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Patriot League Basketball: Bucknell, Colgate conference tournament favorites

By Daniel Benjamin

DETROIT, MI - MARCH 16: The Bucknell Bison leave the court after being defeated by the Michigan State Spartans 82-78 in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Little Caesars Arena on March 16, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
DETROIT, MI - MARCH 16: The Bucknell Bison leave the court after being defeated by the Michigan State Spartans 82-78 in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Little Caesars Arena on March 16, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 8: The NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee meets on Wednesday afternoon, March 8, 2017 in New York City. The committee is gathered in New York to begin the five-day process of selecting and seeding the field of 68 teams for the NCAA MenÕs Basketball Tournament. The final bracket will be released on Sunday evening following the completion of conference tournaments. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 8: The NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee meets on Wednesday afternoon, March 8, 2017 in New York City. The committee is gathered in New York to begin the five-day process of selecting and seeding the field of 68 teams for the NCAA MenÕs Basketball Tournament. The final bracket will be released on Sunday evening following the completion of conference tournaments. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) /

Patriot League Bracketology

The Patriot League is generally thought quite highly of in terms of the lower level Division I conferences. The Patriot is currently ranked as the 19th best league overall, which equates to being either an upper tier low-major conference or a low-end mid-major conference. Which is quite commendable. Unlike the past few years, there was not a dominant team in the league this year but each of the 10 squads totaled 10 wins, marking the second time that has occurred since the conference expanded. The league went a combined 54-61 in non-conference play, which included 0-6 against ranked teams.

As usual, the Patriot will only receive one NCAA Tournament bid. However, the league has earned more respect recently as the conference has been granted a 13 and 14 seed the last two years after receiving nothing higher than a 15 seed the previous three years. Eight different teams have received a Tournament bid with Bucknell and Holy Cross tying for the most with six. The conference is 4-27 all-time in the NCAA with the Bison (2-6), the Crusaders (1-6) and Mountain Hawks (1-3) being the teams that have garnered victories.

But back to this year. Both Bucknell, Colgate, and Lehigh are projected to garner a 14 seed if they earn the auto bid. However, it is more likely that both teams will receive a 15 seed. The Bison went 6-7 in non-conference play with their big wins coming over Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure and UNLV. They nearly beat Ohio State but were also handily defeated by Saint Mary’s and TCU to go along with inexplicable losses to Fairfield and Canisius.

Meanwhile, the Raiders went 7-4 in non-conference play. Their only win of any note is a victory over DIII-Nazareth College, which does not help their cause. Colgate has suffered losses to Penn State, Syracuse and South Florida. Lehigh also posted a 7-4 non-conference record with losses to Miami, Kansas State, and West Virginia.

Any surprise conference tournament winner would likely receive a 16 seed with a slight possibility for a 15 seed.