Tom Housenick of the Daily Item checks in with his Bucknell preview today.

Most interesting, a quote from BU center Chris McNaughton that is right on the money:

We know there are going to be bumps, there can be losing streaks," McNaughton said. "It's how we react to those situations. It's how we play at Navy (the Jan. 7 Patriot League opener) after facing Duke (on Jan. 2). We know what we're capable of as a team. We have to go out and prove it again."

Last year Bucknell responded to those bumps by turning it on down the stretch. That experience should bode well for the Bison.

At the same time, McNaughton's comment about the league opener also drives home the fact that even after last year's postseason showing by Bucknell and Holy Cross, the Patriot League is still likely to be a one-bid conference. With so many teams blending freshmen into significant roles, aside from Bucknell, it is hard to imagine anybody having the kind of non-conference record that would merit a bid in the committee's eyes. The one or two schools who might be able to fashion outstanding non-con records don't play a strong enough schedule for it to help.

Bucknell, should it somehow tip-toe through the minefield it has scheduled out of conference with only one or two losses, might merit a second bid if they were to lose in the conference final after winning the regular season. But even that is a longshot.

Housenick is quick to point out in his look at the rest of the league, that nobody is willing to concede the league to Bucknell.

As an aside, in that same piece, Housenick is reporting that Joe Knight missed Lehigh's first three games because of an injury.