Feb. 5 Power Rankings
5 February, 2007With Lehigh’s win Saturday night at American, the league is shaking out very much like it did last year, with the Mountain Hawks, Bucknell and Holy Cross way out in front of the rest of the pack. While those three teams focus on games against each other, the other five squads are fighting for a chance to host a Patriot League Tournament first round game.
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| 1. | Holy Cross (18-6, 9-0 Patriot) | 1 | Unbeaten (unbeatable?) at home, the Crusaders hit the road this week to start a four-game road trip. Friday’s Bucknell game is the big one, but even if Holy Cross loses that game, the RPI difference means the ‘Saders would have to lose another road game to drop out of the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. |
| 2. | Bucknell (14-8, 8-1 Patriot) | 2 | The Bison looked great without Donald Brown in dominating Navy, but they won’t be able to push around Holy Cross’s interior like that. Chris McNaughton, finally asserting himself as an offensive force with 12.6 points per game in his last five games, is a candidate, but the outside shooting will need to keep up as well. Plus, don’t overlook the midweek game at American, in an arena that the Bison have struggled in in recent years. |
| 3. | Lehigh (10-14, 5-3 Patriot) | 4 | It’s lonely at the middle: The win at American showed that Lehigh is a step above the rest of the league, but the previous week’s drubbings at Holy Cross and Bucknell showed that the Mountain Hawks are a step below those two squads. Lehigh has received surprising scoring contributions all year from Marquis Hall and Philip Anderson, but Kyle Neptune’s 3.0 points per game in the last three games is more than worrisome. |
| 4. | American (11-12, 3-6 Patriot) | 3 | American has now lost a combined three games to Holy Cross and Lehigh where they could have tied or won it with a last-second shot. A few bounces here and there, and the Eagles could easily be in the picture for a No. 3 seed or better. American draws a tough Bucknell squad Tuesday, before finishing up the season with games against teams in the bottom half of the standings. |
| 5. | Colgate (8-14, 3-6 Patriot) | 7 | If only the Raiders could play Army every game, they’d be undefeated and every game would be down to the wire. The challenge now is to win league games against other teams, with prime candidates Lafayette and American facing them this week. |
| 6. | Army (13-10, 3-5 Patriot) | 5 | That three-game league winning streak feels so long ago now. The Knights host league-leading Holy Cross then begin a three-game road trip. They haven’t won away from Christl Arena since Dec. 2. Jarell Brown’s efficiency has gone way down of late: Even when he scores 18, as he did last week against Lafayette, it took him 24 field goal attempts to do it. He was routinely breaking 20 points on 15 or 16 shots in non-conference play. |
| 7. | Lafayette (8-15, 2-7 Patriot) | 6 | Leopards get two games at home this week, but frankly, they’ve not been very good at home all year. Lafayette is 1-4 at Kirby in conference play and 2-7 overall at home against Division 1 schools. |
| 8. | Navy (11-12, 1-7 Patriot) | 8 | Kaleo Kina has disappeared lately: 4.3 points per game in his last six games on 25.6 percent shooting from the floor. His development was supposed to be a key to Navy’s season, and his slowing down is a big reason why the Mids don’t look as good as they did in non-conference play. |
