January 7 Power Rankings
8 January, 2008by Jake Wilson
The weekend was very good to the Patriot League, with teams combining to go 5-2 on Saturday and Sunday, including a sweep of Ivy League opponents. With the early season favorite proving to be human after all and a number of challengers lining up to knock the champs off their perch, it should be an entertaining league slate to say the least.
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| 1. | Holy Cross (9-3) | 1 | After going through a rough stretch of three losses in four games, the Crusaders have pulled out a couple of close wins to start the new year. After one final big test at Maryland on Tuesday, Holy Cross can turn its attention to earning home court advantage in the league tourney. |
| 2. | Colgate (8-5) | 3 | The Raiders might be the most consistent team in the league, 0-4 against the Top 150 and 8-1 against every one else. Emmett Davis should encourage his team to shoot the three more, as Colgate ranks 30th nationally in three-point accuracy but just 251st in three-point frequency. |
| 3. | American (8-7) | 5 | The Ivy League road trip had mixed returns, beginning with a disappointing showing at Brown and ending with a very heartening performance at Columbia. Even at 8-7, the Eagles have just one win against the Top 200, but was it ever a memorable one over ACC power Maryland. |
| Lafayette (8-6) | 2 | Yes, Fran O’Hanlon has seen his team drop three straight, but the last two have been on the road against major conference opposition. With six regulars in the rotation shooting better than 39 percent from three, Lafayette is a nightmare on the perimeter for opposing defenses. | |
| 5. | Navy (7-8) | 8 | A four-game winning streak makes the Mids the hottest Patriot team entering league play, though the four wins came against teams with a combined 9-55 record. Up until his 1-for-7 performance on Saturday, Greg Sprink appeared to be coming out of his outside shooting slump. |
| 6. | Army (7-6) | 7 | Jarell Brown continues to light up opposing defenses, reaching the 20-point mark in nine of Army’s 13 games. He needs more help from his teammates, however, as Brown has 11 double-digit scoring performances so far, while the other Army starters have combined for just nine. |
| Lehigh (7-7) | 6 | Despite bouncing back against a struggling Princeton side on Sunday, Lehigh’s .500 record is padded, with all seven wins coming against teams outside the Top 200 and all but one at home. This doesn’t bode well in a league with four teams ranked 205th or better — and seven road games. | |
| 8. | Bucknell (5-9) | 4 | It looks so strange to see the Bison in the bottom spot, but Pat Flannery’s team has by far the worst record in the league — and this has come against a below-average schedule. Losers of four of its last five, Bucknell has averaged a paltry 0.93 points per possession in that span. |
