The Dances before the Big Dance are already underway. Locally, that means the Patriot League Tournament is off and running with games on home sites. There’s a new wrinkle this year, as the semifinals will be re-seeded instead of the tourney using a straight bracket.
Team to Beat: Don’t be fooled by the tiebreakers. Colgate may have finished first in the regular season, but this is still Bucknell’s playpen. The Bison have won the conference tournament six times in the last 14 years, including the last two. Kimbal Mackenzie will try to pick up where Zach Thomas left off.
Player to Watch: Rapulas Ivanauskus led Colgate to the No. 1 seed while capturing Player of the Year honors, but Holy Cross has the ultimate difference-maker inside in senior forward Jeyve Floyd: the 6-foot-8 big man led the conference in shooting percentage and blocked shots. Even though the Crusaders are seeded 10th, they won the tournament in 2016 as the #No. 9 seed. Floyd tallied 24 points and 8 rebounds in their first round win over Lafayette.
Recent History: Despite Holy Cross’ recent win as a No. 9 seed, this tournament mostly holds to form. Over the last 10 years, the No. 1 seed has won six titles in eight championship game appearances, the No. 2 seed has won two titles, and the No. 4 seed has won once (American in 2014).
Thursday’s Game: American (15-14, 9-9 Patriot League) vs. Navy (11-18, 8-10), 7 p.m.
Stoppable force meets movable object. AU led the conference in scoring defense while the Midshipmen possessed the least productive offense, ranking last in shooting percentage and turnover margin. The two teams split the season series with their best players being mind-numbingly consistent: Eagles guard Sa’eed Nelson scored 24 and 25 points while Mids’ Greg Kiernan scored 17 points in both games. One major difference between the two games was free throws — AU made 16-of-19 in the win while missing 7-of-14 in the loss. Another major difference was the venue, as Navy went just 2-7 in the Patriot League on the road. But the Mids are coming off of a road win at Boston University and beat co-champion Bucknell last week.
