"may have been Mitty’s most consistent performer last season on a team that reached the state Division II championship game before losing in overtime to Santa Ana’s Mater Dei. Adams was a defensive stalwert and could make a big offensive play if he had to."

“I would like to thank Billy Taylor for his dedication to Lehigh during his time here and for the job he did with our men’s basketball program. Unfortunately, I think the timing of this is less than ideal. I hope this move turns out to be the right one for Billy.”

"I'm very thankful they found this ticking time-bomb in my body, and, by the grace of God, it never went off . . .

I could have ended up like Hank Gathers or Reggie Lewis and collapsed and died on a basketball court. So there are bigger tragedies in this world than never being able to play basketball again."

Name: Very
Address : Pissed
Address: Off
City: Lehigh
State: Fan
Zip: Wow
Comments: We got screwed...shouldn't have been that close...but Chris,
we got screwed.

Lehigh has sent video of the game to the league already. The shot was approximately .3-.5 seconds late. If they were smart they would send it to ESPN and put some pressure on the league. It comes down to being Lehigh's fault though. If they put a better product on the court, the local television wouldn't be televising a high school game over the first round of the Patriot League tourney. They should have pushed to get the station to do this game. It is funny (sad) that Lehigh has been screwed 3 times now at the end of the game; twice by not having television there. This call was truly awful. I hope you get to see how late the "basket" actually was, Chris. Long story short...LU should not have allowed this game to be close, but in the end, it should have been a LU win...refs truly blew it.

Here is what my people are telling me: The league ADs met this afternoon (sans Lehigh's and Army's) on a conference call to discuss the situation, presumably after Taylor had pushed for this. It was determined that Lehigh should have won the game (the shot was late), but because the refs had left the court, they couldn't take the game away from Army. Last night, after the one ref (description deleted) made the call, the three stormed off the court without a conference. The reason is because Lehigh never informed the refs that the game was indeed being broadcasted on Internet video. The refs thought it was just game film, something they couldn't look at. Had Lehigh been clear prior to the game that indeed their was a monitor they could review, things may have gone differently. My problem is the with the alacrity that the refs left the court, not allowing Taylor anytime to explain that they were actually able to review the monitor. Once they went into the locker room though, it was over. Really, these refs should be examined for missing such a blatant call. Garbage!

I'm not sure I understand the "deserve to win" rhetoric. While both teams played poor in the Army/Lehigh game, that doesn't mean Lehigh didn't "deserve" the win. I could quote Herm Edwards, but you get the idea. Obviously, Lehigh would not have been happy with their collective performance had they won, but I'm sure they felt the same way in 2003 after squeaking by Navy in the 1st round.

The story coming from this game isn't about a sub 30% shooting performance; it is the bureaucracy that is the NCAA. How can this result be upheld? A jury of 1,000,000 would unanimously declare that the final shot should not have counted. However, because the three blind officials left the court the result is final?

I understand some Internet broadcast technicality, but the proof could be found on the sidelines within 5 minutes of the disputed shot. This is a disgrace. The NCAA is a joke. Imagine this happening in an ACC tournament game - simply put, Lehigh wins. I feel like shit.

"We have to fight the fight because it was clearly after the light went off, so we are going to continue to fight until they say we can't anymore, and then we'll fight some more."

I have seen talk on various boards around the league and on Hoop Time about the lack of the Lehigh student section, and I felt the need to chime in. I am currently a senior out here, and must say that the situation is sad.

About four years ago a group of sophomores started regularly attending games and painted themselves (the L-E-H-I-G-H guys, you refer to them as). In the beginning they were usually the only students at the games, but word grew around campus that basketball games can be fun, and the team was starting to play a lot better, so some (stress some) students started to join them. Over the next few years, it turned into a nice student section that would travel to Maryland for the league tournament, up to Colgate for a game, up to HC a few times, over to Army and BU, and even having a better showing than the Zoo-Crew in their building. (Actually in one of your posts from two years ago, you commented on the presence of the Lehigh student at Lafayette in that game we lost).

Unfortunately, most of the original L-E-H-I-G-H guys have graduated, leaving me (although I never paint myself) and maybe about 8 other regulars. Most Lehigh students who do come will sit behind us and not really get into the game anymore. The atmosphere at Stabler is nothing less than depressing this season. I think it is a combination of the team not performing that well and these guys graduating. Another thing to look at is the distance that we must travel to get over to the game. If I am not mistaken, I think all Patriot League arenas are within walking distance of where most students live. You know this is not the case at Lehigh. Ultimately, this kills attendance. On top of that, the Athletic Department shows no commitment to Lehigh basketball. Very rarely do they promote a big game in ways that go beyond a few fliers around their building and outside the ticket office. We never get campus wide e-mails like HC students do. The student paper is a joke, when it comes to LU sports.

The whole situation is a mess out here, which is unfortunate. We have a great, young coach who is an unbelievable recruiter. We have the best freshmen in the league (by far) and possibly the player of the year (although his last few games may indeed hurt him). Students should want to see this team play and actively cheer them on. They really are missing something thousands of other students are getting across the country exciting college basketball.

Hopefully I was able to shed a little light on this mess. I don t see things changing at all in the near future. For senior day on Sunday, being at 1PM, my guess is most LU students will be hung over, and not show up. Those that do will show up at about 1:15, missing the chance to honor Jose, Jason, Kyle, and Adam. Next week, for the 1st round of the tourney, expect a student crowd half of what was there for Bucknell. From there, it is up to the team to try to win at an arena (most likely Bucknell) where more than a handful of students give a bleep about their team.

Do you have any thoughts?

*by the way, if you do post this on your site, do not hold me responsible for poor grammar or spelling. I should have written this on a word file and sent it to you, but I just typed it into this little box...which is tough to proof read...i didn't think I would ramble on this long, but I wanted to get a lot of things off my chest.

"We really labored in the second half, probably because we had too many guys playing too many minutes."

Some reasons for low attendance by the students (thought it was certainly more than half-full in their sections):

1. It is the end of the semester. There is a ton of work to turn in before exams and then exams themselves start on Thursday.

2. There was a live feed of the game being broadcast around campus. People could do work and watch the game that way.

3. The ticket policy distribution by the University has not been great. It is still struggling to find the best way to do it. Also, there were was not a lot of advertisement for the game - at least not in the past week or so.

4. When it was announced that there were left over tickets, it was only posted on the athletics' Web site, which a lot of students probably don't use. It was said that there were less than 150 tickets left, and this was not announced until yesterday evening. There was no general e-mail announcement.

5. The wrestling and track teams both had events today. Both teams are large supporters of the basketball program and account for a bunch of the missing seats.

6. There were some musical recitals today, as well as the football team awards banquet. Also, the school is in the midst of having its three candlelight Christmas services. The students who participate sacrifice a lot of time for it over the last few days and the next few days. Time has to give somewhere.

That all being said, yes attendance was less than it should have been. I was sad to see it less than full, but that happens. The place will fill up again once league play gets going and the spring semester starts up.

What up Big Dog?

While you are proabably the greatest mind ever to handicapp the Patriot League...The brain trusts at USA Today and the Sporting News have released their own PL predictions and have a much more favorable outlook for Lehigh. I understand you have great disdain for our school's basketball program, but I still don't know why. Lose the bias, gain some respect.

Gourlay was wearing a suit on the bench, and Bayer was missing from the bench. However, I'm not sure what ails either player.

Gourlay is out with an injury right now (foot). He played in the Notre Dame game and re-aggravated it, so he sat out the last two games last week. He's day-to-day, and will hopefully return soon. As for Bayer, he is no longer on the team. He has asked for and has been granted permission to transfer.

I just wanted to ask what games do you actually see? Are you coming down to DC at all?

Enjoyed your comeback and early ROY post. Bell is going to have a sensational senior season for Army, being 100% healthy now. For ROY Hall is definitely the front-runner. I submit another candidate for your consideration if the team's record significantly improves: Army s Chris Walker (7.7 ppg, 4.3 rbg through 3 games). He's not going to put up sensational numbers his freshman year, because the offense Army runs is designed to get Bell and Brown the bulk of the shots, but his inside presence will help B & B get better shots than last year, and he is a difference-maker defensively.

Very interesting piece on the Colgate game. I do have one question. On a couple of occasions, you have mentioned that Tim Pounds has sophomore eligibility. I know he chose not to play last year and under NCAA regulations would have three more years. However, Patriot League regulations ban redshirting, so why would he still be allowed three more years if he voluntarily chose not to play? (According to some Colgate people I have talked to, it was not a case of any injury.) I'd be interested in any feedback you could provide. Thanks.

He's still on schedule to graduate in Spring 2008 and therefore only has this year (06-07) and next year (07-08) of eligibility remaining.