xubrew

here is my preseason prospectus.

ORDER OF FINISH:

1. HOLY CROSS. this is a team that has won the conference for the last three years. not only that, they have given some highly seeded teams quite a scare. last year they were ahead of marquette with less than a minute to go before losing a heartbreaker. coach ralph willard has done a fantastic job in his tenure with holy cross. the crusaders are led by jave meade, who was selected as the preseason conference player of the year. like most patriot teams, they have some big names on the ooc schedule. they play at louisville, at boston college, and at princeton. they are also in the ecac holiday classic with manhattan, penn, and saint john's. they should certainly be battle tested headed into conference play. despite the rough ooc, i look for the crusaders to have another 20+ win season this year and get back to the ncaa tournament.

2. COLGATE. the red raiders are led by all conference players mark linebaugh and howard blue. last year the team had very little success, but toward the end of the season it was as if a switch was flipped. after being narrowly defeated by lafayette, the raiders nearly knocked off eventual conference champions holy cross, but fell in overtime. after that they rattled off five straight wins before losing in the conference tournament. if they can feed off of the success they had at the end of the season, they should have a very decent year this year. big games on the ooc schedule include playing at princeton and at syracuse. it should be a good year for colgate.

3. LAFAYETTE. the leopards were 13-16 last year, but two of those wins came against division 2 teams. however, they return four senior starters including justin deberry and winston davis who average over 31 points between the two of them. they should benefit from the experience of the returning players. notable games out of conference include penn, princeton, and usc. as a whole, the schedule seems favorable as it is challenging, but not overwhelming.

4. LEHIGH. the mountain hawks appeared to be steamrolling toward the end of last season under first year coach billy taylor and at one point won 7 out of 9 games. then they just went into the tank and lost five of their last six. all and all, they finished with 16 wins and had a tremendous season in what was one of the biggest turnarounds in college basketball. no real standouts on the schedule, but it should be another good year for the mountain hawks as they continue to build themselves up. coach billy taylor has this team on the right track.

5. AMERICAN. coach jeff jones has really turned things around for the eagles in his first two years. they really had a rocky start to the season last year starting out at 5-9, but then went on a tear which included winning 8 out of 10 before losing to holy cross in the championship game. they tied for second and look to duplicate that success this year. the eagles will look for help from senior guard andres rodriguez during the season this year. they have some heavyweights out of conference in opening the season at maryland and playing at notre dame. they also play in the rainbow classic with hawaii, bowling green, and pepperdine. if anything, they'll be battle tested when conference play begins.

6. BUCKNELL. the bison are coming off of a 14-15 year (7-7 in conference) and are returning eleven players from last year's team. they aren't wasting any time as they open the season at michigan state and then come home to host yale, who will be a standout team in the ivy league this year. another standout team on the schedule is college of charleston from the southern conference. hopefully bucknell can gain an advantage from the experience they have coming back to put together a winning season.

7. NAVY. the midshipmen were 8-20 last year and won only four games in conference. although he is only a sophomore, david hooper is a standout player on this team and was named to the all rookie conference team last season. still, the midshipmen will struggle for wins this year.

8. ARMY. the only real standout player on this squad is sean o'keefe who started all 27 games for the cadets last year. this team had only three wins against division one teams last year and none of them came in conference play. its not looking a whole lot better this year.


NUMBER OF TEAMS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: 1 (holy cross)

Pistolballer

thanks for taking the time to write this, i wish Colgate had a better team though...

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