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The SCGD failed to steer you wrong again last night, as Maine won a thriller over Vermont that has created a logjam at the top of the America East standings.  For tonight’s game, we have what should be another great contest, as Lehigh travels to Bucknell for a first place contest in the Patriot League (6:00 PM Eastern, CBS-Sports Network).

Lehigh and Bucknell both entered this season as the two teams to beat in the Patriot.  Everyone remembers Lehigh’s thrilling win as a 15 seed over 2 seed Duke in last year’s NCAA tournament, a win that has been billed by some as the biggest tournament upset ever.  Lehigh stood to have another thrilling season with most of their key players returning.  However, that all went south when C.J. McCollum, Lehigh’s star first round NBA potential player, went down for the season against VCU last month.  Lehigh has gone 4-0 without C.J., but none of those games have risen to the level of competition that Bucknell will give them.

As for Bucknell, what many people do not remember is that the Bison were the regular season Patriot League champions last season.  In fact, Lehigh became the first team ever to win twice in the same season at Bucknell’s Sojka Pavillion when they upset the Bison in the conference championship game.  The Bison are led by Mike Muscala who is averaging over 20 points and 11 rebounds per game.  While Lehigh does still have a solid team without McCollum, led now by Gabe Knutson and Holden Greiner, Bucknell has revenge on their mind’s after last season and Lehigh has yet to prove they can win against NCAA tournament contenders without their star player.

-LEHIGH AT BUCKNELL (Patriot League). The Patriot League is a two horse race, and home court advantage in the conference tournament is on the line. If both teams win out we could see them on the bubble, but anything short of that and they’ll most likely need the automatic.

-DUKE AT MIAMI, FL (ACC). It will be interesting to see what kind of a buzz there is around this Miami team. They traditionally don’t have much of a fanbase to speak of, but they normally aren’t in the rankings and playing at home against the top ranked team.

-MARSHALL AT SOUTHERN MISS (Conference USA). A win will get the Eagles to 16-4 and keep them atop the conference.

-BUTLER AT LA SALLE (Atlantic Ten). Butler is looking like a protected seed, La Salle is looking like an NIT team, which is a huge improvement, but they still need big wins if they want to make the Big Dance.

-PENN STATE AT INDIANA (Big Ten). It’s a B10 game that will feel like and look like a Bye Game.

-SAINT LOUIS AT DUQUESNE (Atlantic Ten). SLU has not played well in conference and cannot afford another loss.

-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT SAINT JOSEPH’S (Atlantic Ten). Saint Joe’s has not played well in conference, and wasn’t particularly impressive out of conference. They cannot afford another loss.

-OHIO AT MIAML, OH (MAC). Ohio needs to win out to even be considered for an at-large, and that may not even be enough. Still, they’re a potentially dangerous team.

-XAVIER AT CHARLOTTE (Atlantic Ten). Charlotte looks to be on the bubble, and Xavier looks to be outside of it. X is unbeaten in conference play, but this is probably their toughest test so far.

-SAINT JOHN’S AT RUTGERS (Big East). Rutgers can reach the bubble if they avoid losses to non-tournament teams.

-COLORADO STATE AT NEW MEXICO (Mountain West). These are tournament teams that are looking to build on their profiles.

-FRESNO STATE AT BOISE STATE (Mountain West). Boise has kind of hit the skids in their last few games. They still have a strong profile, but will be in trouble if they can’t get it done against a very weak Fresno team tonight.

-FLORIDA AT GEORGIA (SEC). The Gators need to avoid bad losses if they want to end up on the #2 or #3 line.

-WICHITA STATE AT MISSOURI STATE (Missouri Valley). Wichita is coming off of a big win, and should be able to pick this one up on the road.

-CREIGHTON AT DRAKE (Missouri Valley). Creighton is coming off a loss at Wichita, but this is a very winnable road game for them, so it’s a good chance to rebound.

-NORTH CAROLINA AT GEORGIA TECH (ACC). Both teams need a win. UNC is in better shape, but they need to win against teams that are outside the bubble if they themselves want to stay inside the bubble.

-IOWA STATE AT TEXAS TECH (Big Twelve). Iowa State is looking pretty solid and should be able to pick up this road win against a rather weak team.

-MINNESOTA AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten). There are no easy road games in the Big Ten, but this is one of the more less difficult games.

-SAN DIEGO STATE AT NEVADA (Mountain West). A chance for SDSU to pick up a conference road win.

After last night’s triple overtime thriller won by New Orleans, tonight’s small conference game heads just about as far north and east as we can go — up to Orono, Maine for an America East tilt between conference co-leader Vermont and the Black Bears of Maine.

Vermont is coming off of a big win over Stony Brook to move into first place in the conference.  The Catamounts sit at 12-6 overall including a solid win over Ivy League favorite Harvard on the road.  Their opponent tonight, Maine, is only 7-11 on the season and is coming off of a particularly poor home loss to a Binghamton team that only had one other Division I win on the season coming into the game.  As a result, unless Maine seriously turns things around soon, they look to be heading towards a finish near the bottom of their league and a low seed in the America East tournament.  The particular significance here is that Maine is the only state with a Division I basketball team never to have placed a team into the Division I Men’s Basketball tournament (Alaska has never had an entry either but does not have any D1 teams).

One other piece of trivia about tonight’s game — tonight’s two opponents are the sole representatives in Division I for their respective states.  Other than Maine and Vermont, only two other states have a single D1 university — Hawai’i and Wyoming.

Slightly belated, tonight’s small conference game is a non-conference matchup between a team from the smallest conference out there, the Great West, and an independent.  At 8:00 PM Eastern, NJIT will be traveling to New Orleans to take on the Privateers.

Of note in this game is that New Orleans is (with Cal State-Bakersfield) one of only two independents.  Further, both New Orleans and CS-Bakersfield will be joining conferences next season, with UNO set to join the Southland.  New Orleans spent years in the Sun Belt Conference but after Hurricane Katrina, funding for their athletic programs just kept getting smaller and smaller.  Finally, about two years ago, they elected to drop their athletics down to Division III.  Before dropping, the school reconsidered and decided to transition to Division II instead.  They did so before last season and spent the year playing a D2 schedule.  Then, after last season, they reconsidered again and chose to return to Division I.  As UNO had never fully transitioned out of Division I, they did rejoin as a full D1 member, meaning they are technically eligible for the NCAA tournament (but of course only through an at-large bid that they would not get even if they won out the rest of their games at this point).

Speaking of independents, NJIT at the moment is scheduled to be the only Division I independent next season.  This is the final year of the Great West as its four other members have accepted invites to other conferences (one of them, Houston Baptist, will be joining UNO in the Southland in fact).  This is not to say that NJIT wants to be an independent, they simply do not yet have a conference invite.  It would be of no surprise at all if they do find a conference home before next season, with the America East being the most rumored destination (and the Northeast is a possibility as well).

As for tonight’s game, NJIT enters at 6-9 overall with an RPI of 308, though they are 2-0 so far in conference play and could be a serious threat to win the Great West’s final championship.  New Orleans is only 2-12 with a 345 RPI.  NJIT should win the game, but it is being played in New Orleans so an upset would not be a shocker by any means.

Ken Pomeroy is the guest this week. A great discussion about the current state of affairs in college hoops.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/crimsoncast/2013/01/21/bracket-racket-12013

For those that missed it, Jackson State cruised to a double digit win at Grambling last night, a loss that may go a significant way to Grambling claiming the title of the worst Division I team ever.  We will continue to monitor their progress as the season progresses, but now it is time to focus on the huge rivalry game on the slate for today — the Noon Eastern tipoff on CBS Sports Network of Navy at Army.

If this was football, the game would be circled on millions of fans’ calendars for months in advance.  However, the basketball rivalry between these two service academies has never risen even close to that level.  That being said, there is certainly no love lost between these two schools and regardless of their overall records on the season, this should be a fun and entertaining game.

Navy enters today’s game at 0-2 in conference and 6-12 overall.  Their RPI is 326 and Pomeroy is 293.  Army comes in at 1-1 in conference and 8-9 overall with a 250 RPI and 211 Pomeroy.  Neither is a serious threat in the Patriot League this season which looks like a two team dogfight between Lehigh and Bucknell, but that doesn’t matter much when it comes to today’s game.  This should be a close game between two great rivals…and don’t forget that they will meet again next month for a rematch.