NEWSLETTER
The first of three more brackets to get underway on Tuesday is the Patriot League Tournament. All ten teams get in, no one is left behind for the tournament (that usually ends up with Colgate winning anyway.) Every single game will be taking place at the gym of the higher seed and there is no re-seeding here. Colgate is likely worthy of a 15 seed and should avoid a play-in game if they do indeed win this again. Any sort of upset would put the Patriot League winner in a First Four game with another 16-seed.
Patriot League Tournament Schedule, How to Watch
Thursday, March 7th. Quarterfinals
Holy Cross/ Army winner at #1 Colgate on ESPN+
Loyola/Navy winner at #2 Boston on ESPN+
#6 Lehigh at #3 Lafayette on ESPN+
#5 Bucknell at #4 American on ESPN+
Sunday, March 10th. Semifinals
2 PM & 4 PM ET on CBS Sports Network
Wednesday, March 13th. Championship
7 PM ET on CBS Sports Network
Patriot League Tournament Betting Odds
Courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook
Top Seeds and Contenders
I think they’re using the exclamation point as a way to denote that Colgate won the regular season conference title, not as punctuation. Still, an exclamation point is deserved, the Raiders have won this thing four of the past five years and haven’t missed the title game since 2017. They are currently tied for the most Patriot League Tournament championships (6) with Holy Cross and Bucknell.
Best Bets
There’s always a choice here. Do I risk a bunch to win a little on a clear favorite, or do I get cute with it and take a couple of big prices on some of the underdogs. There used to be some nice markets on the “field” vs teams like this that were fun, as you could just root for chaos from day one, but they are fewer and far between nowadays.
Lafayette at 15/1 is awful tempting. They’ll be at home to start on Thursday and should be a small favorite to make the semi-finals against presumably Boston. If you’re scared to lay a price, these might be your guys. I, on the other hand, have grown comfortable taking the stupid price on the big favorite in some of these smaller leagues where we likely get more of what we saw last year: The Raiders winning three straight by double-digits, coasting all the way; this time with their defense.
Colgate -250
