Zion Olojede
“One of the all-time shockers, Lehigh defeats Duke in the NCAA basketball tournament.”
At the time, those words were the equivalent to 20 punches to the gut. I watched every single second of Lehigh’s upset over Duke in 2012. As every shot by C.J. McCollum pierced through my heart and the game progressed, I was anxiously waiting for my Blue Devils to start laying a beat down on this random school called Lehigh.
Ironically, look where I am today: a sophomore at Lehigh University. To be honest, I wasn’t even aware of the school before that game, so I guess it was a blessing in disguise. In fact, now I use that victory to my advantage, as my brother, who is now a Duke graduate, was a senior when Lehigh shocked the world.
Prior to sending in my application, I did my research on the campus and student life of the university. After scrolling through a couple sites and conversing with a couple of students and alumni, I noticed many said the campus, school spirit, and atmosphere shared a lot of similarities with Duke. I was quite familiar with Duke’s campus and was ecstatic to hear that the small school in Bethlehem shared common traits.
When I arrived at Lehigh, all those preconceived notions were deemed false pretty quickly. After the fall season, it was basketball season. The first game was against Villanova, the No. 12 ranked team in the entire country at the PPL Center in Allentown. My first college basketball game was a bit misleading. A crowd of about 9,000 — predominantly Villanova fans — filled the seats. The atmosphere was electric. Lehigh nearly pulled off college basketball’s first upset of the season. As a part of the media, you’re technically not allowed to root for a team but it was hard not to root for your guys in such a terrific atmosphere.
The next game was a home game at Stabler Arena and although I knew it wouldn’t be up to par with the previous game, I expected a nice crowd for the home opener. Stabler Arena has a maximum capacity of 6,000. The home opener saw a total of 711 fans and I thought that was generous. Let’s factor in that the other team is going to have their own contingent following them, the residents of Bethlehem and other nearby towns, and family members. I’ve seen more fans at my high school’s basketball games and the capacity of that gym was about 1,100.
It baffled me that you can literally hear a pin drop before tip off. Duke-like atmosphere? Yeah right. Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium seats about 9,000, only 3,000 more than Stabler, and that gym is packed every game and considered one of the most hostile environments in all of sports.
First thing you’ll say is, “Well, we don’t have an athletics program like Duke.” While that’s a fair point, Lehigh basketball has also been one of the most consistent teams in the Patriot League. Tim Kempton is the league’s best player and has attracted NBA scouts to some of the games. Kahron Ross is undoubtedly the league’s best point guard. Austin Price and Kyle Leufroy are among the league’s top scorers. Jesse Chuku and Justin Goldsborough can jump out of the gym, yet students don’t care.
You would think after beating Duke, people would take some interest in the team and that would have a domino effect on other sports. But it seems like nothing has changed after that win. It’s as if it didn’t even happen.
It’s not just men’s basketball. The women’s team deserves some recognition as well.
They’ve been just as dominant in the Patriot League as of late. In fact, this goes for all of Lehigh’s teams because our school has a plethora teams who excel in their respective sports. Lehigh lacrosse is consistently one of the top teams in the country and they have games where only 300 fans show up.
You can direct some of blame towards Lehigh’s marketing of athletics and the inconvenient locations of the sports venue, but that’s not enough to make up for the abysmal spirit shown for our athletic teams.
These student athletes are your classmates, your fraternity brothers and sorority sisters. It would be nice if you showed them support once in awhile. I hope I’ll still be around when Lehigh students pack Stabler Arena or Ulrich Sports Complex to support their teams.
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Zion Olojede, ’18, is an assistant sports editor for The Brown and White. He can be reached at [email protected].
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2 Comments
Look, your point about overall attendance is (probably) valid, but as someone who graduated with the last class to actually be there during the upset, I’d have to say you’re off base. Watching Lehigh beat Duke was a monumental occasion for the entire campus. I was at Greensboro and I *still* regret not being a part of the celebrations – even after visiting Chapel Hill for the night and explaining that my little school from PA beat their biggest rivals. It was an amazing night, and watching CJ drain those two free throws to put the game away still gives me the shivers, but I would have loved to been on the hill when everyone sprinted out of their houses to the UC green to celebrate. I can say with certainty that attendance for a number of sports saw an attendance uptick after that – basketball, lax, soccer, football the following fall, and so on.
Lehigh’s Duke-like atmosphere goes so far beyond just athletics, and to suggest otherwise is short sighted. We are both exclusive research universities on the east coast. We both have extensive Gothic architecture on a wooded campus. We both have very prestigious programs in certain disciplines. In our favor, we at least allow our freshmen to live on the same campus as the rest of the school.
I have nothing but the utmost respect for Duke as a university and an establishment. And especially as an athletic power house – they gave us Coach Cassese, after all. But even now, as an alumni, I wouldn’t have traded my time at Lehigh for anything. That includes being a Cameron Crazy.
The Lehigh student body is apathetic. Always has been, always will be. That is, unless the admissions office starts recruiting students who actually give a damn about anything.