Jan. 29 Power Rankings
29 January, 2007The story of the last week was Lehigh trying to step up with the Patriot League’s Big Two and getting beat by both Holy Cross and Bucknell. While the Mountain Hawks lick their wounds, this week it’s American who will run the gamut, facing Holy Cross, Lehigh, and early next week, Bucknell. The Eagles, expected before the season to be in the mix at the top of the league, have finally found some momentum after a horrendous start to conference play, but neither the Crusaders nor Bison look particularly vulnerable right now. We’ll know within eight days of now if American can make it a three-horse race.
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| 1. | Holy Cross (16-6, 7-0 Patriot) | 1 | Holy Cross has shown some weakness in three straight games now, needing big plays down the stretch to hold off inferior competition. Of course, this is really just nitpicking, because the Crusaders have done so well all year that even a close game seems bad. The Crusaders spend the week at home against American and Lafayette, as they prepare for the big showdown at Lewisburg next week. |
| 2. | Bucknell (12-8, 6-1 Patriot) | 2 | The Bison stomped Army in a way few could have foreseen over the weekend, in their final home game before a three-game road trip. Cotterell Court is a dangerous place to play, because the atmosphere is unlike any other in the Patriot League, and Colgate has been playing good basketball lately, so Bucknell could trip up if they’re looking too far ahead to the Holy Cross game. |
| 3. | American (11-10, 3-4 Patriot) | 5 | At long last, the Eagles are finally playing the way people expected, outshooting Lafayette on the road after outslugging Navy at home. If they can find some magic this week against Holy Cross and Lehigh, it’s a whole new ballgame for American. If they slip up, it’s back to fighting for fourth place in the league. |
| 4. | Lehigh (9-14, 4-3 Patriot) | 3 | After the roughest week of the season, Lehigh gets a full 7 days off before resuming play Saturday night at American. Among the items on coach Billy Taylor’s to-do list should be finding a way to run more plays for Marquis Hall, who has been the most efficient shooter on the team. |
| 5. | Army (13-9, 3-4 Patriot) | 4 | The Knights are 3-0 at home in the league, and 0-4 on the road. The good news is they have more home games than road games the rest of the way. The bad news is they’ll almost certainly need a road win to crack the top half of the standings at the end of the year. |
| 6. | Lafayette (8-14, 2-5 Patriot) | 7 | The hard-luck ‘Pards finally put 40 minutes together to down Army, before going back to their usual inconsistency against American. Coach Fran O’Hanlon has done a great job of keeping Lafayette in games, but they lack the alpha dog that can win games at the end for the team. |
| 7. | Colgate (7-13, 2-5 Patriot) | 8 | After winning on the road and very nearly toppling Holy Cross at home, Colgate hosts Bucknell in the game with the strongest upset potential this week. The Raiders will need Kendall Chones and Alex Woodhouse to be back from the flu in order to hang with Bucknell’s frontcourt. |
| 8. | Navy (11-11, 1-6 Patriot) | 6 | With all of Navy’s struggles in close games lately, it is fair to wonder if the Midshipmen have hit a wall. They’re helped by getting 5 days to rest this week before hosting Bucknell Friday night. Navy fans have to hope that the days off will help Trey Stanton and Kaleo Kina rest their legs and find their jumpers. |
