Sunday, February 26, 2017

Patriot League conference tournament preview

This is part 3 of a 32-part series previewing every conference tournament in the country.  We'll detail what you need to keep track of in each tournament and the various stakes for each team.

Final standings:
Bucknell 15-3
Boston 12-6
Lehigh 12-6
Navy 10-8
Holy Cross 9-9
Colgate 8-10
Loyola(MD) 8-10
Army 6-12
American 5-13
Lafayette 5-13

Tournament format:
First round Tuesday February 28 among the bottom 4, higher seed hosts.  The quarterfinals Thursday March 2, hosted by higher seed.  Semis Sunday March 5, championship Wednesday March 8.  High seed hosts each game, so this tournament is a slow burn.

The matchups:
1) Bucknell vs. 8/9) Army/American
4) Navy vs. 5) Holy Cross
3) Lehigh vs. 6) Colgate
2) Boston vs. 7/10) Loyola(MD)/Lafayette

The stakes:
Patriot League is RPI 22, translates to a borderline 14/15 seed.  Kind of an average year for the league.  Bucknell has RPI 74 and a win at Vandy in its pocket, so they're likely a 14 seed (probably too many candidates for the 13 line to have a chance to sneak up).  Still, that win, plus one against Richmond, is going to be better than any team on the 15 line will be able to show.

Lehigh is RPI 114 and can probably miss Dayton if they win; everyone else is in the direct path of it though.

As far as the CBI/CIT go, Lehigh seems like a lock, and probably Boston U too.  Navy is currently .500, and will need to beat Holy Cross to be postseason-eligible in the CIT.  (Holy Cross and Loyola could theoretically get there with 2 wins, but nah).

1 comment:

HenryMuto said...

I really like this Bucknell team hopefully they can make it to the big dance they have a shot to win a fist round game. Lehigh will be a tough out though.