Forum › Forum › Lehigh Sports › Lehigh Men’s Basketball › Game 1: Baylor
This topic contains 41 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by StablerBum 12 years, 3 months ago.
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November 7, 2012 at 11:30 pm #7774
A quick look at the countdown clock on the Baylor Bears website will tell you all you need to know. We’re just hours away from the start of what we all hope will be Lehigh’s finest season of basketball. To get you started, read on ………..
Baylor’s Preseason Prospectus
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/bay/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/2012-13/prospectus/prospectus.pdf
Baylor’s Game Notes
http://www.lehighsports.com/assets/1/workflow_staging/Sport/50357.PDF
Baylor – A Quick View
Baylor comes off a school-record 30-win season and its second Elite Eight appearance in the last three years. They return their entire backcourt including starters Pierre Jackson (13.8ppg), the Big 12 Conference Preseason Player of the Year, and Brady Heslip, who hit for .455 (both fga and 3fga) and .921 from the line. Their top rebounders from last year (Miller, Acy, and Jones), who combined for 19.9 rpg, left for the NBA. Apparently, the Bears are looking for J. Morgan (6’11” and 275 lbs), who redshirted last year after transferring in from UCLA, to lead the charge this year under the boards..
Baylor – Last Year
RECORD: OVERALL HOME AWAY NEUTRAL
ALL GAMES (30-8) (14-3) (8-3) (8-2)
CONFERENCE (12-6) (6-3) (6-3) (0-0)
NON-CONFERENCE (18-2) (8-0) (2-0) (8-2)
Baylor’s 2012-13 Preseason Rankings
19th in AP’s Top 25 Poll
18th in USATOTDAY Coaches Top 25
25th in Basketball Prospectus
Baylor in Exhibition Play
Brady Heslip scored 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from three-point range to lead Baylor past D-II Abilene Christian University 103-75. The Bears outscored ACU 31-7 over the final 10 minutes of the first half. Starters were: Walton (G), Heslip (G), Jackson (G), Austin (C), and Jefferson (F). Morgan, the UCLA transfer, gets 16 minutes and is credited with 2 blocks.
http://www.baylorbears.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/102512aab.html
Other PL Game 1’s this Weekend
BU @ Purdue
Marymount @ Navy
HC @ Old Dominion
CI @ Illinois
St. Francis (NY) @ LC
AU @ Minn.
Army vs. AF (neutral site)
November 7, 2012 at 11:33 pm #7775Gabe and BJ doubtful for Baylor. Practice injuries.
November 8, 2012 at 1:40 am #7777WOW, the thin frontcourt, I don’t even want to keep typing cause its just going to be a whole bag of negative soup….freeking fired up and pissed right now. Where did you hear this rich? I’d put shot at winning minus gabe at extremely low, almost zero really.
November 8, 2012 at 1:47 am #7778http://blogs.mcall.com/varsity/2012/11/lehigh-men-could-be-without-two-starters.html
Brutal brutal brutal…BJ we can withstand if we have to, but we can’t lose Knutson…we’re probably in the top 5th percentile of all DI Teams in terms of smallest size, we’re two schollies down, and have 4 guys eligible over 6’6…..man Reed really painted himself in a corner with a small team like this and not use of full schollies cause we can’t withstand an injury to frontcourt this year…this is exactly what some of us have been talking about for a long long time…nightmare scenario…..horrible.
If BJB can’t go, will be interesting to see how guards minutes after MM and CJ get handed out.
November 8, 2012 at 1:49 am #7779The understatement of all understatements from Tom’s article:
Freshman Justin Goldsborough could be given an early extended look if Knutson doesn’t play early.
Really? There ain’t no other options Tom!!!
November 8, 2012 at 2:11 am #7781May be brutal. We could sacrifice a virgin to the gods to get us thru the yr. Anybody know where we could find one? Or perhaps a live chicken? Lots of 4 G lineups. Dc and SC will gets los of PT.
November 8, 2012 at 3:09 am #7782Man one could not be more excited for hoops season, but between chuku and this now with gabe, just totally totally deflating man. I’m just so frustrated, my whole point all along has been in the last yr of CJ, with the upside game changing type year this could be, you have to use your schollies and get depth up front. We’re 2 man down, 2 front court schollies down for this year, and now GK is hurt..granted, it seems minor, but that is not the point. A safstrom schollie where guy ends up doing nothing for 4 years would have been warranted and forgiven just to have a big guy with a heartbeat and 5 fouls…we have zero depth, and it is pretty discouraging…hard to believe, really hard to believe. Got to hope JG is ready to go man, he should probably start on Friday now.
Maybe we’ll go razorbacks 40 minutes of HELL now!
Depressed.
November 8, 2012 at 3:18 am #7783Just to be clear, nowhere in the article is the word doubtful, and I think there is still hope.
“The timetable [for their return] hasn’t been established yet,” coach Brett Reed said. “Clearly, we’re identifying it for the Baylor game.”
I’m not saying they are going to play, and I have no inside info. Obviously, it would be a huge, massive, mega loss if they are out, and I agree 100% with Hoops about a missed opportunity by the coaching staff. They knew around the new year last year that McCarthy was done for his career, or that it was at least a possibilty. They must have known as well that Chuku likely would be ineligible this year. The fact that there was no plan B or C has come back to haunt us. Even if McCarthy were healthy that would make one true center in 5 recruiting classes, and with him out that makes zero.
I hope that both GK and BJB injuries end up being minor and both play on Friday. Nothing else to do but hope at this point.
November 8, 2012 at 11:35 am #7786Great post SBum, 100% true stuff man. We don’t know anything outside the article, so clearly there is still hope. I am sure, the medical staff and coaches, if there is any chance that playing on Friday could set GK and BJ back injury wise that they’ll sit them. Best to wait until 100% ready then to rush them for a game in November….think we all agree on that.
Best wishes to each player on healthy return.If they don’t play, DC and JG get welcomed to college ball on the big stage, cool first test.
November 8, 2012 at 6:00 pm #7789I see Baylor as kind of a throwaway game. Nobody expects us to go down to Waco, in front of a raucous band of Baptists, and win. I think even short BJB, we can matchup in the backcourt. Plus, their frontcourt is about as experienced as ours is. Only problem is the Baylor frontcourt is HUGE. Essentially, three 7 footers on the roster. With the crowd that will be there and it being their opener, I see us getting absolutely manhandled on the glass. Without GK, obviously, that mismatch gets worse. I assume without Gabe, you are looking at a starting frontcourt of HG (at the 3), CB (at the 4), and JG (at the 5). Appropriately, for Baylor, a so-called baptism by fire. CB and JG are going to be giving up a ton of girth and height, but hopefully, they can manage the defensive backboard.
Side note on Baylor. Scott Drew must be running one of the most, if not, the most, crooked programs in America. You don’t go from basically an outback in rural TX to national power that quickly unless you are paying everybody and their brother. The level of recruits he has gotten, so quickly, is remarkable, and leads me to believe he is cheating like no other. In typical Texas fashion, the God fearing Christians at Baylor, simply turn their heads, and show up to cheer on the football and basketball programs. It harkens back to the heyday of the Southwest Conference. Probation has to be just around the corner.
Lehigh has to control the tempo in this to have a chance, and not get blown out of the gym early. CJ is going to have to be otherworldly. We got the benefit of Duke in basically an empty arena (a disgrace considering it was an hour from Durham). Not going to have that in Waco. Expect a sea of green screaming from the opening tip. I don’t like the way the planets are lining up for this one. I think it goes something like Baylor Branch Davidians 90 Lehigh 62. Hope I am wrong.
November 8, 2012 at 6:25 pm #7790While Baylor may be tall we aren’t all that experienced in the frontcourt.
C Cory Jefferson, jr, 6’9 210 10.5 min/ game last year
C Bobo Morgan, sr, 6’11 275 redshirted last year 12.5 min/game in 2011
PF Isaiah Austin, fr, 7’1 220 true freshman
PF Rico Gathers, fr, 6’8 260 true freshman
Now Jefferson and Gathers were 4 stars out of high school and Morgan and Austin were 5 stars, but you never know how untested players will perform.
A few misconceptions about BU posted here too (remember I’m a homer). Baylor isn’t located in a rural location. We are in Waco which is on I-35 and has a population of 250,000. The Central Texas population (Waco, Killeen, Temple) is now close to 1,000,000 . Head north for an hour on I-35 and you reach DFW and south for an hour and you are in Austin. I’m not baptist and 70% of the students also are not baptist. Baylor has moved from being a teacher/preacher college in the 70’s/80’s to being more of a rich kid school (which has caused a ton of debate within the school).
The NCAA is up our ass 24/7 and haven’t found anything more than a few too many texts. If Drew is cheating then he is the best the game has ever seen. I’d love to say we are 100% clean and all, but I can’t say I know that for sure.
I wouldn’t expect a full arena either. Our fan base can be crazy for a few games a year, but most of them don’t know the difference in Lehigh and South Carolina-Upstate. I’d expect 7,000 or so. Those of us that do follow CBB really closely though are nervous for the game. A win could be the difference between a 3 seed and a 4 seed or if things go bad the difference between a bid or no bid.
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This reply was modified 12 years, 3 months ago by
BaylorHistory.
November 8, 2012 at 8:27 pm #7794BaylorHistory, I hope you realized most of my comments re:Baylor were tongue in cheek.
In full disclosure, I lived in Dallas for many years and spent my graduate years at another cheater’s paradise, SMU. I have been to Waco many times, mostly for football games. While it is near Dallas, Austin and not terribly far from Houston or San Antonio, it’s a world away. Also, the Methodists had no love for the Baptists. At SMU, the quote was “Methodists are Baptists who can read”. As a Presbyterian, I couldn’t really comment. The Baylor students seemed to be similar to the ones at SMU and TCU, although Baylor always had the reputation as the most religious place by far. I am not a big believer in any of the Texas programs being real clean, especially in football. It is so important there, and so many boosters around to corrupt everything. I would think Larry Brown has an open checkbook now on the Hilltop at SMU. When a program jumps so quickly, from the ashes of the Baylor scandal, where players were killing each other under Bliss (another SMU cheat), you have to wonder if it is all being done by the book. I have my doubts, but I realize Drew has been under a lot of scrutiny and nothing has turned up. Anybody who has ever been to Waco has to wonder what the draw is to bring in the athletes they have been pulling, football, basketball and woman’s basketball.
November 8, 2012 at 9:17 pm #7795As a matter of fact SMU just stole a 4 star recruit from us lol
November 8, 2012 at 9:22 pm #7796Women’s basketball is easy to recruit to Baylor as we average over 8,500 fans a game which is rare for chick ball and have a coach who is a legend (won our first national title with no name players for the most part). Football doesn’t beat out UT/OU/A&M for recruits but maybe twice a year. Men’s basketball is the exception and all the players that I know just talked about the personality of Scott Drew and how relentless of a recruiter he was compared to other coaches (maybe they were hiding stuff, but I never saw them with any money and they all drove crap cars). Our fanbase gets on to him all the time for spending more time recruiting than game prep, but 2 Elite 8’s in the past 3 years will shut us up. Also we now have really good facilities in every sport that we didn’t have 5-10 years ago.
I can definitely understand fans looking at Baylor’s history and wondering though.
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This reply was modified 12 years, 3 months ago by
BaylorHistory.
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This reply was modified 12 years, 3 months ago by
BaylorHistory.
November 8, 2012 at 10:42 pm #7799It is a very interesting dynamic going on there for sure. You have Drew recruiting like crazy, and absolutely hated by the other Big 12 coaches who think he is a cheat. He and Calipari were named most hated by the other NCAA coaches and the biggest cheaters in a poll. My understanding is he is a pretty religious guy, so you have that dynamic as well. You have the Baptist heritage, and those beliefs conflicting with any potential cheating. Not to mention, Baylor’s history of cheating was as long as any other SWC school. Many violations in prior regimes. Then, to add to the irony, you have Ken Starr (special investigator) as the President of the University. Great article about it awhile back in SI.
It had always been UT and A&M miles ahead of everyone else, with TTU at the next echelon, with OU and Arkansas also recruiting heavily in the State. Baylor, SMU, TCU, Houston and Rice were always afterthoughts. But, now Baylor and TCU are hanging with the big boys and beating them pretty frequently. SMU, Rice and Houston got left behind when the SWC split, and probably will never catch up. I remember a time when folks were furious that Baylor survived the split, but they have shown recently, they deserve to play with the big boys. Now, it will be interesting to see how recruiting shakes out with A&M moving to SEC.
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