To be taken with a grain of salt, for sure. Yet, many – me included – find them a good read. Those that know me and have seen posts on this Board into what Mr. Pomeroy is thinking, know I favor “KenPom” – the man which Wikipedia describes as a US government meteorologist and self-employed basketball writer. His rankings were released over the weekend and are shown below opposite two other surveys.
PL Coaches / Ken Pom / Mid-Major
Boston U. 1 / 1 / 2
Lafayette 2 / 6 / 4
Army 3 / 7 / 1
Bucknell 4 / 2 / 8
Loyola 5 / 4 / 6
Lehigh 6 / 3 / 5
Holy Cross 7 / 5 / 7
Colgate 8 / 9 / 3
American 9 / 8 / 10
Navy 10 / 10 / 9
While KenPom is a subscription based service, I doubt he’ll begrudge me a peak into his rankings that show:
a. The PL to be the 21st strongest league in the country. There are 32.
b. Boston U. is projected to finish atop the League with a 13-5 record.
c. Only two PL teams are given a better than even shot at winning their first games of the year. They are Boston U. over Northeastern 69-65 (67% chance) and Loyola (MD) over Binghamton 68-63 (73% chance). By the way, LU is given a 10% chance at upsetting Minnesota.
Links
Mid-Major Conference Preview – Patriot League
http://www.midmajormadness.com/2013-14-season-preview/2013/9/6/4696340/2013-14-mid-major-conference-preview-patriot-league
http://www.lehighsports.com/news/2013/10/24/MBB_1024130340.aspx?path=mbball
Kenneth Pomeroy (KenPom) – Subscription-based service
http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/weblog/help_with_team_page/
12 days and counting!