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CJ - unreal

Posted: Sun May 12, 2019 10:28 pm
by lehigh90
37 in Game 7 leading his team to Western Conference Finals.

Guy is a beast in big games.

Re: CJ - unreal

Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 9:21 am
by mookie
Best Lehigh athlete ever.

Re: CJ - unreal

Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 1:14 pm
by jimk72
I was in school 1968 - 1972. Some oldsters might argue for Mike Caruso or John Hill. I'm an oldster here to tell you those oldsters would be wrong. Mike & John were great. C.J. has reached even greater height in his sport.

Disclaimer: I don't know much about pre-1950, so let's say he's the best in the modern era. We won national lacrosse championships in the late 1800's......

Re: CJ - unreal

Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 4:01 pm
by TMH
I may be playing devil's advocate or perhaps I'm just in a minority of 1 but I'm not sure that CJ was the best basketball player in Lehigh history although he certainly made the most of his post-graduate opportunities.

I watched a lot of Lehigh basketball both in the late '80s and also during the CJ era. Darrell Queenan IMHO was a "freak" athlete who could leap out of buildings. He still hold's Lehigh's scoring record by 500 points and even though CJ missed a good part of his senior season, DQ only played in 7 more games. Keep in mind that the 3 pt shot was not adopted by the NCAA until DQ's his junior year. DQ also had 1,000 rebounds in his career.

The difference between DQ and CJ is that the latter spent his entire career developing guard skills so at 6-3 he was never out of position. At 6-5, DQ was forced to play center in HS and FW at Lehigh. He had phenominal big man skills in a guard's body.


Just a thought.

Re: CJ - unreal

Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 6:34 pm
by jimk72
Thank you for mentioning DQ. I should have. Because of his size he never received this kind of national attention. Plus the NBA was a whole different kind of game then. You can certainly make an argument for Queenan. Mike Polaha was no slouch either. Fran McCaffery has commented that Mike was a legitimate NBA guard until he blew out his knee. The two together gave Lehigh it's first success ever in basketball.

Despite their talents, they never won an NCAA game, though they gave Temple a run in '88. To me the Duke game and the NBA success tip it to C.J. But all three deserve their position on the wall at Stabler. Great memories of all three.

Re: CJ - unreal

Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 7:29 pm
by mookie
John Hill is a good mention. Great football player and really good track athlete. Mike Caruso was a great wrestler but not a great athlete...if that makes sense.

Re: CJ - unreal

Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 10:46 pm
by Sundayamqb
The fun fact about Queenan and Polaha is both were recruited successfully by a coach who never got to coach them: Brian Hill.

Re: CJ - unreal

Posted: Fri May 24, 2019 11:29 pm
by toddcudd
Fran recruited Q, personally.

Re: CJ - unreal

Posted: Thu May 30, 2019 11:43 pm
by ngineer
Nothing more that bar talk. Cannot compare different sports and different eras. BTW we had national lacrosse champions in the 1950's, and some great football teams in the Pazetti era who gave Jim Thorpe's team a good tussle. How about Olympic gold medalist Bob Weaver? The guy wrestled 15 pounds under his weight class and still won a bronze NCAA medal. Mark Lieberman with gold medals in Pan Am games and could well have gotten a gold in the 1980 Olympics but for the boycott.
I played four sports (football, wrestling, track and baseball) in high school, but only football at Lehigh, and can tell you that while my 'first love' is football, there is no question in my experience that wrestling is the toughest sport. This is not to diminish CJ. I think he is stupendous. I also thought DQ was amazing. Basketball has such a different skill set than other sports. CJ certainly has achieved the highest pinnacle of any Lehigh grad in professional sports, but greater than Olympic gold medalist or three-time NCAA Champion? There is no right answer. We have been graced with such outstanding athletes, and hopefully, many more to come.

Re: CJ - unreal

Posted: Fri May 31, 2019 10:56 am
by TMH
Yes..it's definitely bar talk but at this time of the year bar talk keeps the appetite whetted.

I do need to correct some information though (I believe). To the best of my knowledge, Lehigh never played football against the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, certainly not during Jim Thorpe's time there although Carlisle did manage to beat a powerful Penn team. Pat Pazzetti graduated in 1913. Jim Thorpe left in 1907.

Although I understand your point about wrestling, it is only one of a handful of sports that has you competing against people your own size and weight. CJ for example is regularly competing against men nearly a foot taller and 50 # heavier.

Again bar talk but it's fun. :-)