Lehigh Football Nation

A slow bleed. Southern Illinois didn't win pretty, but they pretty much neutralized both dimensions of Holy Cross' game. They were persistent, they never fell asleep, and withstood Holy Cross' beating underneath. Most of the game they were only up 5, 6, 7 points, but it felt like 13 or 14 points at times. This is one hell of a team - even without a single star, this team should be able to make the Sweet 16. Easily. Sadly it wasn't meant to be tonight. The shame is that Thomas and Simmons were shut down so thoroughly that they weren't really able to shine the way they had all year. Even when they did get open they seemed rattled and took bad shots. At the end, they were even missing foul shots. Game over. In a way, it stinks playing another big mid-major team since it's dissatisfying whether you win or lose. I see now that you want to take down a former national champion or storied member of the SEC, not a small school with thoughts of the Sweet 16. Ev...

Still doable! But make those damn free throws!

Watch the foul situation at the end of this games. There are a TON of kids in fould trouble out there. Am I being naive that Thomas is bound to make some FGs by the end of this game? I have this hunch he will be heard from in crunch time. Hopefully I'm right. Go Crusaders!

The begining stages of this half, and this is going to be a war the rest of the way. Bodies are flying everywhere. Turnovers. Two changes of the possession arrow. Shaw on the Salukis at the end of the hlf has a high ankle sprain. 3rd foul on Clifford now. Will Holy Cross have enough bodies to end this game? Go Crusaders!

Somewhere on my notepad I wrote: "Thomas and Simmons are wound tight." Again, "Simmons can't make anything." "Thomas wild shot". Now it's halftime, and I'm still waiting for the Thomas and Simmons I saw destroy Lehigh during the season and Bucknell during the final. I know the Salukis are one of the best defensive teams in the tournment, but some of these missed shots were definitely missed open jumpers and "tightness". The game was tied when freshman Van Der Baan got his third foul. That's when the complexion changed and Southern Illinois strung a few fast breaks together to get sa 5 point lead. If I'm Willard, I'm saying to stick to the gameplan. The shots will fall and they're not exactly shooting the lights out. In the back of my head, I'd be thinking of the Butler game yesteday. Old Dominion got victimized by the 3-pointer midway through the second half and the Bulldogs never looked back. Willard should ...

Well, my in-running diary is off to a fantastic start - it ate my first post. Way to go, blogger (who has been having major problems tonight). Defensive-minded game, but it's great to see Clifford get involved early. However, I'm worried that SIU will get hot from outside... but the Crusaders' 2-3 zone seems to be causing problems for the Salukis. Both teams seemed to only be getting warmed up, even though both teams are gritty, defensive teams. Holy Cross doesn't seem rattled, which bodes well. However, Thomas and Simmons both seem awful ragged, which does not. Mike Gminksi and the play-by-play guy called this game a "half-court grinder". How long did it take Dan to come up with that one? Better not let him close to any sharp metal objects. Holy Cross just lost the lead, down 17-16. Will be an interesting end of the first half. Hopefully Blogger will fix their issues by the end...

I know it can be hard sometimes to root for the Patriot League representatives in the postseason, being a Lehigh fan. But today is the time. In one of the last games of the first round, Holy Cross will playing Southern Illinois on CBS in your local area (or, if you can't do that, you can sign up for March Madness On Demand for free) at about 9:45 EST tonight. I'm so thrilled with the Crusaders that I'm going to attempt to write an in-running blog of the whole affair as it's going on. I'm not sure if I would have done it anyway, but after hearing that famous Holy Cross alumnus Bill Simmons would be dropping out of his ESPN in-running first-round diary just before the best game of the first round at 9:45PM, I felt like somebody needed to pick up the slack, and that person ought to be me. Bill, just think of me as your CLOSER. For you Lehigh fans (and other non-Holy-Cross fans out there), here's 10 really good reasons to root for Holy Cross over Southern Illi...