Interesting Quandary for Coach

Forum Forum Lehigh Sports Lehigh Men’s Basketball Interesting Quandary for Coach

This topic contains 8 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by  toddcudd 10 years, 4 months ago.

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
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  • #12130

    lehigh90
    Participant

    It is pretty evident that Lehigh has a ton of young talent on this team in all of the newcomers. I am interested to see how Reed handles this during the season. Does he phase out more established players in favor of the new young guns? What roles do veterans CS, SC, AD, CB, and perhaps JG and DC have on this team? Do their roles continue to diminish as the games progress? Outside of MM, it is conceivable to run out all newcomers and play them in excess of 25 minutes. A potential lineup of MM, AP, TK, JC and SW is pretty realistic at this point, with MS getting considerable minutes as a 3rd guard off bench.

    I would think this is a tough choice for the Coach. He has loyalty to the older guys, and counts on them to be leaders on the team to make a run for the PL and any postseason berth. Is the dressing room in harmony if all of your veterans are bench guys? It is a tough call for coaches. I don’t see any of the vets as selfish guys, but surely they want minutes.

    So, Lehigh almost faces a type of Fab 5 Michigan situation this year. Do you clean it out and run the young guys fairly exclusively? The only guy I see getting consistent minutes in the veteran group, outside of MM, of course, is CS. He is a fairly versatile glue guy. But, he clearly is not the athlete that some other younger guys are. AD, where does he stand at this point? You need at least one big to sub the 4-5, who it looks like will be JG, so does CB have any role? We have known for a couple years that our senior and junior classes were not strong. Apparently, this newest class is, so where does that leave us? Hopefully, it all works in harmony, but it is a tough call for the coaching staff.

    #12134
    RichH
    RichH
    Participant

    Imagine we’re going to see numerous combinations on the court as Doc figures it out.Expect when he wants more D,AD JG and CB will be first up. AP and MMwill always be there. Intrigued by MS. Upsides all around but he may be the key.

    #12140

    TMH
    Participant

    The fact is that we have quality depth this year. The lineup will change due to injuries, match ups etc. I like the fact though that we are going deeper in the bench than the last couple of years.

    #12143
    StablerBum
    StablerBum
    Participant

    What roles do veterans CS, SC, AD, CB, and perhaps JG and DC have on this team?

    I think CS is going to have a major role on this team all year. I think there is a very good chance he starts all year, and definitely think he will end up in the 20-25mpg range. SC is a tough one but I don’t think his role will change from the last few years. If we are playing an inferior opponent that he can guard, he will play a decent amount, but otherwise will get spot duty. CB is the emergency big. I only see him getting minutes if TK, JC, and JG all are in foul trouble. JG will play a decent amount I think, but really only if TK and JC are in foul trouble or not producing. At this point it’s hard to see a role for DC since we have basically never seen him play and he still isn’t dressing. All the guards we are bringing in from the last two classes is not a good sign for how the coaches feel about him in my opinion.

    AD is the big wildcard for me. I think he still has a definite role on this team and will play when he gets back. I would think that he would basically take a small chunk of minutes each from CS, SW, MS, and AP and probably be in the 15-20 range.

    #12152
    jimk72
    jimk72
    Participant

    “Intrigued” is the word I was struggling to find regarding MS. He has a reputation as a diminutive ball of energy who can really handle the ball. I guess I always pull for the little guy, but he seemed to have a lot of “game” in the time he was in. Never backed down, had very good court sense*, and drained a big shot (at the time). I like him a lot.

    *-Whatever “court sense” is……

    • This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by jimk72 jimk72.
    #12154

    LUHoops00
    Participant

    From two games this is what I learned, not means it holds for whole year, but my observations are.
    MM and AP are top two guards and get 30+ mins a game.
    CS is your third guard right now, and will continue to get starts due to experience, and is in that 20-28 mins per game role. Whether he is at high or low end of that range depends primarily on MS, how much can MS eat into that. I like what I have seen from MS, and want to see more. AD is hurt, who heck honestly knows what’s going on, is it really short term? We can’t pretend to know cause mum is the word. If fully healthy AD is fighting with CS and MS for backup guard duties and roles 3-5 in frontcourt. SC, hasn’t shown he can defend or use dribble on O, he is 5-10 minutes agame guy who u bring in if they packing in a One on TK, in hopes he shoots ya out of it. Front court JC and TK are top two, JG and SW will battle for third big spot, SW rebounds well for size it seems, he played more vs rider then JG. I know CB is fifth and buried.

    Regarding DC, until we are him in a game probably not even worth mentioning right now. He is recovering from injury, in dog house, and has shown nothing so far.

    Top 8 right now is clear: mm ap CS JC TK ms SW JG

    #12155

    LUHoops00
    Participant

    MS and SW, really looking to see how these two develop as we move further into year. Think they both will come on strong and make this class super deep and versatile. These 4 plus JC and JG are a really athletic six pack of guys, pretty exciting stuff.

    #12156

    LU65
    Participant

    Hoops00

    Can’t say I disagree with your top 8 and the order in which you portray them but, as we have learned in the past, Coach Reed will play those who show they can defend as well as score. What we have seen to date and have, no doubt, been impressed with is each player’s ability to score. Nice but that’s only half the story. What I’ll be watching in the coming days is what each player can deliver on “D.” As a team, we’re off to a shaky start when compared to the last two years (see stats below). I realize it’s a very small sample size but one worth keeping an eye on.

    On D:

    Function / This year / 2012-13 / 2011-12

    PPG / 79.5 / 65.2 / 65.4

    FG% / .429 / .416 / .414

    3FG% / .372 / .297 / .326

    Blocks per game / 2.5 / 3.4 / 3.0

    Steals per game / 4.0 / 7.1 / 7.7

    Forced TOs / 10.0 / 13.7 / 14.4

    #12157

    toddcudd
    Participant

    Good stuff, ’65. I agree that those numbers are cause for concern. We’ll need to keep an eye on all of them. I believe that they’re probably distorted a bit by over-match at Minny, but something to watch regardless…

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