Forum › Forum › Lehigh Sports › Lehigh Men’s Basketball › LU preseason picks have us at #2
This topic contains 6 replies, has 1 voice, and was last updated by LU65 15 years, 4 months ago.
-
AuthorPosts
-
September 29, 2009 at 8:29 pm #785
Bball mags are out , both I ‘ve seen pick us #2 to HC. Carrington picked as POY and he and Hall all PL. We need to use depth if it really there to keep Hall from 2nf half fade
October 1, 2009 at 1:05 pm #793what mags?
October 1, 2009 at 3:07 pm #795Lindy’s and Athlon, SN not out yet aroundme
October 1, 2009 at 9:40 pm #801Want more excitement and anticipation? Try this on for size…………….
http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/con … CID=988936
Rival.com has been counting down (from 347) their preseason rankings. Here’s the way they call the Patriot League:
LU 96
HC 171
Navy 188
Army 217
Colgate 248
Bucknell 255
American 259
Lafayette 33996. Lehigh
CONFERENCE: Patriot
BEST PLAYER: F Zahir Carrington
QUICK TAKE: The Mountain Hawks hope the league’s best frontcourt propels them to the league title.
BUZZ: The Mountain Hawks are coming off a disappointing season, but every key piece returns. Those pieces should be good enough to push Lehigh to the top. Carrington (14 ppg, 8.6 rpg) leads the league’s best frontcourt and rebounding team. Marquis Hall (13.9 ppg) keys a backcourt that must become more productive overall.October 1, 2009 at 11:06 pm #803Well , OK then
October 2, 2009 at 1:47 pm #805"LU65" wrote:
BUZZ: The Mountain Hawks are coming off a disappointing season, but every key piece returns. Those pieces should be good enough to push Lehigh to the top. Carrington (14 ppg, 8.6 rpg) leads the league’s best frontcourt and rebounding team.
Not to rain on this parade too much becasue I think Lehigh will be a good team this year, but …
Without debating the best front court statement, how does the author define best rebounding team? If it’s just sheer number of rebounds, OK Lehigh led the league in Rebounds per Game at 39.6 for the whole season.
But their opponents also got 36.6 per game.
When you take the differential Lehigh was a distant second to Holy Cross – Lehigh was +3.0 HC was +6.7 with HC getting 36.0 RPG giving up 29.2, meaning HC got 55% of the available rebounds. Lehigh only got 52%.
When you standardize the data for PL play only, where schedules are identical, Lehigh wasn’t even the best PL team by raw numbers. Bucknell was first and Lehigh second. On differential, HC’s differential in PL play went up to +7.4, while Lehigh’s dropped to -0.7 behind HC, AU, & BU.
So while I think Lehigh will be good and a contender for the PL title this year, basing it on their rebounding is a bit of a stretch.
October 2, 2009 at 2:30 pm #806To: CHC8485
I agree with your analysis and remind all board readers that I was only quoting Rivals.com. Barring injuries, I do believe HC and LU will be the last men standing as the season comes to a close on Feb 27 when of all things the Crusaders visit Bethlehem. How nice.
I remind all LU fans that CollegeHoopsNet.com has yet to rank Lehigh in their Top 144 Preseason Picks. They are presently down to #52 in their countdown. Don’t look for us to make the list. The Crusaders, on the other hand, were ranked #131. Here’s what they had to say about the gang in purple:
Holy Cross Crusaders
Overall Rank: #131
Conference Rank: #1 Patriot League
2008-09: 18-14, 11-3
2008-09 postseason: none
Coach: Sean Kearney (First year at Holy Cross, 0-0 overall)Coach Ralph Willard decided to leave Holy Cross after turning the Crusaders into one of the most successful programs in the Patriot League. The new coach, Sean Kearney, was not named until early July, which is much later than usual, but the transition should be pretty smooth. Coach Kearney is a quality coach who spent the last eight years as the associate head coach at Notre Dame and he is stepping into a situation where he can win right away.
Key Losses: F Colin Cunningham, G Pat Doherty, F Alex Vander Baan
Key Newcomers:
Holy Cross has a nice group of freshmen coming in, but it is St. John’s transfer Mike Cavataio who will make the biggest impact right away. The 6-4 wing never saw much playing time during his one year with the Red Storm, but he is a good athlete who can score around the basket and has the potential to dominate the Patriot League. Jordan Stevens and point guard Dee Goens will compete for playing time off of the bench. The same can be said for fellow freshmen Phil Beans and Eric Obeysekere in the frontcourt. Those two will likely spend the year learning from the bench, but they will make an impact in the coming years.
Projected Starting Five:
Andrew Beinert, Junior, Guard, 8.5 points per game
R.J. Evans, Sophomore, Guard, 13.4 points per game
Mike Cavataio, Sophomore, Guard, DNP last season
Andrew Keister, Junior, Forward, 8.5 points per game
Eric Meister, Senior, Center, 6.7 points per game -
AuthorPosts
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.