• If there was any doubt as to the value of a point guard, look no further than Boston University and floor leader D.J. Irving. There are a few reasons the Terriers have now won five games in a row and is tied with Stony Brook (who they beat last Saturday) atop the America East Conference, but Irving’s return to health following a concussion last month is chief among them. That was readily apparent to one opposing coach, who thinks he’s the Terriers’ best player.

  “I think they’re at their best when the ball is in his hands and getting guys shots,” said Albany head coach Will Brown.

• Speaking of the Terriers, if they are to continue this run, they will need to improve on the glass. Albany beat them badly on the backboards Monday night, and that wasn’t an isolated event. It was so bad Monday that if there was a time of possession stat like in football games, the Great Danes would have had a big advantage. It made the Terriers’ defense in the first half that much more impressive.

  “It’s an area of major concern for me,” said head coach Joe Jones, “because I think if we’re going to continue to have success in this league, we’re going to need to defend and rebound at a high rate, much better than we did tonight in terms of the glass, especially when we go on the road.”

• Brown said that the big reason he sat Gerardo Suero, America East’s top scorer, for a lot of the second half against the Terriers was simple. He found that the group he put in was playing well, but also wanted his star to gain something else from it. Suero was just 1-10 from the field on the night for six points, and had eight turnovers.

  “He got frustrated,” said Brown. “With the combination of BU doing a really good job on him and him getting frustrated, it got to a point where he just wasn’t there today.”

• On Thursday, Lafayette used a big second half to overcome a terrible shooting first half to beat Holy Cross in a matchup of two teams that can probably be best characterized as consistently inconsistent this season. The Leopards, who shot 19.4 percent from the field in the first half before shooting 52 percent in the second, haven’t been able to put together a streak of more than two wins together. But they are 2-0 on the road in early Patriot League play and their only loss came against league favorite Bucknell. With co-captain Tony Johnson back and being in better game shape now that he has a few games under his belt, they may be ready to turn a corner.

  “I feel really good about it,” said freshman Dan Trist, one of three Leopards who scored 11 points on the night. “The seniors were telling me how hard it is to win on the road in the Patriot League. Every gym is like a fortress, pretty much.”

• On the other side, Holy Cross head coach Milan Brown was at a loss for words to describe his team’s effort. The real oddity is that the Crusaders got next to nothing from the first unit in the second half, while a new group from a wholesale substitution early on led a rally to regain the lead. Holy Cross has had times where they have played very well, but Thursday’s second half hasn’t been an isolated case although it was probably their worst half of the season.

• It hasn’t been the best stretch for North Carolina. First, they got blown out by 33 at Florida State on Saturday, then Dexter Strickland tore his ACL and is done for the season. It’s not a small loss for this team, as he’s the closest thing they have to a backup point guard.

• Every year, there is at least one key player who is academically ineligible for the second semester. The first one to make news this time around is California sophomore forward Richard Solomon, who started eight of the Golden Bears’ 13 games and led the team in rebounding. That’s a big blow to a team that figures to contend for the Pac-12 title, something which just got more difficult.

The Crusaders led 60-50 with 38 seconds left after two free throws by Justin Burrell. The game was all but in hand at that point, especially since the Crusaders fought back rallies all night long. Then two missed free throws and two missed turnovers, one in their own end, helped New Hampshire suddenly get within 60-57. Burrell then sank two more free throws to finally seal the game and get the Crusaders over the hump.

“Coach said that we’re a lot different from last year,” said senior guard Devin Brown. “Today, we didn’t win the way people would want us to win, but at the end of the day, we won. That’s something that maybe we wouldn’t have done last year.”

The past couple of seasons have seen the Crusaders drop several heart-breakers as part of disappointing seasons. Last year, they lost three in non-league play where they had a lead in the final minute, including an overtime loss to Yale where they led by four with 26 seconds left. Nothing will top a loss to Loyola (Ill.) two seasons ago, where they led by eight with a minute to play and lost at the buzzer.

So the Crusaders haven’t exactly been experts at finishing close games the last couple of years. Perhaps Saturday night’s win is a sign that the veterans and this team as a whole are turning a corner.

“If teams are going to beat us, they have to beat us with us throwing them our best stuff,” said head coach Milan Brown.

The last minute wasn’t the only missed opportunity for the Crusaders. They played better defense early in the second half, but never broke the game open. At one point in the opening minutes, New Hampshire turned the ball over twice on consecutive possessions in their own end, but the Crusaders didn’t score following either one. They also shot 33.3 percent from the field in the second half, so it’s not as though they caught fire offensively. Missing those chances to break the game open could have come back to haunt them later.

That was another piece of adversity the Crusaders had to overcome on the night. Doing so seems to be a theme of late, as the Crusaders suffered a tough loss a few nights earlier at Providence where they were able to hang around and take the lead late in the game, but couldn’t hang on. Milan Brown said he thought the team got better from the loss and responded positively in practice after that. It showed in the second half when they made mistakes, even late in the game.

“We didn’t look like deer in the headlights when we made those mistakes,” said the second-year Holy Cross mentor. “We just made mistakes trying to make a play. It wasn’t like we weren’t confident trying to make a play.”

Holy Cross fell behind by one about eight minutes into the second half, but over a minute later they regained the lead for good despite a number of challenges to it by the Wildcats. In the last 2:33, they turned a one-point lead into the final margin thanks to eight free throws, including a 6-6 showing from Burrell, who finished with 13 points.

Milan Brown said the players are all on the same page and have bought in to what the staff is trying to do. Add in that they won a game they might have lost a year earlier, and Holy Cross looks like they may be headed in the right direction.

Thursday night’s 79-72 loss is a stinger. Colgate had shot better than 45 percent from the field just once all season prior to Thursday night’s game. So a look at the final box score showing that the Red Raiders shot 55.4 percent from the field would be the first sign that this wasn’t a good night.

“It was definitely disappointing to see us not defend the way we’re capable of defending,” head coach Milan Brown said.

But that was only the beginning of the problems, in more ways than one. In a chronological sense, once the Crusaders’ defensive struggles materialized out of the gates, Colgate just gained more confidence as they shot over 57 percent in the first half. Brown wasn’t surprised by that, because a struggling offensive team can do that if they get confidence early on. Considering Colgate won both meetings a year ago, they probably came in with some confidence in the first place despite their 1-4 Patriot League record coming in.

“They made a couple of tough shots early, we had a couple of opportunities to score that we messed up on, and I don’t think we came out with the desire and passion we needed to start the game with,” said junior guard Devin Brown.

To make things worse, the Crusaders were out-rebounded 34-23, surrendering 11 offensive rebounds. Holy Cross entered the game with a +3 rebound margin on the season, while the Red Raiders were getting out-rebounded by a small margin. In Patriot League play, the Crusaders’ margin is nearly +7. Andrew Keister led the charge with six rebounds, but aside from Mike Cavataio’s five, he didn’t have much help.

“If nothing else proves we were out of character tonight, we had 23 rebounds,” said Brown. “We average 36 or 37, so when you do that, we’re not ready to go. If anything, we rebound the basketball. We had 23 rebounds.”

While the Crusaders don’t have great size with Phil Beans out and Keister continuing to battle gamely with an Achilles issue that has greatly limited his practice time, size alone wasn’t the issue. Brown didn’t chalk the lack of rebounding or defense up to just effort, though. There seemed to be more to it than just that, especially since he wasn’t sure a lack of effort was the biggest problem.

“Some of the stuff is that we didn’t play smart,” said Brown. “Guys that are drivers, we played more like shooters, and the shooters, we played like drivers. We let the post guys post us up anywhere they wanted.”

The unfortunate thing is that the Crusaders came into the night with a chance to get back into a tie for second place in the Patriot League. In addition, they seemed to be coming alive with league play having begun, but they have now hit a three-game losing streak with two of the losses coming at home.

What is also a problem is that Thursday night wasn’t the first time they didn’t seem to have the passion or effort, as that was the feeling after the loss to Saint Joseph’s about a month ago. It happened again on Saturday, with Lehigh making eight of their first 10 shots to jump out to a 16-8 lead. Early in the second half, Lehigh pushed the lead to a dozen, similar to Colgate at one point leading 72-54.

The sense of urgency wasn’t there early, but it came late in both games. On Thursday, it was too deep a hole to dig out of, even though pride kicked in at one point.

“You look at the scoreboard and you’re down 18, you don’t want to be embarrassed at home, so you’ve got to come back and do whatever you can to get back into the ballgame,” said Cavataio.

Holy Cross now finds itself in a pack of five teams tied at 3-4 in third place in the Patriot League at the halfway point. They are three games behind Bucknell and two behind American, who looked like the class of the league in non-league play and have done little to dispel that in the last few weeks. But the Crusaders aren’t far away; three of the four losses have been by four points or less, and the other one was by seven points. Turning those into wins will prove difficult if the reasons behind a number of the losses, both in and out of league, aren’t rectified soon.

In the Crusaders’ 58-57 loss at George Washington, they were more short-handed than they have been at other times this season. R.J. Evans missed his fourth straight game with a sports hernia, and may be out a while longer since he can’t do anything physical, including conditioning. Phil Beans has been out for the same amount of time with a foot injury. Now, Andrew Keister has joined the walking wounded with an Achilles injury that they have to be careful with.

Head coach Milan Brown said Keister has had the injury for a while but has continued to compete. Not surprisingly, holding him out until Patriot League play isn’t what the senior forward wants, but it’s a practical matter. Brown said the word he got is that there is a risk of rupturing it if he keeps playing without some rest, so the hope is that resting him until Patriot League play begins in another week will help heal it and lessen the risk of it rupturing. From there, Brown summed up what it all means.

“It killed him to do it, but sometimes you have to make that decision,” said the first-year Crusader head coach. “Basically, I’m putting all my chips in for the Patriot League.”

At this point, the remaining two non-league games can help Holy Cross from the standpoint of the current players on the floor getting better. Wins and losses might matter to the psyche, but aside from that it’s about the Patriot League. That’s not to say there is nothing to be gained on the court; if the 58-57 loss at George Washington is any indication, there is plenty.

As Brown noted, the injuries give other players a chance to contribute. That certainly happened against the Colonials, as Jordan Stevens and Josh Jones picked up the slack for players who struggled. Both players had a career-high 13 points, with Stevens going 3-7 from long range two games after he went 3-6. Stevens was slowed by injury earlier in the season, but appears to be finding his stroke and at a good time. With Devin Brown struggling of late and Mike Cavataio being up and down, they could use more wing production.

“He’s been doing that the last couple of games, so it’s been great to see us get that from the wing position,” said Brown.

Jones played a grand total of 88 minutes in his first three seasons in Worcester, but has already shattered that with 130 this season. The senior forward is taking advantage of the extra chances, and more will be coming at least in the foreseeable future with Keister out.

Brown said he was encouraged by how the team battled in the nation’s capital, especially given the adversity they have faced. He said they “had every excuse in the book to come out and lay an egg,” but they didn’t. Not only were guys down, Brown, the team’s leading scorer, scored in single digits for the second straight game largely from a lack of shots. That’s one more troubling trend for the Crusaders.

At this point, Patriot League play will be all that matters. That is usually the case from the bottom line standpoint, but this time around more so than usual for Holy Cross.

“It is frustrating. You can’t ignore zero wins,” senior point guard Andrew Beinert said. “We want to win, and that’s what our goal is.”

Holy Cross hasn’t been out-classed all season. The Crusaders have been in position to win games, although only a couple of them might qualify as heart-breaking losses. While last season’s team struggled to stop opposing teams, they were able to score. This season’s team has struggled offensively while also struggling on the defensive end often, although if there is a silver lining it appears that they are making strides there of late. Most of all, they have been their own worst enemy.

This has all happened against a difficult schedule. It has included several teams projected to contend for their conference title, and only three have been played at home. They have played by far the toughest schedule of anyone in the Patriot League, so they aren’t exactly playing a bunch of high school teams, and that isn’t lost on first-year coach Milan Brown’s opposite number in their most recent game.

“That’s not an 0-8 team. That schedule they’ve played is brutal, brutal, brutal,” said Fairfield head coach Ed Cooley. “I don’t think it’s fair to a young team. That’s not who they are right now with their program. To put Milan in that situation, I just think it’s very, very tough to ask a first-year coach to play that level of schedule, most of which has been on the road, then come to play a seasoned team at home. It’s just very, very difficult.”

Coaches are never ones to speak of moral victories of any sort, so as one might imagine the tough schedule is little consolation for Brown.

“I don’t want to use that as an excuse,” Brown said. “It just means that the mistakes that we’re making, we really can’t afford to make them because the teams that we’re playing are too good and will capitalize on them.”

That message has been heard by his players, as Beinert added: “You can’t ignore that we are playing a good schedule, but it’s really about us. We have to put together 40 minutes”

Effort hasn’t been an issue, and of late it’s been noticeable. On Sunday, the Crusaders were very active at the defensive end and let Fairfield get nothing easy in the first half. They held the Stags below 38 percent shooting and went into the locker room tied at 29. It was similar to Tuesday night’s tough loss to Stony Brook, when they were clearly better in the first half and led at the break.

But Holy Cross averages more than 16 turnovers a game, and in the second half the Crusaders committed 10 of them. Worse, most of them were of the costly variety, ones Fairfield took to the other end for easy baskets, and a couple of times they did that off a missed shot. Take away those baskets, and Fairfield’s nearly 54 percent shooting in the second half probably drops a good amount.

“Because of their speed and athleticism, they turned turnovers and missed open looks from us into layups on the other end,” said Brown. “We couldn’t make them take the ball out of the basket so we could set up our defense. We were always in transition defense, it seemed, for the first 12 minutes of the second half. We were always in transition defense because the ball didn’t fall in the basket for us. Nobody’s transition defense is good enough to hold up for 12 minutes.”

Brown changed the starting lineup against Fairfield, and the results were a mixed bag. He started Devin Brown, the team’s top scorer and a player who has thrived coming off the bench in his career. Instead of providing scorer from the outset, the junior guard struggled, scoring a season-low eight points on 2-10 shooting. Even before this game, his numbers were deceiving; while he has scored in double figures in all but two games, in many of those games you could hardly notice him out there. He was consistently scoring a “quiet” double-digit total.

Part of why Brown changed the lineup and may do so again is that no area of the team has been without its issues, and all players have had a hand. The end result is what was seen on Sunday as well as other games, where they pressed at times on defense.

“We have to find guys that are going to be consistent in making the plays, so we know who we can almost pencil in for what we’re going to get,” Brown said. “I think that’s the tough part right now, we don’t know who we can pencil in and what we’re going to get from them.”

Both coach and players agree that all they can do is go back to work. They do that again on Sunday at Marist and three days later at Hofstra before Christmas. The losses have been difficult, but as one might expect, they haven’t shaken the coach’s faith in the team.

“We have to make some more plays in order for us to get what we ultimately are competing for, which is wins,” Brown said. “Do I believe that it will happen? Yes, absolutely. I don’t know when it’s going to happen.”

For a little over a half, the Crusaders were right with Boston College. Even when BC went up 55-40 and seemed to be in control, Holy Cross scored seven straight to get within striking distance. But the Eagles followed up with a 14-2 run to put the game away.

“They made a three, then we turned it over and they made an and-one,” said head coach Milan Brown. “So they scored six points in about 30 seconds, and it hurt us.”

The culprit for the Crusaders hasn’t been the same thing every game. Against College of Charleston, they ran into a hot team and didn’t have any way of stopping them en route to shooting 63.6 percent from the field. Offense was more the issue against Harvard, where they never really got untracked and it also hurt on the defensive end, as well as New Hampshire on Saturday. In each of the prior two games, they shot below 40 percent from the field, and in all three games they had more turnovers than assists (which they did again on Monday as they had nine assists and 12 turnovers).

The blowout loss at Harvard was illustrative of one thing the Crusaders picked up on as something that could help them. In that game, Harvard consistently got back on defense and never allowed the Crusaders to get an easy basket or two, which set a tone all night long. That was also elusive against Boston College.

“We’re going to do what we need to do on the defensive end, but I also know we have to find ways to score points and hopefully score some easier baskets just to loosen the other team up,” Brown said. “We can’t play against halfcourt defense the entire night and think we’re going to score 70 points, it’s just not going to happen.”

One of his seniors concurs, and can see the effect that missing some of the good looks they have been able to get in the halfcourt has had on the team.

“It’s hard to score against teams in their halfcourt set, so we’ve got to get some throw-ahead shots or throw-ahead duck-ins for layups just to make it easier on ourselves,” said forward Andrew Keister. “Getting those kinds of points can easily turn the tide.”

Brown added that the team has been more reactionary than pro-active on both ends. The Crusaders haven’t been able to dictate anything, whether it’s the pace of the game or how plays happen. The turnovers have certainly been part of that at the offensive end. Even when they have been able to get a good look, they have had some missed opportunities.

“Some of it isn’t just the turnovers, but we’ve had some looks that we haven’t finished,” Brown said. “Sometimes, when you miss those, the rim gets a little tighter.”

It certainly doesn’t get easier for the Crusaders, who have two more road games – at UMass and Wake Forest – before coming home again. At that point, they play America East contender Stony Brook and MAAC favorite Fairfield. The effort hasn’t been an issue, according to Brown, but they have to do more than they have done to this point.

“They’re playing hard, which is first and foremost, and now we have to make a few more winning plays,” Brown said.

The Crimson primarily won this game on defense, as Holy Cross’ 49 points might imply. More numbers show it as well, such as the Crusaders shooting below 40 percent from the field and committing 15 turnovers with just eight assists. However, that wasn’t all, and the primary numbers obscure how they did it. First and foremost, the Crimson’s transition defense was excellent all night long, rarely letting Holy Cross get a fast break chance.

At the offensive end, the Crimson did it inside and outside. Inside, the damage was done primarily by Keith Wright, who had 18 points on 6-8 shooting, with most of the damage coming in the second half after foul trouble limited him in the first half. When he went out, freshman Ugo Okam had some good minutes as he scored six points by making all three of his shots and added three blocks. Okam is raw, but has a good motor and a decent feel for the game, and with both he has a chance to develop into a nice player.

“He goes hard every day,” said sophomore guard Brandyn Curry. “Ugo’s done a great job coming in, learning all the sets and just doing what we ask of him. We tell him to go after every shot, he’s a tremendous shot-blocker.”

The Crimson are a little thin up front, so if Okam can give them good minutes while Kyle Casey rehabs from a broken foot, they should be in good shape later in the season. With Casey out, they have pressed sophomore Jeff Georgatos into starting duty after being a bit player last season. Georgatos has had some good moments thus far and certainly has been serviceable, but they will be better when they can have him come off the bench again.

Curry provided much of the production from the outside, though he was hardly alone. He had 10 points, 12 assists, a team-high seven rebounds and five steals, a stat line that stood out. Still, his stats only told part of the story.

“I’m looking at his line right now, and it’s just phenomenal,” said head coach Tommy Amaker. “He led us in rebounds, led us in assists, led us in steals, double-digit scorer. That’s an incredible stat line for a point guard.”

Besides his stats, Curry was the catalyst with his play at the top of the defense. He insists on guarding the opposing point guard to try to make life difficult for the other team, and that’s something he certainly did in this game as neither of Holy Cross’ point guards were very effective.

“I thought we were energized and excited, and it started a lot with Brandyn Curry,” added Amaker. “I thought his pressure on the ball setting the tone out front for our defense really lifted out ball club. I thought he was the catalyst for us.”

Curry had good help from Christian Webster (12 points) and Oliver McNally (10 points, five assists). McNally helps Curry with the point guard duties, an important spot for any team but perhaps more so for this team given that the Crimson lost a special player in Jeremy Lin from last season’s team. While none of them is Lin and no one player is expected to replace his production, if Curry plays like he did Tuesday as well as the latter part of last season, it will go a long way toward making up the lost production.

“What Brandyn does that Jeremy Lin did so well for us last year is he makes a lot of plays,” said McNally. “When things break down, you’re going to need a playmaker, and that’s what Brandyn does really well for us.”

For his part, Amaker wants Curry to stay in character and not try to be what he isn’t. Basically, he wants him to do what he did on Tuesday since that’s basically the role they have designated, which means he defends and makes plays for teammates. That shouldn’t prove to be a challenging task since it’s a lot of what he’s done as a college player.

Curry was a big part of why the Crimson ran away from Holy Cross. The Crimson did it first with their defense, and the offense followed as they built up large leads. They led by at least 20 points for all but the first minute of the second half, and the game didn’t seem as close as the final margin showed.

Milan Brown came to the school this spring after starting his head coaching career at Mount St. Mary’s. He took over for legendary coach Jim Phelan and spent seven seasons there, leading them to two postseason appearances the past three seasons. His style fits the profile of successful Holy Cross teams as a defense-oriented coach, as his teams made their mark at that end of the floor. In contrast, last season’s head coach, Sean Kearney, tried to play much faster on offense than the team has often played, and the team struggled defensively.

With a third coach in three years comes a little different challenge for veteran players. Brown acknowledges that while also remembering the bottom line for himself and the team.

“It’s definitely tough on the veteran guys because they’ve heard more voices, so it does make it a little tougher,” said Brown, who has liked the way they have bought in. “I have some sympathy for that, but on the other side, we need to develop ourselves into a good basketball team that can win basketball games. As much as we might need some time, anybody that we’re going to play isn’t going to care about that.”

This year’s team will clearly be stronger in the backcourt, which is never a bad place to start. In Monday’s exhibition win over Assumption, point guards Andrew Beinert and Dee Goens combined for 13 assists and three turnovers. Beinert has had some struggles with turnovers during his career, but the senior improved in that category last year and has always been a threat from deep. Goens looks ready to be a better backup this year, and they didn’t miss a beat while he was on the court.

The Crusaders have plenty of talent off the ball. Junior R.J. Evans is a known quantity off the ball, as the former Patriot League Rookie of the Year is a fine scorer and rebounds well for his position. Classmate Devin Brown has always been able to score, especially from long range, and that was on display in the win over Assumption as he scored 25 points on 7-15 shooting from deep. It won’t be a surprise to see both on the floor at the same time on occasion.

The wing is likely to be occupied by junior Mike Cavataio and sophomore Jordan Stevens. Cavataio has a great motor and plays bigger than his size, and if the Crusaders ever want to go small they can play him as an undersized power forward. Stevens hasn’t yet gotten untracked, but he’s athletic and can shoot better than the 3-13 he posted against Assumption indicates.

Andrew Keister will anchor the front line, as the senior has been an All-Patriot League selection the past two seasons. Senior Josh Jones has played sparingly in his career to date but looks to be in line to play more minutes this year. Sophomore Eric Obeysekere had some good moments last season in limited minutes, and two likely regulars were out of action in Monday night’s game. Brown was optimistic that freshman Dave Dudzinski would be able to play in Saturday night’s opener against the College of Charleston, and indicated that sophomore Phil Beans was less certain to be a go although that depended on what information they would get from the doctor in the middle of the week.

As is usually the case, the Crusaders will play a challenging non-league slate. They open with Southern Conference contender College of Charleston, then play Ivy League contender Harvard. Later, they head to Boston College, UMass, Wake Forest and George Washington while hosting America East contender Stony Brook and MAAC contender Fairfield.

As much as the team is going through a change, he is as well with the new job, and you could see it as his two young daughters excitedly ran up to him during our interview. Brown knows about the tradition at the school and said his time on the job has been what he imagined based on it. That was part of his message to the team leading into the season, and certainly any fan might give a similar message after last season’s 9-22 showing.

“I’ve talked to the guys about how we have some responsibility to uphold the tradition,” Brown said. “I think every night that people come out and watch us play, we want them to hopefully walk away and say, that’s Holy Cross basketball.”

Last year, Lehigh showed signs of contending when they made a great non-league run, but they didn’t get it done in league play. This year, the Mountain Hawks were the best team for much of the season, and they carried that into the league tournament with three wins for the title. A big reason for that was, oddly enough, a freshman. C.J. McCollum wasted no time becoming a star, as he won Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year honors, the first player in league history to do so. He was second in the league in scoring overall, but it was in league play where he shined the most as he led in scoring, was sixth in rebounding and field goal percentage, third in three-point percentage and seventh in assists and assist/turnover ratio.

McCollum is symbolic of something else that is different about the league, which is the young talent. Oftentimes, young players in a league like this take a back seat to the veterans, but the Patriot League had a lot of young talent this year. Five of the top ten scorers, four of the top nine rebounders and five of the top seven three-point marksmen were underclassmen. McCollum wasn’t the only freshman on his team to be a key player, as Gabe Knutson was also a starter and key player for the Mountain Hawks. Bucknell placed three players on the All-Rookie team, the first team in league history to do that, and all played significant roles for the Bison this season along with sophomore Bryan Cohen, an All-Rookie selection a year ago. Lafayette got to the final in no small part due to the work of sophomores Jim Mower and Ryan Willen. Holy Cross was at times carried by sophomores R.J. Evans and Devin Brown. Jordan Sugars was the main complement to senior Chris Harris at Navy. Stephen Lumpkins teamed with George Mason transfer Vlad Moldoveanu for a solid 1-2 punch inside for American.

While the league is looking different, the young talent is evidence that there is good basketball ahead for the league in the immediate future. The difference in the standings shows that teams have done their best to rise to the level that Holy Cross and Bucknell were at just a few years ago, and some have succeeded.

Final Standings

League Tournament

The story of the Patriot League Tournament was the dominance of eventual champion Lehigh, as the Mountain Hawks won all three games by at least 15 points. They took care of Army in the quarterfinals by pulling away late, while Lafayette and American won at home and Holy Cross was the lone road team to pull out a win as they knocked off Bucknell 67-64 in Lewisburg. The Mountain Hawks weren’t seriously challenged by American in a 79-57 semifinal win, while Lafayette won a back-and-forth battle with Holy Cross 66-63. That set up a championship game between two arch-rivals.

Lehigh led from start to finish, but was challenged in the second half by Lafayette. The Leopards made several runs at the lead, but could never tie the game. The final ten minutes were dominated by Lehigh senior Zahir Carrington, who took home the tournament MVP honors as he helped the Mountain Hawks pull away for a 74-59 win. Lehigh finished the game on a 12-1 run.

Postseason Awards

Player of the Year: C.J. McCollum, Lehigh

Rookie of the Year: C.J. McCollum, Lehigh

Defensive Player of the Year: Bryan Cohen, Bucknell

Coach of the Year: Fran O’Hanlon, Lafayette

All-Conference Team

Chris Harris, Sr. G, Navy

C.J. McCollum, Fr. G, Lehigh

Jared Mintz, Jr. F, Lafayette

Vlad Moldoveanu, Jr. F, American

Kyle Roemer, Sr. F, Colgate

Season Highlights

• Marquis Hall, who had a fine freshman season of his own three years ago, finished his career most importantly with a Patriot League title, but also with a great accomplishment. The two-time Patriot League Scholar Athlete of the Year graduates as the only player in league history to surpass 1,500 points and 500 assists.
• Army got a lot of buzz in non-league play, as new head coach Zach Spiker was getting results right away. The Black Knights haven’t lacked talent in recent years, so their record before league play wasn’t a big surprise. They rode winning streaks of five and four games to a 10-4 mark.
• Vlad Moldoveanu made an instant impact for American once he was eligible in December after transferring from George Mason. He was third in scoring and rebounding in league games, as he didn’t play in enough games to qualify for the overall lead in any categories.
• Lehigh was eighth in the nation in three-point field goal percentage at just under 40 percent from behind the arc.

What we expected, and it happened: Bucknell was more like the Bucknell of a few years ago. The Bison were hit hard by injuries in 2008-09 and also had a coaching change to adjust to. With a year under Dave Paulson and a good freshman class, the Bison had some growing pains in non-league play but finished second in the league behind Lehigh.

What we expected, and it didn’t happen: Holy Cross was the pick of many as the favorite before the season, but they didn’t come close to that, finishing 9-22 and seventh in the standings, a game out of last place. The Crusaders struggled at the defensive end for much of the season, and it showed in the win-loss column. Sean Kearney lasted just one season as the head coach, replaced by former Mount St. Mary’s head coach Milan Brown.

What we didn’t expect, and it happened: Lafayette was in contention for the top spot and made it to the championship game. The Leopards won eight games a year ago and didn’t look the part of a contender coming in, but they were right in the mix for the top spot and gave Lehigh a good game in the final of the tournament before a late run put the game away.

Team(s) on the rise: Bucknell. The Bison are back and the likely preseason favorite next year after a good showing in league play. Four of their top five were freshmen or sophomores this past season.

Team(s) on the decline: Colgate. A couple of years ago, the Raiders were in the title game. Now Kyle Roemer and Ben Jonson are gone from a team that finished sixth in the league.

2010-11 Patriot League Outlook

With the younger talent in the league, the future is bright. Just about every team projects to be better next season, so the league should improve on its non-league mark in addition to having a hotly contested race for the top starting in January. Six of the ten all-league players return, and all of the All-Rookie selections should contend for spots on that team before long.

Lehigh will have a chance to repeat, but the early favorite has to be Bucknell as the Bison bring back a lot of young talent that will only get better. Lafayette should be in the mix as they also bring back a lot, while American had growing pains with a less experienced roster this year. Holy Cross and Army each have the personnel to potentially make a jump into the top half as well.

If the league has the kind of year it could next year, ultimately it would be safe to say that the rest of the league succeeded in getting better to catch up to Holy Cross and Bucknell. They had little choice but to do so, and having done so the Crusaders and Bison are certainly not dominating the league any longer and not because they have fallen apart.

In the first meeting between the teams, American’s post combination of Vlad Moldoveanu and Stephen Lumpkins combined for 37 points and 23 rebounds in a 71-64 win.  Head coach Sean Kearney challenged his team, especially his big men, for a better effort this time around.  He got it from everyone who got in the game, and the end result followed.

“(Moldoveanu and Lumpkins) had great numbers against us and I challenged our whole team, but I think our big guys really took that as a personal challenge,” Kearney said.

This time around, Holy Cross went with a zone defense that they executed well.  They shut down Moldoveanu, who was 2-9 from the field en route to just seven points and three rebounds, and Lumpkins had 16 and seven.  Lumpkins’ numbers aren’t bad, but compared to the first meeting, it’s a lot better for Holy Cross.

“The number one key defensively was having a great awareness for (Moldoveanu),” said junior forward Andrew Keister, who had 15 points and 18 rebounds to lead Holy Cross.  “Down there, we had the same key, and I think sometimes throughout the year we let (the opponent’s) best player beat us at times.”

Besides the numbers, Moldoveanu didn’t get a lot of touches because the Crusaders shut off passing lanes where he was.  Most of the shots he got weren’t really in the flow of the offense, a sign of how well the Crusaders played at that end of the floor.

With that effort, Holy Cross held an opponent below 40 percent from the field for the eighth time this season.  Six of their eight wins have come in such outings, driving home the reality that defense is the key for this team.  As they don’t force a lot of turnovers, the opponent’s field goal percentage is the bigger statistic.

“We know that the way we win is playing defense,” said junior point guard Andrew Beinert.  “That’s the only way we’re going to come out on top.”

The Crusaders have now begun the final week of regular season play, a stretch with three games in seven days.  They improved to 5-7 in the Patriot League with Sunday’s win.  They can still get to .500 in the league, but that would mean putting together a season-high three-game winning streak that would finish with a win at Lehigh, which looks like the league’s best team.  In light of that, it’s easy to see why they are perhaps cautiously optimistic about going on a run to end the regular season.

“After the Lafayette and Army wins, I thought we were going to go on a run,” said Keister.  “I think we all believed that.  Then we played a tough Bucknell team at Bucknell and had a tough loss at Navy.”

Not helping matters is that the Crusaders may need to make such a run without their best player, R.J. Evans.  The sophomore guard has been sidelined since their loss at Bucknell, when he suffered a hip injury that limited him to 19 minutes at Navy.  Kearney said they were hopeful that he could play on Sunday, but Evans sat out the game in street clothes.  That’s probably why he is uncertain about when he may be able to come back, saying only that Evans is “out indefinitely”.  They are already without Adam May, whose season is over due to a stress fracture in his right foot.

If the Crusaders make a run to reach .500 in the league, they will do so with their defense.  And if they get there, it’s fair to say they can be a dangerous team in the league tournament.

“I think if we’re playing well heading into the tournament, there probably isn’t a team that would be excited about having to play us,” Kearney said.