Forum › Forum › Lehigh Sports › Lehigh Men’s Basketball › Pre-Season Hoops Predictions
This topic contains 73 replies, has 10 voices, and was last updated by toddcudd 9 years, 11 months ago.
-
AuthorPosts
-
October 15, 2014 at 2:31 pm #16057
I’m still not sure what to expect this season. The possibilities run the entire spectrum. There is so much talent but it has to be used wisely.
Taking a step back though, I can see this team taking it to an all new level in another year. Frankly, although there are capable players in this year’s senior class, there is nobody that brings the WOW factor to my mind. With the possible exception of JC, the same can be said for the junior class. After that though, the dynamics change. Doc, may be in the midst of putting together 3 highly talented recruiting classes in a row. Last year’s class had the ROY and another all-rookie team member. There are also some high quality guys like JRG and MS that we haven’t really seen yet. This year’s freshman class may have at least 2 players that will see quality time. KR is our first *** recruit that I can remember. BA, IMO, will get quality PT this year already. He could be special.
So far, we have 2 *** recruits in the upcoming class. Add one very serviceable big man and this team can be pretty special.
Just one man’s opinion.October 15, 2014 at 2:36 pm #16058So much depends on how well Doc can maximizes and gross his talent. Some of that ,to me,is how willing or able he is to.open the O up to use the athleticism.
October 15, 2014 at 3:08 pm #16059I’m with TMH. I really like the direction the program is heading, but I am preaching patience (to myself) as far as this season is concerned. This team will still be quite young, which to me means inconsistent. I think there will be games when they absolutely bring it, and probably a few head scratchers where they just aren’t ready to play.
One other thing for me – I don’t know who will score late in the shot clock/late in games. Tim is our best offensive weapon, but it can be hard to get big guys the ball late in the shot clock. With double teams I think those situations often turn into tough turnaround jumpers. I’d love to see someone like AP (maybe BA?) become that guy – but I’m not sure it will be this year.
Also, how good will this team be defensively and on the glass? We know they struggled to rebound the ball last year. Hopefully another year of development helps JG, JC, TK, and maybe guys like JRG and BA can pitch in – but I think that is another area that may not be ready for primetime this year.
My hope for this team is about 16 or 17 wins, and a top half finish in the PL. More importantly a big year of growth to set the groundwork for some really good teams the following two years.
October 16, 2014 at 5:57 pm #16074Too lazy to start a new thread………..just wanted to say
that Corey was named Captain today. Whether he starts at the point or at the “2”, we have a great young man in charge of the team.While not a vocal cheerleader, ala Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens, Corey instead leads by example and has done so since stepping on the court back in 2011. He’s the perfect choice, in my mind, to lead this band of youngsters who now dot the Mountain Hawk Roster. May they all listen well and observe his every move with great reverence.
Corey is one of the steadiest and headiest performers to ever wear the Brown and White with unmatched smarts on and off the court (3.51 GPA). He has at times been the forgotten man playing behind the likes of CJ, BJ and Macky his entire career. Attitude wise, it never showed. Instead, he produced (checkout the numbers below) night in/night out whether playing the point or the “2” and did so with effortless ease and efficiency. He’s been called by some as having the smoothest shot on the team. Be that as it may, he’s simply – in my view – the “rock” on which this team can be built. And, for those who follow, or have an understand aviation, he’s this team’s “rudder.”
*In aviation terms, the rudder is the small moving section of the vertical stabilizer (the aircraft’s tail) that is used to control the position of the nose of the aircraft. Its job is to provide a stable and safe flight.
One particular fond memory of Corey …………
Calm, cool and collected, , Corey was sent to the line under the bright lights of national television up at Michigan State in his freshman year needing to sink a pair of free throws to keep Lehigh in the game….. Oh yeah, nothing but net.
Recent “just as you might expect” Statement by Corey………
“We have a lot to prove…………….we want to get back to the winning ways like early in our careers. We want to be a blue collar, hard-working team and very hard working. I just want to be a consistent guy to help lead this team to our goals.”
Corey’s Careen Numbers
FG% .429 (.446 last year and tops among the guards)
3FG% .370
FT% .829
A/TO Ratio 2.21October 17, 2014 at 10:56 am #16078Happy for CS, deserving honor….also confirms what we expected in that the leadership committee by class was a one year deal so we didn’t have to name a guy in mm a captain cause we had to suspend him every year he was on campus.
October 18, 2014 at 12:12 am #16089Going straight-up chalk, by my chalk anyway, i see 21 wins:
L 1/14/2014 Villanova Allentown, Pa. (PPL Center) N 8:00 pm
W 11/18/2014 Canisius Stabler Arena H 7:00 pm
W 11/21/2014 Rider Lawrenceville, NJ A 7:00 pm
W 11/23/2014 Columbia Stabler Arena H 2:00 pm
L 11/26/2014 DePaul Chicago, Ill. A 8:00 pm
W 12/3/2014 Saint Francis (Pa.) Stabler Arena H 7:00 pm
W 12/6/2014 LIU Brooklyn Brooklyn, N.Y. A 2:00 pm
W 12/18/2014 Quinnipiac Hamden, Conn. A 7:00 pm
L 12/20/2014 Arizona State Tempe, Ariz. A 10:00 pm
W 12/28/2014 University of Maryland Baltimore County Baltimore, Md. A 2:00 pm
W 12/31/2014 Colgate Stabler Arena H 2:00 pm
W 1/3/2015 Boston University Boston, Mass. A 1 pm
L 1/7/2015 Army West Point, N.Y. A 7:00 pm
W 1/10/2015 Loyola Stabler Arena H 2:00 pm
L 1/14/2015 American Washington, D.C. A 7:30 pm
W 1/17/2015 Holy Cross Stabler Arena H 2:00 pm
W 1/21/2015 Navy Stabler Arena H 7:00 pm
L 1/24/2015 Lafayette Easton, Pa. A 2:00 pm
L 1/28/2015 Bucknell Lewisburg, Pa. A 7:00 pm
W 1/31/2015 Boston University Stabler Arena H 2:00 pm
W 2/4/2015 Army Stabler Arena H 7:00 pm
W 2/7/2015 Loyola Baltimore, Md. A 7:00 pm
W 2/12/2015 American Stabler Arena H 7:00 pm
W 2/14/2015 Holy Cross Worcester, Mass. A TBA
W 2/18/2015 Navy Annapolis, Md. A 7:00 pm
W 2/22/2015 Lafayette Stabler Arena H 12:00 pm
W 2/25/2015 Bucknell Stabler Arena H 7:00 pm
W 2/28/2015 Colgate Hamilton, N.Y. A 12:00 pmOctober 18, 2014 at 12:35 am #16092Thats what I like about you todd. You do let your inherent optimism rum rampant. Picking us to lose more than 5 this year clearly shows your pragmatic side. Yup,that is my story and I’m.stickin to it.
October 18, 2014 at 1:43 am #16094TODD, and thought I was”homer” . But really, 15 and 0 at Stabler?!
For kicks I’ll come back with a number after further study. Maybe we all should and create a little Message Board Pool. First Place wins a bottle of what Todd is drinking tonight.
October 18, 2014 at 2:27 am #16095Make it a case, beer man through-and-through.
And a homer to the bone!
Really, I just picked PL teams we should sweep, lose both, or split with. So maybe we’ll win a few more on the road… Ha!
Split with Bucky, Pards, American, and Army. One of those could probably sweep us. I think we should beat BU twice, but could wiff on that too. They just lost too much to compete, from my perspective. Same with Loyola. Yes, we could get swept by any of those 4 splits. But I won’t face that today.
October 21, 2014 at 10:48 pm #16150Ugh. Another ugly projection. NBC sports this time, and they’ve got us at 8th. And not a word in the article text. Either my glasses are even rosier than usual, or we’re going to sneak up on some people this year.
October 21, 2014 at 10:54 pm #16151Ridiculous article. Ignore it. Thought Kevin Doyle wrote for NBC. He is a Cross guy and knows PL bball. Whoever wrote this does not.
October 28, 2014 at 1:37 am #16287KenPom numbers are now published for 2014-15. On the downside, he also has us as 8th. However, for conference record projections, he’s got the top 4 teams at 10-8, and the next 4 at 9-9. Oughtta be a horserace.
For our ‘nova tipoff game, he’s got it at 78-64 ‘nova.October 28, 2014 at 1:45 am #16288Not giving much weight to teams returning most PT. For us its how our sophs and frosh develop and mesh. If successful we will have an outstanding season. You’re optimism is rubbing off on me todd.
October 28, 2014 at 4:03 am #16292“upon further review..”
after pouring over the numbers, there is reason for some concern.
1.) MM played a HUGE role. Had a very big %Poss, and a very good offensive rating to go with it. And that’s in spite of the fact that everyone knew he was going to the rim when a game was tight. That will be tough to replace.
2.) Team offensive rating was not good last year. Best I can figure out, so far, bad 2 pt % hurt that the most. Paint play not good enough. We also did not get to the line nearly enough; only Navy and ‘gate were worse. And MM drew a good number of fouls.
3.) Barring some amazing frosh break-out, CS needs to play a MUCH bigger role. His efficiency rating is excellent – best on team – but %Poss was stunningly low. Tons of minutes, but WAY under-involved. My thought is that we need to see him get the ball in a shooting position more often; I don’t see him as a penetrating, drive-and-dish guy.
4.) No news here – gotta get better on the glass. ORs were actually a bit better than recent years, but we gave up a LOT of ORs on D.
October 28, 2014 at 4:25 am #16293Dashing cold water,ehh? I was looking at the stats fter you posted link to nbc preview. I remember vividly my major issue last yr with Doc running MM as the go to guy ala CJ. More often than not it failed as that was not MM’s forte. MM a great player as PG not as a SG. Even tho we do lise a lot,I think it will put this year’s squad in a much better position to flourish. CS is a solid PG but his real talent is shooting. He and AP will be a weapon at 2 . Seems almost a sure thing that KR will ease into PG ahead of MS. Both are dynamic players. I really hope Doc can expand his rotation and his O. We’re gonna need lots of transition points this year. Saw Kroogs answer to lousy OR on twitter was basically take better shots and make them.
-
AuthorPosts
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.