Patriot League preview: C.J. McCollum lifts Lehigh's expectations

Our conference preview series continues with a look at the Patriot League, a conference that plays in complete obscurity until March, when everyone picks its automatic qualifier to upset its opponent. So familiarize yourself well before then with our projected standings, three players to watch, three non-conference games to seek out and three intriguing storylines heading into the season.

Young talent abides.

Among two All-League teams last season, six of the 10 players weren't seniors. Coming back to make this league pretty darn competitive this season: Lehigh sophomore guard C.J. McCollum; Lafayette senior forward Jared Mintz; American senior forward; Vlad Moldoveanu; Bucknell sophomore center Mike Muscala; Holy Cross senior forward Andrew Keister; and Lafayette junior forward Ryan Willen.

Plus there's Bryan Cohen, a junior on Bucknell who was the Defensive Player of the Year and is one of those classic stats-don't-tell-it-all type of players. The Bison could be the toughest team in the league because of Cohen, who is one of the most rigorous on-ball defenders in the country.

C.J. McCollum being the face of the league.

Does the Patriot League have a future NBA prospect on its hands? It's entirely possible. The Lehigh sophomore guard (pictured above with head coach Brett Reed during last year's tournament) became the second player in Patriot League history to earn First Team honors as a freshman. The first? Adonal Foyle at Colgate in the mid-'90s. And Foyle didn't win Player of the Year in his freshman season-which McCollum did last year.

He won the Rookie of the Week award nine times and scored 631 points, besting Foyle's first-season mark of 509. I could go on, but you get the picture; this kid took home loads of conference and national awards/recognition. Lehigh's got something special. Behind McCollum the team went to the dance last year, losing to Kansas in the first round.

Love this bit from the Patriot League offices: "The Mountain?Hawks put together one of the most dominant runs in Patriot League Tournament history, becoming the first champion to win all of its games by 15 points or more."

With McCollum in charge, the Mountain Hawks (let us pause to give thanks for such an incredible nickname) will have a chance over the next three years - a chance to not only win the league, but continue to keep the Patriot League's March reputation as a bracket spoiler alive.

Speaking of brackets ...

Hate to look so far down the road, but what is it about the northeast colleges from the Ivy and Patriot leagues that get everyone so atwitter about picking upsets?

Can Lehigh be this year's Cornell? If the team gets off to a strong start, you can expect some national love. It may take another full year (Cornell didn't really receive a lot of hype until after it made two straight NCAA tournaments), but maybe not if McCollum can get even better, which seems likely. He's looking to be a better player than anyone Cornell put on the floor, and at this level, that's scary.

So is it possible the Patriot League's winner will be a chic pick? Tough to say now, but there always seems to be a soft spot for whomever comes out of this league. Still, this could be the year the team that reps the league moves from cuddly little trendy pick to legitimate threat for the Sweet 16 - like Cornell did in 2010. We're a ways away, but American, Lehigh and Bucknell all seem to have players who can handle that load and responsibility.

Source: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Patriot-League-preview-C-J-McCollum-lifts-Lehi?urn=ncaab-275865

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