The Patriot League is one of those one-bid leagues where the conference tournament means everything.
American University is the defending tournament champ, beating Navy 74-52 in last year’s final. Before that, Colgate won four consecutive championships, earning four straight NCAA bids.
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While Navy had just a 15-19 record last season, the Midshipmen are the top seed this year under first-year coach Jon Perry, who was an assistant the previous 12 seasons at the school. Navy enters the tournament 25-6 and 17-1 in the Patriot. The Midshipmen are looking to qualify for the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1998.
Paced by 5-foot-11 senior Austin Benigni (18.1 PPG) and 6-foot-11 senior Aidan Kehoe (15.4 PPG, 11.0 RPG), Navy enters the tournament with a 13-game winning streak.
The opening round begins on March 3, with the quarterfinals on March 5, the semifinals on March 8, and the championship on March 11. All games will be hosted by the higher seed.
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Patriot League Basketball Tournament Odds
| Team | BetMGM Odds |
| Navy | -190 |
| Colgate | +450 |
| Lehigh | +950 |
| Boston U | +950 |
| American | +1200 |
| Loyola Maryland | +5000 |
| Lafayette | +8000 |
| Holy Cross | +12500 |
| Bucknell | +15000 |
| Army | +25000 |
| Odds as of March 2 |
Patriot League Basketball Tournament Predictions
Navy, with such a dominating team all season, is the obvious team to beat and the pick here.
The only Patriot loss by Navy was a 65-51 defeat at American on Jan. 12. In that game, American had 12 points off turnovers to zero for Navy. In addition, Navy shot just 4-for-19 from three (.211), even though American wasn’t much better (8-for-37, .216).
Navy was so dominating this year that just three of its Patriot wins were by five or fewer points.
Can anybody stop Navy?
Sure, but it obviously won’t be easy.
Nobody should bet against No. 3 seed Colgate. While Navy beat Colgate 85-69 at home on Saturday, in the earlier meeting on Feb. 14, the Raiders lost 84-80 in overtime at home to the Midshipmen. In that matchup, 6-foot-3 junior Jalen Cox had 30 points. Cox is the third leading scorer in the Patriot (17.6 PPG), but he did not play in Saturday’s game against Navy.
If Cox returns to the lineup, Colgate will be dangerous against anybody.
No. 2 seed Lehigh (15-16, 11-7) lost a tight 82-79 double overtime decision at home to Navy on Jan. 17. The Mountain Hawks were then blown out in the rematch, losing 72-49 at Navy on Feb. 18. Nasir Whitlock, a 6-foot-2 senior, is a potential game-changer for Lehigh. He is the leading Patriot League scorer (20.8 PPG), while shooting .431 from three and .805 from the foul line. Hank Alvey, a 6-foot-9 sophomore for Lehigh, averages 14.6 points and a team-high 7.0 rebounds.
Looking for a dark horse?
How about No. 5 seed American, the defending champions? As stated earlier, the Eagles were the one Patriot team to defeat Navy. In the rematch on Feb. 7, American was competitive in an 82-73 loss at Navy. American has a balanced scoring team with six players averaging between 7.8 and 13.1, led by 6-foot-5 freshman Madden Collins (13.1 PPG).
Again, it may take a perfect game, but with one win and another game that was close down the stretch, American has played Navy better than any other team.
