The pressure is on.
High expectations surrounded the Lehigh men’s basketball team nearly a month before the regular season after it was voted No. 1 in the Patriot League preseason rankings.
Senior guard Devon Carter, one of the team’s three captains, said the team will not be content with a first round exit like last season
“A goal for ourselves is that we’re not settling for anything less than a Patriot League Championship,” he said.
But while every Patriot League team in every sport has this goal, Lehigh men’s basketball now has a target on its back. It’s returning four of its five starters, including the reigning Patriot League Rookie of the Year in now sophomore guard Kahron Ross and reigning Patriot League Player of the Year in now junior forward/center Tim Kempton, the other two captains on the team.
Last season, Kempton averaged 15.3 points per game and 8.7 rebounds per game, both the highest on the team. Ross averaged 10.4 points per game and 5.8 assists per game, the latter of which was tied for 18th highest in the country.
Despite this high level of talent, the Hawks saw their postseason hopes crushed in the first round of the tournament last year at home to American University. Carter said this will not happen again.
“With that early loss last season, we don’t take the fact that we have talent for granted,” he said. “Our mindset going into this season is about toughness, and that toughness doesn’t just mean you have the best talent and you’re going to win because of that.”
The majority of Lehigh’s roster is returning from last year, including most of its scorers. Junior guard Austin Price and senior forwards Jesse Chuku and Justin Goldsborough will all be back in the brown and white.
It also has a trio of freshmen in forward Matt Holba, guard Kyle Leufroy and center Caleb Sedore. Holba likely has the biggest spotlight on him among the three after being ranked No. 9 among incoming freshmen from Indiana this season.
However, while Lehigh has arguably the strongest starting lineup in the league, its depth is a question mark going into the beginning of the season. Sophomore guard Brandon Alston tore his ACL in the offseason and will miss the entire year.
In addition, Holba is still sidelined with a foot injury after he tore a ligament in the summer. He said he’s not sure how much longer he’ll be out and hasn’t set a return date, but is getting stitches out of his foot soon and should be able to jog. Sedore will also miss the entire season due to a knee injury.
With a roster of only 13, and only 10 minus Alston, Holba and Sedore, the remaining bench players have minimal experience in the past.
The team’s bench was thinner at guard after the transfers of both Miles Simelton and Cole Renninger this offseason. Coach Brett Reed, however, said that Carter specifically is someone who he expects to step up in the guard rotation this year.
“His passion and maturity are demonstrated at a consistent level, and he has worked hard to prepare himself for meaningful minutes,” Reed said following the news of Alston’s injury.
This questionable depth will be put to the test in Lehigh’s first game, where it will travel to face consistently one of the strongest basketball programs in Syracuse University on Nov. 13. This contest will definitely have the “big game feel” — Syracuse’s home court, the Carrier Dome, has a capacity of over 35,000 compared to Stabler’s capacity of just 6,000.
To the team though, its mindset is just like every other game.
“It’s a business trip,” Holba said. “When you get the bigger teams that underestimate a mid-major school thinking ‘Oh, we’re better than them just because of our name.’ No, that doesn’t mean anything, we’re going to come out to play and give 100 percent no matter what. If they don’t give 100 percent too, you never know.”
Holba added that the team isn’t afraid of other top opponents the Hawks have on the schedule such as University of Virginia and Purdue University, who were both ranked in the preseason top 25.
“We don’t really care, we’re not afraid of anybody,” he said. “We want to play the best competition because that’s going to get us even better as a team and prepare us for the Patriot League and the rest of the season.”
Six of Lehigh’s first seven games will be on the road. However, its home opener will be against Yale University on Nov. 19 at 7 p.m.
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