Playing For Postseason, Volume 2: Hoops Edition

Lehigh athletes don't "play for pizza", but they do play for the postseason: the NCAA's, if you will.  And while the STAR will be focused on the EIWA nationals this Saturday and Sunday, that's hardly all that's going in in terms of postseason Lehigh action.


As EIWA's first rounds are completing, the Lehigh Lady Hawks will be attempting to qualify in a first-round game of their own up in their personal house of horrors, the Hart Center in Worcester, Mass - and if they win, they'll be rewarded with an early afternoon game on Sunday there, too - potentially against the home team.


And that's not even including both men's Patriot League semifinal basketball games, one at 1:00 at "that school in Easton" and the other a few hours after the conclusion of the EIWA nationals.


Please don't tell me you have something better to do this weekend.  (more)

Playing For Postseason, Volume 1: EIWA Wrestling Edition

Lehigh athletes don't "play for pizza", but they do play for the postseason: the NCAA's, if you will.

This weekend, Lehigh is playing for conference superiority in all their winter sports: Patriot League men's basketball, Patriot League women's basketball, and EIWA wrestling.

Saturday and Sunday at Stabler Arena (or the STAR, as it's being called now), literally eighteen hours of athletic events will be happening - sixteen of them wrestling.  The EIWA championships - which, like basketball, determine the qualifiers for the NCAA championships - start this Saturday, and deserve a full preview.  Tomorrow will be devoted to men's and women's basketball, but I got my friend 'ngineer', the biggest Lehigh wrestling fan I know, to give a synopsis of the upcoming EIWA nationals right below the flip.  (more)

Patriot League Quarterfinal: Please Reverse the Army Curse

(Photo Credit: Brown and White)

No, really, what are the odds?

There are eight teams in the Patriot League in basketball.  No team has been dominating the last four years.  So you'd think that the chance that Lehigh would play the same first round opponent would be pretty small.  Remember Probability & Statistics 101?  1/7 * 1/7 * 1/7 * 1/7 = a pretty damned small percentage.

Yet that's what's happened in the first round for the fourth straight year.  Lehigh faces off against Army - a team that has beaten us whether we've been the No. 3 seed (2007, where we lost on a last-second layup with no time remaing on the clock, 47-46), the No. 4 seed (2008, when we lost 64-61 in overtime) or the No. 5 seed (2009, where we lost 53-30).

Now, we're the No. 1 seed.  Will it be different this time?  Everyone around the Lehigh basketball program is hoping that this time - and for the sake of the seniors - it will finally be different.  (more)

Bracketology?

(Image credit: The Original Bracketology Blog)

I know, I know, it's a wee bit early to think about brackets already when neither the men or the women have played a single game in the Patriot League tournament.  But it's March, it's officially when the Madness starts to take hold, and - well - people are talking about it.  (more)

Lehigh Finishes On Top Of Everything; But The Real Season Starts Now

It's been a dream ride for Lehigh this year in terms of winter sports.  Wrestling?  Try a 5-0-1 dual record - tied for tops in EIWA with eight wrestlers ranked in the top 33.  Women's basketball?  Try a 26-3 record, an RPI of 75, and the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament starting at Holy Cross this Saturday.

And the men's wild and crazy ride in a daffy Patriot League regular season has ended with only the sixth freshman athlete in the 23 year history of the League to win both freshman of the year and player of the year.  Freshman G C.J. McCollum unanimously was voted the honor thanks to his 23.5 points per league game and - frighteningly - seems to be improving his overall game every time he hits the court.  "Jay" - as well as senior F Zahir "Z" Carrington, senior G Marquis Hall and freshman F Gabe Knutson making second team all-League and the all-rookie team respectively.

And - oh yeah - we also got the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League tournament, too.  (more)