Forum › Forum › Lehigh Sports › Lehigh Men’s Basketball › BUCKNELL – Game 28 (Wednesday, February 23, 2011)
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February 23, 2011 at 1:15 am #3315
LU (15 – 12….6 – 6) vs. BU (20 – 8….11 – 1)
Sagarin Rankings and Resulting Lines Rankings (345 D-I schools)
Lehigh / Bucknell
Sagarin Predictor: 196 / 106
RPI: 212 / 83
Pomeroy: 194 / 104Resulting Line and Chance of Winning
Sagarin: Bucknell – 10 1/2
Pomeroy: Bucknell wins 77-66 (86% Chance)Game Notes
From LU: http://www.lehighsports.com/assets/1/wo … /42739.PDF
February 23, 2011 at 12:24 pm #3316Game Notes from BU: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/buc … gh11-2.pdf
February 23, 2011 at 2:32 pm #3317Super Sophs
Six of the league’s best will be on display tonight and, with a little luck, later in the playoffs. The next two years should be a treat for Bison and Mountain Hawk fans.
LU
Gabe Knutson, 6’9" fwd, 29.6 mpg, 12.2 ppg , 5.9 rpg
CJ McCollum, 6’3" grd, 34.3 mpg, 22.1 ppg, 8.0 rpg
Holden Greiner, 6’7" fwd, 19.8 mpg, 4.3 ppg, 6.5 rpgTotals: 83.7 mpg, 38.6 ppg, 20.4 rpg
BU
Joe Willman, 6’7" fwd, 21.9 mpg, 8.1 ppg, 4.9 rpg
Mike Muscala, 6’11" fwd/ctr, 27.5 mpg, 15.3 ppg, 7.8 rpg
Bryson Johnson, 6’1" grd, 28.9 mpg, 11.7 ppg, 1.8 rpgTotals: 78.3 mpg, 35.1 ppg, 14.5 rpg
Repeat of BU/LU Game I? No way!
As a fan of Mountain Hawk basketball, the January 26th game at Stabler was painful to watch. A repeat performance by the guys dressed in brown would be devastating – not necessarily to our chances to host a first round playoff game next Wednesday but to our mental well-being. Tonight’s game is a chance for redemption and an opportunity to show the Bison and the rest of the league that the "Fat Lady" has yet to sing. All is not over. All is not lost. This is truly a statement game for Lehigh. I’m thinking the team really believes there are five games left to be played.
While we may not win tonight’s game, I doubt we’ll see – as in Game I………
a. Lehigh’s passionless play on defense. BU kicked-off each half with runs of 11-2 and 15-2 and never looked back.
b. Individualistic – boarding on selfish – play on offense with hurried and unwise shots – not to mention just 9 assists being recorded. This, in stark contrast to recent play where there has been more balance scoring and sharing the ball resulting in better shots and a kick-up in assists to an average of 15.5 assists/game over the past four games.
c. A team that looked "down on its luck" entering the contest 2W/3L. Since the Game One setback, Lehigh is 4 and 2 in the PL and is playing the best ball (W/L record) of anyone outside BU and AU. The two losses were by one point to AU and 4 points in OT to Colgate.
d. Such individual performances as…..
Mackey McKnight, Starting PG, 0 for 9……… 0 Points……..3 Assists………….25 Minutes
Holden Greiner, Starting F, 1 for 7……….. 5 Points………….24 Minutes
e. Team Shooting of…..
FG% .305 overall (18 for 59)
2’s .391 (18 for 46)
3’s .000 (0 for 13)I could be wrong on all accounts, but this should be a far more competitive game. Lehigh lays claim to having one of – if not the most – athletic team in the league. It sports the league’s top scorer in CJ McCollum (22.1ppg) and sits atop the league standings in both scoring (74.1ppg) and rebounding (37.2 rpg). I normally side with Sagarin and Pomroy but can’t help but think they both have this one wrong – at least in their margin of victory.
Too bad this one is not going to be nationally televised. It should be fun!
February 23, 2011 at 4:18 pm #3318"LU65" wrote: I could be wrong on all accounts, but this should be a far more competitive game. Lehigh lays claim to having one of – if not the most – athletic team in the league. It sports the league’s top scorer in CJ McCollum (22.1ppg) and sits atop the league standings in both scoring (74.1ppg) and rebounding (37.2 rpg). I normally side with Sagarin and Pomroy but can’t help but think they both have this one wrong – at least in their margin of victory.
I agree with you that it should be more competitive than the 10-11 point Sagarin/Pomeroy predicted margin. BU has not been playing particularly well of late and we’ll have to see how their energy level looks now that they have clinched. LU clearly has a lot more to play for. One key is whether C.J. can get Cohen in foul trouble, as Cohen defends him as well as any player LU goes up against. Ayers is also a very good defender but I think he’ll have more trouble with someone with C.J.’s super-quickness.
I think it might be a bit misleading to look at absolute scoring and rebounding averages. LU plays at one of the fastest paces in the nation and thus there are a lot more points and rebounds (for both teams) in its games. In terms of points per possession, LU ranks #194 in the nation offensively and #207 defensively, based on Pomeroy’s adjusted rankings. (BU ranks 117th offensively and 92nd defensively.)
February 23, 2011 at 6:38 pm #3319The tiebreaker scenarios have been announced, and Lehigh’s goal tonight is simple: win, and they’re the No. 3 seed.
The reason is: if they beat Bucknell, they will own every possible tiebreaker (head to head vs. Lafayette, head-to-head vs. Navy, beat better opponent (Bucknell) vs. Holy Cross).
There’s plenty to play for anyway in this game, but add this to the mix as well as to the "who wants it more" aspect.
February 24, 2011 at 2:03 am #3320Ouch. that was tough to watch. The team is really ugly when they come down, don’t pass and just shoot; they should watch the movie Hoosiers one more time. That was terrible guard play; the other players need to step up but if they can’t get into a rhythm because they never see the ball, then what do you expect.
Pretty good 1st ten minutes. I think we had all our 7 assist in that time
I must admit some of this has to be coaching. Players do what they can get away with. Coach needs to be the one to stop it.
I will say it’s was fun watching a team that does pass and isn’t selfish. I guess that’s one reason Bucknell is 12-1. I believe that’s the reason American beat us as well. We panic, we go individual.
Yuk, Yuk, Yuk
February 24, 2011 at 6:02 am #3322"True Colors" wrote: Ouch. that was tough to watch. The team is really ugly when they come down, don’t pass and just shoot; they should watch the movie Hoosiers one more time. That was terrible guard play; the other players need to step up but if they can’t get into a rhythm because they never see the ball, then what do you expect.
Pretty good 1st ten minutes. I think we had all our 7 assist in that time
I must admit some of this has to be coaching. Players do what they can get away with. Coach needs to be the one to stop it.
I will say it’s was fun watching a team that does pass and isn’t selfish. I guess that’s one reason Bucknell is 12-1. I believe that’s the reason American beat us as well. We panic, we go individual.
Yuk, Yuk, Yuk
True Colors,
I could not have said it better. Players who have not been in the game or seen the ball much when they are, expected to contribute, while most of the year, he has played what he thinks are his best players. In speaking to a coach who knows a couple of these players, after the LU vs LC game, he said he was not impressed with the team enough to justify just playing certain players. At this stage, confidence is shot for many of the players. If all of them could rise to the occasion like Enoch, we would be in good shape. Still too much individualism.
Enoch and Adams’ high school are on the march again for at least 3 titles, maybe 4. They came from solid programs that taught team work, no individualism, just win baby win. Tough defense and put a body on your opponent. Paulsen and Reed are not building these guys into their programs. Enough said.
February 24, 2011 at 12:27 pm #3323Let me be clear. I think the best players are on the court. But they don’t play well together. It’s a team game. Right now it doesn’t matter if it’s big Kev or not He won’t see the ball. Knutson is shooting 50 % and he’s not in the flow. He had 7 points in the first 4 minutes and rarely saw the ball the rest of the way even when their big guy had three fouls.
Points versus wins. I’d rather see wins. CJ is clearly the best player on the team but he hasn’t gone to the next level this year. Everyone talks about double doubles. If he shared the ball, he could be a triple double threat. I’d rather see a few less shots, a few more assists and id guarantee that would lead to a few more wins
One other point I’d make is sometimes it’s better to not have the best five on the court if those 5 don’t play well together.
It’s a team game – ball movement. I’ve been saying all year.
February 24, 2011 at 4:46 pm #3324Tale of two-halves. After being down by only 3 at the half and shooting a "lights-out" 13 of 25 (52%) from the field, you got the feeling – at least had reason to hope – that this BU Game would turn out different than the first. No such luck. Just like BU I, the Bison came out on a 13-2 run and pressured us into 4 (might have been 5) turnovers in the first 4+ minutes of the second stanza. That’s all she wrote. We pressed and played not as a team but as individuals – who even on a good day might have trouble matching the talent on the other side of the ball – and came up woefully short in the end, losing by 17. In period two, we missed a number of open looks (there actually were some) and looked anything but at ease with the player rotations/substitution patterns – made more difficult in light of Ojo’s recovery from the flu and his limited 8 minutes of court time. The fit was missing and too often the players turned into strangers and not teammates. It was awkward. The result: 5 made baskets in 20 minutes of play and 1 of 7 from beyond the arc. I believe (it’ll take another look at the video) there was but one (maybe two) assists recorded in the second half of play and but seven helpers in all for the game. This was perhaps the most disappointing aspect of our new-found "team" play. For over the last four games (3W-1L) we had been averaging 15.5 assists/game. To have only 7 last night and 9 in our first BU contest is worrisome and not part of a winning formula.
For Lehigh to contend and have any hope in the Playoffs, we’ll have to not only return to the concept of team play but begin to be a threat from beyond the arc – long a topic of mine. Our inside game, while not weak is not capable of carrying us to victory night-in / night-out. Maybe next year and the year after that, but not now. We’re young and the fouls will not always go our way. We need an outside game and today the numbers are not there. And, against BU, the numbers are really not there!
LU 3FG%
Overall in PL play .314% (7th best)
Against BU .115
Against all others .340Hey, I’m a fan and as such you "gotta believe." Let’s beat Holy Cross on Saturday and, like any good fan, turn out in support of the troops on Wednesday at Stabler.
February 25, 2011 at 5:45 am #3326"True Colors" wrote: Let me be clear. I think the best players are on the court. But they don’t play well together. It’s a team game. Right now it doesn’t matter if it’s big Kev or not He won’t see the ball. Knutson is shooting 50 % and he’s not in the flow. He had 7 points in the first 4 minutes and rarely saw the ball the rest of the way even when their big guy had three fouls.
Points versus wins. I’d rather see wins. CJ is clearly the best player on the team but he hasn’t gone to the next level this year. Everyone talks about double doubles. If he shared the ball, he could be a triple double threat. I’d rather see a few less shots, a few more assists and id guarantee that would lead to a few more wins
One other point I’d make is sometimes it’s better to not have the best five on the court if those 5 don’t play well together.
It’s a team game – ball movement. I’ve been saying all year.
Very good points.
February 25, 2011 at 5:32 pm #3328Some observations:
1) Lehigh does not match up great vs. Bucknell. Their inside game is the best in the PL and while we have some solid players, they are all young and have a tough time clearing out the lane against some of the better teams. I think it speaks volumes that Holden Greiner’s two worst games of the year came vs. Bucknell.
2) Lehigh was in it after the first half, but Bucknell’s head coach made a great adjustment to take away passing lanes in the second half, which resulted in turnovers.
3) If we hope to repeat as PL champions, it will most likely go again through Sojka. And every recipe for Lehigh winning includes lights-out shooting from the outside and taking care of the ball.
4) If I’m Dr. Reed and I’m in Sojka again, I use those time outs early and often in an effort to break Bucknell’s passing rhythm. I’d even go eleven deep and make sure there are plenty of fouls, despite their nightmarish free-throw shooting. You have to work extremely hard to beat them.
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