Sometimes, a team just can’t escape the injury curse. Think of the Indiana Fever in the 2025 WNBA season. They fielded a record 17 players from an 11-player roster. They had multiple starters like Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham, and Aari McDonald out with injuries. The Dallas Wings were somewhat similar, with 16 players eventually playing for the team. However, none of them had to forfeit a game. That virus has now infested the college basketball setup.

The Lehigh women’s basketball team in the Patriot Conference was scheduled to play Navy in conference play. It was an important match-up regarding the conference, as Lehigh placed second in the conference with a 4-1 record. On the other hand, the Navy came into the game after winning three straight games with an average margin of victory of 27.7 points. However, the clash was called off.

“The Patriot League women’s basketball game between Lehigh and Navy, scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 17, has been canceled, with Lehigh forfeiting the contest due to an insufficient number of healthy players available to safely compete,” announced the conference. However, Lehigh hasn’t released a full list of players and the details regarding injuries.

They have likely kept the medical reports private for privacy. NCAA considers forfeits as no contests, so both teams will have their overall records unchanged. Within the Patriot League standings, Lehigh will take a league loss, according to the announcement. It will be questionable to see whether the Mountain Hawks will be fit enough to play on Wednesday when they travel to Baltimore to face Loyola Maryland University.

It’s not the first time such an incident has happened in college basketball. In 2024, the TCU Horned Frogs were scheduled to play at No. 7 Kansas State on Wednesday night and at No. 24 Iowa State. But they canceled both because of a lack of enough players. Lehigh isn’t alone. Other programs walking a similar tightrope should take notice.

Lehigh’s Forfeit is a troubling reminder for the rest of college basketball

Lehigh did not start with a thin rotation. Their squad has 12 players built with 4 freshmen, three sophomores, 3 juniors, and 2 seniors. So, the squad had a healthy mix of experience and youth. But it also highlights how injuries can derail a team. Even if they piece together 5 players for the next game and don’t forfeit any game, their rotation could remain limited.

Lehigh rotated just seven players in Wednesday’s loss to Boston University, with six playing 30+ minutes. Only eight played in Lehigh’s blowout win against Colgate. They were already playing on the edge. Over the course of the season, 6 players played more than 50% of the available minutes.

Jessie Ozzauto is playing 81.7% of the minutes, while Gracyn Lovette is playing 74.3%. Now, we don’t know the exact players who have been injured, but this workload, along with bad injury luck, has played a role in this crisis. Even if the players with high workloads haven’t been injured, they are at risk of future injuries.

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A 2024 NBA study concluded that the most prominent risk factor identified was minutes played per game, and that season-ending injuries were more common later in the season than earlier. This makes the workload patterns at schools like South Carolina and Texas worth examining as they currently operate on thin rotations.

The Gamecocks have 5 players playing more than half of the minutes. 2 play more than 70% of the time (Joyce Edwards, Raven Johnson). Texas has 4 players playing above 50%, and two play more than 80% (Jordan Lee, Madison Booker). Yes, a direct comparison between Lehigh and those two is not 1:1.

The top programs have better facilities, more resources, and a comprehensive supporting staff, preventing this very thing. Despite that, bad luck can strike anybody at any time, and it’s better to be safe than to be sorry. As the season progresses, South Carolina and Texas, along with other programs across the country, may need to rethink how much their stars carry the load.