Patriot

Patriot League Tournament preview

Raphielle Johnson — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:59:43 -0800

Patriot League Preview American has home court, but will it matter? By Raphielle Johnson If you haven’t been following the Patriot League this season, you’d probably expect to see familiar faces Bucknell and Holy Cross on top of the standings. Unfortunately for those two schools, that isn’t the case as they actually inhabit the bottom of the table. American won the league’s regular season crown, and as a result they don’t have to leave home throughout the conference tournament. Navy finished one game behind the Eagles in second, and first and last (Holy Cross at 5-9) were only separated by five game. Of the four quarterfinal matchups, only one features a season sweep (Lehigh over Army), but both of those contests were five-point wins for the Mountain Hawks. So even though home court could play a role in who wins this tournament, it wouldn’t be a surprise if someone from the bottom half won the automatic bid either. Here’s a preview of the Patriot League Men’s Basketball Tournament. Conference computer numbers (courtesy of kenpom.com): RPI: 16th, Average non-conference SOS: 32nd, Average non-conference RPI rank: 21st. Tournament Schedule (all games played at higher seed) Quarterfinals: #7 Bucknell @ #2 Navy (Wednesday March 5, 7 PM) #6 Lafayette @ #3 Colgate (Wednesday March 5, 7 PM) #8 Holy Cross @ #1 American (Wednesday March 5, 7:30 PM) #5 Army @ #4 Lehigh (Wednesday March 5, 7:30 PM) Semifinals: 1/8 winner vs. 4/5 winner (Sunday March 9, TBA) 2/7 winner vs. 3/6 winner (Sunday March 9, TBA) Final: Semifinal winners (Friday March 14, 4:45 PM on ESPN2) #7 Bucknell @ #2 Navy (Annapolis, MD) Category Bucknell Navy Points per game 62.0 (6th in Patriot) 76.0 (1st) PPG allowed 64.9 (4th) 73.1 (7th) Field goal % 42.5 (6th) 40.8 (8th) FG% defense 42.2 (5th) 43.4 (7th) 3PT% 34.2 (6th) 35.3 (5th) 3PT% defense 32.4 (2nd) 32.2 (1st) Rebound margin - 1.9 (5th) - 2.8 (7th) Turnover margin - 1.45 (5th) + 2.4 (1st) Category Bucknell Navy Points per game John Griffin (13.2) Greg Sprink (21.2) Rebounds per game Stephen Tyree (4.8) Sprink (6.3) Assists per game Tyree (2.83) Chris Harris (3.52) FG percentage J. Castleberry (39.4) Harris (43.2) 3PT percentage Castleberry (37.8) Harris (42.2) Assist/Turnover ratio Tyree (1.4) Harris (1.2) Regular season meetings: Bucknell 85, Navy 77 (Jan. 11th, at Bucknell) and Navy 78, Bucknell 72 (Feb. 9th, at Navy). This matchup is a prime example of just how much changed in the Patriot League this season. Normally it’s the Midshipmen who have to travel during conference tournament play, but this year they host Bucknell, a team used to playing in the friendly confines of Sojka Pavillion this time of the season. How did the two teams get to this point? The Bison have struggled at times on the offensive end, and they don’t have one guy that can just take over on that end of the floor. First-team all-conference selection John Griffin led the team in scoring, followed up by bench performer Justin Castleberry. Part of that falls on their preference for offensive balance, and the other issue has been injuries. Of the ten players who average at least fourteen minutes per game, four (Darren Mastropaolo, Josh Linthicum, Jason Vegotsky and Rob Thomas) have missed significant stretches this season. With everyone now back and ready to contribute, maybe the Bison have one good run left. Also keep an eye on conference Defensive Player Stephen Tyree, who is also the Bison’s third-leading scorer. As for Navy, it all begins with the senior Greg Sprink, Patriot League Player of the Year. Sprink led the conference in scoring and was also the Mids’ leading rebounder. Guard Chris Harris, a second-team all-conference selection, is adept at getting the ball to the right people in the right spots, leading the team in assists per game. League Coach of the Year Billy Lange leads a team that was one of the best in the nation in regards to knocking down the three-point shot, ranking 8th in threes made per game (9.5). Navy features a four-guard lineup with Kaleo Kina (14.0 ppg) and Romeo Garcia (4.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg) rounding out the quartet. Mark Veazey starts at center, but the post is handled more by committee with players such as Adam Teague and Brian Richards being the first ones off the bench. While Navy leads the conference in points per game, they’re last in field goal percentage, but that tends to get overlooked as they play an up-tempo style. In order for Bucknell to leave Annapolis with a win, they’ll have to control the tempo of the game for forty minutes. The matchup of Sprink and Tyree should be fun to watch, as how well Tyree does in limiting the senior will go a long way in deciding which team moves on. #6 Lafayette @ #3 Colgate (in Hamilton, NY) Category Lafayette Colgate Points per game 74.9 (2nd in Patriot) 66.2 (3rd) PPG allowed 73.9 (8th) 65.9 (6th) Field goal % 44.1 (3rd) 44.4 (1st) FG% defense 44.1 (8th) 41.2 (3rd) 3PT% 39.4 (2nd) 38.0 (3rd) 3PT% defense 36.1 (6th) 34.0 (3rd) Rebound margin - 2.7 (6th) + 0.1 (3rd) Turnover margin + 0.48 (4th) - 1.72 (6th) Category Lafayette Colgate Points per game Andrew Brown (16.0) Kyle Roemer (15.3) Rebounds per game Matt Betley (5.8) Alex Woodhouse (6.1) Assists per game Brown (2.96) Daniel Waddy (3.03) FG percentage Betley (47.9) Kendall Chones (58.3) 3PT percentage Bilal Abdullah (45.1) Roemer (39.2) Assist/turnover ratio Michael Gruner (1.66) Waddy (0.83) Regular season meetings: Lafayette 69, Colgate 68 in overtime (Jan. 16th at Colgate); Colgate 76, Lafayette 75 (Feb. 13th at Lafayette). One game separated these two teams in the standings, and in each game one point separated the two. The visitors won both regular season contests, a good sign for Leopards fans if you want to look at it that way. Three players average double figures in scoring for Lafayette, led by junior guard Andrew Brown. The other two are a pair of seniors, Bilal Abdullah (who also leads the conference in three-point percentage) and Matt Betley. An interesting fact about Betley: he played on the same high school team as Rider’s Thompson brothers. Fran O’Hanlon’s squad likes to fire away from behind the arc, knocking down 9.97 per game. When making ten or more threes, the Leopards are 13-6. And when they make nine of less, they’re 2-8 this year. Pretty obvious what they need to do in order to win this one, but the Raiders are the third-best team in the Patriot League when it comes to defending the three, holding opponents to 34% from behind the arc. As for Colgate, they look to junior Kyle Roemer on the offensive end. A second-team all-conference selection, Roemer led the team in scoring seventeen times this year. The only other Raider in double figures is senior forward Kendall Chones, who also leads the conference in field goal percentage. Emmett Davis’ team won’t run up and down the court, but they do understand the value of a good shot, leading the PL in field goal percentage. Other key contributors include senior guard Daniel Waddy, who leads the team in assists, senior swingman Tim Pounds, and freshman guard Mike Venezia (8.2 ppg). Venezia was an all-rookie selection this year, and it was Pounds who won the second meeting between the two teams with twenty seconds remaining, hitting a pair of free throws. Just like the Bucknell/Navy quarterfinal, this one will be all about which team controls the tempo. If Lafayette can quicken the pace, they’ve got a shot to win on the road. But if Colgate makes the Leopards play one half court at a time, they can put the home court advantage to good use. #8 Holy Cross @ #1 American Category Holy Cross American Points per game 61.5 (7th) 65.4 (4th) PPG allowed 60.4 (1st) 62.4 (3rd) Field goal % 43.5 (4th) 44.3 (2nd) FG% defense 40.7 (1st) 41.2 (t-3rd) 3PT percentage 32.2 (8th) 40.8 (1st) 3PT% defense 36.2 (7th) 35.6 (5th) Rebound margin + 5.5 (1st) + 2.4 (2nd) Turnover margin - 2.0 (8th) - 1.76 (7th) Category Holy Cross American Points per game Tim Clifford (17.8) Garrison Carr (18.1) Rebounds per game Clifford (5.4) Travis Lay (4.4) Assists per game Pat Doherty (4.29) Derrick Mercer (4.1) FG percentage Clifford (57.0) Mercer (43.9) 3PT percentage C. Cunningham (37.1) Carr (44.7) Assist/turnover ratio Doherty (1.47) Mercer (1.40) Regular season meetings: Holy Cross 66, American 64 (Jan. 26th at American); American 62, Holy Cross 46 (Feb. 6th at Holy Cross). Just like the Lafayette/Colgate quarter, the road team won both regular season meetings. The Crusaders have one of the conference’s best big men in senior center Tim Clifford, but their fortunes this season have hinged on the health of point guard Pat Doherty. Their worst stretch of the season, five straight losses after winning at San Francisco, came primarily due to the fact that Doherty was nursing an Achilles injury at the time, leaving Ralph Willard without his floor leader. Holy Cross has dominated the all-time series between the two schools 14-4, with a 7-2 record at American. In both meetings this season senior Kyle Cruze reached double figures, and he could be a player to watch since Clifford is pretty much guaranteed to get his (24 points in the first meeting, 18 in the second). Holy Cross is the PL’s premier defensive team, but they are only seventh in three-point percentage defense, which could be an issue considering that the Eagles are the league’s best three-point shooting team (in terms of percentage). Juniors Garrison Carr and Derrick Mercer lead the Eagle attack, with Carr being a first-team all-conference selection. Garrison set a conference record with 117 three-pointers this season and ranked third in the conference in scoring. The fact that the Eagles were second in field goal percentage is somewhat surprising when you consider that forty percent of their shot attempts came from behind the arc. Mercer, also a solid defender (what would you expect of a guard who played for Bob Hurley Sr. at St. Anthony?), led the team in both assists and field goal percentage and earned a second-team all-conference spot. In their six seasons in the Patriot League, the Eagles have advanced to the semifinals. In regards to having championship experience, the edge would go to the Crusaders. However, I see a changing of the guard with Carr and Mercer leading the way in this one. But I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if the Crusaders pulled this one out. #5 Army @ #4 Lehigh Category Army Lehigh Points per game 58.8 (8th) 63.9 (5th) PPG allowed 61.8 (2nd) 65.4 (5th) Field goal % 43.4 (5th) 41.5 (7th) FG% defense 40.9 (2nd) 42.4 (6th) 3PT percentage 32.2 (7th) 36.0 (4th) 3PT% defense 34.8 (4th) 40.4 (8th) Rebound margin - 3.0 (8th) - 1.1 (4th) Turnover margin + 1.46 (2nd) + 0.93 (3rd) Category Army Lehigh Points per game Jarell Brown (18.5) Marquis Hall (14.0) Rebounds per game Doug Williams (5.5) Bryan White (8.1) Assists per game Josh Miller (4.0) Hall (4.4) FG percentage Brown (43.1) Zahir Carrington (54.1) 3PT percentage Brown (41.5) Rob Keefer (44.8) Assist/turnover ratio Miller (1.65) Hall (1.80) Regular season meetings: Lehigh 57, Army 52 (Jan. 20 at Army); Lehigh 58, Army 53 (Feb. 16th at Lehigh). For the second consecutive year the Mountain Hawks and Black Knights meet in the quarterfinals. Last year, Army pulled off the 47-46 road upset as the six seed. In regards to how they get things done on offense, the two squads couldn’t be more different. While Jim Crews does play a lot of guys, the Army attack begins with senior guard and first-team all-conference selection Jarell Brown. Brown, who is only three three-pointers shy of breaking the single-season school record, was second in the PL in scoring and led the team in both field goal and three-point percentage. Josh Miller runs the point and ranks among the conference’s best in both assists and assist-to-turnover ratio. While they don’t light up the scoreboard, ranking last in points per game, Army is second in both points allowed and field goal percentage defense. The Mountain Hawks have a more balanced offensive attack, led by second-team all-conference selection Marquis Hall, who led the PL in both assists and assist-to-turnover ratio. Zahir Carrington and Brian White also average double figures, with White also leading the conference in rebounds per game. A key to Lehigh’s postseason could be guard Matt Szalachowski, who is currently mired in a shooting slump from behind the arc. Matt has only hit one of his last thirteen attempts from downtown. And while the Mountain Hawks rank 6th in field goal percentage defense and 5th in points allowed, they’ve only give up an average of fifty-four points per game in their eleven victories. For this reason, along with their 11-3 home record this year, I like Lehigh to move on to the semis. My pick to win the tournament: American.

Poll: Who Will Win the Patriot League?

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 20:50:36 -0700

Daily Dribble: 2/16

Shawn Siegel — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 10:01:25 -0800
I took a day off from the Dribble yesterday because I was working on CHN's new "FanBlogs". Basically you can have a blog about anything basketball (not even just college) related on CHN.. simply register (on the left) if you haven't already.. and then click on "My FanBlog" and start posting away. Right now we're in a developmental stage, so the blog posts don't appear on CHN's frontpage and I'm not promoting in full yet. But if you look on the right hand sidebar of this page, you'll see a box for "Recent FanBlog Posts" where you can see two of the readers who have already got started. You should definitely think about having your own blog on CHN. You'll get an archive for your blog posts, your own user profile with a bio and a picture, and each week the best FanBlog posts will be featured on the main page. For more information, click here. Now back to our regularly scheduled program: BracketBusters starts tonight with Winthrop at Missouri State on ESPN2. This is a weird game, because I feel like Winthrop has everything to gain and Missouri State only has something to lose. The Bears right now are probably in the Dance.. but not by much. I don't really think a home win over Winthrop really helps them much.. but I feel the committee will look on a loss here as a "bad" loss. Not that Winthrop's bad, but the committee will think that if Missouri State is a real NCAA Tourney team, they have to beat the likes of Winthrop at home. On the other side, Winthrop only has something to gain. As an at-large team.. they're on the outside looking in and a win can only help in a big way. But, they're probably going to win the Big South anyways, so a loss isn't really disastrous. The Patriot League finals (assuming its Holy Cross/Bucknell) will be one of the best games of Championship Week. Both teams are now 11-1 as Holy Cross beat Navy and Bucknell beat Lafayette. Somehow Holy Cross ended up with a hard as heck road game at Hofstra in BracketBusters.. while the Bison got a relatively easy home game against Towson. I guess Providence is still considered a "bubble" team in some sense of the word.. but last night's loss at Notre Dame hurts. The Friars have been extremely competitive against good teams on the road, but they can't seem to put wins away. They were up on Notre Dame at the half last night, up on Pittsburgh at the half on Saturday, and were within 3 of Marquette at the half a week before that. All of those games turned into losses.. and just one win in there, would put the Friars at a solid 16-8, 6-5 in the Big East. The Friars five remaining games are all winnable, so this is still a team that can make some serious noise. Purdue is also a team that can make some noise due to a weak remaining conference schedule. The Boilers beat Indiana last night behind 32 from David Teague, and are now 17-9, 6-6. .500 in this year's Big Ten isn't that impressive.. but the Boilers could easily go 4-0 or 3-1 in their remaining games. They have road games at Iowa and Northwestern and then home games against Minnesota and Northwestern again. If they don't go 3-1 in those games, they simply don't deserve to be in the Tournament. St. John's win over Rutgers last night makes it pretty clear about who will not make the Big East Tournament. The 4 teams on the outside are Seton Hall, South Florida, Rutgers, and Cincinnati. Providence and UCONN are 2 games up on 13th place Seton Hall and its hard to imagine the Pirates making up that deficit. Arizona State may very well end up being the first ever Pac-10 team to go winless in conference play.. but they almost broke out in a big way over UCLA last night. The Bruins seem to be getting themselves in hole often this year, but they also always tend to come back and win. The odd thing about Arizona State is that despite being 0-14, they've been competitive in most games, even on the road. Up on UCLA last night, 4 point loss at Oregon State, 4 point at Oregon, 1 point to Washington State, up on UCLA at the half earlier, etc. Oregon continues to go in the wrong direction after losing at California last night. Ryan Anderson's 18 points led Cal to their biggest win of the season. But the way #17 Oregon keeps tumbling, the home win over the Ducks might not even look that great at season's end. The Ducks have lost 4-5 and 5-7, and now face a Stanford team looking for revenge and an NCAA Tournament bid. After that Oregon heads home to face a Washington State that is beating teams left and right these days. Stephane Lasme made yet another run at a Triple-Double last night with 18 points, 10 boards, and 7 blocks. The senior forward already has 3 on the season, all at home. With home games against Saint Bonaventure and La Salle coming up, perhaps Lasme has one more in him.

I owe Yale an apology

Raphielle Johnson — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 22:11:30 -0800
I begin this blog with a quote from my last post: "Although you normally want to wait until a team plays more than two games to state that they are the clear favorite to win their conference, can anybody truly challenge Penn at the top of the Ivy League? Preseason prognosticators tabbed Princeton to finish second, but they're sitting in last place right now. Maybe Cornell or Yale? Who knows, but I'll take the Quakers over the field." (January 29th) Whoops. After this weekend's games (a sweep of Princeton and Penn), James Jones' Yale Bulldogs are atop the Ivy League with a 5-1 conference record. Yale is led by the tandem of guard Eric Flato and guard/forward Casey Hughes. This is an experienced ballclub that should hang around for the duration of the season and challenge for the league's automatic bid. They've played two more games than Penn, which explains the two-game lead in the win column (they're tied in the loss category), and they've got the Columbia/Cornell road swing this coming weekend. If they can get through that with at least a split, if not a sweep, the Bulldogs have their next four games at home. The season ends with games at Penn and Princeton, and those games could indeed decide who represents the Ivy in the NCAA Tournament. In the MAAC, preseason favorite Marist has gotten themselves into quite a jam in the standings. They're only one game behind Loyola (MD) thanks to their win over the Greyhounds on Saturday, but they're 2-3 record in the last five games has put them into a tougher spot when it comes to seeding for the MAAC Tournament. 2 1/2 games separate second place from eighth in the standings, and seeds 7-10 get to play on the first day of the tournament. With the improvement of teams like Niagara and Fairfield since the beginning of the year, the last weeks of the regular season will be a sight to behold. The only given at this point is that St. Peter's and Iona will occupy the bottom two spots in the standings. Also, congrats to the Iona Gaels, who got their first win of the season on Saturday in a 79-67 win over Rider. Given the mentality of head coach Jeff Ruland, the celebration on the court was probably short-lived, and look out for this team in Bridgeport. One and done scenario, a team that many won't expect much from...a recipe of an upset or two. Or maybe even a run to the tournament crown. The Duquesne story just gets better by the week. Given the offseason turmoil experienced by the Dukes in the first year of the Ron Everhart era, another year of futility was expected. But after wins over Xavier and St. Bonaventure, the Dukes are sitting in the middle of the Atlantic 10 standings at 5-4 in the league. Although they're only two games out of first place, a championship would be too much to ask. But as this program grows and they get players healthy, look out. Speaking of the A-10, Rhode Island head coach Jim Baron may be well on his way to claiming the league's Coach of the Year award. It's one thing to improve your conference win total from one year to the next. But to do it with a completely different style of play? URI under Baron had always preferred a half-court style of play, but this year they're getting it done with an up-tempo style. Jimmy Baron (yes, he's the coach's son), Will Daniels and Kaheim Seawright are the main offensive threats. But I have no way of explaining the 45-44 win at Fordham on Saturday. Let's just give them credit for finding a way to win in spite of shooting 28% from the field. Two games in the next week will go a long way in deciding the Patriot and America East: Holy Cross at Bucknell (2/9) and Vermont at Albany (2/11). In both matchups, so long as all teams involved take care of business, the first place team will visit the team right behind them in the standings. In the NEC, two games separate second place from eighth, but the actual story may be that eighth place (Wagner) has 2.5 games between themselves and ninth place. Keep in mind that only the top eight teams in the standings qualify for the conference tournament. In order for LIU to pass Wagner, they would need to finish a full game ahead of the Seahawks given Wagner's season sweep of the Blackbirds.

Patriot League Preview

CHN — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 10:21:49 -0800

Conference Previews | Top 144 | 06-07 Preview Home

Patriot League Preview

Conference Rank: 24th

Conference Page

All-Conference

Player of the Year - Chris McNaughton, Bucknell, C

Keith Simmons, Holy Cross, G

Jose Olivera, Lehigh, G

Andre Ingram, American, G/F

Donald Brown, Bucknell, F

Nat'l Team (Click for Preview) Conf Tourney

58 Bucknell 1 NCAA

91 Holy Cross 2

147 Lehigh 3

218 American 4

240 Lafayette 5

290 Colgate 6

300 Navy 7

323 Army 8

Other Preseason Articles

Patriot League Preseason Coaches Poll

Patriot League Preseason Poll

Press Release — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 19:47:32 -0700

Reigning Patriot League Men's Basketball champion Bucknell has been picked by Patriot League men's basketball head coaches and sports information directors to capture its third-straight Patriot League crown, announced Thursday at the 2006-07 Patriot League Men's Basketball Media Day at ESPN Zone in Baltimore.
In addition, Bucknell senior Chris McNaughton (Leutershausen, Germany) was selected as the Patriot League's Preseason Player of the Year for the second-straight season, earning his third-straight Patriot League Preseason Team nod in the process.

Bucknell, which became the first team in Patriot League history to go undefeated in League play in 2005-06, received 12-of-a-possible-16 first-place votes (schools may not vote for themselves) and 96 points overall. Bucknell has achieved a number of Patriot League firsts during its two-year championship run - including becoming the first Patriot League team ever ranked in the Top 25 and the first Patriot League team to win a game in the NCAA Tournament (2004-05 and 2005-06).

McNaughton is a three-time All-Patriot League selection (First-Team 2005 and 2006, Rookie Team 2004) and a two-time Patriot League All-Tournament team honoree (2005 and 2006). He is currently the Patriot League career leader in field-goal percentage (60.1 percent) and averaged 12.8 ppg in 2005-06 while shooting a Patriot League high 57.8 percent from the floor.

Patriot League 2006-07 Men's Basketball Preseason Poll
1) Bucknell 96 (12)
2) Holy Cross 86 (3)
3) American 70 (1)
4) Lehigh 64
5) Colgate 48
6) Lafayette 35
7) Navy 31
8) Army 18

Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year
Chris McNaughton, Bucknell

Patriot League Preseason Team
Chris McNaughton, Bucknell
Keith Simmons, Holy Cross
Jose Olivero, Lehigh
Torey Thomas, Holy Cross
Andre Ingram, American

The time is here!

Raphielle Johnson — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:17:23 -0700
Well, the 2006-07 season officially began Friday night, when schools across the nation put held their first practice of the season. This probably shouldn't even be called a practice, since it primarily consists of player intros, contests, and a scrimmage run at the pace of a glorified jog. The primary goals of the players and coaches are to avoid injuries and put last year behind them. This is what I saw in watching Florida's event the other night. Dropping the replica Sears Trophy after raising their national title banner was the perfect way to say that last year is over, and there are new things to accomplish. The must see TV takes place the following morning, when the coaches get to do their thing...and run their players into the ground. But this will never be on TV, so the Friday night style will have to suffice. The worst news of the opening weekend of practice came from Durham, where Duke announced today that starting point guard Greg Paulus broke a bone in his foot. It's a similar injury to the one that Carlos Boozer suffered in 2001, but don't expect to see Paulus until he's 100%. Boozer broke his foot in the middle of conference play, making it imperative that the Devils get him back for the NCAA Tournament. He took a few games to get back into game shape, but he was there to help Duke win a national title. That's the goal of a school such as Duke, similar to that of the New York Yankees, so who knows when Paulus will be back on the court. This most likely puts the ball in the hands of a committee, including freshmen Jon Scheyer and Gerald Henderson, and I'm interedted to see how they handle the role change. With this being a Northeast-dominated blog, there are some things in those leagues that I am looking forward to this year. Can anyone challenge Penn and Princeton in the Ivy League this year? I see Penn as the solid favorite, and Ibby Jabber should make first year head coach Glen Miller's transition that much easier. Is Vermont on the way back in America East? Yes, but they'll have their hands full with Albany, Maine, and Binghamton. Stony Brook should win more than four games this season as well. Iona and Manhattan have to reload after heavy losses, so look for Marist (led by Jared Jordan) to win the MAAC. How Lindy's rated Jordan the 17th best point guard in America is beyond me, but they'll find out how wrong they were when the Old Spice Classic tips off next month in Florida (I'm saying that he'll prove himself to be one of the nation's best). And the NEC looks to be pretty wide open, with Robert Morris leading the way. Will Wagner believe the hype as they did last year, failing to qualify for the conference tournament? Or will they come out "humble and hungry", to borrow a phrase from Joakim Noah? They've got the talent to challenge for the title, but the intangibles remain to be seen. I'm calling this upset right now: Fordham over Tennessee in the first round of the Preseason NIT. But don't expect Sacred Heart to beat North Carolina. And I like the new "common site" format, along with guaranteeing each team at least two games. In the past, losing early in the NIT could leave quite a gap in a team's schedule, or congest a schedule for a team not expecting to get to MSG. This should help with those issues. And with this being the 50th anniversary of the Ivy League, I leave you with this interesting fact. Only seven times in the history of the league has there been a champion (outright or co-) not named Penn or Princeton. I find this to be amazing.