Under the Radar Game of the Day – Wednesday, November 18 – Bucknell at Robert Morris

Under the Radar Game of the Day – Bucknell at Robert Morris, 7:00 PM, necfrontrow.com

A few weeks ago, David Griggs asked me to prepare a Preseason Bracket.  I said no.  He asked me again.  I told him that Preseason Brackets were pointless and meaningless.  He asked me again.  And again.  And again.  Finally, just to shut him up, I made one.  In that bracket, I gave Bucknell a 14 seed as the automatic bid winner from the Patriot League and Robert Morris a 16 seed (and a spot in the First Four) as the automatic bid winner from the Northeast Conference.  Although championships are won on the court and not in a preseason bracket, given that two of the teams I had picked to win their leagues are matching up tonight, this game was the natural pick as the Under the Radar Game of the Day.

Bucknell enters tonight’s game at 1-1 on the season, having beaten non-D1 Shenandoah before losing a home game over the weekend by 8 points to Wake Forest.  Chris Hass has been leading the way for the Bison so far this season, having scored 26 points against Wake and 18 against Shenandoah.  The Bison have a pair of challenging road games this week as they will follow up tonight’s trip to Robert Morris with a visit to last season’s MAAC automatic bid winner, Manhattan.  If they want to prove themselves a favorite in the Patriot League (and a team worthy of the 14 line if they get the conference’s bid), winning games such as the two they play this week will be very important.

Robert Morris enters tonight’s game at 0-2, having lost at Penn and at Cincinnati to start the season.  The Colonials will be looking to bounce back in their home opener tonight, and trying to forget what the Bearcats did to them this past weekend (a 106-44 thumping).  Rodney Pryor has been the team’s best player so far, having scored 28 against Penn and 17 against Cincy.  However, it is the defense that needs to improve tonight — if the Colonials allow 57 bench points to Bucknell tonight as they did against the Bearcats, they could be in for a very long night, and maybe a very long season too.  Tonight’s game is also RMU’s lone chance to impress their home fans in the month of November, as they will not be back home again until December 5.