Lehigh misses the play-in game, which is good. We miss the opportunity to play Duke or Syracuse, which is a tad disappointing. But we get a chance to tweak the nose of Kansas head coach Bill Self and get a chance to prove ourselves against the No. 1 team in the country. Someone has to knock them out of the NCAA tournament; why can't it be us? (more)
Matter of fact, why can't it be a Patriot League team? After all, Kansas has played the Patriot League three times in the NCAA tournament in their lifetimes. The first time in 1995 Colgate gave the Jayhawks a run before falling 82-68. The second time in 2002, Holy Cross scared the pants off of Kansas before falling 70-59.
The third time against Bucknell... well... that's what we're going to be looking at on Monday, now, won't we?
Lehigh's web site has a great video with the reaction from the squad about their selection. Of note is the following quotes from Brett Reed:
“We have the opportunity with what we have for our players to play at a very high level. And if we get four or five of those guys doing that all on the same night, anything can happen.
"I think we're excited about the chance to compete in this environment. I also think we're very excited about the opportunity to really put our place in history. That's really the type of door that's opened for us coming up this week. We will not back down from it. We will not shy away from it. We'll go full force ahead with this opportunity and make the most of it.
"Why not us? Why not now?"
Did you feel that? That was a lot of Lehigh pride swelling up inside you. Come on, admit it. You know you felt it.
Comments
Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich.
Great season, Mountainhawks. But the Bucknell loss came about because A) that team had toxic chemistry while going through a difficult coaching change, and B) several top players had injury issues that weren't reported nationally.
Those may sound like excuses, but check KU's schedule that year: they had lost 5 of their last 8 games heading into that tournament. The signs of a blowup were there.
First, you have the national television audience all to yourself.
Second, you have a game you can realistically go into hoping to win.
Third, if you do win it, it actually counts as an NCAA Tournament victory with no asterisk in the NCAA records and none needed in your school records.
Fourth and finally, if you win it you get to play still another game (at least).
Frankly, I don't understand what the problem is.
Florida A&M, 2004 :)
Northwestern St. won the first one
Morehead St. last year (can you honestly forget that name?)
Monmouth
Mt. St. Mary's
Niagra (NECs only NCAA wins)
- P4L