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I know we are all clearly biased, but I don’t know how any recruit could pick NJIT over Lehigh for basketball.
I went to see Lehigh at NJIT a number of years ago, and the game was memorable for a couple reasons. Michael Ojo went off for 30+ points, if memory serves. Best game I ever saw him have. Second, the gym and game experience were laughable at NJIT. It is literally a middle school gym and there were 50 people in attendance. I know Stabler has some small crowds, but this was unreal. At that time, NJIT was playing in a ridiculous conference (The Great West) against schools I had never even heard of (Houston Baptist, Utah Valley State, Chicago State, and Texas Pan-American), although now they have moved to the Atlantic Sun. I couldn’t believe this team travelled that far to play basketball. Now, in the Atlantic Sun, every trip they make is to Florida, Georgia, SC and TN. Not exactly a program built on fierce rivalries. Campus wise, not close. Newark isn’t exactly a great college town, and you really can’t compare the campus experience/life. I would guess most of the enrollment commutes. I wasn’t real comfortable parking my car and walking to the gym. Perhaps, you want to study engineering or something technical, well, again, the academics aren’t close.
I can understand a couple of things. Maybe, instant playing time, and maybe you want to get away from home a bit. But, there have to be better choices than NJIT. If we lose one recruit there, we need to really look at our recruiting.