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Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Everybody is talking about Friday's Holy Cross-Bucknell rematch, but first they both have to get by tough road opponents tonight.
It's a classic trap situation for both teams. Both are coming off emotional wins Saturday -- Holy Cross's winter homecoming thrashing of Lafayette and Bucknell's big win at Navy in its first game without senior leader Donald Brown -- and headed into a game with potential league championship implications. But if either lets down, or if looks past tonight to even sneak a peek at the other, Friday's ESPNU matchup could end up taking on a very different context.
Holy Cross throttled Army when they met in Worcester back on Jan. 10, winning by 24 points. It would be understandable if a bunch of 20-year-old kids would take Army lightly in the rematch (matchup). It could also be fatal to HC's championship dreams. The Black Knights are a very different team in West Point, where they are 9-2 on the season.
Ralph Willard knows the danger. In 2002, his team went into West Point one game before a big showdown with American and came out with a loss that eventually forced it to go on the road for the league final against AU. All worked out in the end for the Crusaders, who won the second of its three titles under Willard by beating the Eagles in Bender. But nobody wants to have to win the championship final on someone else's floor.
No need to harken back to that 2002 slip-up to make the point about needing to stay focused in a tough road game in an empty gym. Willard can simply remind his team what happened two weeks ago in its last trip to New York, when they needed a Keith Simmons three-pointer at the end of the game to get past Colgate.
Bucknell faces a similar challenge at American (matchup). The Bison didn't win by a big margin when the two met in Lewisburg, but they did win pretty convincingly.
The Bison were dominant inside, but allowed Au to knock down 7 threes in the second half to keep it close. If the Eagles are able to shoot like that at home tonight, it could be a very long night for Bucknell.
Bucknell's defense has improved considerably since the two met back on Jan. 10. We'll see how much it has improved tonight.
It's a classic trap situation for both teams. Both are coming off emotional wins Saturday -- Holy Cross's winter homecoming thrashing of Lafayette and Bucknell's big win at Navy in its first game without senior leader Donald Brown -- and headed into a game with potential league championship implications. But if either lets down, or if looks past tonight to even sneak a peek at the other, Friday's ESPNU matchup could end up taking on a very different context.
Holy Cross throttled Army when they met in Worcester back on Jan. 10, winning by 24 points. It would be understandable if a bunch of 20-year-old kids would take Army lightly in the rematch (matchup). It could also be fatal to HC's championship dreams. The Black Knights are a very different team in West Point, where they are 9-2 on the season.
Ralph Willard knows the danger. In 2002, his team went into West Point one game before a big showdown with American and came out with a loss that eventually forced it to go on the road for the league final against AU. All worked out in the end for the Crusaders, who won the second of its three titles under Willard by beating the Eagles in Bender. But nobody wants to have to win the championship final on someone else's floor.
No need to harken back to that 2002 slip-up to make the point about needing to stay focused in a tough road game in an empty gym. Willard can simply remind his team what happened two weeks ago in its last trip to New York, when they needed a Keith Simmons three-pointer at the end of the game to get past Colgate.
Bucknell faces a similar challenge at American (matchup). The Bison didn't win by a big margin when the two met in Lewisburg, but they did win pretty convincingly.
The Bison were dominant inside, but allowed Au to knock down 7 threes in the second half to keep it close. If the Eagles are able to shoot like that at home tonight, it could be a very long night for Bucknell.
Bucknell's defense has improved considerably since the two met back on Jan. 10. We'll see how much it has improved tonight.
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