There are only two reasons to visit Lewisburg, Penn.-- either you're going to a Bucknell hoops game or you're going to jail. With Patriot League foe, Holy Cross, in town and sole possession of first place in the conference on the line, we thought screw Lewisburg Federal Pen, we're going to another basketball game. It was the right choice.
The Psychos are borderline Crazies
"It's all over," chanted the Bucknell students with 20 seconds remaining, their team up by 6. But it wasn't.
Bucknell missed a pair of free throws. Holy Cross drilled a three. The Bison missed two more freebies, and the Crusaders, with nine seconds left, had the ball with a chance to tie. A broken play somehow led to a wide-open three from the corner by Torey Thomas that went in-and-out -- perhaps some shooting lessons from the all-time Div-II wins leader, Philadelphia University's coach Herb Magee would have helped (See VIDEO) -- and moments later, the Bucknell student section was dancing on the Sjoka (pronounced "soyka") Pavilion's center court.
VIDEO: The Odyssey gets shooting tips from an NBA tutor
Bucknell entered the game not having lost at home since March of '03, a streak that went back 31 games. Holy Cross was undefeated in league play, and their 12-game winning streak was the second longest in the country. A few years ago, at stake in a game like this was basically the honor of being served as Alpo to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tourney. No longer.
"I wouldn't say we expect to go to the NCAAs," said Joey Kuterbach, head of the students section the Sojka Psychos, as well as goalie of the Patriot League champ soccer team, "but we think going and getting a win is a definite possibility." 2005 regular season wins over St. Joseph's and No. 7 Pitt were tremors but the earthquake that put Bucknell on the map was when center Chris McNaughton hit a jump hook with 10.5 seconds as the 14-seed Bison floored Kansas in the first round. A year later, Bucknell struck again, beating Arkansas in the first round. The Bison's '05 and '06 wins are the only tourney wins by a Patriot League team.
Success has changed this place...but in a good way. "Sorry, tonight's game vs. Holy Cross has been sold out," read the sign pasted on the unmanned Bucknell ticket window. A crowd of 4,209, the fourth largest in the building's history, crammed into the Sojka, about 2,000 of which were waving, yelling, bouncing students. It was probably the highest decibel per fan level we've encountered on this trip.
"The Patriot League is a symbol of everything that's right in college basketball, and Bucknell, because of their tournament victories, is a symbol of the Patriot League," said John Feinstein, author of Season on the Brink, here to do commentary for ESPNU. "It's about the kind of kids they recruit (they have the highest graduation rate since '96), the kind of atmosphere they have here, the fact that the building is named for a former President and not a corporation."
Now if the students could only figure out when to rush the court.
Notes on a Scorecard
*What do Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano, Villanova hoops coach Jay Wright and author Philp Roth have in common? They're all Bucknell grads, as is Hall of Fame pitcher Christy Mathewson, who is buried in a cemetery adjoining the campus.
*The scouting report on Preseaon conference Player of the Year Chris McNaughton? He just might be the whitest player I've ever seen-- think Zydrunas Ilgauskas but shorter and less coordinated. NBA scouts would not be impressed but this electrical engineering major is going to make some biotech company's corporate basketball team really, really good.
*Sure, it was a close game in a combustible arena but it was a misplaced modifier in the school paper, The Bucknellian, that made the three-hour trip from Philly really worth it. In response to a question about what goes on at the Vagina Monologues, sophomore Emily Rath explained, "We bond with the other girls in the audience, celebrating the fact that yes, we have vaginas! We laugh at the funny ones but are also awakened to issues of women all over the world." How rude and how delightfully funny.
