We've got hoops confirmation

"HAMILTON, N.Y. – Colgate head men’s basketball coach Emmett Davis has announced the addition of two recruits to the Raider program. Joining the Raiders will be transfer Willie Morse, from St. Bonaventure University, and freshman guard Trevaron Vinson, from Grand Prairie, Texas."

2 recruits for 05-06 season

Tucker Neale: Patriot League Success

Then and Now with Tucker Neale

Nice little feature on #20. colgate13 has fond memories of Tucker's prowess on the court during what could be called the best 'gate basketball teams of recent memory. His senior year with Foyle as a freshman was a great high point.

Long range recruiting

An early men's basketball recruit on the radar screen is Ryan Wittman, a 6'6" junior from Minnesota.

Link

"Ryan Wittman, a 6-foot-6 junior at Eden Prairie and the son of Timberwolves assistant coach Randy Wittman, is an exceptional shooter who has heard from Columbia, Colgate, Eastern Kentucky, Bradley, Air Force, North Dakota State and his dad's alma mater, Indiana."

That's an interesting mix of schools. Let's hope he's good and Colgate lands him.

Another G'Town multi-sport facility construction photo. 

More construction photos of Georgetown. Looks like they are moving along nicely. 

First press for the AGS Poll

UMass ranked 16th

The Any Given Saturday poll is beginning to garner more respect around the nation as evidenced by these kinds of articles.

One thing mentioned in the article that I did not know is that no other poll or magazine had more teams in their preseason prediction last year that finished in the final top 25 than the AGS Poll. That's sweet...

Edit:

Turns out I was wrong. UNI (Northern Iowa) was first: link

Official Any Given Saturday Preseason Poll Out

Preseason Any Given Saturday Poll 5/23/2005
(First place votes in parenthesis)
1. James Madison (45)
2. Furman (12)
3. Eastern Washington (10)
4. Montana (2)
5. Georgia Southern (2)
6. Western Kentucky (1)
7. Delaware
8. Northwestern State (1)
9. New Hampshire (1)
10. Northern Iowa
11. Southern Illinois (1)
12. William & Mary
13. Lehigh
14. Sam Houston State
15. Harvard (1)
16. Massachusetts
17. Cal Poly
18. North Dakota State
19. Jacksonville State
20. Lafayette
21. Montana State
22. Hampton
23. Appalachian State
24. Maine
25. Hofstra

Others receiving votes (minimum of 5 votes): Villanova (35), South Carolina State (33), Wofford (31), Portland State (30), Alabama State (16), Eastern Kentucky (16), McNeese State (15), Coastal Carolina (14), Pennsylvania (14), Southern University (11), Grambling (10), Colgate (9), Northern Arizona (9), Texas State (8), UC Davis (7), South Dakota State (6), Western Carolina (6), Brown (5), Stephen F. Austin (5).

My question is: who's voting Harvard numbert 1?

It's also nice to see Colgate's reached a point where we'll get some votes just based on historic respect.

My AGS Top 25

The time has come my dear friends to put some credibility where my mouth is and rank a preseason Top 25 for the Any Given Saturday poll. This is a tough one, but I'm going to shake it up a little bit and consider that roughly 50% of preseason ranked teams don't stay ranked by the end of the season.

1. Northwestern State
2. Western Kentucky
3. James Madison
4. Eastern Washington
5. Northern Iowa
6. New Hampshire
7. Furman
8. UMass
9. Georgia Southern
10. Lehigh
11. Montana
12. Delaware
13. North Dakota State
14. Southern Illinois
15. Maine
16. Harvard
17. Sam Houston State
18. Lafayette
19. Cal Poly
20. William & Mary
21. Jacksonville State
22. Hampton
23. Alabama State
24. Appalachian State
25. Portland State

Next five under consideration: Villanova, SE Louisiana, Hofstra, Grambling, Coastal Carolina

Well, there it is. That, and about $1.69 will get me a medium iced coffee from Dunkin' Donuts.

New Poll Feature (and link)

I've just done a little enhancement to the site. Check out (and vote in!) the poll on the right. Look for future polls!

I've also added a link to my Lehigh contemporary Lehigh Football Nation who served as the inspiration for my site. Check out Chuck's blog when you get a chance. It's a great look "behind enemy lines"!

Lehigh's Mark Borda Gets Ranked

The Sports Network has begun their fall position rankings and quarterbacks are first. Matt Dougherty ranks Borda 10th in the nation going into the campaign and it's well deserved. Borda could very well be a Payton candidate if he has some big games in some key OOC games like Delaware and Harvard. He should also be the Patriot League preaseason Offensive Player of the Year.

Football Season Tickets

Are out !

Time to figure out what, if not all, football games you'll be going to this fall. There are definitely some great home games this year:

• UMass returns to try and exact some revenge to the Andy Kerr faithful
• Cornell graces us with their exhalted presence for Homecoming
• Patriot League matchups against frontrunner Lehigh, and tough games against Fordham and Bucknell

The only "yawner" is against Central Connecticut but it will be the first home game of the year; hopefully some good weather, a lot of new faces to check out and hopefully a win!

The season ticket package is quite the deal: for alums it's $40 ($72 for non alums) for reserved tickets and it gets you a t-shirt, 10 flex tickets per order for home men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s lacrosse and women’s ice hockey games, one football media guide per order, a game program at each game, free parking, and a preseason team BBQ. That's got to be one of the better deals around.

Northern Colorado Heads to the Big Sky

After one short year in the Great West Football Conference, former Division II University of Northern Colorado will begin play in the Big Sky Conference beginning July 1, 2006.

UNC to Big Sky

This brings the Big Sky conference up to 9 teams. North Dakota State and South Dakota State are both itching to get into the Big Sky as well and future expansion is not off the table.

This is a good move for both UNC and the Big Sky. UNC was a good D-II program that will most likely succeed at the I-AA level. It gets the Big Sky into Colorado and balances the football schedule.

I-AA Game of the Week

In case you haven't voted yet, I would encourage all readers to go on over to I-AA.org and vote for this fall's I-AA Game of the Week and Game of the Year. There are plenty of Colgate and Patriot League options but here are the current leaders:

Week 1 8/27-9/4: Georgia Southern @ Northeastern
Week 2 9/5-11: Eastern Kentucky @ Western Kentucky (Battle of the Bluegrass)
Week 3 9/12-18: Georgia Southern @ Wofford
Week 4 9/19-25: North Dakota State @ Montana State
Week 5 9/26-10/2: Northern Iowa @ Western Illinois
Week 6 10/3-9: Appalachian State @ Furman
Week 7 10/10-16: Georgia Southern @ Appalachian State (Black Saturday)
Week 8 10/17-23: James Madison @ Delaware (Parents & Family Weekend))
Week 9 10/24-30: Southern Illinois @ Western Kentucky
Week 10 10/31-11/6: Furman @ Georgia Southern
Week 11 11/7-13: South Dakota State @ North Dakota State (Dakota Marker Rivalry)
Week 12 11/14-20: Montana @ Montana State (Brawl of the Wild; 105th meeting)

Last year Lehigh vs. Colgate was the Game of the Week on CSTV in part due to this voting contest. The contest ends May 31st. Get your butt on over and vote! Feel free to spread the word and support the Patriot League in this!

Interesting Development at Dartmouth

Dartmouth, most recently under the magnifying glass for their Dean of Admission's comments four years ago that called for the end of football a la Swartmore, had an interesting turn of events in their Board of Trustees voting this past weekend.

Link

It seems that two write in candidates for the board were elected against the wishes of the administration and a large portion of the board. These two have historically conservative views that clash with much of what is going on at Dartmouth.

I take particular interest in this in light of the struggles that are occuring at Colgate these days over the vision of the college, specifically over the residential life plan. Could something like this at Colgate be next?

Hot off the Press

Colgate will take on the Furman Paladins in a home and home football series.

Release

FU comes here in 2008 and we travel to South Carolina in 2010. This is great for Colgate and the Patriot. It might be the first regular season Southern Conference game for the Raiders. Lehigh had a game against Wofford not too long ago.

2008 looks to be a tough year. We'll be playing Buffalo again and then Furman right after.

Cest La Vie

For the Women's Lacrosse team, the dream is over. The Raiders lost 12-6 to #3 Boston University however all accounts would indicate that they played fairly well.

Things definitely look bright for next year as this team only loses one senior, Lauren Price. Here's to 2006!

Today is Colgate Day!

Colgate has officially made every Friday the 13th "Colgate Day"!

Colgate Day

"The university is asking students, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends to embrace Colgate’s association with the number 13, and announce their affiliation by wearing school regalia and/or maroon on every Friday the 13th from now on. (The next Friday the 13th falls in May; subsequent ones occur in January and October of 2006.)"

So if you remember, be sure to put on some maroon and show your Colgate pride!

UMass Spring Game

UMass release

It's your basic standard fare press release about their spring game. Some points to note:

• Quarterback Tim "Die Another" Day didn't play any contact downs. Not sure if there's an injury there. They let Liam Coen, a freshman, take most of the snaps and it sounds like he did a relatively good job. They have another frosh by the name of Taylor Humphrey who transfered from Hawaii.
• TB Steve Baylark played well and should be UMass's big offense threat next year.
• Overall the defense returns some key players and should be one of their strengths.

Colgate's got a lot of work to do for our meeting next fall.

In good company

It's not everyday that a Patriot League school gets mentioned with ACC and Big 10 schools when it comes to football, but when it happens, it's great for the league. For Lehigh, it was today in the Washington (DC) Examiner:

Josh Czajkowski

"I've got a big, freezer Ziploc bag stuffed full of just the envelopes from UVa., Maryland, and N.C. State," said Alex Czajkowski (his dad). "Then, I've got this stack of everyone else. Michigan, Lehigh, Marshall, Pitt -- all of them."

That was his dad commenting on all of the recruiting materials this prolific junior kicker has recieved. It's an interesting story about a lifelong soccer player that was recruited by the high school coach as a freshman to try out for the team. Great decsion: now the kid will likely land a Division I-A scholarship and maybe even more.


Josh Czajkowski - He's definitely got the name for a kicker!

USA Today points out Colgate's home winning streak

USA Today

"Colgate gets a chance to add to its 17-game home winning streak right away with games Sept. 3 against Central Connecticut State and Sept. 10 against Massachusetts. The Raiders haven't lost at Andy Kerr Stadium since the 2002 opener against Villanova"

We've got a great streak going and we should see it extend to 18 games. The big test will be that 19th game vs. UMass. Now, if we could only get it to snow in September...

Women's Lax's Tall Task

It won't be easy for the Colgate Lacrosse team this Thursday. After getting spanked by Syracuse last weekend, they face the #3 team in the nation, the Terriers from Boston University and do it on the Terrier's home field for the first round of the NCAAs.

BU is the America East champion also looking for their 1st ever NCAA win. They have the nation's second ranked defense with AE Player of the Year Anne Sheridan in goal. It will take a valiant effort on the Raiders part to rise to this challenge. I can only hope that the SU game gave them some focus for this game.

Any Given Saturday Preseason Poll Coming Soon!

It is almost the time of the year when Any Given Saturday comes out with their Top 25 Preseason Poll. Yours truely, colgate13, is a proud inagural member of this esteemed poll. I've got about 2 weeks to figure out my Top 25 ballot and I've already done some work. Here's my tentative Top 5:

1. JMU
2. NW State
3. UNH
4. EWU
5. UNI

These are 5 teams that were very potent last year and return a significant amount of talent and starters. I think it will be tough for JMU (or any team) to repeat but they've got the tools to do it. In the A-10 though, it will be a huge accomplishment for them to come out with the title again.

My next 5 is not setttled yet. I'm considering UMass, Lehigh, Western Kentucky, Montana, Furman and Georgia Southern, not necessarily in that order. I think Lafayette will be a 15-17 team.

Colgate just doesn't deserve a nod at this time. I'm still hopeful that 2005 will be a great year, but we've got to prove it in our first two games before anyone should take us as a serious Top 25 team.

More to come...

Lafayette's Spring Game

The Title Defense Begins

"The 2004 season was arguably the best in the 120-year history of the Lafayette Football Team. Week after week, the Leopards shocked the college football world by winning in dramatic fashion over heavily favored opponents. All in all, the Leopards won respect in the Patriot League. However, success last season does not translate into guaranteed success in 2005. To a certain degree, the Leopards will have to put the past behind them and move on."

Some highlights of the read:

• Jon Hurt, heir apparent to McCourt, only carried the ball 3 times (for 14 yards). Wonder why the relatively small amount of action? Injury?
• The back up to Mauer, Pat Davis, sounds capable as he ran a few drives and had a score.
• Archie Fisher (wide reciever) is back from injury (he was out most of last year) and had a TD
• Freshman TB D'Urso sounds like he had a good game

We play them for their last home game of the season. Keep the streak alive!

Huge Men's Lax Class

The Men's Lacrosse Team Announces 2009 Class

14 players. That's a ton. Some names to watch:

Brandon Corp (mid) - local kid from Chittenango. He's supposedly a multi-sport athlete that could have played football, basketball or lacrosse at a school like Colgate. It's too bad that the PL probably won't allow Corp to play two sports (football) if he wanted because of the scholarship issue. I also doubt Nagle would want a superstar playing football and risking injury.

Kevin Collelouri (attack) - All Long Island from Bethpage, a good lax school.

Brian Cain (goal) - one of the top goalies on Long Island.

I wonder where else these kids were considering and if scholarships made a difference? Did we steal any from Cornell or Princeton? That would be the goal in this sport: Take the Ivy kids with scholarships.

Patriot League Extends Femovich's Contract

Blurb

Femovich, who's been the head honcho of the PL since 1999, got her contract extended through 2009. All in all I have no complaints about her. The PL has grown and matured under her tenure.

Could it happen again?

When the Ivy considered leaving the NCAA

Granted it was for different reasons (TV revenue) but could the Ivy League ever back out of NCAA football and go their own way? They practically don't compete as it is now by avoiding the playoffs, they continue to award Ivy League championships in sports like Ice Hockey even though they play in the ECAC and they have the brand name to maybe just do it.

It would be a compelling situation should the Ivy's decide that NCAA Division I has become too commerical but they didn't want to go D-III. What if they offered the Patriot League teams to join them?

There is the issue of NCAA revenue from basketball, but these are the richest schools in the world. They could also use their brand to get TV deals and market themselves as the NCAA alternative.

It's a stretch, but it is still fun to think about.

G'Town's 2005 schedule

Gets some flack from the Sports Network:

#2 Easiest OOC Schedule in I-AA

2. Georgetown (Brown 9/17, @ Stony Brook 9/24, Duquesne 10/8, @ Cornell 10/15, Davidson 11/2) - The Hoyas history of Mid-Major competition continues with three on the 2005 slate.

One can only hope with a new field they will be able to get some better games at Harbin. They also need to get more competitive with the mid-majors they're scheduling. Losing to Monmouth wouldn't make me want to go schedule UNH.

Also menitoned in the article is Lehigh playing at Delaware and at Harvard. Tough road for Lehigh but they could be up to the challenge.

Life after Fitzpatrick

Harvard Frosh QB Shines in Spring Game

Sounds like we should remember the name Liam O'Hagan. It's not his job just yet (there's a Tulane transfer in the mix) but if the Crimson can replace Fitzpatrick, they might just pick up where they left off last year.

Lehigh loses D Coordinator Two Years in a Row

Shannon Morrison heads to Marshall

After losing Gilmore to Holy Cross last year, it's one and done for Lehigh's Defensive Coordinator Shannon Morrison. He's a Marshall 1991 grad.

This is tough for the Mountain Hawks but I'm sure they will endure. They didn't miss a beat losing Gilmore and they've got their recruiting class for the year.

Reminds me that Colgate has been VERY fortunate to stay as intact as it has.

Bucknell's touting their defense

Story from Spring Game

Sean Conover, last year's PL defensive player of the year, returns for the Bison as does 4 other starters. Bucknell is going to need their defense to be strong as they, much like Colgate, look for a new QB to lead their offense.

Women's Lax Takes the Title...and Softball takes a seat.

The good news:

Women's Lacrosse spanks Holy Cross 11-4 and takes the PL title for the second straight year. 16 straight PL wins. Scariest part is they bring everyone back next year.

The team still has one game left - against SU. Very odd that there would be a game after the PL tournament. Not sure why they schedule it that way. After that, the NCAAs. Maybe this is the year that we break through and win that first game, much like Women's Soccer earlier.

The bad news:

Softball is eliminated from the PL tournament. After a rain out in which the Raiders were winning, Army comes back to win. A bit of a disappointing year for the senior heavy team, but nonetheless, we should all thank them for the great run they've had. Softball will be back. Next year should be seen as a rebuilding year, but at least we're rebuilding with scholarships!