Nov. 10 couldn’t come soon enough.
As we slide through the final weeks before college basketball returns, we’ll look at one storyline about the upcoming season that lines up with the number of days until opening day. Keep coming back to see if we have the creativity and dedication to pull this off. No promises.
It’s Oct. 12 and we’re just 29 days from opening day.
Over the span of the last three seasons, Colgate has won 29 games in Patriot League play. However, their win total has decreased each year. After finishing with 12 wins in 2014-15, the Raiders declined to nine wins in 2015-16, and finally down to eight wins last season.
Thanks to an experienced roster that returns almost all of its key contributors from last year, Colgate could be back in the hunt.
The Raiders bring back five players that averaged at least 25 minutes per game, and two more that averaged at least 10. Nathan Harries is the only player from Kenpom’s 10 most frequent lineups that isn’t back for Colgate.
Their most frequent lineup featured a freshman, two sophomores and two juniors: Will Rayman, Malcolm Regisford, Francisco Amiel, Sean O’Brien, and Tom Rivard. Continuity on a roster can often times make up for any lack of talent, and head coach Matt Langel already has the luxury of knowing who his main guys will be.
Add in key contributors like Jordan Swopshire and Jordan Robertson, and there’s already signs of a roster that can go to seven or eight guys deep without much drop in production.
Colgate was already among the best three point shooting teams in the league last year, coming in second at 38.5% from behind the arc. The biggest key will be the continued improvement of its core guys. If players like Rayman, O’Brien and Swopshire continue make strides in their production, Colgate could very well be on their way to getting back to their winning ways.