The Lehigh men's basketball team showed spurts of greatness last season, highlighted by a stretch of winning seven-of-eight games in Patriot League play.  With a solid nucleus returning, led by the Patriot League's defending Player and Rookie of the Year along with Lehigh's second leading scorer, the Mountain Hawks look primed for success in 2015-16. Lehigh also features three seniors who look to make significant impacts in different roles,  With so many experienced returnees, the Mountain Hawks entered the preseason with a solid foundation already in place. Head coach Brett Reed has liked what he's seen.  "Our guys have been working hard thus far in practice," he said. "We have a close-knit group and they're focused on the goals that they set at the beginning of the year."  Despite the quantity of returnees, this year's team is in many ways much different than last. The Mountain Hawks lost five players from last year's squad, so even this year's Lehigh team needs to create its own identity.  "Fortunately, we have a number of returning players who have played a significant role, gained valuable experience and have gotten used to each other," said Reed. "Our ball movement and commitment to unselfishness has been strong. I think our players are confident in their own individual abilities, but also trust and rely on each other at a fairly high level."  After two straight 20-win seasons in 2011-12 and 2012-13, the Mountain Hawks lost an impressive senior class led by current Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum. Lehigh saw an extremely young and inexperienced team grow over the course of two years to a third-place finish last season. The Mountain Hawks now look to take that next step back into championship contention and return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since their memorable 2012 tournament run.  Let's take a deeper look at the 2015-16 Mountain Hawks. Â
BACKCOURT
The guard position is led by a pair of top returnees in junior Austin Priceand sophomore Kahron Ross. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â "Both Austin and Kahron are going to be counted on heavily going into this year for not only their playmaking, but also their scoring ability," said Reed. "We will need them to continue to step up their overall influence on the team and extend beyond their own talents in terms of taking on leadership responsibilities, really helping promote our chemistry and helping our team jell."Junior Austin PriceÂ
Ross is the team's floor general as the point guard who stepped into the starting role as a rookie. The Jonesboro, Arkansas native finished the season with 175 assists, third most in school history, while his 14 assists at Arizona State were a new single-game school record. Ross went on to earn Patriot League Rookie of the Year honors after averaging 10.4 points and a league-leading 5.8 assists per game. Â "Kahron is a dynamic playmaker who has the ability to make other players better around him by delivering the basketball on time, on target and making the jobs of other offensive players much easier," said Reed. "Defensively, he has extremely quick feet and good hands where he can be a presence on the basketball as someone who can also help us by forcing turnovers." Â Lehigh's second leading scorer last season, Price has continued to improve throughout his collegiate career. He began his sophomore season with a bang, scoring a career-high 24 points against Villanova, an eventual No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Price is a strong spot-up shooter who has diversified his game with drives to the basket. He led the Mountain Hawks in made three-pointers last season, hitting 45-of-117 from long distance. Â "Austin has been a rangy shooter who has improved his ability to make plays off the dribble and added more consistent scoring to his repertoire," said Reed. "We're going to need him to continue making those plays off the dribble, but we're going to be focused on him knocking down open spot-up shots, so we can maximize floor spacing. I have every confidence he can do that and not sacrifice the other elements of his game, such as his vision, his ability to penetrate and his ability to create. Austin has traditionally been a very reliable defender for our program. He understands help positioning, he plays excellent team defense and also has the ability to match up well in his individual assignment." Â A senior who looks to step up as a guard in his final season is Devon Carter, who has really emerged in all aspects. Carter has only played 38 career games, due in large part to injuries, but looks to take a big leap in his senior season. Â "Devon continues to grow and evolve," said Reed. "His performance late last season through the summer and now into the fall has been strong. He has a good feel for the game; he's one of our better cutters and he seems to make the plays that glue our team together. Defensively, he's got some toughness and is willing to take on a difficult assignment. Offensively, he can be a ball mover, read defenses and has the ability to score himself." Â Tyler Jenkins looks to step into increased minutes as a sophomore. As a freshman, he only played in five games, but showed glimpses, tallying 14 points, five assists and three rebounds in 23 minutes of action. Â "Tyler has matured from his freshman year," said Reed. "He brings a strong defensive presence on the basketball with his quickness, toughness and aggressiveness. He has improved his decision making and will be competing for the opportunity to play back-up minutes at the point guard position." Â After a promising freshman year, Brandon Alston suffered an offseason knee injury and will miss his entire sophomore season. Â "We have some players on our team who are dealing with injuries and are going to have their own challenges and their own fights throughout the year to accomplish behind-the-scenes milestones," said Reed. "It takes a great deal of commitment and discipline. We stand by Brandon and wish him the best as he goes through a lot of those challenges as he works to become 100 percent again." Â A freshman who looks to make an immediate impact is Kyle Leufroy. A three-star recruit by Rivals.com, Leufroy is a versatile guard with size who could play shooting guard, play the wing position or even point guard if necessary. Â "Kyle has opened our coaching staff's eyes with his dynamic ability, his ability to make plays off the dribble, plus his speed, quickness and power make him a tough matchup," said Reed. "He's a strong passer and can see play develop on the floor when he penetrates. To his credit, he's played unselfishly. He obviously is learning a great deal in regulars to our system, college basketball and going through the natural maturation process that's needed in the early preseason of a freshman year. He has demonstrated a high level of talent and should be able to contribute at a significant level this year and as he continues throughout his career." Â Another newcomer is sophomore Jay Jay Davis, a former team manager who has walked onto the team. Â "JayJay has been very reliable; he's been somebody the coaching staff can count on," said Reed. "He's played intelligently thus far in this preseason and has a knack for making some plays out there on the practice floor. His primary objective will be to support his team, and he seems to be embracing his role well." Â
FRONTCOURT
The Mountain Hawks feature plenty of returning experience at forward, led by defending Patriot League Player of the Year Tim Kempton. After a strong freshman season, he enjoyed an even better sophomore campaign, finishing with a team-leading 15.3 scoring average and league-leading 8.7 rebounds per game. Kempton tallied 14 double-doubles on the season, including against each of Lehigh's three power conference opponents Villanova, DePaul and Arizona State, helping the Mountain Hawks go 2-1 in those games.Senior Justin Goldsborough  "Tim Kempton has been a foundational piece for our offense for two years now," said Reed. "He's been somebody we can throw the basketball to on a consistent basis and reliably get point production. He's somebody our opponents have to plan for because of his ability to score the basketball. Tim has also continued to improve his perimeter skills, including his shot range, which makes him more dangerous and also gives him the versatility that we experienced last year when he played alongside somebody like Justin Goldsborough, who has more of an interior focus."  Goldsborough emerged as a junior, starting 22 of the final 23 games (only game he didn't start was due to Senior Day). Lehigh's leading shot-blocker, he complemented Kempton last season at both ends of the floor. One example was during the Mountain Hawks' thrilling triple-overtime win at Arizona State when both Kempton and Goldsborough tallied double-doubles. Goldsborough grabbed six rebounds in the five-minute third overtime period alone.  "Because of Justin's athleticism, he can provide a different element to our team, both on the offensive and defensive ends," said Reed. "He has the ability to use his size and leaping ability to score over smaller defenders and to use his quickness to explode by larger, less mobile defenders on the interior. He's given us some defensive versatility because of his lateral quickness to take different types of matchups and allow Tim to focus on more rugged players, but yet has also had a presence on the glass rebounding the basketball and protecting the rim through his shot-blocking ability."  Both Kempton and Goldsborough feature versatile skill sets, allowing Reed to use his big men interchangeably.  "Each year, Tim has developed a different aspect of his game, whether it's his body or his skill set, and we hope that that progress will continue as we head into both his junior and senior years," said Reed.  Along with Goldsborough, 6-foot-9 senior Jesse Chukubrings a different skill set to the table. A big body who has grabbed his share of rebounds, Chuku can also step to the outside and hit the three-pointer. Last season, he finished second on the team with 28 made three-pointers.Senior Jesse ChukuÂ
"Jesse is probably in his best position going into a season than any point throughout the course of his career," said Reed. "He has a better understanding of what's required of him. He is also performing at a higher level thus far in our preseason activities and I'm looking for him to take a major step this year." Â Chuku's unique skill set could be a difference maker as someone who can mix it up down low while also moving to the outside. Â "Jesse's ability to shoot the ball will be critical because it can help complement the interior presence that we have in Tim and Justin," said Reed. "It will complement the penetration ability that you see from somebody like Kahron Ross or Austin Price. By him consistently knocking down perimeter shots, it's only going to make us more difficult to guard, allowing us to properly space the floor with him in our offensive action. He's also improved in his commitment to rebound and defend at a high level and hopefully that continues along for what could be a special senior season. I'm very pleased with what I'm seeing and hopefully he continues on that trend and really produces at a high level." Â A forward who could also play the wing position is senior John Ross Glover. The transfer from Lipscomb has been within the Lehigh program for two full years now, seeing game action last season after practicing with the team in 2013-14. Glover saw limited action, but impressed when he hit the floor. He finished last season with 24 points in 34 minutes of action, while also serving as a steady player in practice. Â "John Ross has been a great support person during his time here," said Reed. "He's brought a great attitude and a very unselfish mentality to our program, which has continued going into this year. Now, with some experience under his belt, he may be poised to play a larger support role in games. He's an explosive athlete, he has the ability to shoot the basketball, he's got a versatile skill set because of the athleticism and strength, and he also has perimeter skills." Â Moving to the freshmen, one newcomer with great potential is Matt Holba, ranked by ESPN as the No. 9 incomer in the nation from the state of Indiana. He was also ranked as the No. 36 overall incomer at the small forward position. Reed envisions using Holba as a versatile forward who provides mobility and skill at the big forward position. Â "Matt is a very promising prospect," said Reed. "Even through his rehabilitation process from offseason surgery, he's demonstrated tremendous mental toughness, discipline and a lot of the characteristics that we expected to see out of him. I would anticipate once healthy, he will be a major factor for our program. However, it will be a process to get him to the point where he's healthy and his timing and basketball skills catch up with a long break from the game. Once those things fall into place, I think he has a chance to contribute over the course of his career, and hopefully this season as well." Â A big body is freshman Caleb Sedore, who stands 6-feet-11-inches tall, but will unfortunately miss the season due to a knee injury. Â "Caleb has a high skill level and has the frame that will allow him to be a significant contributor throughout the course of his career," said Reed. "He will be little bit more college ready because of that frame. However, adjusting to the speed, the strength and explosiveness of the game is something that we anticipate a 6-11 freshman would normally have to go through. He can step out and shoot the basketball and is highly skilled with his back to the basket. A big adjustment period for him will be reading, responding, reacting and anticipating action to stay out of foul trouble and put himself in the best defensive and rebounding position possible. He'll also need to hold a consistent position on offense to give himself the best opportunity to score." Â
OUTLOOK
The talent and experience is in place. Now, the Mountain Hawks need to put it together in a challenging Patriot League which featured a lot of parity last season. One of Lehigh's biggest question marks heading into the year is depth. The Mountain Hawks lost several players to graduation, transfer and injury, which means opportunities for some less-experienced players to step up. Â "The depth of our program is a bit of a concern over the course of a long season, but that doesn't mean that we don't have people who are eager and have been prepared to step into some of those roles," said Reed. "They're going to need to continue growing and evolving to solidify our program." Â All the Mountain Hawks will look to embrace their role and do it well. For everyone, it won't be the same thing, but if everyone excels in their roles, Lehigh has a great chance of going dancing come March. Â "For each of them, their role might look a little bit different," said Reed. "Playing great defense, being a great teammate, sharing the basketball and being reliable will be critical, for not only their individual opportunities, performance and success on the floor, but also what we can expect from this team. In those minutes (with backups), we want our team to continue advancing as opposed to regressing." Â The difference between a good and great season is often intangibles. With the loss of lone captain Corey Schaefer to graduation, there is a leadership void that needs to be filled. Reed likes what he's seeing from the collective group. Â "I think we're in a good position because we have a number of responsible and maturing young men who are leading themselves and contributing to the culture of our team," said Reed. "That gives us a solid foundation to be able to build from. We will ask some of our seniors, who've had experiences and perhaps the most heightened sense of urgency, to step forward their leadership with the understanding that this is their final year to leave a legacy within our program. Â "We also have some returning players who might be younger in class, but still have been meaningful contributors for us out on the floor," Reed continued. "They'll need to grow in their ability to contribute, not only with their performance within games, but also within the locker room, within the habits that we build and their ability to influence positive performance from their teammates." Â The team has very clear goals, all identifying Patriot League Championship as the top goal. Â "Our players have clearly identified their vision for our performance this year and I echo their aspirations for a league championship," said Reed. "We have a nucleus of players with some game experience. They've had the opportunity to grow and develop while gaining meaningful competition minutes. Now, they're in a position to help our team perform at a very consistent, and consistently high, level."
 
