#197 R.P.I. Lehigh @ #45 R.P.I. Virginia Tech:
Virginia Tech men’s basketball returns to the court to take on seemingly overmatched Lehigh of Patriot League fame before the mid-afternoon Technotronic gridiron game at half-past one (1:30 pm) Saturday over in the New River Valley.
The Hokies have been something of a welcome revelation. And have been nothing short of a defensive juggernaut under A.c.c. rookie year head coach Mike Young. As the Gobblers are now a still perfected 3-o. Lehigh enters at 2 up and 1 down; although they are two shots from being the same level of perfection as our homesteading Virginia Tech. The Hokies will be the rightful fave, although I caution you not to entirely sleep on Lehigh here. Nevertheless, you wanna know who is gonna win and by how much, right? Read on… to find, out!
Lehigh Head Coach: Dr. Brett Reed: age=47, 2o4-149 overall and at Lehigh. Reed Has a rep’ for: being Lehigh’s all-time winningest coach. Systemic building/recruiting. D’ and efficaciously serrated Smarty kids too.
$880,000.oo
Terminal Degree holding Reed.edu; a native of Waterford, Michigan, baller Reed attended Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida where he contributed at Pt.Guard and helped lead his team to a conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. Reed graduated with honors, earning his Bachelor’s degree in 1995 before earning his Master’s at Wayne State in 1998. In 2003, Reed received his Ph.D. from Wayne State University in Instructional Technology with a Cognate in Sports Administration. He is one of only two Division I men’s basketball head coaches in the entire nation to have earned their doctoral degrees. Reed was also honored during his academic career with a number of awards including the prestigious Thomas C. Rumbell Fellowship. WoWoW! As this is one bright bulb who runs the Lehigh bench folks.
Prior to his time at Lehigh, Reed served as the top assistant coach at High Point University in North Carolina for two seasons. Reed was an integral part of the coaching staff that led the Panthers to the Big South Championship Game in 2002. Included in that two-year period, Reed recruited a Big South Rookie of the Year and a Player of the Year.
Reed spent the 1999-2000 season as the Director of Basketball Operations at the University of North Carolina – Greensboro. He began his collegiate coaching career at Oakland (Mich.) Community College where he was an assistant for his father’s program. i.e. he is a rarefied hoops coach’s son! Then onto the big-whistle job at Lehigh 1.4 decades ago.
Reed’s teams have produced APR (Academic Progress Rate) scores of 1,000 every year, which is 100 percent academic progress towards a degree.
Making this: easily one of the MOST impressive coaching sections I’ve ever constructed.
Daddy Reed and his wife Kindra reside in Bethlehem, Pa.
They have two sons Brendan and Calvin, and daughter Makenna.
Lehigh at a glance:
- 10th in FG percentage D allowed!
- 11th in defensive rpg!
- 32nd in blocks.
- 59th in 3-point FG percentage D.
- 286th in Turnovers/Game.
Mountain Hawks Returning Starters=2
Lehigh Strengths:
- James Karnik, true-C is about Lehigh’s version of Zink-Oxide from the last game; only a smidgeon better or at least a bit more, skillful. 6′9″, a listed 225 lbs. tho’ he surely looked more sculpted than that to me scouting vs. Carin U. Like JayKay never met a weigh he did not like or would not; lift. A strapping kid who plays a strapped-in game… 12 ppg, 7.2 rpg, with 2 swats on 58% is not the worst starting Center D-1 work. James is a third-year baller, who dunks. And he dunks hard with both hands going strong to the rack— go’on and try to draw the change here at your very own bravely/peril. James won the OSBA championship up in the: Great White North, ‘eh’. And he was only the no.3 Center in Canada (Surrey, B.C.) a couple of years back. No word yet from S.Twain, Elsinore Beer, or Keptin Kirk. Karnik also won the Mata Waston Leadership Award and continually talks up all things .edu. He seems a good egg and good on him. And when asked: “What’s your favorite thing about Lehigh?” James rejoindered: ‘All the trees and old infrastructure.’ …and there you go.
- Jordan Cohen is the other starter back and he’s a 6′2″, 185 lb. spot-up G with pure shooting range. 55% from the floor, 100% from the charity stripe and a most welcome floor-stretching 50% from downtown does not early-season fresh-legs; suck. 4.5 GPA (on a five-scale) and he is a Cum Laude baller; which is always welcome. As are Jordan’s stat-sheet filling 11.3 ppg, with 4.7 rpg and the team lead at 4.4 dimes dropped (apg). Jordan has added a corporate cut beard of late and he has a history of near outburst type late-games heroics when he gets it going beyond the arc. Though a very efficient scorer who is very efficacious in his shot-selection. One of the very few you prolly do have to encourage to: “shoot more”. This kid is far more willing later on in games when the stakes increase and that’s an awesome sign on what this kid is about both inside and out. As Cohen has been late-game cohesive and offed a few Lehigh opponents right at the buzzer in his previous three campaigns for Lehigh.
- Lindy’s does indicate that Lehigh just inked their most athletic freshman class ever— and that these same athletes do need to contribute right away. So, they are prolly playing 2022 or 2023 right about; now.
- Lehigh guys are typically pretty high on their X’s and O’s I’s and Q’s; both on and off-court. Truly. This is team’s classroom act will sat you, down!
Lehigh Weaknesses:
- 2 starters graduated and one likely star-starter transferred to N.c.State. And that’s never a good sign. Nevertheless, no matter how you add it up, ~45 ppg and 15 boards all left the Lehigh building and that’s a big next year ask for a small school.
- Lehigh has a dotted history of occasionally: ‘underachieving’ under coach Reed. Anti-Gestalt (roundball) Theory, if you will, is the other rep’ I chose to previously omit up above.
Hawks Bench: (depth=everyone less one, literary the whole roster runs less 1 kid)
Ten diff’ Mountain Hawks leave the nest for at least 16 mpg of work and the other guy averages 6 spot or token mpg.
6′6″, 220 lb., Evan Taylor is actually a part-time starter who is the only other double-digit scorer that Lehigh has. 10 ppg on 41% deep with a rep’ for looking like Will Smith is prolly not the worst thing only three-games into your collegiate career. As this kid was a pretty major recruiting coup for little ole Lehigh. As Evan was runner-up or penultimate runner up for Chi-Town baller of the year last season on most recruiting servers. That and the kid took down nearly every scholastic baller windy.city.edu award you can name. Basically, Lehigh’s very own Quincy Patterson II. Taylor also enjoys a mini-me flight-school tag as he is one of the hyped-up youngling athletes spoken of up above.
Fellow nugget or debuting back-up’s: Reed -the string bean- Fenton (6′4″, 165 lb., Pt.G, 5.3 ppg and 41% on the 3-ball; engineering major with a buncha Volleyball offers) and Jakob Alamudun (6′6″, 225 lb., Swing, 8.3 ppg and 4.3 rpg with 43% long-distance and a Cali’ A.A.U. title) are said to be big recruiting lifts for Lehigh as well.
The Lehigh pine-squad is actually Hawkish enough to nest nearly 20 combined ppg and a very surprising 18 rpg as well. Which is pretty solid splintering work, if you can get it.
Loading ...Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:
Number of Hawks who could mount' Tech=1.5
the takeaway:
The takeaway here is… I suppose this is the second-best basketball club we have run ball against thus far into the early cupcake P.A.T.T.-y cake P.A.T.T.-y cake ba, kers, man… part of our O.O.C. scheduling…
I guess? I mean Lehigh prolly would be favored to beat U.s.c. Up’ and Coppin State. As they are a so-so to lowercase Mid-Major whereas U.s.c. Up’ and Coppin State had a way to go to font size all the way up to lowercase itself.
Ergo, therefore, to Whit, this one prolly is a better barometer.
(sans the mb of Mercury pressure… so we all, hopes)
***
Our handy-dandy friend the so-called Forum Guide of Graham Houston fame is calling for a December rendezvous beyond getting sum O.O.C., stray.
The annualized year-to-date vitals say that… VeeTee is up a mere 2% in aggregate shooting percentage margin (our O+D vs. their O+D), Although the Hokies are up a useful looking +13% in composite 3-point percentage margin (mostly thanks out our vice-like 3-point D); and yet Lehigh is actually up +4 caroms rebounding margin. Dang!
The most recent 5-game metrics say that… ‘we are the same as above’. (as neither team has cracked the second-week or 6-game marker; yet.
Lehigh is up 2% at the charity stripe for the year.
The call…
The Lehigh Mountain Hawks have been dancing only one less time than we have in the last decade. Including offing Duke in March Madness a few years back.
As this has proven to be a resilient, sharp, heady Patriot League fave more often than not under coach Brent Reed.
i.e. is this *the* upsetting match-up someone hinted at in preview no.1?
–oOo–
Eye don’t quite think it is… Lehigh has been a bit offensively erratic juggling so many nugget or debuting year parts early on. Even if their head-honcho is one sharp tack.
And if we are flat or tack into the Duck Pond wind? We can let them into the game of our own accord. As Lehigh is not so suspect as to sojourn only to be blown, out. This is not a power-¢onference victimizing pay-stub on the mere show-up for them.
Right now I am hoping we have a few more -or at least a few better- athletes than the Mt.Hawks do. As they do not appear to indulge the offensive smack or firepower to steal this one out on the A.c.c. road. However, 407-miles Nor-by-Nor-East in their backyard and I would have reduced my confidence interval even more.
I do like the Hurrying Hokies at home here, just not (entirely) sure I love them vs. this much brainpower if Lehigh can muddy the water early on. As the start=the finish this Saturday. We need to go’on and clip these Hawks wings early and yet the Hokiebird sail home late.
Because as you can see above (stats wise); scoring could very well be at a premium here and it is best to not let a total brain like Dr. Reed hang around early
and start to really riddle things out late…
💯
(73% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech=72, Lehigh=57
“LETS GO!”
“Hokies!”
bourbonstreet**
