Oct. 2, 2002
Six Patriot League institutions were named to the Sports Illustrated America's Best Sports Colleges list, featured in the Oct. 7 issue and available on CNNSI.com.
Lehigh was the top-ranked Patriot League school in 132nd place, closely followed by American (141), Army (146) and Navy (148) in the Top 150. Also earning a ranking in the list were Bucknell (188) and Holy Cross (197).
Thirty-nine of the top 40 and 75 of the top 100 schools on the list are members of the "high visability" NCAA Division I conferences, such as the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-10 and Southeast Conference.
Sports Illustrated combined a variety of factors in arriving at its 2002 rankings of Division I schools, including performance during the 2001-02 school year in the big five sports (baseball, football, hockey and men's and women basketball); position in the '01-'02 Sears Cup NCAA all-sports standings; number of varsity, club and intramural sports; range of recreational facilities; and whether or not spirit-boosting events like Midnight Madness were held.
The rankings are available at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_online/news/2002/10/01/1_10/
Lehigh (132) earned its ranking because the Mountain Hawks went undefeated in the regular football season, had a national-champion wrestler and broke the team record for most wins in the baseball season.
American (141) followed by virtue of its national ranking in men's soccer (14) and regular-season men's basketball title.
Army (146) edged Navy (148) because the Black Knights won the annual grid rivalry game and had the top men's sports program in the Patriot League. The Midshipmen earned their ranking because the baseball team advanced to the NCAA tournament and its all-sports record against Army the last five years.
Bucknell made the Sports Illustrated list because the Bison made the NCAA tournaments in women's soccer and women's basketball and won the PL President's Cup for the ninth time in 12 years.
Holy Cross also earned a spot on the list thanks to post-season bids earned by the men's (NCAA) and women's (NIT) basketball teams.