Forum › Forum › Lehigh Sports › Lehigh Men’s Basketball › Coach Reed's 3/18 Call
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March 22, 2014 at 3:46 pm #14004
I was able to sit in on the 3/18 call with Coach Reed, and really enjoyed it. Thanks to 65 for the heads-up, and to Bill Griffin for arranging it and allowing me to participate.
I took some notes as the call wrapped up, and I’ll share what I saw as the key items. There was some of the fluff you’d expect, but plenty of good stuff too – more than one might expect. I feel like questions were asked about many of the topics we’ve pounded on here on the board. I’m sure I missed stuff, but here’s what I came away with:Late Season Fade:
Question was asked about Coach’s take on our late-season fade, and specifically whether or not conditioning was an issue. Coach took this question head-on, and indicated that this was on his mind too. Felt like he may have shut down conditioning too early in the year, trying not to wear a young team down. Also recognized that a few guys played a lot of minutes. Fair and honest answer, to my mind.Rebounding:
Coach indicated that a conscious decision was made, early in the season, to emphasize getting back on D. This was in response to what he saw as problems with transition D. The most encouraging part to me there was that he indicated that he expected to put more emphasis on hitting the offensive glass next year. As you guys would expect, I was thrilled to hear that!
Second point on this topic was toughness. Coach Reed recognized what many have pointed our here, that toughness wasn’t what we’d like to see. That will be a major point of emphasis in off-season, including focused strength training.
The final point on this topic was interesting, but left me a bit puzzled. Coach shared what he saw as a change in our recruiting environment. While in the past, we’d get frontline guys who were versatile, but undersized, he feels that we can now get true bigs. That was great to hear, but left me with questions about current recruiting. I was not comfortable jumping in with a follow-up question – more on that later.Scheduling:
Man, the question on this subject sounded like it came straight from here. Can we get regional games, e.g. Philly schools, and build some local rivalries, rather than all the OOC games so far away?
Response here was similar to quotes I’ve seen here before. They would love to do this, but really struggle. Even with teams that are reported to really need games. Biggest point here was the struggle to get home-and-home deals. These schools are willing to play us at times, but only on their courts. They would rather pay us to come there than make those deals. Bummer. Biggest challenge, we were told, was getting enough home OOC games. The notion of two-for-ones was floated, and while it wasn’t ruled out, the challenge was once again defined as a shortage of home OOC games over time.Recruiting:
Coach really did sound excited about the incoming class. In particular, I sensed excitement about Ross and Alston. Coach expects immediate impact from this class, and possibly even a frosh starter. When the combo-guard question came up, Coach made it very clear that he sees Ross as a PG.Overseas Trip:
Another suggestion I’ve seen here before. Coach really seems to like the idea, and sees the value to the team and the players. Purely a budget issue here. It’s on his roadmap, but the money is not there yet.
After coach got off the call, there was some brief discussion about $. Most of the story there was good. Alumni contribution has been climbing significantly (Duke factor?), and these are proving to be difference-maker dollars. For example, ability to have players on campus in the off season.As mentioned above, I was not comfortable jumping in with questions – I was along for the ride. It was clear that most of the others on the call knew each other, and are major players on the LU sports scene. I heard names that are on facilities at Lehigh. Needless to say, I felt like the new kid and was definitely out of my league. Maybe another call or two like this I might work up the nerve; we’ll see.
Bottom line – I thought the call was good, and I was really pleased to be able to sit in.
March 22, 2014 at 6:18 pm #14008Great report. Thanks. Excited by new recruits and also concerned. Lots of players, not enuf minutes,lots more change again. Team younger than this yr overall.
March 24, 2014 at 2:14 pm #14011Thanks for the recap Todd. Sounds like an informative event overall.
March 30, 2014 at 3:39 am #14028Glad to hear about the offensive rebounding view. It was certainly obvious to me that there was over emphasis on getting back and forget the OR. With a more mature and stronger team next year, hopefully we see a positive change there.
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