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.

Both teams have plenty of returning talent, but it’s hard to ignore how much of last year’s teams are lost. For the defending league champion Crusaders, 2006-07 PL Player of the Year Keith Simmons as well as Defensive Player of the Year Torey Thomas have graduated, and injuries continue to keep sophomore forward Andrew Keister away from the team. The Bison, meanwhile, lose four of last year’s opening day starting five, with Chris McNaughton, Donald Brown and Abe Badmus all graduated and senior Darren Mastropaolo out with injury.

Holy Cross’ foremost issue as the season kicks off is not just finding production to replace the departed stars. “Our biggest challenge going forward is replacing Thomas and Simmons as our team leaders,” Coach Ralph Willard said at Patriot League Media Day on Thursday.

Though Preseason PL Player of the Year Tim Clifford is a Crusader co-captain (with fellow senior, guard Kyle Cruze), Willard does not see him as the same type of leader. “Tim’s a very soft-spoken young man,” Willard said. “He’s not going to be a vocal leader. He’s leading by example. Torey Thomas was the kind of guy who would grab you in the locker room and tell you what he wanted done and it better get done. Tim’s not that type of guy.”

Nor does Willard expect Clifford to be able to make up for the combined 31.5 points per game that Simmons and Thomas scored last year. “You can take away frontcourt players easily,” Willard said. “I don’t look for Tim to give us more than 12, 13 points a game. I just don’t think teams will allow him to score more than that.”

With that in mind, Willard’s focus now is getting point-scoring out of his perimeter and mid-range game. “I think [power forward] Alex Vander Baan will have another good year,” Willard said. “I think Pat Doherty will be solid for us at the point. Our biggest issue is finding guys who can score from the wing.”

Willard added that freshmen point guard Andrew Beinart may see some time at wing. “He’s playing very very well in practice,” Willard said. “He may be sliding over to that two-spot when he’s not backing up Pat at the point.”

Meanwhile in Lewisburg, the only remaining uninjured starter from Bucknell’s 2006-07 opening day is ready to take on a bigger role with the Bison.

“I definitely think my role has increased as a leader,” senior guard John Griffin said.

Preseason All-Patriot League Team selection Griffin was a freshman in 2005, when the Bison upset Kansas in the NCAA Tournament, becoming the first Patriot League team to win a game in the Big Dance. He hopes to use that experience to help develop the younger portion of the team.

“We’re going to have to learn how to win early,” he said. “The teams that have won in the past have learned how to win in pressure situations. Luckily for Darren [Mastropaolo], Rob [Thomas] and myself, we have the NCAA Tournament experience that we can hand down and try to show the other guys how to win.”

Griffin, the Bison’s leading returning scorer with 10.5 points per game last season, relishes the chance to play an even bigger role in Bucknell’s offense, but said his team’s success will come down to how they perform on the other side of the ball.

“Maybe I’ll be a little more aggressive in situations that I haven’t been in the past,” he said. “But it’s all going to rely on how our teams plays defense. It’s not going to rely on one person scoring and one person’s attack on defense. It’s going to rely on how we play as a unit.”

Griffin pointed out sophomores Patrick Behan and Stephen Tyree, as well as junior Josh Linthicum, as players he expects to have increased roles on the team this year.

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