American: PL Game 4

Forum Forum Lehigh Sports Lehigh Men’s Basketball American: PL Game 4

This topic contains 18 replies, has 10 voices, and was last updated by RichH RichH 8 years, 1 month ago.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 19 total)
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  • #30267

    LU65
    Participant

    Game Notes

      Lehigh’s

    We await

      American’s

    We await

    KenPom Rankings and Prediction
    AU ( 4-10, 1-2 PL) Ranked 314th
    @
    Lehigh (7-7, 1-2 PL) Ranked 108th
    Lehigh wins by 16 (78-62)

    American – Today’s Opponent

    A. Where they’ve been………
    They led Bucknell by 7 before losing by 9 (LU plays them on Wednesday)
    They beat Colgate by 3 in OT (LU has yet to play)
    They lost to Loyola by 2 (LU lost by 1)

    B. Like Opponents
    They lost to SFP by 7; we beat them by 23

    C. Be prepared….they’ll put you to sleep (Tempo #297…Lehigh #57)

    D. They’re troubled from the 15 feet (57.9%) and from deep (28%)

    E. Youth taking over……starters include 2 freshmen and 2 sophomores. Nelson (G) and Gasparini (F/C) – both first year men – combine for nearly half all points scored . Sa’eed Nelson (6’1” PG) comes out of St. Augustine Prep and was named as 2016 South Jersey Player and Guard of the Year. The fast-playing guard comes in averaging 16.5 ppg yet struggles from 3 hitting just 23% from deep. He never sits, averaging 38+ mpg. Gasparini, their 6’10”/250lb. F/C, is said, by his coach, to be “highly skilled and mobile. He can make open threes, score on the block and is an adept passer.” To date, he’s been averaging 11.9ppg in 27mpg.

    Movement in kENpOM Rankings (351 schools) – where they began PL play and where they sit today

    BU: Up 24 …from 179 to 145
    Bucknell: Up 10…from 126 to 116
    Lafayette: Up 5 from 330 to 325
    Army: Up 4 from 215 to 211
    Loyola: Up 4 from 249 to 245
    American: Up 3 from 316 to 313
    Navy: Down 2 from 277 to 279
    Colgate: Down 8 from 292 to 300
    Holy Cross: Down 9 from 185 to 194
    Lehigh: Down 13 from 95 to 108

    PL = Home Sweet Home?

    After 3 games, the visitors have compiled a 10 W / 5 L record. Only Army and Nave have yet to win on the road. Bucknell and Loyola, on the other hand, have already racked-up 2 wins away from home and find themselves on the road again this week. You can count on HC to give Bucky a good game – it’s in their genes – and you know the cadets up at Army won’t lie down for Loyola or for that matter anyone.

    W follows L

    As for bouncing back after a PL loss, take some comfort in the fact that a year ago – with pretty much the same leadership – we never did lose the next League encounter following a loss. And, that was true be it at home or on the road. I’m betting TK and AP won’t let it happen this year either.

    #30272
    ngineer
    ngineer
    Participant

    Unless the kids get their heads straightened out and that the rest of the PL is not going to “swoon” at the thought of playing Lehigh, they will be in trouble in every game. Yes, they should be picked to win the PL, but unless they want to win and learn to play with 100% effort all the time, everyones’ dreams of playing somewhere in March will be just that.

    #30281
    RichH
    RichH
    Participant

    LU 79-73 a must win. Glad we finished this time.
    TK dominated.
    Concerned that we could not put them away at home. Still we did play an entire game if not with consistent intensity.

    #30282

    TMH
    Participant

    I didn’t get to see much of the game today…only the stat line. Is there a reason why Carter got more minutes than Andree and Alston combined? Defensive intensity maybe?

    #30283
    RichH
    RichH
    Participant

    That is my guess.
    A W today but AU is a very bad team that we could not put away at home. Our D today was at best mediocre if at least present.

    #30284

    lehigh90
    Participant

    Yep, hard to get too excited about a 6 pt win at home vs bottom feeder American. Wed night is a big test and good barometer game.

    #30285
    travism
    travism
    Participant

    A must win game we had to have. I’m concerned with this teams defense. They are in trouble. It’s also safe to say. Other then tim We have nothing down low. A few random thoughts.

    1. Thought it was odd pat didn’t see floor till ten min mark in 2nd half.

    2. Is wolf able to play? He’s now dressed but don’t see the floor when bugs is where we lack.

    3. Lieb????? Almost ready ? He’s still in a suit and not warming up with team. I bet we hear bad news in near future on him.

    4. Ross needs to wake up. Turnovers. Bad passes. Can’t hold on to ball. He also needs to recognize the several times American had 6-6 Charlie jones on Timmy. I was screaming to feed it to Tim. This happened often. Whole section was shocked Reed wasn’t going at Charlie there. And this was very often in second half.

    Sorry for rant. Just a few thoughts I had. I’ll be bucknell on wed. Another must win game. We must now steal a game or two somewhere since we let the Loyola game go down the crapper

    #30286
    sundayamqb
    sundayamqb
    Participant

    This team reminds me a little of the Trail Blazers. Good O provided by one of Lehigh’s best players ever but no D.

    Both teams need good big men who can play both ways.

    Other problem with the college team is, aside from maybe hot-cold AP, it has few outside scoring dynamos.

    #30287

    TMH
    Participant

    sundayamqb,
    I have a different take on it. We have a significant lack of depth at the F/C positions. Aggressive defense on their part creates both foul trouble and an energy drain at the end of games (which has shown up recently). I haven’t been tracking our defenses but more zone coverage might help on both counts.

    As for outside scoring dynamos, we’re loaded with them. AP happens to shoot the most of them but he is perhaps the least efficient of the guards. AP is shooting at a .405 clip from 3.
    Ross is at .425, Leufroy at .444, Andree at .429 and Cohen at .441. I think Doc has been preaching the extra pass which while understandable I think has led to some needless TOs. What bothers me a bit though is the tendency to give up open 3s in order to dribble in for contested 2s. Shooting 40% from 3 is equivalent to shooting 60% from inside the paint. Maybe I should be careful what I wish for though :-).

    #30293
    van
    van
    Participant

    watched the replay and fatigue may well be a factor, most free throw misses hit front of rim, possible indicator that 30+ minutes per game are catching up with some of the guys

    #30294
    travism
    travism
    Participant

    Fatigue? Ahhh I dont know. posible but these are young kids playing like two games a week. They should have energy. I get the part that our front court is very slim. That’s one thing that’s killing us. We miss Justin. He did dirty work for us. Let Timmy breathe and keep us in game. It’s going to be a tough year. All those games we pencilled in as wins before season started now could will probably be dog fights. How bad does timmy and ap want this? We will see.

    Side note. I really miss ex asst Ryan Kruger. Now in NBA d league as asst. Was a very good x and o’s coach. Also very good recruiter.

    #30295
    sundayamqb
    sundayamqb
    Participant

    Well articulated.

    [quote quote=30287]sundayamqb,
    I have a different take on it. We have a significant lack of depth at the F/C positions. Aggressive defense on their part creates both foul trouble and an energy drain at the end of games (which has shown up recently). I haven’t been tracking our defenses but more zone coverage might help on both counts.

    As for outside scoring dynamos, we’re loaded with them. AP happens to shoot the most of them but he is perhaps the least efficient of the guards. AP is shooting at a .405 clip from 3.
    Ross is at .425, Leufroy at .444, Andree at .429 and Cohen at .441. I think Doc has been preaching the extra pass which while understandable I think has led to some needless TOs. What bothers me a bit though is the tendency to give up open 3s in order to dribble in for contested 2s. Shooting 40% from 3 is equivalent to shooting 60% from inside the paint. Maybe I should be careful what I wish for though :-).

    [/quote]

    #30298
    van
    van
    Participant

    [quote quote=30294]Fatigue? Ahhh I dont know. posible but these are young kids playing like two games a week. They should have energy. I get the part that our front court is very slim. That’s one thing that’s killing us. We miss Justin. He did dirty work for us. Let Timmy breathe and keep us in game. It’s going to be a tough year. All those games we pencilled in as wins before season started now could will probably be dog fights. How bad does timmy and ap want this? We will see.

    Side note. I really miss ex asst Ryan Kruger. Now in NBA d league as asst. Was a very good x and o’s coach. Also very good recruiter.

    [/quote]yeah, only 2 games a week and a few practices, and oh they might have to go to class once in a while, I remember when just going to class was a chore

    #30301
    jimk72
    jimk72
    Participant

    With the exception of TK & KR, they all look like they are scared to make a mistake on offense. The passed up 3’s are definitely an issue. I think AP should also get the ball more. He’s very effective going to the basket or from 3.

    #30302

    phillychuck
    Participant

    You can’t have a traditionally good defense without a rim protector. TK is not really a rim protector, nor are any of our other bigs.

    We should be doing something a bit more unconventional to compensate IMHO. But the PL seems to be committed to traditional man defense throughout, and Doc doesn’t seem to play zone more than a few possessions each game.

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