Colgate is the big favorite in the Patriot League men’s basketball conference tournament.
The 2025 Patriot League men’s basketball tournament tips off on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. ET when No. 7 Lafayette hosts No. 10 Holy Cross. The bottom four seeds will square off in the first round, with the winners joining the remaining six teams in the quarterfinals.
The Bucknell Bison will enter the tournament as the No. 1 seed after claiming the conference title tiebreaker over the American University Eagles. The two squads finished tied atop the Patriot League, each with a 13-5 conference record. They split their season series, which moved the tiebreaker to the record against the rest of the conference moving down the standings. The conference had a four-way tie for third place between Army, Colgate, Boston University, and Navy. Bucknell claimed the tiebreaker by having the better overall record against those four teams.
This is all significant because the Patriot League does not play its tournament on a neutral court. Instead, the higher seed hosts each game. Bucknell will host every game it plays, through the tournament championship game if they make it that far.
The defending champions are the Colgate Raiders, who have claimed the last four NCAA tournament berths and five of the past six. This year, Colgate will enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed.
Here is the bracket, along with the schedule of games.
2025 men’s Patriot League tournament schedule (all games at the Higher Seed, times ET)
First round — Tuesday, March 4
Game 1: No. 10 Holy Cross @ No. 7 Lafayette, 7 p.m.
Game 2: No. 9 LeHigh @ No. 8 Loyola Maryland, TBD
Quarterfinals — Thursday, March 6
Game 3: No. 6 Army @ No. 3 Colgate
Game 4: No. 5 Navy @ No. 4 Boston University
Game 5: Game 1 winner @ No. 2 American University
Game 6: Game 2 winner @ No. 1 Bucknell
Semifinals — Sunday, March 9
Game 7: Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner, location TBD
Game 8: Game 4 winner vs. Game 6 winner, location TBD
Championship — Wednesday, March 12
Game 9: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, location TBD
