second in the league in three-point shooting at 38 percent and is third in overall field goal shooting at 44.4 percent, but that didn't always matter since the squad was second from the bottom in points allowed with a hefty 72.2 ppg. A pair of sophomores ranked in the top-10 in scoring as R.J. Evans and Devin Brown both recorded 13.2 ppg during the regular season, while Andrew Keister (10.4 ppg) came closest to averaging a double-double in the Patriot League with his 9.4 rpg.

Taking on the winner of the Bucknell/Holy Cross encounter in the semifinals on Sunday will be the survivor of the Lafayette/Colgate battle. The third-seeded Leopards (17-12, 8-6) were second in the conference in scoring with 73.2 ppg, but the team split its two games with Colgate and the visitors won each of those contests. Not only did Lafayette lead the league in free-throw shooting at 75.8 percent, the squad was even ranked in the nation's top-10 in that department as recently as last week. Add to that a league-best 45.7 percent from the floor and it is easy to see why the Leopards need to be feared, although having the weakest field goal shooting defense doesn't bolster that claim. Jared Mintz (14.6 ppg), Jim Mower (13.7 ppg) and Ryan Willen (12.0 ppg) shouldered most of the load on offense for the group, the former also leading the conference with his 55.6 percent accuracy from the floor.

As for the Raiders (10-18, 6-8), the sixth-seed in the event and a squad that has not won the crown since 1996 when Adonal Foyle was still active, they were shooting for glory right out of the gate this season as they opened with a meeting against UConn on the road. Needless to say, that meeting resulted in a double-digit loss and started the ball rolling in what became a nine-game slide to open the campaign. There was a span of four straight wins for the squad almost immediately after, but not much stock could be put in victories over Longwood, Central Connecticut State, NC Central and Army, the last of those forged by just three points in overtime. Nevertheless, one player that Lafayette cannot sleep on is Kyle Roemer, who ranked second in the conference in scoring with his 18.9 ppg, while Yaw Gyawu chipped in with 14.3 ppg for Colgate as well.

The last matchup on the board for the first set of games pits fifth-seeded Navy against American University. The Midshipmen (13-16, 7-7) actually had the same record as the Eagles (10-19, 7-7) in league play, but because American won both regular season meetings, the advantage of playing at home in the quarterfinal round goes to the Eagles.

Navy, which has the second-most tournament titles with three, actually has a losing record over the years in the event at 13-15, but with the league's leading scorer on their side (Chris Harris, 21.1 ppg), the Midshipmen aim to change all of that even though they are opening on the road. Luckily, Harris is not all alone in his endeavors as Jordan Sugars placed fourth in the league with his 15.9 ppg and was also third on the glass with close to eight rebounds per game this season. However, even with one of the strongest rebounders in the Patriot, Navy still placed last in the league with a minus-6.2 rpg margin and that had the squad ranked near the bottom nationally as well. Unfortunately, defense hasn't been a strength of the Midshipmen this season as they ranked last in the league with close to 76 ppg allowed.

As for the Eagles, their offense struggled this season with a mere 62.8 ppg and that left them tied with Navy for the worst scoring margin in the league at minus-4.2 ppg. American was an enigmatic group that lost seven straight games right out of the gate, with defeats at St. Francis-PA, Mount St. Mary's and Maryland-Eastern Shore, yet the squad mixed in a win over DePaul on the road which at the time should have been something to build on before the Blue Demons themselves hit the skids. The Eagles won two straight and three of the last four in the regular season to generate some momentum, but they needed a lot more to propel them to a third straight championship. Stephen Lumpkins stands as the offensive leader with his 12.4 ppg, stemming from 50.4 percent shooting from the field, and at the same time finished second in the conference in rebounding with 8.3 rpg.