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Friday, December 09, 2005
The Bucknell channel
We are first to admit the site has been very Bucknell-centric thus far this season. The Bison are the only league team we have seen in person so far (though hopefully that will soon change) and it seems like every day there are links to things Bison.

That is not, as some e-mailers have suggested, because this site is run by Bucknell alums. We were not smart enough to get into Bucknell, nor rich enough to afford it, as an undergrad.

It is just that, at the moment, Bucknell is the big story in the league. We try to link to every story we find that we think would be of interest to Patriot League followers. Right now, there are a whole lot of stories being written about Bucknell. Just look at some of the links that follow.

We cannot help it if the Washington Post doesn't bother to cover American or Navy on a given night. It is not our fault that Tom Housenick writes second day columns on Bucknell while most games not one daily paper manages to find its way to Hamilton unless they are there for the hockey game that night.

It is not our fault when the national media start including mentions like this one from the DraftExpress.com Web site:
BUCKNELL was in Nowhere, but has since left there, at least part of the way. Their only loss on the year was to Villanova and they do have four road wins including one at Syracuse this season. The Bison are a tremendous team who returns the bulk of last year’s team that went to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They will likely dominate the Patriot League this year and could even sneak into the rankings. They got pretty close before the Villanova game checking in at #27. Hopefully the voters won’t penalize them too much for losing to a top five team.
We can't stop Phil Kasiecki from putting stuff like this in his column on College Sports TV's Web site:
Bucknell is the mid-major to keep a close eye on. Last season's win over Kansas in the NCAA Tournament got this team its first big recognition, but that won't be the last. They return all but one reserve from that team, and they play a solid game together. Their earlier win over Syracuse shouldn't be a surprise, and no one should look at it as Syracuse losing the game. Similarly, Tuesday night's loss to Villanova is nothing to be ashamed of.
That national interest in Bucknell is why ESPN has jumped on the BU bandwagon. They saw it coming when they set up the Duke game and invited the Bison to the Bracket Buster ball (By the way, a big plus of BU's Bracket Buster inclusion, not only are the Bison looking like a team that will get one of coveted TV slots, but because they are set to travel for this year's Bracket Buster game, they get a back-end home game with the same opponent next season. That should mean a dandy mid-major marquee matchup in Sojka next season).

And while it is hardly as primo as a 9:30 p.m. slot after women's curling on College Sports TV, the ESPN 360 thing Tuesday night has gotten good reviews from people we have heard from. Kyle's bosses are even adding a repeat airing Wednesday evening on ESPNU.

By the way, if things go according to our tentative plans, by the time conference play opens Jan. 7, we expect to have seen every team in the league except Colgate and Army. Our pre-conference tour of league campuses begins tomorrow in our nation's capital.
Published at 12:07 PM by Hoop Time.
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