Welcome Matt Holba

Forum Forum Lehigh Sports Lehigh Men’s Basketball Welcome Matt Holba

This topic contains 21 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by StablerBum StablerBum 9 years, 5 months ago.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 22 total)
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  • #15373

    LUHoops00
    Participant

    Figured it best to start a new thread to welcome matt to the lehigh family. Great news tonight out of the great state of Indiana as Todd and rich have covered, Holba committed this weekend after his visit. Huge get, athletic small forward, excited.

    #15374

    LUHoops00
    Participant

    Wonder if this can have some ripple effect in a positive way, in that maybe it motivates some other highly ranked guys to join up. Maybe hibbits gets motivated to join on.

    #15375
    RichH
    RichH
    Participant

    I dream about Hibbits ,big athletic inside stud.
    Matt a great get. The post CJ era has reaped phenominal student athletes for Doc. I know he will mesh them into a great team.

    #15376

    LUHoops00
    Participant

    First quotes I have seen from Matt –

    http://ny2lasports.com/article_one.aspx?articleid=2376

    #15377
    RichH
    RichH
    Participant

    Quality competition for Matt. Impressive.

    #15379

    LUHoops00
    Participant

    Yes very impressive. Legit offers from some big schools. Now did some fill spots before he had a shot at them sure but he had legit offers from big programs. Very good get for the LU staff.

    #15380

    TMH
    Participant
    #15383
    StablerBum
    StablerBum
    Participant

    Pretty excited about this edition. Really good mix of size and athleticism for the PL. My guess is the Penn State and Providence offers were no longer on the table at this point, but even beating out Princeton, W&M, Toledo, and Ohio is very solid. Three stars from both Scout and Rivals.

    Here are Holba’s stats from this summer’s EYBL (the best summer aau circuit out there) – http://www.d1circuit.com/stats/team_instance/707940?subseason=148178&tab=team_instance_player_stats&tool=985828. He was fifth on his team in scoring, but also chipped in around 5 boards and had an almost 1:1 assist to turnover ratio which I think is pretty good for a developing wing in aau.

    Here is a right up from a tournament this past spring:

    Indy Heat missed him on Saturday when he was back in Noblesville area for his Guerin Catholic prom. He returned Sunday morning and without his three big blocks including a huge one in the final minute against Esa Ahmad, his team may not have survived that quarterfinal game. He can really sky and runs the floor as well as any small forward. Had some nice slashing moves and some short jumpers but not a big scorer off his own dribble or a guy that will come off screens for spot up shots. Just a true hustle guy with matching spring off the floor and cleans the glass well for his size. Had the best dunk of the opening night, a gorgeous one hand slam off a lob pass. Just picked up offer from Penn State.

    #15387

    LU15
    Participant

    I take it he’s a good outside and mid range shooter? By the way, I spoke to Doc last week, he thinks Kahron is going to be a real impact player!

    #15388
    RichH
    RichH
    Participant

    From video mid and in. But ,seems Ind. kids can all shoot,right? :)

    #15389
    StablerBum
    StablerBum
    Participant

    He was 5-18 from 3 in 16 EYBL games, so it doesn’t seem like that is a major part of his game. He seems to be mostly an open court player, rebounder, and finisher from the limited tapes and write-ups out there. He is reportedly also a good defender. How consistent he gets with his jump shot will likely determine what kind of ceiling he has, but he certainly looks to have the physical tools necessary to be an excellent PL level player. How good he is will depend on the development of his perimeter game.

    #15391

    TMH
    Participant

    To be completely honest, I wouldn’t mind an athletic role player. The team is loaded with scorers. I’d love to see an athletic kid who will neutralize the opponents SF, commit himself to hitting the boards and then score when the opportunity presents itself. I’m not sure if we have enough of them.

    #15393
    StablerBum
    StablerBum
    Participant

    Agree 100% TMH. I’m also hoping JRG can fill that role this year. For all the talk last pre-season about how athletic the team was, there were relatively few athletic plays (fastbreak points, blocks, steals, dunks) compared to previous years. I’m hoping JRG and eventually Holba can be guys that will fill the lane on the break and get easy buckets in transition, plus make some energy plays on both ends. From the film on Kahron he is great in transition and has pretty awesome vision, so it’s important that guys run with him to give him and the other guards options. Miles and TJenks also are super quick and can push the ball but they need some finishers on the wings as well. I think Holba has a pretty high ceiling, but I’m hoping he can be an athletic energy guy from Day 1.

    I don’t think the program replaced the toughness off the bench of John Adams and Justin Maneri since they graduated. I hope this team has a little more of that attitude than the last two years.

    #15394

    LU15
    Participant

    This guy can jump and play around the rim!

    #15404
    jimk72
    jimk72
    Participant

    Stabler Bum, your comment on Maneri and Adams really hit a sweet spot for me. In the post season glow of the Duke win I felt they were under appreciated. Regarding the NCAA’s and the season in general. While the big three (CJ,HOlden,Gabe) got most of the notoriety, Maneri and Adams did a lot of the physical stuff underneath when it was needed. Justin did everything but wrestle the guy from Xavier. And about Holba, understanding these ratings services don’t mean much more than potential, is this the highest rated verbal we’ve had in a while?

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