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Friday, March 09, 2007
Five seniors will bow out in a final between two teams they have built into fierce rivals.
Bucknell vs. Holy Cross for all the marbles. What else is new?
It's like a broken record, which for those of you too young to remember vinyl, is a little like a CD that skips, stuck on the same note over and over and over again.
For those who prefer their pop culture references from the world of film, think Groundhog Day.
Like last season, and the season before that, the Bison and the Crusaders will meet on the Friday before Selection Sunday to decide who will represent the Patriot League in the Big Dance.
Only one thing is certain: somebody's streak is going to end. Holy Cross has won 17 straight games in the Hart Center. Bucknell has won 14 in a row and eight straight league tournament games.
For the five seniors on the rosters of the two teams, it is a fitting ending to an era that has made the Bucknell-Holy Cross rivalry arguably the best in the league.
Whather or not it stays that way when these five seniors graduate, taking with them a combined collection of hardware that includes a player of the year, two preseason POY selections, two all-rookie picks, two defensive player of the years, three (and counting) all-tournament team picks and a combined nine all-league choices.
There have been a lot of very good groups of seniors to pass through the league. This year's bunch, led by these five guys -- Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas of Holy Cross, and Chris McNaughton, Abe Badmus and Donald Brown would rank up there with the best.
The past three years, they have been a part of a two-team league dominance that has been almost unprecedented in league history. In that stretch, Bucknell and Holy Cross are a combined 81-3 against the rest of the league, 59-1 the last two seasons and 30-0 this season alone.
These seniors have, in many ways, been the vanguard of what many are expecting to become a better and better conference now that scholarships are being offered across the board. In fact, the Bucknell seniors are the school's first scholarship class.
These five seniors have also been a part of the only three postseason wins in league history.
By any measure shy of championships, Holy Cross' seniors have had extremely successful careers. In the past three years, they have only lost six games in Patriot League competition -- including a 6-2 mark thus far in league tournament action.
But without a win in this afternoon's final, Simmons and Thomas will graduate with a hollow feeling. Five of those six conference losses over the past thee seasons came against Bucknell. Two of those came in the conference finals.
It has been Bucknell that has stood between them and the dance.
If HC should lose, they are guaranteed a spot in the NIT by virtue of being the league's top seed. There is considerable speculation that Bucknell's name recognition would land them in the consolation ball should they lose in the final, but that is not guaranteed.
Much has changed since the two teams first met back in January in Worcester. There have been some big changes since the two met three weeks ago in Lewisburg, too.
The biggest change has been the return of Bucknell's Donald Brown, who missed seven games due to a broken bone in his shooting (right) hand. Brown was not in uniform when Bucknell handed HC its only league loss in Sojka Pavilion.
Since he returned, Brown has posted two straight 15-points, 9-rebounds games coming off the bench in relief of Darren Matsropaolo, who regained his starting job at the four while Brown was out.
With McNaughton and Mastropaolo, Bucknell dominated inside the last meeting. Brown should add to that edge.
It's worth mentioning Tim Clifford was in foul trouble in that game. Holy Cross needs the 6-10 junior to stay on the floor in the final.
Player of the Year, Keith Simmons, scored 15 for Holy Cross in that loss, but he was effectively shutdown in the second half by the defense of Bucknell's Abe Badmus.
After the game, both HC coach Ralph Willard and his point guard, Thomas, spoke of the need to let the 6-5 Simmons post up against the 6-0 Badmus in that matchup. It will be interesting to see if that is part of the gameplan this afternoon.
Having Brown back on the floor might allow Bucknell to stay with more of its matchup zone since he is quicker to get out on perimeter shooters than Mastropaolo.
None of that will surprise Holy Cross. They know what Bucknell will try to do, just like the Bison have a pretty good idea what the Crusaders' plans will be. This is the 12th time the seniors on these two teams have met since they started their college careers. There are no secrets.
Beyond that, any preview of this game becomes repetitive. Want to know what to expect, just look through the history of this rivalry over the past three seasons. It is all right here:
FLASHBACKS:
2007 Game 1: Box score | Game story | Preview
2007 Game 2: Box score | Game story | Preview
2005 Championship: Box score | Game story | Preview
2006 Championship: Box score | Game story | Preview
PREVIEW LINKS:
Bison-Crusaders by the numbers
HC ready for showdown (Telegram & Gazette)
Clifford key man today (Telegram & Gazette)
HC eyes new ened to familiar tale (Boston Herald)
Bucknell, Holy Cross meet in PL final (Daily Item)
Players from all over contribute to Bucknell's success (Daily Item)
PL's top teams victims of their own success (Daily Item)
Up for grabs: Bison, Crusaders duel again in league’s glamour game (Sun-Gazette)
Bucknell vs. Holy Cross for all the marbles. What else is new?
It's like a broken record, which for those of you too young to remember vinyl, is a little like a CD that skips, stuck on the same note over and over and over again.
For those who prefer their pop culture references from the world of film, think Groundhog Day.
Like last season, and the season before that, the Bison and the Crusaders will meet on the Friday before Selection Sunday to decide who will represent the Patriot League in the Big Dance.
Only one thing is certain: somebody's streak is going to end. Holy Cross has won 17 straight games in the Hart Center. Bucknell has won 14 in a row and eight straight league tournament games.
For the five seniors on the rosters of the two teams, it is a fitting ending to an era that has made the Bucknell-Holy Cross rivalry arguably the best in the league.
Whather or not it stays that way when these five seniors graduate, taking with them a combined collection of hardware that includes a player of the year, two preseason POY selections, two all-rookie picks, two defensive player of the years, three (and counting) all-tournament team picks and a combined nine all-league choices.
There have been a lot of very good groups of seniors to pass through the league. This year's bunch, led by these five guys -- Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas of Holy Cross, and Chris McNaughton, Abe Badmus and Donald Brown would rank up there with the best.
The past three years, they have been a part of a two-team league dominance that has been almost unprecedented in league history. In that stretch, Bucknell and Holy Cross are a combined 81-3 against the rest of the league, 59-1 the last two seasons and 30-0 this season alone.
These seniors have, in many ways, been the vanguard of what many are expecting to become a better and better conference now that scholarships are being offered across the board. In fact, the Bucknell seniors are the school's first scholarship class.
These five seniors have also been a part of the only three postseason wins in league history.
By any measure shy of championships, Holy Cross' seniors have had extremely successful careers. In the past three years, they have only lost six games in Patriot League competition -- including a 6-2 mark thus far in league tournament action.
But without a win in this afternoon's final, Simmons and Thomas will graduate with a hollow feeling. Five of those six conference losses over the past thee seasons came against Bucknell. Two of those came in the conference finals.
It has been Bucknell that has stood between them and the dance.
If HC should lose, they are guaranteed a spot in the NIT by virtue of being the league's top seed. There is considerable speculation that Bucknell's name recognition would land them in the consolation ball should they lose in the final, but that is not guaranteed.
Much has changed since the two teams first met back in January in Worcester. There have been some big changes since the two met three weeks ago in Lewisburg, too.
The biggest change has been the return of Bucknell's Donald Brown, who missed seven games due to a broken bone in his shooting (right) hand. Brown was not in uniform when Bucknell handed HC its only league loss in Sojka Pavilion.
Since he returned, Brown has posted two straight 15-points, 9-rebounds games coming off the bench in relief of Darren Matsropaolo, who regained his starting job at the four while Brown was out.
With McNaughton and Mastropaolo, Bucknell dominated inside the last meeting. Brown should add to that edge.
It's worth mentioning Tim Clifford was in foul trouble in that game. Holy Cross needs the 6-10 junior to stay on the floor in the final.
Player of the Year, Keith Simmons, scored 15 for Holy Cross in that loss, but he was effectively shutdown in the second half by the defense of Bucknell's Abe Badmus.
After the game, both HC coach Ralph Willard and his point guard, Thomas, spoke of the need to let the 6-5 Simmons post up against the 6-0 Badmus in that matchup. It will be interesting to see if that is part of the gameplan this afternoon.
Having Brown back on the floor might allow Bucknell to stay with more of its matchup zone since he is quicker to get out on perimeter shooters than Mastropaolo.
None of that will surprise Holy Cross. They know what Bucknell will try to do, just like the Bison have a pretty good idea what the Crusaders' plans will be. This is the 12th time the seniors on these two teams have met since they started their college careers. There are no secrets.
Beyond that, any preview of this game becomes repetitive. Want to know what to expect, just look through the history of this rivalry over the past three seasons. It is all right here:
FLASHBACKS:
2007 Game 1: Box score | Game story | Preview
2007 Game 2: Box score | Game story | Preview
2005 Championship: Box score | Game story | Preview
2006 Championship: Box score | Game story | Preview
PREVIEW LINKS:
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