Lehigh Has Turned Into a Bad Basketball Program

Young team returns in 2018-2019 with tons of promise. Can they get back to the NCAA Tournament?
lehigh90
Posts: 160
Joined: Thu May 10, 2018 11:44 am
Contact:

Lehigh Has Turned Into a Bad Basketball Program

Post by lehigh90 » Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:59 pm

This is looking like a pretty poor team, and likely Brett Reed’s worst team in his 15 year Lehigh career. Off to a 1-6 start against fairly weak competition. I don’t expect to beat Virginia (even though Navy did) or Rutgers (even though Lafayette did), but the rest of the schedule has been garbage and we haven’t competed. I don’t see a lot to look forward to the rest of the way. We look like the worst team in the PL, which seems down across the board, outside of Colgate.

Last 3 seasons:

11-21
4-11
1-6

Combined 16-38, awful.

I don’t see a ton of talent on the roster. Our recruiting over the last several years has dropped off for whatever reason. Shooting 41% and 31% from 3, just doesn’t get it done. 11.6 assists per game and 16.9 turnovers per game! And we don’t get to the line and usually get outrebounded. It’s bad. And, so far only 665 fans are showing up per home game.

This was a really solid program not that long ago, but the wheels have fallen off. We struggled in past years at times with transfers, but so does every other school. We just have no identity, nothing to hang our hat on every night. It needs to be fixed as basketball is becoming irrelevant.


LU808
Posts: 781
Joined: Thu May 10, 2018 4:44 pm
Location: Kailua Kona, Hawaii
Contact:

Re: Lehigh Has Turned Into a Bad Basketball Program

Post by LU808 » Wed Dec 01, 2021 1:35 pm

Recently...

Wrestling has fallen off from it's national perch
Football has decayed into a joke of a program.
Is basketball the next program to wither on the vine?

Seems like Lehigh's dedication to athletics on a regional/national level has not been the same as in past years.

Venture a guess as to root cause?
TMH
Posts: 2076
Joined: Mon May 07, 2018 2:35 pm
Contact:

Re: Lehigh Has Turned Into a Bad Basketball Program

Post by TMH » Wed Dec 01, 2021 3:11 pm

lehigh90 wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:59 pm This is looking like a pretty poor team, and likely Brett Reed’s worst team in his 15 year Lehigh career. Off to a 1-6 start against fairly weak competition. I don’t expect to beat Virginia (even though Navy did) or Rutgers (even though Lafayette did), but the rest of the schedule has been garbage and we haven’t competed. I don’t see a lot to look forward to the rest of the way. We look like the worst team in the PL, which seems down across the board, outside of Colgate.

Last 3 seasons:

11-21
4-11
1-6

Combined 16-38, awful.

I don’t see a ton of talent on the roster. Our recruiting over the last several years has dropped off for whatever reason. Shooting 41% and 31% from 3, just doesn’t get it done. 11.6 assists per game and 16.9 turnovers per game! And we don’t get to the line and usually get outrebounded. It’s bad. And, so far only 665 fans are showing up per home game.

This was a really solid program not that long ago, but the wheels have fallen off. We struggled in past years at times with transfers, but so does every other school. We just have no identity, nothing to hang our hat on every night. It needs to be fixed as basketball is becoming irrelevant.
I agree with your assessment. Perhaps a good starting point would be at the PG position. We were continuously in the top 1/3 in the country is assists to TO up until Cohen's senior year when all the talent around him graduated. Since then, it's been a hodgepodge of young players. Sinclair came in with a big reputation but played hurt last year and as a result is missing this entire season. Whitney-Sydney also came here with a big reputation but had his senior year cancelled due to COVID and is playing his 1st basketball since his junior year. Knostman averaged 9 assists/game but can't get away with the no-look passes that may have been successful in high school. He needs to get way more disciplined but I think he has good talent.

Just my thought.
StablerBum
Posts: 98
Joined: Thu May 10, 2018 10:51 pm
Contact:

Re: Lehigh Has Turned Into a Bad Basketball Program

Post by StablerBum » Wed Dec 01, 2021 7:36 pm

Aside from the outlier 4 year stretch where Brett Reed had a future NBA 20+ ppg scorer (best player in league history), the program as been mediocre his entire tenure. Reed is 147-145 overall and 88-80 in the PL without CJ McCollum. With CJ he is 86-43 (37-19). He is a .500 coach who had a generational talent early in his tenure.

I think he has been further hurt by a decrease in his assistant coaching talent. He used to have guys like Ryan Kreuger (future G-Leage head coach), Matt Logie (successful D3/D2 coach and likely a future D1 HC), Kyle Griffin (Associate HC at LaSalle) and Antoni Wyche (now an assistant at Notre Dame). I'm not sure he's been replacing those guys with the same quality.
Sundayamqb
Posts: 676
Joined: Mon May 07, 2018 10:42 am
Contact:

Re: Lehigh Has Turned Into a Bad Basketball Program

Post by Sundayamqb » Wed Dec 01, 2021 8:14 pm

Can anyone say, DIII?
lehigh90
Posts: 160
Joined: Thu May 10, 2018 11:44 am
Contact:

Re: Lehigh Has Turned Into a Bad Basketball Program

Post by lehigh90 » Wed Dec 01, 2021 8:16 pm

Definitely agree with StablerBum’s assessment. I was giving Reed the benefit of the doubt but without the CJ/Gabe/Holden era it would be pretty bleak. He did get a title prior to that group, if I recall correctly, but it was a 1 year blip.

I think one of the biggest problems post CJ is the failure to adapt to what basketball has become in the “Steph Curry” era. The game now is about spacing the floor and shooting the 3. High pick and roll basketball with a bunch of shooters. We, for some unknown reason, keep trying to build around the Center position. We have recruited and built around guys like Kempton, Karnik, Lynch, Parolin, etc. Back to the basket traditional 5’s. And, haven’t won with that strategy. Reed needs to understand that very few legit big man are headed to the PL. If you are a talented big there are far better leagues looking to scoop you up. A 6’10” PL player is usually not very good, and not a centerpiece to build around. Gabe was a great player at 6’9” with a great supporting cast, and Kempton was a great player at 6’10”, but they are very, very rare. In today’s game you need guards, and guards who can shoot the 3. We have none on current roster. No great shooters. Give me 5 players who can really shoot the basketball, like a Pat Andree, that is today’s game. Lehigh used to have deep bench guys who could shoot lights out from 3 (ie Czvkalj), now most of their guys look like walk ons. Guards and shooters are plentiful, and far easier to recruit than bigs, but we can’t find any. We are enamored with size for some reason. Give me 5 6’0-6’5 guards who can defend, handle and shoot and that is a winning mid-major formula. Stop with the never ending laundry list of 6’10” guys who struggle to compete in today’s game.
TMH
Posts: 2076
Joined: Mon May 07, 2018 2:35 pm
Contact:

Re: Lehigh Has Turned Into a Bad Basketball Program

Post by TMH » Wed Dec 01, 2021 8:56 pm

I'm not sure I agree with this assessment however.
IMO, we've been a guard centric team since Tim Kempton graduated. We've been keeping the mandatory # of about 3 pure bigs for the most part to neutralize the opponent.

In the few discussions I've had with Brett, he actually agrees with your philosophy that the game has evolved around guys that are 6-5 to 6-7 and can shoot and handle the ball. It was only a couple of years ago that the team featured Leufroy, Tejada, Cohen, M Wilson, Andree and Bennett all of whom fit that description.

The current team has 3 guys over 6-7, Lynch, Parolin and Tan. The rest are pretty much all guards although J.Wilson and Alamundun at about 6-6 are listed as FW.

Right now, the team is undisciplined and doesn't shoot well. That can be the fault of coaching, leadership, personal drive and youth. But I agree, the program is not in a good place right now.
StablerBum
Posts: 98
Joined: Thu May 10, 2018 10:51 pm
Contact:

Re: Lehigh Has Turned Into a Bad Basketball Program

Post by StablerBum » Wed Dec 01, 2021 9:42 pm

lehigh90 wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 8:16 pm Definitely agree with StablerBum’s assessment. I was giving Reed the benefit of the doubt but without the CJ/Gabe/Holden era it would be pretty bleak. He did get a title prior to that group, if I recall correctly, but it was a 1 year blip.
Nope, he has won one PL regular season title in 14 years (CJ/Gabe/Holden's freshmen year with Zahir Carrington and Marquis Hall as seniors), and two tournament titles (same year as the regular season title and then CJ/Gabe/Holden's jr year). Brett has never won the PL (regular season or tournament) without CJ McCollum.
ngineer
Posts: 1119
Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 10:54 pm
Contact:

Re: Lehigh Has Turned Into a Bad Basketball Program

Post by ngineer » Thu Dec 02, 2021 12:26 am

I am not much of a basketball person, but from what I have seen for comparison purposes, the game versus SFU was down right ugly. Horrendous shooting, not very athletic and appeared to be undersized and slower. Not sure what the core problem is (appears to be multiple factors), but it certainly does not look interesting enough to invest my time.
User avatar
jimk72
Posts: 586
Joined: Tue May 08, 2018 6:39 am
Location: Allentown, Pa.
Contact:

Re: Lehigh Has Turned Into a Bad Basketball Program

Post by jimk72 » Thu Dec 02, 2021 7:32 am

Wow. It all comes gushing out. I was concerned no one cared about Lehigh basketball. Thats the up side of this thread. We do have Lehigh basketball fans! I'd been giving Brett a pass since the Holy Cross title game but the "take" around the league for a long time has been (particularly at Bucknell) that Brett is a great recruiter, a great guy, but a lousy coach.

And speaking of talent, based on offer sheets and the star ratings around the Patriot league, we have plenty of talent in comparison. To me, talent development is the weakest area, with game management a close second. Other than CJ (who raised everybody's game!), who got better after coming to Lehigh basketball?
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 28 guests