Patriot League Preview: Lafayette Leopards

...and so does everyone else who is a Lafayette Leopard

School: Lafayette Leopards

Last year's record: 19-13 (8-6 Patriot League) - Lost in the finals to Lehigh

Last year's record against AU: 0-2. Not too much to report here. The Eagles made the kitties look silly twice last season. In the match-up in Bender, Vlad and Lumpkins scored 50 of the Eagles' 78 points as the Eagles rolled by 18. In Easton, four Eagles scored in double figures and AU won by 10, 76-66.

Key losses - The Kitties only lost one starter last year, Michael Gruner, who was the fifth leading scorer on the team. The also lost senior Marek Koltun who was a mop-up player at best. Nothing too substantial lost here.

Key additions - Two freshmen guards come in and join a squad that has more depth at point guard than AU does, which is really saying something. These two will probably enjoy watching the games from the bench for most of the season. They do, however, bring in 7'0" center Jake Kreuser, who could end up being a force in the paint, though hopefully not this year.

Non-conference - Villanova and Gonzaga are the non-conference highlights for the Kitty Cats this year. Those two losses should be assuaged by the ease of playing such teams as Sacred (read: Scared) Heart, Columbia, Long Island, NJIT, and Fairleigh Dickinson. Shouldn't get too cocky though, Penn is still more than capable of putting kitty in the litterbox.

Outlook against the Eagles - I'm a little confused about Lafayette. They made it to the PL finals but were pretty easily handled by a subpar AU team, twice, last year. I can't imagine the Eagles having too much trouble with the Leopards this year. Jared Mintz did give Lumpkins fits last year, but hopefully Lump comes back a year wiser and dunks all over him this year. Laugh-ayette has a number of talented guards, but if they couldn't cut it against last year's team, I don't see much hope against this year.

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

Thoughts On Our Pre-Season Ranking

So by now I'm sure you've heard that we've managed to be ranked first in the Patriot League Pre-Season Poll this year. At this time last year, if you recall, we came in a less-than-stellar 6th. So just give me a moment to get the bad pun out of my system and let me say...what a rebound! Some more useful thoughts on our ranking, as well as some other recent tidbits, after the jump.

AU Picked to Finish 1st in PL Pre-Season Poll

Great news! We here at AUHoops.com know that the Eagles are going to be a force this year, and now, it seems, everyone else in the PL is acknowledging it, too!

No time to do analysis on this this morning, but here is the press release from the Patriot League with all the info you need. More later!

--
American Earns First-Place Pick in Patriot League Men's Basketball



Lehigh's McCollum Named Preseason Player of the Year

Oct. 29, 2010

Bethlehem, Pa. - If the preseason poll is any indication, the 2010-11 Patriot League men's basketball season promises to be a memorable one as five teams were separated by just 10 points at the top of the rankings by coaches and sports information directors when the poll was released Thursday at Patriot League Media Day at Green Pond Country Club.

American emerged from the group as the top choice in the poll, as the 2008 and 2009 champion Eagles garnered 79 points and also led the way with seven-first place votes. Bucknell followed with 76 points and three first-place votes to take second place. Lafayette, Holy Cross and Lehigh were closely bunched in the next three spots, with each team picking up a pair of first-place nods. Lafayette claimed third place with 73 points, followed by Holy Cross with 70 and the defending champion Mountain Hawks with 69. Navy, Colgate and Army filled out the rankings.

It was the closest gap between the top five in Patriot League history, and also the narrowest margin between No. 1 and No. 2 under the current poll format.

The Preseason Player of the Year selection offered little drama, as Lehigh's C.J. McCollum was the runaway winner after claiming the award after his outstanding season last year. McCollum also headlines the Preseason All-Patriot League Team, where the top six teams in the preseason poll all placed one player. McCollum was joined by Holy Cross senior forward Andrew Keister, Lafayette senior forward Jared Mintz, American senior forward Vlad Moldoveanu, Bucknell sophomore forward/center Mike Muscala and Navy junior guard/forward Jordan Sugars. Five of the six players were All-Patriot League selections in 2009-10.



American (11-20, 7-7 in 2009-10) is projected to have a bounce-back season with all five starters and 12 letterwinners returning. Moldoveanu comes off a First-Team All-Patriot League campaign where he averaged 18.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, while Stephen Lumpkins averaged 13.0 points and 8.5 rebounds to form an imposing front line duo. The Eagles also return senior Nick Hendra among a collection of guards, and should get an extra boost from SEC transfers Troy Brewer and Charles Hinkle.

Bucknell (14-17, 9-5) placed a record three players on the Patriot League All-Rookie Team, with Muscala also earning a Second-Team All-Patriot League honor after averaging 9.9 points and posting a League-high 65 blocks. The Bison return all five starters and nine of the top 10 scorers from last year's team, including leading scorer Darryl Shazier (10.1 ppg) who also placed third in the Patriot League in assists.

Lafayette (19-13, 8-6) brings back a strong nucleus after making the Patriot League title game last season. The Leopards will be led again by Mintz, who averaged team highs of 14.1 points and 5.7 rebounds per game and became the first player to lead the Patriot League in both field goal and free throw percentage. Juniors Ryan Willen (12.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg) and Jim Mower (13.8 ppg, 92 3-PT FG) also return to an offense that averaged 72.5 points per game last season.

Holy Cross (9-22, 5-9) looks to rebound behind first-year Head Coach Milan Brown. The Crusaders will have an opportunity with four starters and 11 letterwinners back, as Keister, senior Andrew Beinert and juniors R.J. Evans, Devin Brown and Mike Cavataio all placed in the top 20 in the Patriot League in scoring by averaging more than 10 points per game.

Lehigh (22-11, 10-4) loses key cogs Marquis Hall, Zahir Carrington and Dave Buchberger from last year's championship team, but McCollum is capable of carrying the load after averaging 19.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists in his Player of the Year campaign. Fellow sophomore Gabe Knutson also returns on the front line after averaging 9.5 points and 5.6 rebounds in his first season.

Navy (13-17, 7-7), Colgate (10-19, 6-8) and Army (14-15, 4-10) all finished far behind the top five in the preseason rankings, but have reason for optimism with talented players back in 2010-11. Sugars was fourth in the Patriot League with 15.8 points per game last year and third with 8.0 rebounds, and will once again have Patriot League assist leader O.J. Avworo dishing him the ball. Colgate welcomes back junior Mike Venezia from his season-ending injury early last year, and Yaw Gyawu headlines the frontcourt after placing fifth in the Patriot League with 14.3 points per game in 2009-10. Army was the top defensive team in the Patriot League last year, and Head Coach Zach Spiker will look for the same effort in his second season.

Patriot League teams begin the season on Nov. 8 when Navy plays at No. 25 Texas in the 2K Sports Classic. Patriot League play tips off on January 8, and will once again include regular-season games on CBS College Sports Network. The Patriot League Tournament begins with the quarterfinals on March 2 and semifinals on March 6, with one quarterfinal and both semifinals televised on CBS College Sports Network. The Patriot League Championship is set for March 11 at 4:45 p.m. on ESPN2. All Tournament games are played at the higher seed.

2010-11 Patriot League Preseason Poll Points

1. American (7 first-place votes) 79
2. Bucknell (3) 76
3. Lafayette (2) 73
4. Holy Cross (2) 70
5. Lehigh (2) 69
6. Navy 35
7. Colgate 31
8. Army 15

Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year: C.J. McCollum, Lehigh (So., G)


Patriot League Preseason All-League Team
Andrew Keister, Holy Cross (Sr., F)
CJ McCollum, Lehigh (So., G)
Jared Mintz, Lafayette (Sr., F)
Vlad Moldoveanu, American (Sr., F)
Mike Muscala, Bucknell (So., F/C)
Jordan Sugars, Navy (Jr., G)

Note: Six players due to tie in the voting.

Patriot League Preview: Colgate Raiders

Colgate: Playing Basketball Feebly Since 1819

Well AUHoops fans, it's about time that we gave you some opposition research for the other teams in the Patriot League for the upcoming season. This is the first in a series where we will do a brief analysis of each team, its returning players, its new players, its non-conference schedule, and how we think AU will fare against them during the upcoming season.

School: Colgate University

Last year's record: 10-19 (6-8 Patriot League) - Lost in the quarterfinals to Lafayette in the Patriot League tournament

Last year's record against AU: 1-1 - In the matchup between these two teams in Bender Arena last year, Steve Luptak played absolutely out of his mind and went off for 22 points against the Raiders. The Eagles ended up picking up a 73-63 victory against the Toothpaste Eaters from New York. In the matchup up in Hamilton, the Eagles lost 75-74 after missing myriad chances to put the game away. Vlad the Impaler put up 30 points but it just wasn't good enough as the Raiders prevailed on their home court.

Key losses - The Raiders lost the injury-plagued but incredibly talented Kyle Roemer and big man Ben Jonson to graduation. These were their #1 and #3 scorers respectively. Roemer, a 2010 First Team All-PL selection, was a prolific scorer and a clutch player for the Raiders. He'll be incredibly difficult to replace. They also lose Jonson, who was good for 10 points and 5 rebounds a game. He'll be less difficult to replace as we'll get to in a minute.

Key additions - The Raiders will look to replace their center with one of two sophomores, either Lazar Bogdanovic (6'9") or John Brandenburg (6'11"). Sophomore Yaw Gyawu will have to step up to try and replace Roemer. Gyawu is certainly talented and put up 33 points over two games against the Eagles last year.

Non-conference - For some bizarre reason, Colgate has a home and home with Dartmouth this season. I think it may be an error on their schedule, but it looks like they're scheduled to play Dartmouth in Hanover early in the season and then Dartmouth again in Hamilton after their PL opener. They will also have tough match-ups against Syracuse, Maryland, and Duke. Aside from those three powerhouses, they have a pretty soft non-conference schedule. Feast or famine for Emmett Davis's club.

Outlook against the Eagles - Gyawu, along with guard Mitch Rolls and forward Nick Pascale, will try to lead the Raiders against the Eagles. Unfortunately for them, Nick Pascale isn't going to be enough to counter the Lump, Vlad, and Riley in the paint. With Charles Hinkle shadowing (and locking down) Gyawu, the Eagles should have more than enough to take two from the Raiders this year.

Keep checking back for other Patriot League previews!

Welcome Back, AUHOOPS FANS!

LET'S GO EAGLES! (CLAP, CLAP, CLAPCLAPCLAP)

Now that that's out of the way, WELCOME BACK! Now is the winter of our deprived-of-basketball discontent, friends and fans. AUHoops.com is ready to kick it back into high gear to bring you the best of independent AU Eagles basketball coverage.

It's time to brush off your hibernating commenter accounts (I'm looking at you, Steve, Not Juan Jones, Lord Baltimore, Matt B, turtleguts, Vidulicious, and PWB, among so many others) and get back into the mix of healthy discussion and debate about your favorite denizens of Bender Arena. New readers, be sure to jump right into the commenting game and become part of the growing AUHoops community!

We want to let you know what the schedule is going to be from here until pre-season tips off against Randolph-Macon (THE REVENGE GAME, as Josh dubs it). Tomorrow we'll have a post recapping everything that's happened in the off-season. Starting Wednesday we'll post a preview each day of a different Patriot League team so you can see what our competition looks like for the upcoming year. Then we'll have a preview of the non-conference schedule and a projection of what our starting lineup will look like. Finally we'll have coverage of the Chalk Talk event on November 8 and the Faculty/Staff Basketball Game followed by AMERICAN MADNESS on November 10.

Plenty of coverage coming your way. Get ready!

Now in case you missed it in the off-season, we added an AUHoops message board. We did this because last year when comments would run 50-60 deep it was difficult to follow. I'd encourage in-depth discussion of posts and games to take place there, although we will be leaving comments open on posts here if you can't bring yourself to migrate. We'll start a thread for each game so you can comment on it, and you'll also be able to start your own threads to discuss whatever interests you most about the AU Eagles.

As always, we still have our Twitter account which you can use to get more information about the team. We'll also Livetweet the home games, just like last year. We may also Liveblog the home games, in addition to the away games, this year. Stay tuned about that!

In terms of coverage, you can expect all the usual suspects: Speculation Tuesday; the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY; game previews; Patriot League Check-Ins; Polls of the Week; the occasional Open Letter; and so much more!

We're excited to be back folks, and I hope and suspect that you are, too. Stay with us here at AUHoops.com as we report on every step the Eagles take from now until their third NCAA Tournament appearance in four years!

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

2 Weeks 2 Go, Let's Get PUMPED UP!

With only two weeks to go until the Eagles tip off against Randolph-Macon on "Sweet, Sweet Revenge Day", I find myself desperately searching for any little nugget of AU Basketball goodness that I can get my hands on. Fortunately, Athletics threw us a bone yesterday and let us in on the team's first practice with a little video. Is it the same as having American Madness in October? No. Does it get me really, really freaking PUMPED UP? OH HELL YES IT DOES!

Just in case you didn't get enough the first time, watch it again. Is that Charles Hinkle making a trey from downtown? Check. Troy Brewer practicing posting up on (imaginary) centers twice his size? Check. Well OK, maybe their roles are reversed a little here, but that's called strategy! I just like seeing the two of them in AU colors. Other fun tidbits include Jones' sound bytes on "depth at every position", and his continued insistence that this isn't the same team that was 0-7 at some unimaginably depressing point last season (our [un]professional opinion: it is in fact not the same team).

Best of all, what do you notice at the 2:07 mark? Why, that's PG #4 Wayne Simon II making the most Derrick Mercer-esque shot off a Simon McCormack (Simon squared?) dish that I've seen since early 2009. His terrible form but incredible accuracy reminds me so much of Derrick that it brings a red and blue tear to my eye. Will Wayne see more playing time this year than we might expect from a freshmen competing with three very capable upperclassmen? Well, Coach Jones sure does love his freshman point guards, seeing as he was one himself back in the day. If you didn't catch our post in May when we first announced Wayne was joining the team, check out this highlight video of the high school game that I am convinced single-handedly got Wayne on the D1 recruiting radar:

There you have it, Eagles Nation. If you're not PUMPED UP, you're probably a robot. See you in Bender in two weeks!

Pro Deo Et Patria and GO EAGLES!

Josh

The Week of 11/8 Is One You Want to Be in D.C. For

Fresh from Athletics comes announcement of two events that will make your early November AUEagles-tastic. Big ups to Athletics for organizing two events that I hope will become mainstays in the future.

First, November 8, Assistant Director of Marketing Andrew Bashuk writes,

"Coach Jones will be opening up his practice for everyone to come see and get an up-close glimpse of the team as they prepare for the 2010-11 season.  After the practice concludes, he'll be hosting a Chalk Talk and Reception here in Bender to discuss the practice and the upcoming season.  Practice will begin at 5:00pm on the 8th, with the Chalk Talk and Reception then beginning at 6:30pm...The event will be free-of-charge and should be an exciting way to tipoff the 2010-11 campaign!  Light fare will be provided."

Sounds like an awesome event, and when Athletics says it's open to everyone, they mean everyone. No need to be a season ticket holder. So get there to Bender and get your glimpse of the team!

The other great event is something I just heard about today. Preceding AMERICAN MADNESS on November 10th, at 5:30 there will be a Faculty vs. Staff Basketball game in Bender! This is going to be the real deal. Full scoreboard, announcers, jerseys, officials (who may or may not be the coaches, that's TBD). Going to be awesome. Come see your favorite faculty and staff face off and then stay to see YOUR AMERICAN UNIVERSITY EAGLES at AMERICAN MADNESS.

Awesome.

Also, thanks for bearing with us through the long off-season. We're prepping a slough of content that we will unleash on you later in the week.

THE SEASON IS UPON US, FRIENDS. THE LONG WAIT IS OVER.

PRO DEO ET PATRIA AND GOOOOOOOO EAGLES!

UPDATE: American Madness 2010 IS ON!

No, not this Madness...

For those waiting with bated breath to hear when (or if) American Madness would be happening this year, you can finally relax. AU Athletics announced yesterday on its facebook page that, "American Madness is coming up on Wednesday, November 10 at 7 p.m. in Bender Arena", with the disclaimer that more details are soon to come.

So thank you, AU Athletics, for clearing this up. However, I must make a confession of my own: I missed something the other day. After the nonchalant facebook announcement, just to make sure I wasn't going crazy, I immediately went and checked every source I could find to make sure that I was correct two days ago in saying that a date for American Madness had not yet been set. Approximately an hour later, I held in my hand the official AU Athletics wall calendar, flipped open to the month of November. There it was, staring at me: "American Madness Pep Rally 7 p.m.", right on November 10th under an italicized note marking the 8th anniversary of women's soccer's first Patriot League championship. This calendar has been in circulation since at least the women's volleyball game on August 27th.

So, needless to say, I will be referring to this calendar more often in the future to reduce the chances that I'm spouting baseless fear-mongering. That being said, Athletics probably should have put forth the effort to advertise it a little better early on (again, last year the online press release went up on September 8th). Maybe then DCist would have reported the correct date, since I'm assuming the extent of their research was doing a search on AUeagles.com.

While this issue has been cleared up, this doesn't mean you shouldn't still vote in this week's poll, "Should AU hold American Madness (Midnight Madness) in October?" Surprisingly, after two days of voting almost a third of respondents feel that American Madness should not be held in October. If you said no, let us know why in the comments! I'm curious to hear the reasoning, as I'm sure it's good.

So that's that, I'll see everyone in Bender Arena on Wednesday, November 10th, at 7 p.m. for American Madness! If you can't make it to campus, I'll be live-tweeting on @AUHoops.

Pro Deo Et Patria and GO EAGLES!
Josh

Midnight Madness, Still Not For The Eagles

Where's the October Madness?

Tonight is the beginning of the 2010-2011 college basketball season, an event most Division 1 schools celebrate with the event ubiquitously known as Midnight Madness (whether or not it's actually held at midnight). Our own version over the past few years has been called American Madness, held the second week of November days before the first regular-season home game. I lamented last year how American Madness isn't quite up to snuff, but this year it's really making me question how much our Athletic department really cares about the fans.

To begin, a date has not even been set yet for this year's American Madness (last year it was announced on September 8th), as just about every other D1 school in the country is holding an event today*. Not a word about it has slipped out of AU Athletics, even as the Mountain Hawks up at Lehigh hold a pep rally for their fans tonight.

It's not just our fellow Patriot League teams celebrating the start of college basketball (and for those without football, this is doubly important), most of our compatriots in DC are hitting the court tonight as well. Check out DCist's report, in which they embarrassingly point out that American Madness is not even scheduled yet. We're just starting to become truly relevant to the DC college hoops scene, and it's to our credit that DCist even bothers to include us (note that Howard is conspicuously missing) even after an off season, and if we wish to keep up the momentum we have to start acting like we belong.

Our image to outside audiences is not all that concerns me, however. American Madness, if done properly, is a great way to help build the budding basketball culture on campus, get the student body excited right now, and involve student groups that otherwise wouldn't be thinking about basketball at this point in time (dance and musical groups, for example). It should be an event (described as a "tradition" in the 2009 press release above) that the entire campus looks forward to, after a fall with no real marquee sports. This isn't to say we don't have quality ones, but the reality is that field hockey and volleyball just won't generate the same interest no matter how well they do. Last year, I was content with saying "we should feel lucky to have such an event at all, as...Midnight Madness at AU was discontinued after the 2000 season." This year, sure as a Stephen Lumpkins slam dunk, I am expecting the new status quo. We absolutely have the ability to make it something great and memorable, with the student body and athletics collaborating to make it the highlight of everyone's October. In years past, the Kennedy Political Union brought Kareem Abdul Jabbar to speak at Midnight Madness, while the Student Union Board brought musical performances and even after the three-point contests and dance routines were finished, the party lasted in the Tavern until midnight (source: doing a search for "Midnight Madness" in the AU Library's online archive of The Eagle). I hope I dredged up some good memories for some of our alumni readers there.

I sincerely hope that in the coming days I can report back that American Madness is coming, and 2010 is going to be its best year yet. At the very least, I hope to be able to bring some explanation from Athletics to light. If I'm not able to do that, I am going to be one disappointed Eagle. The only silver lining I can see is that during practice tonight, the team will be more focused on shaking off the summer rust than on entertaining anyone (of course, I can only imagine they'd enjoy some American Madness tonight as well). Make sure to share your thoughts on the topic in this week's poll, which asks whether AU should hold American Madness in October.

*I recognize that it is currently fall break for AU students. However, this still doesn't excuse athletics from not yet announcing a date for American Madness at all. The students will be back next weekend, and every weekend thereafter until the beginning of the season. Where's the Madness?

Other News in Eagles Nation


- Our pre-season opponent, the Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets, were recently ranked #3 nationally in the Sporting News D3 Pre-Season Poll. Sure, beating a ranked D3 team would be akin to an adult heading to the nearest playground to beat up the biggest kid there, but last year's narrow loss is still smarting and I am intensely looking forward to what I'm referring to as "Sweet, Sweet Revenge Day."

- Not all media outlets have been wondering what's going on in Bender Arena - some are anticipating great things. SB Nation is asking who is going to be DC's next big college hoops star, and while they give most of their attention to the Terrapins and Hoyas, they have some great things to say about Vlad as well. So make sure to take a look and Vote for Vlad!

- Finally, I want to apologize for my terrible attempt at humor two weeks ago. Clearly what I thought was parody just generated some confusion, so from now on I'll leave the laughs to Bill. Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

Until next time, enjoy the rest of October, Eagles Nation! It's only three weeks until our first exhibition game! We'll be back shortly with some previews of our Patriot League foes.

Pro Deo Et Patria,
Josh

Hoop Time Analyzes the Eagles

Hoop Time Online is a tremendous resource for Patriot League basketball. We're working on previews of all 8 Patriot League teams for you, as well as analysis of the Eagles' non-conference schedule. In the meantime, check out this preview from Hoop Time that analyzes our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Overall I think this is a very fair analysis. HT cites Vlad and Lumpkins as our main strengths and the point guard position and our bench as potential weaknesses. That's fair. We'll flesh out our thoughts here over the coming weeks!

What do you think of his preview?

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

Patriot League Men's Basketball TV Schedule - Aggressively Mediocre, or Better Than Nothing?

Thousands gathered in a cheering throng at the gates of the Patriot League headquarters in Center Valley, PA. The doors were silently thrust open, revealing Executive Director Carolyn Schlie Femovich standing atop a shimmering golden pedestal, the confident smile on her face hiding the anxiousness behind revealing the biggest news of the year. Murmers from the crowd slowly grew into a deafening roar as Femovich began to announce The 2011 Patriot League Men's Basketball TV Schedule on CBS College Sports Network!

Okay, so maybe that's not how it went down. Maybe the Patriot League happened to post this announcement on their website two days ago, and that whole deafening roar thing was only inside my head. I'm convinced it's real. Either way, let's cut to the chase and take a look at this thing:

Jan. 16 - Holy Cross at Bucknell, 2 p.m.
Jan. 22 - Navy at Army, 6 p.m.
Jan. 27 - Colgate at Holy Cross, 7 p.m.
Jan. 29 - Lafayette at American, 4 p.m. 
Feb. 6 - American at Lehigh, 2 p.m. 
Feb. 20 - Flex Game, 2 p.m.
Feb. 26 - Flex Game, 4 p.m.
March 2 - Patriot League Quarterfinal, 7 p.m.
March 6 - Patriot League Semifinal #1, 5 p.m.
March 6 - Patriot League Semifinal #2, 7:30 p.m. 

There you go. AU's games are bolded, so you can tune in to the ones that actually matter. Wait...what's that? You don't get CBS College Sports? Well don't worry, I'm sure at least one of your friends, neighbors, coworkers, or at least that fling from high school you still sometimes see in the grocery story and wonder if that guy she's with has-- ok, getting sidetracked, the point is that most likely none of these people have CBS College Sports. Never have I seen this channel in person, and never have I met a person who has.

So it's fantastic that we're one of only two Patriot League teams that gets two televised games, not including the flex games (the other being Holy Cross, but sadly, not our Re-Phil Bender game against them on February 19th). It's great that we can probably up it to three, if not four (pending predicted Patriot League dominance) with the flex games. It's not so great that only about four people who live inside of caves deep in some godforsaken hellhole that closely resembles Worcester, MA will be able to see them. I'm still bitter that ESPN (acknowledging that it was ESPNU 95% of the time, and ESPN2 at best) dropped the Patriot League from its schedule, and the best they could do as a replacement was CBS College Sports. At least I had a fling back in high school who gets ESPNU. While there is no way that a flock of wild Mountain Hawks could keep me from Bender Arena for the Patriot League Championship on March 11th, it's disappointing to know that if I couldn't be there, I'd be hard pressed to find it on any TV within 50 miles.

Of course, for the sake of fairness I decided that I would attempt to put my money where my mouth is and see how much it would cost to become the first person in a major metropolitan area to get CBS College Sports. Their website was incredibly uninformative, unwilling to even tell me how much it would cost unless I gave them permission to spam me with as much junk e-mail as they pleased. Needless to say, I don't have any actual numbers for you, but I can tell you that I still don't have CBS College Sports.

Here's my solution: the Patriot League needs to get better. We need to play games people want to see. Then, networks like ESPN will put us back on channels that at least 5 people watch. Now, this seems like a lofty, idealistic, vague, and expensive goal with no real prescription for how it should be accomplished. While I am prone to doing those things, here's Step 1 -- Patriot League teams need to stop scheduling Division 3 games during the regular season. It's that kind of RPI that relegates us to the channels that even those D3 schools aren't all that envious of.

Finally, for those who really took a hard look at when our televised games are, you might have noticed that CBS College Sports, as a final blow to the nads, decided to schedule us for February 6th. If you're unaware of what's going to be competing for viewers' attention at this time, just know that it begins with the word "Super", and ends in the letters B-O-W-L. Right, so let's say someone theoretically, by some miracle of whatever deity you choose, actually gets CBS College Sports. There is no way that deity has enough power to compel that person to then go ahead and watch AU vs. Lehigh over the Super Freakin' Bowl. Way to go, CBS College Sports, just rub some more salt in the wound.

Am I right? Totally wrong? Should I be more grateful for what we have? Do you actually get CBS College Sports? Let us know in the comments - it's far more refreshing than searching for obscure television channels.

Pro Deo Et Patria,
Josh