Last year, Bucknell and Holy Cross put up a combined record of 28-0 against the other six Patriot League teams in the regular season and league tournament. This year, the degree of difficulty for both schools is turned up a notch.

There may have been some surprise when Lehigh chose to replace the departing Billy Taylor with Brett Reed, who has no head coaching experience on his resume. But Mountain Hawk fans should not worry that their team is being led by a neophyte. “I’ve essentially been preparing for this opportunity my entire life,” Reed said at Patriot League Media Day on Thursday.

The 2006-2007 Holy Cross Crusaders took home not only the Patriot League title, but also the league Player of the Year trophy. Early returns say the rest of the conference expects a repeat of both of those.

American University announced Thursday that Keith Gill will be its new athletic director, effective June 1. Gill comes from Oklahoma, where he had been a senior associate AD since 2004.

According to the Annapolis Capital, Corey Johnson, who was Navy’s starting point guard this past season, has decided to leave the basketball team and join the Naval Academy football squad. Navy coach Billy Lange said Johnson’s decision was based on a decrease in minutes, and that Johnson’s first love was football rather than hoops.