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Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Shaking out the seedings
The first round playoff sites have been determined. Semifinal sites, barring major first round upsets, are already set. So what are the six teams involved in the three games on tap tonight playing for?

For Bucknell and Holy Cross, the answer is simple. The two are deadlocked for first place, with the highest seed gaining the homecourt edge in the league final, should it get that far.

For Holy Cross, that means avoiding a slip up tonight when they host Colgate (matchup). Win this one and win Sunday at Lehigh and the top seed is theirs, no matter what Bucknell does. The Raiders gave the Crusaders a battle in Hamilton last month. The Crusaders trailed by 10 in the second half of that one and needed a Keith Simmons three with 20 seconds left to pull off a 58-55 win.

Tonight, in Worcester, in front of a Hart Center crowd that out to be whipped into a frenzy during the pregame festivities honoring the team's two standout seniors -- Simmons and point guard Torey Thomas -- the Crusaders should have no trouble getting into the game from the start.

Bucknell, of course, needs to win tonight at Lehigh (matchup), Saturday at Army and also needs someone to knock off Holy Cross.

Lehigh, with the No. 3 seed locked up, would love to win its last two home games to send a message to the frontrunners prior to the start of the playoffs. Bucknell had an easy time of it against the Mountain Hawks in Lewisburg last month. Two big differences this time around (besides the change in venue): Lehigh did not have Jason Mgebroff last time the two met. Bucknell did have Donald Brown.

Brown was not even wearing a wrap on his broken right hand Saturday when Bucknell took on Towson. But he was still in street clothes and there has been no indication he is ready to return just yet. He was a big factor in the first meeting, scoring 15 points and grabbing 7 rebounds.

Mgebroff has not put up any impressive numbers in his two games back after sitting out over two months with stress fractures in a leg. But the 6-10 senior went 11 minutes Sunday against Lafayette. Part of those minutes might have been because of the foul trouble the rest of Lehigh's lineup got into against the Leopards.

We'll see tonight if Mgebroff is in good enough shape to go extended minutes and make a difference against Bucknell or if he is still playing back into shape for the postseason.

The evening's third game is probably the most significant in terms of first round pairings. Lafayette travels to Army (matchup), with the winner escaping last place in the league standings. Lafayette, with a win here and some help from its friends, could actually finish as high as fifth, avoiding a first round matchup at Bucknell or Holy Cross. The Leopards win over Lehigh would give them a tiebreaker edge over Colgate if the two finish tied for a spot.

The avoid-HC-or-BU scenarios are less favorable to Army, which also has to beat Bucknell Saturday for any chance of that happening. Even then, the Black Knights need some help since Colgate swept the regular season series between the two teams, giving the Raiders any tiebreaker scenarios.

If Army wins out, and Colgate beats Navy Saturday, the Black Knights would tie the Mids for sixth, and would have the tiebreaker edge by virtue of a win over Bucknell.

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Published at 8:21 AM by Hoop Time.
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