Bucknell making headlines beating big-name opponents

Perhaps it shouldn't be considered an upset any more when Bucknell beats a big-name opponent.
This small private school has developed a reputation for knocking off some of college basketball's big guns over the last couple of seasons. Last year, it scored a regular-season road victory over Pittsburgh and shocked Kansas in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The latest ranked opponent to fall to the Bison is Syracuse, which was No. 19 when Bucknell scored a 74-69 win on Nov. 22 at the Carrier Dome.
"Whether or not it's a surprise to some people or a lot of people, none of these games are going to be a surprise to us," said Bucknell point guard Abe Badmus, beads of sweat dripping from his face after taking a breather during a recent practice at Bucknell's home court.
But Badmus and his teammates know there's more work to be done, especially with more tough games on the schedule, including a home contest this coming Tuesday against No. 4 Villanova and a trip in January to top-ranked Duke."We haven't proven anything yet, to say that we picked it up from last year," said Badmus, one of five starters and 12 players overall back from last year's 23-10 squad. "We're not at the point where we were doing good things last year."
That's the kind of attitude Bison coach Pat Flannery likes to hear after hammering the phrase "No Entitlements" into his players during preseason. Flannery has instilled confidence in his team but doesn't want his players to rest on last season's accomplishments.
So far, so good, though Bucknell has had some nail-biters.
The Bison needed an off-balance 17-foot jumper from Kevin Bettencourt with 1.2 seconds left to beat Rider 56-54 in the season opener. Against Syracuse, they used a late 13-2 run and hit their free throws to rally to a 74-69 victory.
"We were excited to play a Big East team to see where we measured up," said Bettencourt, who hit 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch against Syracuse. "But we weren't thinking about statements or anything like that."
On the road against Niagara, another NCAA tourney team last season, Bucknell erased a nine-point halftime deficit and held the Purple Eagles to 3-of-22 shooting in the second half on the way to a 63-60 win.Bucknell received 73 votes in the latest Associated Press poll, placing it just oustide the Top 25 and ahead of schools such as Stanford, Kansas and defending national champion North Carolina.
Bucknell's win over the Jayhawks last season was the first NCAA tournament win for a team from the Patriot League, which only started to allow member schools to award basketball scholarships in 1998.
"It's crazy. We're still a Patriot League school and getting all this national attention," center Chris McNaughton said while sitting in the stands underneath the banner commemorating last year's NCAA appearance. "I don't think anyone could have thought that."
Badmus was the Patriot League's defensive player of the year, and teammates say they're confident the 6-foot-10 McNaughton can alter shots if an opponent gets into the paint. But it's McNaughton's offense, and one shot in particular, that stands out for Bucknell fans.
On a banner near the main entrance to Bucknell's home court, Sojka Pavilion, is a picture of a menacing McNaughton putting up the hook shot over Wayne Simien's outstretched arm with 10.5 seconds left in the win over Kansas."In the past, we could play a really, really fine game and change some things in our game plan to compete with some people," Flannery said. "(Now) we are able to go and do some things that we want to do, as opposed to holding the tail and trying to hang on."
Flannery also knows it will be tougher to schedule opponents, especially to come to Lewisburg, with each big win. Convincing Villanova to come to Bucknell was easy, though, because Wildcats coach Jay Wright, like Flannery, graduated from Bucknell. The Bison lost at Villanova, 89-51 last season and go back to Villanova next year.
Bettencourt, one of the team's captains, put his team's success in perspective.
"It's pretty special. It's fun," he said. "But we all realize, one bad game and all the attention goes away."