1/10 picks:
Ursinus
Muhlenberg
Johns Hopkins
Dickinson
Washington
Tough slate of games, but what else should we expect?
Like a few others, I'm going with the Chestertown upset. Feeling good about their record, the Dips will roll into the House of Cain and suffer a 5-point loss in a high-scoring affair. F&M has drastically turned the corner from the past three years of mediocrity, but this is still a young team without much experience on the road. The jury is still out until after the 4-game road swing. The Dips might be a year ahead of schedule in the rebuilding process, but they won't return from the road trip unblemished -- and knowing the way I pick, I'll miss it when it happens.
F&M is 10-0. They have played only two games away from home and one could argue that they have played only one or two quality opponents at the most.
Ursinus is 6-4. They have played seven out of ten games away from home.
Quality opponents---Cornell (who beat Lafayette by 31 this week), Williams, Randolph-Macon (should be/will be in the top 25), St Lawrence and Gettysburg.
A look inside F&M's own athletic department backs up this scheduling argument. The women's lax team regularly plays one of the toughest non-conference schedules in D-III, and the coach credited that with helping them win the national title two years ago. Although that type of scheduling is probably easier to do in lacrosse, it certainly applies to basketball. Ursinus will benefit from playing those teams. F&M should schedule tough road trips (New England? Ohio? California?) on a yearly basis.
