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Bucknell at Rider, 7:30 p.m.:Rider finished 19-11 last season, winning the MAAC regular season title and advancing to the conference's final. But much has changed in Lawrenceville since then. Coach Don Harnum is on a sort of leave of absence to serve as interim athletic director for a year. In his stead, Tommy Dempsey takes over as interim head coach for the Broncs, with a young team full of fresh faces. The Broncs graduated five players, including leading scorer Jerry Johnson, who made 102 three-pointers and averaged 18.4 ppg and Steve Castleberry, who was in preseason camp with the NBA Philadelphia 76ers. The Broncs have never lost a home opener in Alumni Gym, where they were 8-2 last season, but they have five new players on the roster and eight who are either freshmen or sophomores. That does not mean the cupboard is totally bare. Edwin Muniz (11.6 ppg, 38% from 3-point range) and Jason Thompson (9.1 ppg, 7.1 rpg) are preseason All-MAAC selections. Rider is expecting a sellout crowd.
Bucknell notes | Rider notes | USA Today matchup |Bucknell Radio | Live Stats

Florida Atlantic at Colgate, 8 p.m.: Matt Doherty's first game as FAU's coach takes him to Hamilton, where the weather ought to be a little bit of a shock to the Floridians' systems . . . Colgate beat FAU 81-75 last season, as the Owls struggled to a 10-17 season . . . FAU ispicked to finish sixth in the Atlantic Sun Conference . . . The Owls don't have much size-- only one starter is over 6-3 and only two guys on the roster are taller than 6-6 . . . One thing that won't be a shock to FAU is Colgate's small crowds -- only 387 showed up when they hosted FAU last season and only one home game drew more than 800 fans last season
Colgate notes (pdf) | FAU Web site | USA Today matchup | Palm Beach Post preview


Lafayette at St. Joseph's, 7 p.m.: The Hawks return three starters - Dwayne Lee, Dave Mallon and Chet Stachitas - from last year's squad which went 24-12 and advanced to the title game of the NIT . . . Lee could give Lafayette's backcourt fits. He was an All A-10 Defensive team pick last season . . . he also dished off over 5 assists per game and averaged just under 10 ppg . . . Stachitas averaged 10.8 ppg. He is a good shooter from three-point range, hitting 35.5 percent from the arc on his career . . . The Hawks will look to Stachitas to fill some of the scoring void created by the graduation of Pat Carroll, who averaged 18.3 ppg . . . also gone from last year's Hawks is center Dwayne Jones, who averaged a double-double a night (11.6 rpg, 10.1 ppg).
Lafayette notes | Saint Joseph's notes | USA Today matchup | Gametracker

Holy Cross vs. High Point, 6 p.m. (William and Mary Classic): Interestingly, HC's game notes list freshman Alex Vander Baan starting alongside Kevin Hyland upfront, not sophomore Tim Clifford. That is interesting not just because Vander Baan is a freshman, but also because, if you read our HC preview posted last night, Ralph Willard told us Vander Baan was skilled, but skinny (he is 6-8 but weighs just 195) and was really more of a guard type who would see time at the three . . . High Point is picked to finish fifth in the Big South . . . the Panthers return two starters and six letterwinners from last season's 13-18 team . . . High Point is one of the 100 teams in the pool for ESPN's Bracket Buster Saturday. Go figure . . . 6-5 sophomore swingman Arizona Reid was High Point's leading scorer in its exhibition win over Greensboro with 18 points on 8 of 12 shooting . . . Wondering why High Point sounds so familiar? Lehigh's Joe Knight would have graduated from there last year had he not flunked out, went to a community college and transferred to Lehigh
HC notes | High Point Web Site | USA Today matchup | Live Stats | HC radio

Georgetown at Navy, 7:30 p.m.: Former Princeton coach and son of Georgetown coaching legend John Thompson, John Thompson III restored some of the pride to the Hoyas program last season, posting a 19-13 record and advancing to the second round of the NIT . . . Six players who started, including the three top scorers from last year return for the Hoyas . . . Georgetown will have a huge size advantage on Navy-- eight Hoyas are 6-7 or taller.
Navy notes (pdf) | Georgetown notes | USA Today matchup | The Hoya preview | Washington Post Georgetown preview | Annapolis Capital preview | Gametracker | Navy radio

Polytechnic at Army, 7:30 p.m.: As bad as Army was last year, you might expect the eight freshmen on Jim Crews team to get some minutes, especially the ones with any kind of size. So it might tell you a little about the quality of the Black Knights' recruits to know that despite getting completely blown out in the opener at Temple, four of the eight freshmen did not even dress and another never got off the bench. On a team with only three returnees 6-6 or taller, the second biggest kid on the roster, 6-9 freshman Brandon Brandewie did not dress. Neither did freshmen Curtis Koszuta (6-7) and D.J. Jemibewon (6-6). Figure maybe they will get to play against Polytechnic. Here's what it says about the DIII foes in Army's notes:

Coming off a 5-21 season that featured a
2-12 record in the North East Athletic Conference, long-time Polytechnic mentor Laddy Baldwin has infused a crop of five freshman into his program. The youngsters, all of which are 6-1 or taller, should join a cast of veterans to give the Blue Jays an improved team for 2005-06.

Last year Army won by 34. Expect them to win by a wide margin again. And they'd best savor it, because after this one, they might have to wait a month (until they play DIII NY Maritime on Dec. 17) to get another W.
Army notes (pdf) | Polytechnic Web Site | Gametracker