By CRAIG MUDER
Sports Editor, Utica Observer-Dispatch 

Emmett Davis had just finished talking about the character of his Colgate men’s basketball team when he was distracted by a man in uniform.

“Can I have a receipt, please?” said Davis, momentarily confusing me as I conducted my phone interview.  “Emmett, are you at a tollbooth?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m driving back from a high school basketball game in Chicago.  I’m almost to the hotel.”

So much for a break after a grueling season.  Davis’ Raiders were eliminated from the Patriot League Tournament Saturday and they returned to Hamilton Sunday.  From there, Davis headed out on one of many recruiting trips scheduled for this spring.

The quest for improvement is constant with Davis, who has brought the Colgate program back to respectability after Jack Bruen’s death in 1997.  The Raiders just wrapped up a season in which they won 17 games for just the seventh time in their 102-year history of intercollegiate basketball.

This group of seniors won 57 games in Davis’ first four years, the best total since the Adonal Foyle-aided Class of 1997 finished with 61 wins.

And despite two straight first-round losses in the Patriot League Tournament, Davis clearly has the Raiders pointed in the right direction.

“Unfortunately the tournament wins didn’t come,” said Davis, whose 57 wins rank No. 10 on the all-time Colgate list.  “For Patriot League teams, that’s how you get to the NCAAs.

“But what we accomplished this year was magnificent. We have nothing at all to be ashamed of.”

Colgate lost to Lafayette 74-71 in the Patriot League quarterfinals after defeating the Leopards twice during    the regular season.  The matchup was not a favorable one for the Raiders, who soundly defeated Lafayette 85-73 just five days before the PL Tournament.

The Leopards used that loss as motivation and overwhelmed the Raiders with emotion early in the game.   Colgate’s furious second-half rally fell just short.

And at the end of the game, Pat Campolieta walked off the court for the final time in a Colgate uniform.  The senior forward leaves as the No. 4 all-time scorer in school history and as a three-time first-team All-Patriot League selection.

Even more impressive is this number: 0.  That’s the total of missed games Campolieta racked up in four years.  His 113 games played are more than any other player in school history.

“Pat has meant so much to program,” said Davis, who inherited Campolieta after the former Bishop Ludden star was recruited by Bruen.  “He’s re-wrote the record books. He’s a great leader, a fierce competitor and a winner.  “There are so may things he did that don’t even show up in the box score.  His basketball IQ is so high, he made people better around him.”

But even without Campolieta, the future looks bright.  Four of Colgate’s five other starters return next year, along with several top bench players.  Soon-to-be senior guards Dave Hardy and Tim Sullivan will assume most of Campolieta’s leadership duties, while junior-to-be Mark Linebaugh — whose 14.1 points per game average trailed Campolieta’s team-leading mark by just 17 total points — will be asked to carry the burden offensively.

Throw in youngsters like Keith Williams, Matt Shirley and Andrew Zidar — and any freshmen Davis may find this week on the road — and the Raiders have the makings of another team capable of threatening the 20-win plateau.

No Colgate team has ever reached that mark.

“We’re looking for an inside player and we’re looking for a point guard,” said Davis, whose Class of 2006 won’t have to shoulder much load until the 2003-2004 campaign. “We’ve gotta keep up with schools like Holy Cross that offer scholarships now. There is no time off.”

It’s a daunting challenge.  Five of the eight Patriot League schools now offer basketball scholarships — with only Bucknell, Lafayette and Colgate left upholding the original Patriot League mission of no athletic scholarships.  So far, Davis has made up the gap with outstanding recruiting, a commitment to excellence and many hours driving along toll roads in Illinois.

Is that enough to bring an NCAA Tournament berth to Hamilton in 2003?  We’ll see.  But if effort means anything, Davis will get there.  He’s putting in the miles to find the players — and he’s got the receipts to prove it.