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PATRIOT LEAGUE MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Colgate
- Lehigh
- American
- Holy Cross
- Boston U
- Loyola MD
- Lafayette (tied 7th)
- Navy (tied 7th)
- Bucknell
- Army
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL PATRIOT LEAGUE:
-Matt Rogers – SR, F – American
-Keegan Records – SR, F – Colgate
-Ryan Moffatt – SR, F – Colgate
-Keith Higgins Jr. – JR, G – Lehigh
-Tyler Whitney-Sidney – JR, G – Lehigh
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-Last season Colgate blew through this league by going 17-1 in the regular season, finishing six full games ahead of the second place team, and then blew through the conference tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in five years. They are once again the preseason favorites. Three starters are back, including Ryan Moffatt and Keegan Records, who are two of the best players in the conference and make up one of its strongest frontcourts. They have some other key returners and some promising looking freshmen coming in so picking them to finish first is a pretty safe bet.
-If there is a team that can challenge Colgate it is Lehigh. Four starters return, including Keith Higgins and Tyler Whitney-Sidney, who make up one of the strongest backcourts in the conference. They also have a pretty strong looking freshman class to add to all that experience. Having said all that, they did kind of flounder down the stretch last year after playing really well in the first half of conference play, so they need to find a way to get the momentum back they had throughout January.
-American had an unspectacular season overall last year and a particularly awful second half of conference play. Four starters are back including Matt Rogers, who is one of the better forwards in the conference, so there are some preseason expectations. While I think they are certainly good enough to finish in the top half of the league, I do not see them contending for the title.
-Holy Cross won just eight D1 games last year, and while they do have three starters back I am not seeing them being so improved that they will be finishing near the top. Dave Paulsen takes over as coach, and they do return two double-digit scorers in Will Batchelder/Joe Octave, so we could see them take a step forward this year.
-Boston U plays at one of our favorite venues in all of college basketball: The Roof!!! Unfortunately, their team this year does not appear to be quite as spectacular as their home floor. All five starters are gone from a year ago and Coach Joe Jones is in a bit of a reset mode. They will be relying on some transfers to step up for them this year.
-I kind of like this Loyola MD team this year. Now, when I say I like them, I mean that I think they will be better than expected. I do not think they’re as good as Colgate, but they finished last season on a high note by winning five of their last six in the regular season, three key starters are back, and considering that last season was somewhat injury-plagued they could be much better than where they are being picked in the preseason.
-Lafayette finished last year’s regular season by losing seven of their final nine, and with just two starters back it may be a long year again for them this year.
-It is hard to win at the service academies, but in the second half of conference play last year Navy was really strong and ended up finishing in 2nd place in the conference. The problem is that nearly every key player from that team is now gone so the Midshipmen are looking to rebuild.
-Bucknell has a very rich history as a program. Unfortunately, their recent history has been awful. They won 11 D1 games last year, which was the first time in two years they had managed double-digit wins. John Griffin III takes over as coach, and while they do have a few pieces to work with, especially a very good outside shooter in Jack Forrest, he has some work to do get the Bison back to the top of the conference.
-Army had a very respectable year last year where they finished 4th overall in the conference and managed 17 total wins for the season, but with four starters from that team gone the Black Knights appear to be in reset mode and the expectations are not high.