BUCKNELL CRACKS MID-MAJOR POLL: The Bison check in at No. 24 in the latest Mid-Major Top 25. It's the Bison's first-ever appearance in the poll. Holy Cross is in the "others receiving votes" with four votes.

BISON GET VOTES: The latest AP Poll, released this afternoon, shows Bucknell picking up four votes after wins over St. Joe's and Pittsburgh in the past week. The Bison are one of 15 teams in the "also receiving votes" category, and would rank No. 35 if AP actually ranked all teams that get votes.

Pittsburgh drops from No. 10 to No. 16 following the loss to Bucknell. West Virginia (21) and Boston College (25) are new additions to the Top 25 this week. N.C. State and Virginia drop out.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: CHRIS McNAUGHTON, Bucknell
McNaughton is the Player of the Week following Bucknell’s 69-66 upset of No. 10 Pittsburgh, the defending Big East champion. The sophomore center from Germany scored 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting and grabbed four rebounds while going head-to-head with Chris Taft, the reigning Rookie of the Year in the Big East. He also scored 10 points in the Bison’s 69-62 mid-week win at Saint Joseph’s, an Elite Eight team a year ago. BU has now won six straight and McNaughton is second on the squad with 13.1 points per game.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: BILAL ABDULLAH, Lafayette
Abdullah earns his second Rookie of the Week award this season after averaging 11.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game during a 1-1 week for the Leopards. The freshman forward from Anchorage, Alaska scored 12 points, grabbed four rebounds and tallied four steals in a loss at No. 9 Georgia Tech, and then totaled 11 points, three rebounds and two assists as Lafayette rung in the New Year with a 65-62 win over Columbia. Abdullah has been the Leopards’ leading scorer on three occasions during his rookie campaign.

OTHER OFFICIAL BUSINESS: Here's a few notes copied and pasted straight from the Patriot League's weekly basketball release.

Bucknell’s upset of (then) No. 10 Pittsburgh on Sunday was the first time in Patriot League history a team from the conference beat a top 10 team. Two other current league members also have beaten top 10 teams, but both those wins came before they were members of the league. The first came by Holy Cross, the second by American. The Crusaders upset No. 8 Providence, 68-67 on March 5, 1977, while AU beat No. 5 Georgetown, 62-61 on Dec. 16, 1982. Apparently HC's NCAA title came before there was such a thing as an AP poll.

The CSTV/PL television package for 2004-05 tips off with BU’s matchup against Holy Cross at Sojka Pavilion on Saturday at 2 p.m. By the way, admission is free for this one. Bucknell is hoping to lure a good crowd for TV while the students are still on break.

HC Jr. G Kevin Hamilton hit his 100th career three-point field goal in Sunday’s victory over Rhode Island. He also moved into the PL’s all-time top 25 in steals. Through 71 career games, he has amassed 129 thefts.

Colgate Sr. F Andrew Zidar has gone over 400 rebounds for his career, while Jr. G Alvin Reed surpassed the 600-point total.

American So. G Andre Ingram knocked down three 3-pointers against Delaware Sunday, climbing to seventh all-time at AU in the process with 105 career triples.

As a team, the Eagles are shooting an impressive 42.0 percent from 3-point land on the season, tops in the PL. AU ranked third nationally in that category at 46.7 percent in the NCAA's Dec. 21 stats report.

Lehigh has now won two consecutive road games for the first time since January of 2003 following the Mountain Hawks’ 59-45 win at Wagner.

Despite coming off the bench all season, Lafayette's Sr. center Sean Knitter is the only Leopard currently averaging double digits in points. He leads the club with 11.4 points per game.

With the win over Rhode Island Sunday, Holy Cross has now won eight straight against Atlantic 10 opponents.

# posted by Hoop Time : 5:01 PM