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Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Week starts early
You could probably count the number of Tuesday night conference games in league history on one hand. Maybe, two. Maybe even a few more. We're not going to try digging through records to tell an exact number, but we know there have not been many.

Since its inception as a basketball conference in 1990, the Patriot League has been primarily a Wednesday-Saturday league. Sure there was that brief flirtation with the Ivy-like Friday-Sunday itinerary, but Tuesdays have seldom been a night for league games.

That changes a little this season, thanks to the league's new Friday night WWLISU telecasts. To give the teams in those TV matchups two days of preparation, what would have been Wednesday night games involving those teams have been moved up a day.

Since Bucknell is at Holy Cross in this week's highly anticipated debut of the ESPNU league game of the week, that means the Bison and Crusaders each play tonight.

Both are at home, Bucknell hosting American (matchup) and Holy Cross entertaining Army (matchup).

It would be crazy to call the second league game of the season a must-win, but for all four teams, in a way it is. Conventional wisdom has it teams hoping to wina conference crown must hold serve at home. For BU and HC, the implication is obvious.

Veteran-laden American has title hopes, too. It also already has one loss after laying a sub-30 percent shooting egg at Lehigh. Even though the Eagles first two games are on the road, an 0-2 start is hardly the path to a championship.

Army is also on the road for the second straight game, and also looking for a first league win. While nobody expects the Black Knights to be a title contender, a lot of folks, especially in West Point, have hopes of moving up from its customary spot at the bottom of the league. An 0-2 start in the conference (along with 5 losses in 6 games) might result in significant damage to the confidence Army built with its 9-2 start.
  • American-Bucknell preview (Daily Item)

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    • Published at 6:13 AM by Hoop Time.
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