Lehigh Football Nation

It used to be - once upon a time - that the spring was my quiet season, when I didn't really comment that much about sports.  But with Lehigh making it into both the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournament, it's been a lot more compelling to follow all the action and keep a close eye on the proceedings.  (Even though my Villanova/Temple Final four pick seems, in retrospect, crazier than picking Lehigh to upset Kansas in the first round. ) Usually by this time of the tournament, my NCAA pools are busted wide open, the out-of-control athletics departments at, say, North Carolina or Kentucky are looking at winning the national championship, and I'm busy breaking down the offensive and defensive spring rosters for Lehigh football. But a funny thing happened on the way to inevitability: Butler won me over.  Maybe it's because I'm the fan of a "smaller conference", or maybe it's because I'm genetically programmed to root for the underd...

With spring football starting in earnest this past weekend, the first look, inevitably, is at the offense .  The defense, like the offense, is loaded with returning lettermen and also filled with a bunch of players that were starters last year. But when you look closer at what Lehigh needs to replace on defense, it seems like the hole is much greater than just the counting of players on the two-deep that were seniors. Three of the top five tacklers on the team need to be replaced - who accounted for 24 1/2 tackles for loss in 2009.  One is a potential NFL player, senior LB Matt Cohen , and two more, senior SS Jesse Sanchez and senior DT B.J. Benning , who were the emotional core of last year's stifling defense.  It feels like a lot more than just a lot of bodies to replace. (more)

If it's late March - and Lehigh doesn't have any more wrestlers making all-American status , or the men's or women's basketball teams aren't playing in the NCAA tournament - that must mean it's time for spring football, where Lehigh coaches start to figure out their gameplans for 2010. While last season's 4-7 record was nothing to write home about - well, okay, the awesome victory over Lafayette certainly was - what we did learn about this team last year is that they have been battlers over the course of last season.  Things got tough, and it wasn't fun for a long stretch of the season, but ultimately their hard work did, at least, pay off in the biggest game of all. With the core of the offense returning, along with some key defensive pieces, that battlers' mentality matters.  We know that these guys work hard.  But with a new offensive coordinator in town and a possible NFL player graduating ( senior LB Matt Cohen ), there still are plenty ...

It felt weird not actually attending Lehigh's women's basketball NCAA tournament appearance in person.  I had been to Lehigh's two other shots in the NCAA tournament: in 1997 (at UConn) and 2008 (at Rutgers). The Lady Hawks had a powerhouse team that smashed through the Patriot League regular season and dominated in a way that Lehigh women's basketball had never dominated before, to a 29-3 record and (for good measure) going undefeated against the Atlantic 10 as well.  Their only three losses came to American, Vanderbilt, and Princeton, all of whom played postseason basketball this year. This NCAA Tournament appearance was supposed to be different than last year's. But it wasn't.  (more)

Everyone in America now knows that Lehigh's men's basketball team gave Kansas a very tough time for a while in the NCAA tournament on Thursday night.  The men's team didn't shock the world - a win of a 16 seed over a 1 seed would have done that - but they did open up some eyes.  (Not as many as Northern Iowa did , but hey, I'll take it.) Tonight - at 9:30 PM on ESPN2 and online on ESPN 360 - Lehigh's women's basketball team will attempt to do the exact same thing, sorta.  Lehigh's women's basketball team will attempt tonight to win Lehigh's first-ever game in the NCAA tournament - but the odds on this "upset" happening are not " a googolplex to one ". Lehigh will open up some eyes tonight in the women's basketball world since they will hang - and maybe even beat - Iowa State (who are playing, in effect, a home game).  Some might even call it a shocker.  But the 29-3 Lady Hawks should not be a surprise to anyone.  For ...

(Photo Credit: The Seattle Post-Intelligencier) It was more of a battle than some in the state of Kansas thought. Kansas did have to bring more than their "C" game. But Kansas is an awfully good team, and their physical play wore down a game Lehigh team in the end.  They are a well-deserved No. 1 team and No. 1 seed. Lehigh did its best Rocky impersonation.  The Mountain Hawks have nothing to be ashamed of, battling hard until the very end. But Kansas, coach Bill Self and the rest of the Jayhawks were better.  And they're a great team. Good luck Jayhawks through the rest of the tournament.  (more)

As the week has gone one, it's just gotten madder and madder. It's been a week where Lehigh was picked by one person to get to the elite 8 thanks to our 12th man, 7'1 junior C David Safstrom ; a rallying cry from the West Coast to root for junior G Michael Ojo , who hails from Santa Monica, California, and the topper: the revelation that Pizza Hut will offer the university 10,000 free slices of pizza if Lehigh can shock the world tonight.  (A reminder of the good old days: in the 1990s, when Lehigh used to score more than 70 points in a game, the local McDonalds used to give out free hamburgers if you had a ticket stub.) Pizza Hut had better start getting those ovens ready. (more)