In Emmitsburg, Mount St. Mary's opens defense of its Northeast Conference title tomorrow against Wagner (7 p.m.). Winner of 12 of its past 15 games, the Mount wants a showing like last year when it ran the table and then defeated Coppin State in the NCAA play-in game before losing by 39 to North Carolina.
"That experience is something we can draw on mentally," coach Milan Brown said. "We won't have to worry about our batteries being charged up for these games. If anything, I'll have to calm my guys down."
The Mountaineers split with Wagner this year but have lost three of the past four to the New York school.
"Tell you the truth, when we get to March, I don't care who we play just as long as we keep playing," Brown said. "If they called our name to play the [Los Angeles] Lakers, we'd do it just to still be out there.
"The month of March is great, but March doesn't care about anybody's feelings. You've got to make things happen."
In women's first-round action, Loyola (9-18) faces Manhattan (9-19) at 2 p.m. Thursday in Albany, N.Y., in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play. Mount St. Mary's (14-15) plays NEC rival Sacred Heart (22-7) at noon Saturday in Fairfield, Conn. And Navy (15-14) meets Bucknell (16-11) in the Patriot League tournament at 7:30 Saturday in Bethlehem, Pa.
TOURNAMENT OPENERS
STATE DIVISION I MEN
(Seeds and overall records in parentheses)
PATRIOT LEAGUE
Tonight: (6) Colgate (9-19) at (3) Navy (19-10), 7 p.m.
NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
Tomorrow: (7) Wagner (16-13)
at (2) Mount St. Mary's (17-12), 7 p.m.
COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION
At Richmond, Va.
Friday: (6) Drexel (15-13)
vs. (11) Towson (10-21), 8:30 p.m.
METRO ATLANTIC ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
At Albany, N.Y.
Friday: (8) Loyola (12-19)
vs. (9) Canisius (10-19), 7:30 p.m.
AMERICA EAST
At Albany, N.Y.
Saturday: (3) Boston University (17-12)
vs. (6) UMBC (13-16), 2:30 p.m.
MID-EASTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
At Winston-Salem, N.C.
Tuesday, next Wednesday or March 12: Coppin State (12-17), Morgan State (19-11) and UMES (7-21), TBA
ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE
At Atlanta
March 12: Maryland (18-11), TBA
PATRIOT LEAGUE TOURNAMENT
Site: Campuses
When: Tonight through March 13
TV: Championship game, March 13, 4:45 p.m., ESPN2; semifinals, TBA
Favorite: Top seed American
(21-7, 13-1)
State entry: Third seed Navy
(19-10, 8-6)
Outlook: After losing an opening-round, triple-overtime heartbreaker to Bucknell last season on a 45-foot basket, the Midshipmen are looking to win their first league tournament game since 2001. They defeated Colgate, tonight's opponent in Annapolis, four days ago at home and were 2-0 against the Raiders. Guard Kaleo Kina (17.9 ppg) topped the league in scoring and backcourt mate Chris Harris (15.7) wasn't far behind. Adam Teague gives Navy more of an inside presence than in the recent past. If the team can get by the opener and a potential semifinal at second seed Holy Cross, it feels confident about a third meeting with American, which won by one and five points in their two meetings.
Kent Baker
