There are three names you hear over and over and over every time you talk to somebody about Lehigh hoops: Joe Knight, Jose Olivero and Jason Mgebroff..

‘With Joe Knight, Jose Olivero and Jason Mgebroff, we have a great nucleus,” said Billy Taylor during a conversation at the league’s media day.

The only other names he mentioned were freshmen. And they came up when he was asked specifically about the new members of the Mountian Hawks team.

You look around and you notice a lot of people are picking Lehigh to be in the top three in the league and it makes you wonder about the quality of the math programs at these supposedly fine academic institutions. Is it just me, or do others worry how Lehigh is going to man five positions with three players?

Billy Taylor is a fine coach, but he is no magician. Unless his assistants are named Penn and Teller, a few other names on the Lehigh roster need to become recognizable in a hurry.

Especially when you stop and look real close at the three who you know.

Let’s start with Knight. Is he good? Certainly? Is there reason to suspect he is going to score 45 a night in league play? Of course not. Even with that tournament record showing against Colgate, Knight only averaged 13.6 points per game.

That is not chopped liver. Knight was fourth in the league in scoring and led in assists. Not bad at all for a guy who took the previous season off to bring up his grades at a Texas Community College.

“Getting him another year of experience in our program will be very important and beneficial to our team’s success. I look for him to have a really big, breakout year,” said Taylor.

”He is somebody who has scored well, when he was at High Point before he transferred to Lehigh. He has shown he has the ability to score. But he also distributes the ball . . . He is somebody who can do both and he has really improved defensively.”

All true. At High Point Knight averaged 16.3 ppg as a sophomore in a season that included a 40-point bomb dropped on Vanderbilt.

The problem for Lehigh is, this is a guard-dominated league. As impressive as Knight’s numbers have been, as good a player as he is, four other guards were named to the preseason all-league team ahead of him and only a Lehigh flack could make an argument that he got hosed.

Take a look inside Knight’s numbers and you will see what we mean. In five games against the top two teams in the league last year, both of whom return their entire backcourts, Knight shot 12-for-59 –- 20 percent – from the field. He reached double figures in just two of those games, and would have averaged less than 10 per game if not for the 10-for-10 foul shooting that boosted him to a 24-point night when Lehigh upset Bucknell in Stabler. From the field in that one, Knight was 6-for-15.

Olivero actually had better numbers against BU and HC, averaging 14 points per game. His 33 percent (17-for-52) shooting against those two, though, only looks good because it is being mentioned so close to Knight’s 20 percent. On its own, 33 percent isn’t even good enough to earn the label mediocre.

Then there is Mgebroff, who even Knight admits “took a little bit of a step back last year.”

As a freshman, Mgebroff appeared ahead of the normal Patriot League big man curve. The 6-10 center averaged 7 points and almost 4 rebounds per game. He got better as the season progressed, too, shooting 63 percent from the field in league games and making the all-tournament team after scoring 42 points in three games.

Last season, though, Mgebroff’s development slowed. His 8.7 points and 4.2 rebounds were only marginally better than his freshmen numbers, this despite more playing time. Mgebroff was solid, but hardly spectacular.

Taylor blames it on having to adjust to a new point guard.

“It took time for jason and Joe to get comfortable playing together,” Taylor said.

He is convinced Mgebroff will have a better year.

“Jason looks good. He is running well, rebounding the ball well. I think he understands what he has to do for our team to be successful. It is somewhat of a new role for him because he has never been thrust into the limelight in terms of having to shoulder a good amount of the scoring and rebounding load,” Taylor said.

“We want him to do that. We want him to be a physical presence in the paint because we think he can be a difference maker.”

He will have to be. The two guys starting at forward beside him are 6-5, 195 junior swingman Kyle Neptune and 6-6, 200-pound sophomore Bryan White. They might consider running some of those old Wendy’s ads in the Mountain Hawks’ promos on Service Electric. Where is the beef?

Between them, White and Neptune averaged a combined 6 points and 4 rebounds per game last season. Neither offers the offense that Nick Monserez (8.7 ppg, 44 three-pointers) did or the defensive toughness and rebounding tenactity that Earl Nurse (team-high 5.6 boards per game) brought to the table.

The beef, by the way, would be the 7-foot, 250-pound freshman on the bench. John Gourlay averaged 17 points, 12 rebounds and blocked four shots per game at Arkansas’ Subiaco Academy. But then, don’t all 7-footers who can run and chew gum at the same time post impressive numbers in Arkansas prep school circles?

There seems to be general consensus that Gourlay is a good recruit. Patriot League teams don’t get many legitimate 7-footers. But they also do not get ready made big men, unless they are 20-some-year-old Germans. If a 7-footer was ready to step in and compete at the Division I level right off the bat, he would not end up at a Patriot League school. He’d be at Duke or UConn or Kentucky or someplace like them.

Foot injuries in the preseason have not exactly speeded up Gourlay’s progress, either.

Another freshman mentioned in any discussion of Lehigh’s frontcourt is 6-9 Philip Anderson.

“Anderson is 6-9-and-a-half and has terrific skills. He can shoot the ball really well,” said Taylor.

Until those two freshmen get their sea legs, expect Taylor to rely heavily on seniors Mike Fischman (6-9) and James Anderson (6-7) off the bench.

In the backcourt, Taylor is big on another freshman, 6-5 Canadian Greg Page.

“Greg brings some more depth to the wing position. He has a great body and really understands the game,” Taylor said.

The other perimeter threats on the bench are 6-2 freshman Matt Szalachowski, a local 20-year-old product who prepped at Blair Academy and 5-11 senior Mitch Gilfillan, a former all-rookie pick whose future stalled when he got stuck behind Austen Rowland as a sophomore and Knight last year.

Obviously, for Lehigh to live up to top three expectations, they are going to need some freshmen to grow up in a hurry.

Can they?

“It is always hard to say,” Taylor said.

He is about to find out.

“They all will be in the rotation. They will all get a chance to play. It ultimately comes down to what they do with those minutes on the floor,” said Taylor.

NOTES: When they hand out Lehigh media guides, they should include a pair of reading glasses . . . the font size throughout is smaller than the stuff newspapers use for box scores . . . the size used for stats, including last season’s boxscores, is even smaller . . . Lehigh gets the earliest tip of any league school, opening Sunday against Northwestern in the opening round of the 2005 BCA Invitational on the campus of the University of Wyoming. . . . From Lehigh’s opening game notes: Under Billy
Taylor, the Mountain Hawks are 36-4 when outrebounding their opponents, including a record of 10-2 last season. When getting outrebounded, Lehigh is just 13-26 under Taylor . . . That gives some perspective on the potential problems of a small frontline, eh? . . . We used the phrase “eh” as a salute to Page, who comes from Quebec, not for Anderson, who hails from La Canada, which is in California . . . Knight’s hops are no secret, but did you know in addition to being able to sky, he also can cover great distances in the air. In fact, Knight was a Tennessee high school state champion in the long jump . . . Szalachowski is the younger brother of Lehigh director of basketball operations Brad Szalachowski played for two seasons at Lehigh, then served as a student assistant coach for two seasons before joining the staff following graduation in the spring.

Lehigh schedule
Lehigh roster
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Everything is bigger in Texas. Except, it seems, their minor league basketball centers. A week after making him their fifth round pick in the NBDL draft, the Austin Toros have waived bye-bye(scroll down) to former Holy Cross player (and Hoop Time icon) Neil Fingleton.

What is next for Neil? How about show business?

After posting last week about another HC alum, Kevin Kerwin, and his film "Filmic Achievement," We got an e-mail from the former Crusader:

Wanted to get in touch because my next film is based on a script I wrote titled "Pine Time" - a satire about college basketball and jock culture in particular. It's loosely based on my last two years riding the bench at Holy Cross. Our tentative production start is next summer - once cast and financing is in place.

Surely there has to be a role for a 7-6 guy in a college hoops satire.

By the way, for trailers and reviews of Kerwin's current production, visit www.filmicachievement.com.

UPDATE: Just watched the trailer and it looks pretty good. (If you see this Kevin, feel free to grab that quote for a blurb and a link on your press page.

Or maybe use this:

"The trailer looks pretty cool. Kevin appears to handle a camera better than he handled the rock." Hoop Time Nov. 11, 2005 Where have you gone?

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The Boston Globe previews Holy Cross in today's edition.

Not much new there, but for those Holy Cross fans who might worry Ralph Willard is conceding the title to Bucknell, a quote to put your minds at ease. Says Willard:

"I'm not going to be running the white flag up the pole."

The rest, in a nutshell: The guards will be great. The big guys need to come along.

(By the way, the Globe is now requiring registration. If the link above takes you to a sign-in page, feel free to log in with our e-mail: hoop_time@hotmail.com and the password: hooptime)
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Editor's Note: In the third installment of our series of team-by-team previews of Patriot League teams we take a look at the Eagles of American University.

If you are an American University fan, you might be wondering what lies ahead for the Eagles in the 2005-2006 season.

You are not alone. The guy who gets paid to figure those things out is not sure what to expect either.

“I really don’t know a lot about my team,” Jones told the league’s media day gathering.

The confusion goes beyond the usual AU excuse of not being able to speak the players’ native tongues. Matter of fact, with all five of this year’s freshmen coming from schools right here in the U.S.A., the Eagles are down to just three foreign players (all Lithuanians naturally) on their roster.

That is one of the few known factors about this team. Andre Ingram is another known quantity.

The 6-3 junior was second in the league in scoring last season, averaging better than 15 points per game. The consensus all-league pick also averaged a lot of minutes – almost 35 per game. That seemed to take a toll down the stretch. In the final four games of last season, Ingram shot less than 30 percent from the field (13-of-44, 29.5 percent) and averaged only 9 points per game.

Without a doubt, having a guy like Ingram in the lineup will give American a puncher’s chance every time out. Just ask Lafayette. Ingram dropped 37 on the Leopards last season. Virginia Commonwealth probably remembers him, too. Ingram scorched VCU for 38 in AU’s season opener last year.

Here is the problem for American: As hard as they had to ride Ingram last year, they might need to depend on him even more this go around. The next four, and five of the next six, leading scorers from last year’s 16-12 (overall) team that finished third in the league (8-6 PL) are gone.

Ingram’s backcourt mate, Jason Thomas, whose 39-percent three-point shooting helped keep the lane open for Ingram’s drives has graduated, taking his 12.4 points per game with him. Matej Cresnik (6-9, 9.4 ppg), 6-7 Raimondas Petrauskas (8.6 ppg, 10.1 in league games) and 6-6 forward Patrick Okpwae (7.1 ppg) are also gone. For those of you keeping score at home, that is 37.5 points per game that needs to be replaced – 40.1 if you throw in 5-9 guard Ryan Graham’s 2.6 ppg. It’s also 18.4 rebounds – over half the tam’s average last year – that must be replenished.

At the risk of seeming to heap it on, the loss of Cresnik, Petrauskas, and Okpwae also means the loss of three of four players taller than 6-5 on the Eagles roster.

Jones is expecting the lone returning big man to fill a lot of that void. Brayden Billbe played in all 28 games as a sophomore, shooting 52 percent from the floor. The 6-10 center averaged only 2.5 points and 2.7 rebounds last season, but Jones expects this to be Billbe’s breakout year.

“Brayden has probably improved, from his freshman year until now, more than any player I have ever coached from his freshman to junior year,” Jones says.

That won’t necessarily translate into bigger numbers for Billbe, especially early in the season. South Carolina transfer Paulius Joneliunas (6-11) becomes eligible at the end of the first semester, but until then, skinny freshman Brian Gilmore (6-8, 210) will be the only other guy taller than 6-5 in uniform.

Since Gilmore is viewed as more of a perimeter player, that does not bode well for AU’s frontline, especially on offense.

Understandably, Jones is already looking ahead to conference play, when Joneliunas will be available.

“That will be a big shot in the arm for conference play, having Paulius . . . We go from being really thin up front, and small, to at least having a reasonable amount of depth and decent size with Billbe at 6-10 and Paulius at 6-11,” says Jones.

Until then, Jones says, “We are going to have to have some combination of Jordan Nichols (6-5), the freshman, Brian Gilmore, a freshman, and Travis Lay (6-5), a sophomore who did not play hardly at all last year.”

Don’t expect one of that trio to win the job outright.

“They are all close. They will have to do it by committee. I don’t see one of them jumping that far ahead of the others,” Jones says.

It goes without saying that American will have a tough time staying above .500 in non-conference play. Especially with five straight road games to open the campaign and only four non-con home dates overall (The good news: All four—Mount Saint Mary’s, Towson, Howard and Yale should be winnable).

Jones is hoping the experience the young frontcourt guys gain early, combined with the infusion of Joneliunas, will allow American to peak in time for the league tournament.

“Those guys are going to have to play some important minutes for us early in the season. Hopefully during that time, the experience they get can pay off so that when Paulius comes in we will be that much stronger,” Jones said.

The backcourt is slightly more experienced, with 5-11 junior Linas Lekavicius returning at the point and 6-5 junior Sekou Lewis likely to step into the three spot. Lewis was a key man off the bench last season, averaging nearly 15 minutes per game in his 22 appearances. Lekavicius, whose natural position is the two, is a serviceable point, though hardly in the class of Lehigh’s Joe Knight, Bucknell’s Abe Badmus or the Holy Cross duo of Torey Thomas and Pat Dougherty.

Freshman Derrick Mercer(5-9) could challenge for time at the point. If one of those two steps up to claim serious minutes, it might allow Lekavicius to see time at both guard positions. Another freshman, 5-11 Garrison Carr, who can play both guard positions, and 6-2 junior Arvydas Eitutavicius will also.

Rounding out the AU roster are senior guard Craig Weinstein and sophomore Romone Penny. Between them they saw all of 44 minutes of action last year (actually, Penny saw none. Weinstein logged all of those 44 minutes). In the preseason prospectus, Weinstein, one of the team’s captains, is described as a guy who “will be asked to mentor some of the younger players on the team, teaching them how to play hard and practice harder.” Penny is called a “a natural leader and a good locker room influence.”

Roughly translated, both descriptions man the same thing: take a seat down there at the end of the bench fellows.

If you are the kind of guy who goes for what editors like to call a “nut graph” that sums things up succinctly, American’s prospects can be reduced to this simple sentence: Wait until next year.

“It is safe to say that we are, and will be for some time, a work in progress,” Jones admitted.

With only one senior, a freshman class that Colgate coach Emmitt Davis calls “maybe the best recruiting class in the league” and 6-9 Georgetown transfer Cornelio Guibunda already in the fold for next season, American won’t have to wait long to return to its accustomed spot in the league’s first division. But it is not likely to happen this season.

NOTES: AU’s freshman class is long on football genes. Nichols’ brother Jerome played at Wake Forest and Carr’s father played at Washington . . . not to be outdone, Penny’s cousin is linebacker Terrell Suggs of the Baltimore Ravens … Lewis prepped for a year at The Pendleton School in Florida after playing his high school ball as LeBron James’ teammate at Cleveland St. Vincent-St. Mary’s . . . Lewis had a scare in preseason drills when he experienced some tightness in his chest, but he has been cleared to play after a full exam by a cardiologist . . . Carr has been doing an Ingram impersonation in preseason drills, donning a protective mask to shield a broken nose.
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The Washington Post has decidedly low expectations for American this season. From the Post's AU scouting report:

Postseason prospects (from 1 to 4 basketballs): 1.5 basketballs -- The Eagles have finished with a winning record four years in a row for the first time in 30 years. Extending that streak to five would be a significant accomplishment.

The Post also scouted Navy:

Postseason prospects (from 1 to 4 basketballs): One basketball -- With all six freshmen expected to see playing time, any improvement on last season's record would be satisfying.

We're not so sure. The Mids would seem to have every bit as good a chance at the postseason as AU. That might mean AU should only be a 1 ball rating, too, though. If either of these teams are still playing after the first round of the league tournament, it will probably be a surprise.
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Bucknell's season opener at Rider is still over a week away. Too soon for us to preview that game, but not too soon for the Trentonian to give you a preseason look at the Broncs, who are led by three seniors who have won a MAAC regular season title and made the conference final already in their careers and a sophomore big man who might the Trentonian calls "a potentially dominant man in the middle."
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In his preview of Lehigh's opener against Northwestern, Andre Williams of The Morning Call refers to Bucknell's win over Kansas and Holy Cross' win over Notre Dame and argues Lehigh has a chance to deliver a similar shocker:

Now Lehigh, under fourth-year coach Billy Taylor, gets a chance to make some big news first. The Mountain Hawks open their season against Northwestern of the Big Ten in the first round of the three-day Black Coaches Association Invitational in Laramie, Wyo., at 8 p.m., Sunday.

Well, not exactly, Andre.

Yes, it would be a good win for the Mountain Hawks. Any time a Patriot League team knocks off a team from a major conference like the Big Ten, it is a quality win. But as Williams himself points out, Northwestern is not exactly a perennial power:

Beating Northwestern, a program that has never been to the NCAA Tournament, would be a good start for Lehigh, which is coming off a 14-15 season that included a fourt-place finish in the Patriot League tournament.

We added the emphasis to the part about never having danced. When you come from a conference that routinely sends five teams, sometimes even six, to the tournament, having never made it is a pretty significant statement about your program.

This is not Kansas, or Notre Dame. Not Pitt or Saint Joseph's either. This is a team that was 15-16 a year ago. This is a team that was 3-12 away from home.
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In a story on Syracuse's schedule, the Syracuse Post-Standard points to three Big East conference games -- UConn, Louisville and Villanova -- as "can't miss games" for Orange fans.

Otherwise:

Syracuse's non-conference schedule lacks the usual punch. Aside from potential matchups against Texas Tech and either Florida or Wake Forest in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, there's no high-major opponent on the docket.

Otherwise, there is:

Bucknell, which knocked off Kansas in last year's NCAA tourney

After the number Vermont did on Syracuse last year, you'd think the Syracuse media would give a highly regarded mid-major its props.

Interestingly, the story also notes:

However, the highlight of the non-conference schedule will take place in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., on Dec. 27 as SU takes on Towson in a Gerry McNamara homecoming special.

Missing from that note is how Syracuse ducked playing Bucknell in Wilkes-Barre after the Bison upset Pitt last year. At that point, Bucknell was in serious negotiations to play the Orange in Wilkes-Barre. After that, talks cooled and when the Bison beat Kansas, those talks went into the deep freeze.
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A student writer by the name of Matt Stevens sounds excited about Bucknell in his column in the Daily Eastern News.

Among his observations:

One thing is for sure about the defending Patriot League champion program, if they make back-to-back, they'll bring the band.

Having heard that Bucknell band play "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" for 15 years now, I'd argue they are better off renting a better band again this year if they make it back to the dance.
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Bucknell's Chris McNaughton has been named to CollegeInsider.com's 25-man preseason Mid-Major All-America team.

McNaughton is the only Patriot League player on the list. Holy Cross fans can use College Insider's comments page to complain about the exclusion of Kevin Hamilton.
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Editor's Note: This is the second of a series of team-by-team previews set to run over the next week or so. As we mentioned with the first installment, they are in no particular order. Just because Colgate is second in the rotation does not mean we think they will be second in the league -- though the folks at Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook think they will be (see post below).

Who guards Kendall Chones?

That is the question a lot of Patriot League coaches will try to figure out when they face Colgate this year.

The 21-year-old sophomore from Cleveland, along with his brother Kyle, missed all of last season for academic reasons. Their return, along with the return of what is probably the best three-point shooting backcourt in the league, makes Colgate a serious darkhorse in the Patriot League.

The Raiders are picked fourth in the preseason poll, but there are plenty of reasons to suspect the ‘Gate might be the biggest obstacle in Bucknell’s title defense path.

There are those guards. When 6-1 Alvin Reed, 6-3 Kyle Roemer and 6-0 Jon Simon are hitting on all cylinders, Colgate is a very dangerous team. Just ask Bucknell, which needed Chirs Niesz’s heroics to squeak out a one-point win at home against the Raiders in last season’s regular season finale. Reed, Roemer and Simon combined for 34 of Colgate’s 59 points in that 60-59 loss.

All three averaged in double figures last season, all three had at least 44 three-pointer, all three shooting 38 percent or better outside the arc. Reed was an all-league pick last season. Roemer was an all-rookie pick. All Simon did was average 12.5 points per game (12th in the league) while hitting 39 percent (ninth in the league) from three-point range.

“Colgate is going to be the surprise of the league because they have really good guard play with Reed and Simon and the kid from California, the surfer (Roemer),” says Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard.

Well, maybe. As impressive as their offensive production has been, match them up with the other backcourts in a league full of great guards, and you’d be hard-pressed to pick Colgate better than fourth in the Patriot, with American’s trio of Ingram, Lekavicius and Lewis close at fifth.

Bucknell and Holy Cross are both clearly better, and deeper. Lehigh, no matter who plays the three, has to get the nod, too, after the way Joe Knight had his way against Colgate in the tournament.

But there is more to Colgate this year than their guards. Upfront they look to be much better, even after losing second-team all-leaguer Andrew Zidar to graduation. Part of that is Marc Daniels, a guy who Colgate coach Emmitt Davis expects to give the Raiders a far more physical presence in the post.

Daniels is an athletic 6-9, 245 senior who Davis promises “can shoot the ball.” He missed most of last season with a broken foot. Davis is bullish on his return.

“Nobody knows who this kid is in the league because he has not played. If he stays healthy, he will be a guy people will know about, Davis says.

Daniels will be more physical than Zidar. But will he be enough against guys like McNaughton, Clifford and Mgebroff? Probably not.

Even Davis admits: “We don’t have, like a lot of teams have, that 6-11, 265 lb. guy in the middle. Daniels is our closet thing to that.”

That is where Kendall Chones comes in. At 6-7, 255, Chones was an all-rookie pick two years ago, scoring in double figures nine times, including 19 against both Bucknell and Holy Cross. Against Lehigh he posted a 10-point, 11-rebounds double-double.

This kids is legit. Don’t let his sophomore status fool you, either. Chones, 21, spent a year prepping at Fork Union Military Academy and was not in school last season.

“Kendall Chones is a player who could be a first-team all-league player,” says Davis.

The matchups are intriguing. Take Bucknell, for example. The Bison are likely to employ a three-headed monster at the four, with 6-8 Darren Mastropaolo, 6-6 Donald Brown and 6-7 Andrew Morrison. It will be interesting to see if Mastropaolo is quick enough, Brown strong enough and Morrison a little of both enough to guard Chones.

Holy Cross’ foul-prone Kevin Hyland will have his hands full with the more athletic Chones and Lehigh certainly does not seem to have anybody to match up wih him.

This might be the spot to drop a mention of Chones’ brother Kyle. An inch shorter that Kendall at 6-6, and at 220, 35 pounds lighter, Kyle Chones could also bring a lot to the Raiders’ table. In fact, while Kendall got more attention and accolades as a freshman, Davis has told other coaches that when they left school last year, Kyle might actually have been the better player.

“Both those kids could start for anybody in the league,” Willard says.

With the Chones gang and Daniels on the floor, Colgate’s frontline might be small, but it is as athletic as any in the league. Davis will try to take advantage of that.

“We are going to have to play great defense, get the ball up and down, and utilize the athleticism of our guards and inside players,” Davis says.

Last year, Colgate was a jump-shooting, perimeter-oriented team. This year, Davis expects that to change. Daniels and Kendall Chones to provide a low post presence that Zidar lacked.

“That is going to open it up for those other guys. Alvin Reed, Jon Simon and Kyle Roemer were among the top 10 in the league in three-point shooting last year and if you have an inside game to go with it, it will open it up even more for those guys. And we will be better inside this year,” Davis says.

The question is: will the new guys inside improve Colgate’s rebounding? That was a problem area for the Raiders last year, as it is for a lot of teams that live and die by the jump shot.

Two guys accounted for a third of Colgate’s rebounds last season – Zidar and 6-8 pogo Alex Woodhouse. Zidar is graduated and Woodhouse, a sophomore, was lost for the season when he injured his knee during the first hour of Colgate’s first practice.

“We were not a great rebounding team last year. Zidar did a lot of our rebounding for us and he is gone, so rebounding is going to be a key,” Davis says.

“The big question for us is going to be rebounding. Hopefully Daniels, the Chones and Peter Minchilla (6-10, 230 soph.), some of these other guys, can pick up on that.”

There are other question marks. The Raiders turned the ball over more than they took it away last year and 6-4 sophomore guard Todd Checovich was the only Raider to appear in more than 18 games with more assists than turnovers.

Joe Knight showed the backcourt can be torched with his 49-points in the semifinals.

The Raiders’ depth is questionable, too.

Still, if the Chones brothers live up to their advance billing, Colgate could make things interesting.

NOTES: The Chones are two of triplet borthers . . . the third, Kameron, plays at Brown . . . Cameron is the runt of the litter at 6-5, 215 . . a sister, Kaayata plays for the Washington Mystics of the WNBA . . . another sister, Kareeda, works for the NBA Milwaukee Bucks . . . Despite its remote location on the snow-covered tundra, Colgate has players on its roster from California, (2), Arizona (2) and Texas . . . Colgate boasts two transfers from St. Mary’s (Cal.) on its roster, 6-8 junior Simon Knight and 6-3 junior Daniel Waddy, who must sit out this season (which brings up an interesting question: given the Patriot League’s no redshirt rule, will Waddy still have two years of eligibility left after playing two years at St. Mary’s?) . . . Willie Morse, a 6-3 guard from State College Pa. will also sit out after transferring from St. Bonaventure, where he played 22 games as a freshman last season (and who raises the same question). . . Colgate opens the season Nov. 14 against Utah Valley State in the Guardians Classic at Iowa . . . The host Hawkeyes and Maryland-Eastern Shore complete the four-team field . . . Colgate’s Nov. 18 home opener against Florida Atlantic . . . That game will be former Notre Dame and North Carolina coach Matt Doherty’s debut as coach of the Owls.


Colgate Schedule
Colgate Roster
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Chris Dortch, editor of Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, was kind enough to send along a snapshot of how his publication views the Patriot League.

Chris said it was OK for us to post this, but if you want to read the rest of what they have to say about the league's teams, you'll have to buy the book (or borrow the one Chris is sending us in exchange for the link).

PATRIOT LEAGUE

BLUE RIBBON FORECAST
1. Bucknell
2. Colgate
3. Holy Cross
4. Lehigh
5. American
6. Navy
7. Army
8. Lafayette

ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
G-Kevin Hamilton, SR, Holy Cross
G-Keith Simmons, JR, Holy Cross
G-Andre Ingram, JR, American
G-Charles Lee, SR, Bucknell
C-Chris McNaughton, JR, Bucknell

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Kevin Hamilton, SR, Holy Cross

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Derrick Mercer, FR, American

2004-05 CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
March 3-5, At homecourt of first place team
March 10, Championship game at highest remaining seed

2004-05 CHAMPIONS
Holy Cross (Regular season)
Bucknell (Conference tournament)

2004-05 POSTSEASON PARTICIPANTS
Postseason record: 2-2 (.500)

NCAA
Bucknell (Second round)

NIT
Holy Cross (Second round)

TOP BACKCOURTS
1. Bucknell
2. Holy Cross
3. American

TOP FRONTCOURTS
1. Colgate
2. Bucknell
3. Lehigh

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
2004-05 Conference RPI: 22nd (of 32)
Conference RPI (last five years): 23-27-26-26-22

We have a hard time seeing how untested Marc Daniels and a guy who sat out last year, Kendall Chones, makes for a better frontcourt than Chris McNaughton and Bucknell's three-headed monster at the four spot, especially when you factor in the depth Bucknell has and the fact that John Clark might return by conference play, while Alex Woodhouse will not.

We also have a tough time seeing Lehigh ahead of Holy Cross up front. Would anyone seriously consider a Tim Clifford for Jason Mgebroff trade? And the four spot for Lehigh is anything but solid with Earl Nurse gone. For that matter, we are not sold on Colgate being better up front than the Crusaders, either.

We also are not sold on Army finishing ahead of Lafayette, but then stranger things have happened. Just ask Kansas.

Anyhow, if you want to order a copy of the book, just visit their Web site.

By the way, while we are handing out plugs, we call your attention to a new link on the right side of the site. If you have been reading Hoop Time for a while, Ken Pomeroy's site is not new to you. We link to Ken's RPI ratings on a regular basis.

But you might also want to check out Ken's blog, which is always an interesting read.

Ken says he is amazed there are two Patriot League blogs out there. We are amazed there are math majors that understand hoops as well as him.
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Everybody played a lot. Everybody scored a little. Bucknell crushed a D-II team that started four freshmen. Final score, BU 91, Lock Haven 53,

If you really want to know more, here's the links:

Bucknell web site summary
Box score

For those wanting to in-depth analysis (we know you are out there!), feel free to compare it to Penn State's exhibition win over Lock Haven Thursday night.
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