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MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Colgate
- Boston U
- Lehigh
- Navy
- Army
- Loyola MD
- American
- Bucknell
- Holy Cross
- Lafayette
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-PATRIOT LEAGUE TEAM:
-Jalen Rucker – JR, G – Army
-Walter Whyte – SR, F – Boston U
-Tucker Richardson – SR, G – Colgate (Preseason Player of the Year)
-Gerrale Gates – SR, F – Holy Cross
-Evan Taylor – SR, G – Lehigh
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-Colgate blew through this league last year with a 16-2 regular season record, blew out all three opponents they faced in the conference tournament, and took Wisconsin to the wall in the Round of 64 in the NCAA Tournament. It is no surprise that they are once again the near-unanimous favorites. Matt Langel has done an incredible job as head coach since taking over and has made Colgate the flagship program in the PL. Three starters are back including Tucker Richardson, who is the preseason player of the year in the conference. They have other returners who appear to be ready step into bigger roles and they have some pretty good new additions as well. I do not know if they are good enough to end up inside the bubble and not need the auto-bid, but they are certainly closer to that distinction than anyone else in the conference.
-Boston U is worth paying attention to. They were playing really well in the latter part of the season last year, have three starters back, and some pretty good additions to go along with that.
-Lehigh won just 12 D1 games a year ago, but they did go on a bit of a spurt by winning four of their last five before losing in the semis of the conference tournament. Three starters are back, including a really good all-around player in Evan Taylor. They are picked to finish 3rd in the conference, and I guess that is due to the experience they have coming back and how they seemed to turn it on a little bit down the stretch last year.
-Navy won 21 games a year ago and finished 2nd in the conference, which was a really good season for the Midshipmen. They are in a bit of a rebuild mode, though, with several key pieces gone from a year ago.
-Army was a modest 9-9 in league play last year, which landed them in the middle of the conference, and that is where they are expected to finish again this year. They do have three starters back, including Jalen Rucker who averaged just over 17 PPG a year ago. The thing about Army is that they were really poor down the stretch last season and won just two games after February 1st. I do think they will be better, and I know they are more experienced, but it is hard for me to get all that excited about them based on how much they struggled in the second half of league play last year.
-Loyola also has four starters back, and should also be better this year given their experience. But they also won just two games after February 1st last season, and given how poorly they played in the second half of league play it is hard for me to get all that excited.
-Guess what?? American has four starters back!! But, they won just 9 D1 games last year, and while they weren’t quite as bad in the second half of league play, they were not exactly good either.
-I remember when Bucknell and Holy Cross were the class of this league. It was a great rivalry, the crowds for the games were great, and they always meant a lot during the regular season homecourt advantage in the conference tournament was on the line, and in the conference tournament the NCAA Tournament was on the line. Those days are long gone and both teams will struggle to earn byes into the quarterfinals this year.
-Lafayette has a new coach in Mike Jordan and he has his work cut out for him. They are picked to finish last, but they do have three starters back and appear to have a fairly decent backcourt, so he at least has a few things to work with.