Punching Tickets: Patriot League

Given everything that has already went down during conference championship week, it’s safe to say that March Madness is officially here, my friends.

While the power conferences are heading into crunch time in their respective tourneys, other conferences are busy crowning their champion. There’s only one conference handing out a bid today, and that’s the Patriot League, which boasts a final of Bucknell and Lafayette.

Bucknell went 13-1 in the league during the regular season and is clearly the best team in that conference. Lafayette, on the other hand, has as record of 13-18, and went 6-8 in the conference. Record-wise, it’s not hard to figure out who is likely the more talented team here.

However, the last time these two met on February 16, it was an overtime thriller that resulted in a five-point victory for Bucknell. So I don’t think they’ll be overlooking this Lafayette team with a trip to the Big Dance on the line.

The Leopards haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2000, while Bucknell knocked off Arkansas in the first round in 2006.

And I think we all remember what Bucknell did the year before that as a 14-seed:

So even though this league isn’t as strong as it’s been in recent years, you can bet no one will be overlooking Bucknell if they can reach the tournament. But they’ve gotta beat Lafayette first.

You can check out the game today at 4:45 PM ET on ESPN2.

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