Ivy weekend roundup – Mar. 6, 2017

What a long, strange trip it’s been …

This has been a crazy season for Ivy League basketball, all 16 weeks of it. From Harvard’s starting the season 14 hours away in Shanghai to Penn’s regular season-ending triumph over the Crimson Saturday night, this season has been full of surprises and unusual trends.

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On the Vine – Mar. 2, 2017

On the Vine welcomes two very special guests – Princeton basketball 2008 alum and radio and Ivy League Digital Network commentator, and IHO contributor Ian Wenik.

Savage breaks down the many factors fueling Princeton’s undefeated Ivy run through 12 games, previews the Tigers’ regular season-closing weekend and looks ahead to how the Ivy League Digital Network will cover the inaugural Ivy League Tournament. Wenik reflects on the atmosphere at Levien Gym and analyzes how Columbia bounced back from a drubbing by Princeton Friday evening to pivotally push past Penn the following night. The panel considers potential future sites for the Ivy tournament and predicts what the inaugural tourney’s four men’s seeds will be next weekend.

In addition to Savage and Wenik, hosts Peter Andrews and Mike Tony are joined by IHO writer George Clark.

On the Vine – program alert

Joining us tonight On the Vine will be IHO contributor Ian Wenik and very special guest Noah Savage, a 2008 Princeton alum and ace Tigers commentator for radio and the Ivy League Digital Network.

Listen live at 7 p.m. EST: mixlr.com/on-the-vine

Ivy weekend roundup – Feb. 27, 2017

One impressive Ivy winning streak continued this weekend, while another very consequentially ended.

Princeton upped its consecutive win total to 15, effectively clinching the No. 1 seed in the inaugural Ivy League Tournament, to be played March 11 and March 12 at the Palestra. The last four Tiger victories have been by double digits, and Princeton’s defense is shutting down opponent after opponent.

Penn, though, couldn’t escape the Empire State unscathed, suffering a crucial 70-67 defeat at Columbia that snapped both the Red and Blue’s five-game winning streak and the Lions’ five-game losing skid, keeping Columbia very much in the race for the inaugural Ivy League Tournament’s No. 4 seed.

But that race isn’t what most Ivy supporters thought it was as recently as this past weekend. On Sunday morning, in response to a question from Mike James (@ivybball), the Ivy League confirmed that second tiebreaker for the No. 4 seed doesn’t just take into account the No. 4 candidates’ records versus tournament qualifiers from No. 1 through No. 3, which is how most Ivy observers interpreted the tiebreaker (which can be read at the #IvyMadness site here). Instead, the tiebreaker would be the highest Ivy that one No. 4 candidate beat that other didn’t, even if that tiebreak goes as low as Brown or Cornell.

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On the Vine – Feb. 23, 2017

On the Vine welcomes two very special guests – Columbia Director of Basketball Operations Jonathan Safir and Mike James (@ivybball).

Safir discusses how Columbia is regrouping after a four-game skid and sizes up what the Lions are looking for in their crucial matchups versus Princeton and Penn this weekend. Mike James discusses Penn’s variance-balancing act, and the panel weighs in on the inaugural Ivy League Tournament being held automatically at the Palestra.

In addition to Safir and James, hosts Peter Andrews and Mike Tony are joined by IHO writer George Clark.

On the Vine program alert

Columbia Director of Basketball Operations Jonathan Safir and Mike James (@ivybball) are set to join IHO writer George Clark and hosts Peter Andrews and Mike Tony for this week’s podcast episode of On the Vine. Listen live Thursday at 8:15 p.m. EST and send questions for the panel at Mixlr here.

Ivy weekend roundup – Feb. 20, 2017

This was a momentous weekend for Ivy League basketball. First-place Princeton ran its winning streak to 13 games (10 in Ivy competition) in dominant fashion. Penn, meanwhile, snagged the No. 4 slot in the Ivy standings, erasing a Columbia four-game lead over the Red and Blue in the standings in just nine days courtesy of an equally dominant road sweep of Brown and Yale, a watermark back-to-back sequence for a long dormant program.

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On the Vine – Feb. 16, 2017

On the Vine welcomes two very special guests – Dartmouth Director of Basketball Operations Scott Waterman and Yale Undergraduate Sports Analytics Group President Luke Benz.

Waterman discusses what has fueled Dartmouth’s gradual progress over the course of this season under new head coach David McLaughlin, and Benz highlights the games to watch out for in the race for the Ivy League Tournament No. 4 seed – while both consider the use of analytics in basketball scouting and fandom, respectively.

In addition to Waterman and Benz, hosts Peter Andrews and Mike Tony are joined by IHO writer George Clark.

On the Vine program alert

Dartmouth Director of Basketball Operations Scott Waterman and Yale Undergraduate Sports Analytics Group President Luke Benz are set to join IHO writer George Clark and hosts Peter Andrews and Mike Tony for this week’s podcast episode of On the Vine. Listen live Thursday at 7 p.m. EST and send questions for the panel at Mixlr here.