The week got off to a great start for the Patriot League, with wins in six of the first seven games, but a 4-7 mark on the back end of the week resulted in a much more modest 10-8 combined mark. Two weekends into the season, we’re starting to see some stratification in the league, with the traditional powers at the top, the potential challenger not far behind, and other five teams in roughly the order expected.

Holy Cross received a 13 seed and will take on Southern Illinois in Columbus on Friday, March 16. The 14th-ranked Salukis went 27-6 this season, and won the regular season Missouri Valley championship at 15-3. Game times will be announced Monday.

Bucknell is looking to prolong its season in the NIT, but with the NCAA buying out the tournament last year and shrinking the field from 40 teams back to 32, bids are tougher to come by than they used to be. The good news for the Bison is that there have been very few upsets of regular season champions in postseason tournaments, which means fewer automatic NIT bids. Here’s a breakdown of Bucknell’s chances of getting one of those 32 invites.

The Crusaders are in the Field of 65, so now it’s time to look at what kind of seeding they can expect. There aren’t many opportunities left for helpful upsets in other conference tournaments, but Holy Cross did get some help from Albany. Tonight’s Atlantic 10 and MAC championship games are big ones for Ralph Willard’s team. A natural 12 seed almost certainly is out of the question, but moving up to be a high 13 seed could reap rewards in terms of easier opponents.