Patriot League Men’s Tournament Preview
| March 04, 2024 | Sports,
Colgate dominated the Patriot League this year in men’s basketball, finishing 16-2, including a 12-game win streak throughout the months of January and February. Heading into the conference tournament, Colgate is the heavy favorite and is looking to win their fourth straight Patriot League Tournament Championship to head to March Madness for the the fifth time in the last six years.
Colgate has dominated this conference as of recently. They are 14-1 in the conference tournament since 2018, with their last loss in the 2020 Patriot League Championship to Boston University.
Despite all of Colgate’s success, it is still a mistake to assume they will just run away with this tournament. They have been involved in a lot of close games because their offense hasn’t been as dominant as it has been in years past so they have had to rely on their defense to grind games out. This year, Colgate’s offense is ranked 207th in the nation according to KenPom. During their conference win last year, they were ranked 43rd.
In respect to Colgate’s dominance, I don’t think any other team in the conference should be considered a contender. I believe every other team in this conference is a sleeper, however, there is a difference between sleeper and deep sleeper. I think the team that has the best chance to upset Colgate this year is the four seed American Eagles. They finished the conference season with a 10-8 record, tied for second best in the conference. In the final week of the regular season, they defeated Colgate in the Raiders’ home arena.
American is led by senior power forward, Matt Rogers, who leads the Eagles with 16.4 points and 6.2 rebounds a game. Rogers had 23 points and seven rebounds in the win over Colgate on February 25th. American is the only team besides Colgate to have an overall record above .500 on the season.
Another sleeper team that can dethrone Colgate is Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks are 9-9 in conference play and are only the 6th seed, however I like having them as the third most likely team to win the Patriot League title.
Lehigh lost to Colgate both times this season, but only by three points each game. In the first matchup, Lehigh didn’t have Keith Higgins who is arguably their best player and is the second highest leading scorer on the team with 13.3 points per game. Following Higgins’ nine game absence due to injury, the Mountain Hawks are 5-2 including the loss to Colgate and a two point loss in overtime to the 2-seed Boston Terriers. Lehigh won’t be able to stop Colgate’s big men on the inside, but if they get hot from behind the arc like they often do, they have a shot at taking down the defending champions.
I don’t think this is a conference tournament you should overthink. Colgate is clearly the best team and has been all season. They come in with wild -250 odds to win the Patriot League Tournament, the largest odds out of any team in the nation to win their respective conference tournament.