March 4, 2004
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March Madness officially gets underway this weekend as eight teams converge on The Show Place Arena for the 2004 Patriot League Tournament. Bucknell posted a 9-5 conference record this season, good for a tie for third place with Lafayette, one game back of regular-season co-champs Lehigh and American. The Bison are the No. 4 seed in the tournament - Lafayette captured the tiebreaker based on a better record against Holy Cross - and will face No. 5 Holy Cross Saturday at 2:30 p.m. The Bison-Crusaders winner will take on either top-seeded Lehigh or No. 8 Navy in the semifinals on Sunday at 5 p.m. After winning seven straight contests, Bucknell dropped a pair last weekend on a tough road trip to Holy Cross and Colgate. The Crusaders have won three in a row, including last Friday's 72-61 win over the Bison on the Patriot League TV Game of the Week. Bucknell, which enters the tournament with the league's youngest starting lineup (4 of 5 starters have never played in a postseason game), leads the all-time series with Holy Cross 18-17, but the Crusaders have won 4 of 7 meetings in the postseason.
key stats
* Bucknell's freshmen and sophomores have accounted for 83.5% of the team's scoring.
* Bucknell ranks second in the league in field-goal percentage (.462) but last in 3-point percentage (.290). Inside the arc, the Bison shoot 54.7% as a team.
* Bucknell leads the Patriot League in rebound margin at +4.9.
* Bucknell is 12-4 when outrebounding an opponent this season, but 1-10 when nabbing fewer rebounds.
* The Bison are 11-4 when leading at the half, but 1-10 when trailing at intermission. The one victory, however, was against Holy Cross on Feb. 1.
Pat Flannery back in action
Bucknell head coach Pat Flannery has returned to the sideline after taking some time off to deal with a medical issue. Feeling under the weather at halftime of Bucknell's Feb. 22 victory over Army, Flannery did not return for the second half and checked into a local hospital for evaluation. He underwent a successful precautionary procedure last Thursday, but he did not travel with the team on its trip to Holy Cross and Colgate. Flannery was given full clearance to return to work on Monday and has been with the team at practice all week.
bison trio earns patriot league honors
Three Bucknell players - each in either their first or second year - earned postseason all-star nods on Wednesday. Sophomore guards Kevin Bettencourt and Charles Lee were named to the All-Patriot League Second Team, while freshman center Chris McNaughton was picked for the league's all-freshman team. Bettencourt was the league's rookie of the year in 2003, while Lee was cited for the first time in his career. With three overall selections, Bucknell tied for the most in the league.
the streak is over
Despite having three players cited for postseason honors, Bucknell came away without a first-team all-conference selection for the first time since 1983. The Bison had owned a 20-year streak of having at least one first-team pick, the longest such streak in the nation.
herd seeking to become first sub two seed to win title
For Bucknell to claim the Patriot League championship in 2003, it will have to erase the league's historical trend of only No. 1 or 2 seeds walking off with the nets. In fact, no team seeded lower than third has ever advanced to the championship game.
bucknell tournament history
Bucknell has an all-time record of 14-13 in 13 Patriot League Tournaments, including a 3-4 mark against Holy Cross. The Bison have reached the championship game four times and reached at least the semifinals in 10 of 13 years. Bucknell is one of five teams (Holy Cross 17-9, Navy 13-9, Colgate 12-11, American 4-2) to have a winning tournament record, but the Bison are still looking for their first PL championship.
Bison PL Tourney Log
Year Seed Results
1991 4 def. Army 67-49; lost Fordham 82-76
1992 2 def. Army 74-55; def. Holy Cross 86-77; lost Fordham 70-65
1993 1 def. Lehigh 69-65; def. Colgate 75-73; lost Holy Cross 98-73
1994 5 lost Holy Cross 96-91
1995 2 lost Army 94-78
1996 4 def. Lafayette 56-55; lost Colgate 67-61
1997 2 def. Lehigh 84-54; def. Colgate 71-58; lost Navy 76-75
1998 3 def. Holy Cross 60-56; lost Navy 80-61
1999 3 def. Holy Cross 76-52; def. Lehigh 58-50; lost Lafayette 67-63
2000 3 lost Lehigh 73-62
2001 6 def. Colgate 75-68; lost Navy 88-64
2002 3 def. Army 70-59; lost Holy Cross 64-57
2003 5 def. Lehigh 52-47; lost Holy Cross 75-50
history kind to fourth seeds
Historically, No. 4 seeds have fared well in Patriot League Tournaments. Teams seeded fourth are 9-4 in their first-round games. The only tournaments that saw a No. 5 seed advance were in 1994 (Fordham over Holy Cross), 1997 (Lafayette over Holy Cross), 2002 (Lafayette over Colgate) and 2003 (Bucknell over Lehigh). All four times the No. 5 seed was then bounced in the semifinals, by an average margin of 19.4 points. The Bison have been seeded fourth twice previously, in 1991 and 1996. Both times they won their quarterfinal contest before falling in the semis.
bucknell vs. holy cross this season
Back on Feb. 1 at Sojka Pavilion, Kevin Bettencourt scored a game-high 29 points to lead Bucknell to a 77-67 win over Holy Cross (see boxscore, page 27). Charles Lee scored all 14 of his points in the second half and Chris McNaughton (12) and Donald Brown (11) also scored in double figures for the Bison, who shot 57.5% from the field against the Patriot League's top-ranked defense. Nate Lufkin led the Crusaders with 12 points. Bucknell had been 0-9 when trailing at the half but erased a 32-31 halftime deficit with two key second-half runs. The game was tied at 53 when Bucknell scored nine straight points to put the game away. Last Friday at the Hart Center, Bettencourt scored 21 points but the Bison could not overcome 14 turnovers in the first half and fell 72-61 (see boxscore, page 30). Bucknell cut a 17-point deficit to just three with four minutes left in the game, and Bettencourt had a potential tying 3-pointer rim in and out, but the Bison never could get the game tied down the stretch. Lufkin again led the Crusaders with 14 points, while Jave Meade added 13 and Torey Thomas and Keith Simmons 12 apiece.
deceiving records
Despite finishing the regular season with a 13-14 record, Bucknell outscored its opponents by 133 points this season, or an average of 4.9 points per game. Of all the Division I teams with sub-.500 records entering this weekend, Bucknell has the best scoring margin. Interestingly, the No. 2 team on that list is Holy Cross, which has outscored its foes by 132 points in 27 games.
Sub-.500 team with + Scoring Margin Record Scoring Margin
1. Bucknell 13-14 +4.93
2. Holy Cross 13-14 +4.88
3. Western Carolina 13-15 +4.5
4. Kansas State 12-13 +4.4
5. Miami (Fla.) 13-15 +3.0
who needs momentum?
Bucknell is 4-3 when entering the Patriot League Tournament off a loss in the regular-season finale. In 1999, the Bison lost their season-ender to Lafayette but advanced all the way to the championship game.
off the mark
Bucknell really struggled from 3-point range on last weekend's road trip to Holy Cross and Colgate. The Bison were 3-for-22 (.136) against the Crusaders and 0-for-13 against the Raiders, and they enter the Patriot League Tournament having misfired on 27 straight 3-point attempts.
