Mike Tony

Reading the Ivy tea leaves – Penn roundup

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Thanks to everyone close to the Penn basketball program in some capacity who shared their thoughts on their hopes and expectations for the Quakers this season:

A.J. Brodeur, Penn basketball class of 2020: I think this year for Penn, people need to watch out for the freshman class. There’s a lot of talent there that was under-recruited in high school in my opinion. Also, Steve’s style of play focuses on letting the players play with offensive guidelines and concepts rather than always running defined plays and offenses. It’s worked for him in the past and I’m excited to see where it takes the Quakers this year. I think Penn basketball will definitely turn some heads this year.

Ryan Betley, Penn basketball class of 2020: This upcoming season, I am looking forward to seeing how coach Donahue’s offense works and how the guys on the team buy into it. It’s a big style change from the previous coach, but I think it makes a lot of sense: Shoot rhythm threes and get the ball inside. In addition, I’m intrigued to see how the freshman class performs, knowing I will be teammates with them for the next three years. I know the expectations aren’t that high but I think Penn can still be a sleeper in the Ivy League this year. #GoQuakers

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Reading the Ivy tea leaves – Brown roundup

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Ian Halpern, IHO founder and writer:

Most looking forward to: Watching this team when they get out and run. They have a lot of backcourt talent and should be very fun to watch when they push the tempo and the threes are falling.

Expectations: Relying on youth is a dangerous proposition in the Ivy League. The Bears have a few too many newcomers to expect them to compete for a title, but I think Brown will surprise some people and win a few games they aren’t expected to. Ultimately, I expect a mid-conference finish within a game of .500.

Kevin McNamara, Providence Journal sportswriter:

For Brown to contend in the Ivies this season, we’ll have to see the very best of big man Cedric Kuakumensah. Cedric has shown superlative defensive effort for three years but this season Mike Martin needs his center to dominate on both ends of the floor. Kuakumensah is one of four returning starters at Brown and that experience must show through on a consistent basis. Point guard Tavon Blackmon made big gains last season and could emerge as one of the top guards in the Ivy this season.

Join in the fun. What do you expect from the Brown Bears in 2015-16? Kuakumensah-led sleeper contention for the Ivy crown? Another 10-loss conference campaign? Let us know in the comments below.

Haiku Corner – Brown season preview edition

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Welcome to Haiku Corner, where we analyze what to look for with each Ivy squad this upcoming season, three lines at a time (with supporting links to boot):

King Kuakumensah

But who else inside now?

Must shore up the paint

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Rhythm from Blackmon

But don’t sleep on Daugherty

Or roster hiccups

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Brothers on the wing

Brothers on the greenery

Brothers in big arms

Reading the Ivy tea leaves – Cornell roundup

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IHO has reached out to folks who cover or follow each Ivy program to gauge what they’re looking forward to most about this upcoming season and how they expect the team will fare in 2015-16. First up, the team projected in the Ivy Preseason Media Poll to finish last in the Ivy League this season, the Cornell Big Red:

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Ivy Hoops Plus: Q&A with Cornell visiting assistant professor Kevin Kniffin

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We present a new feature, Ivy Hoops Plus, in which we shine a light on the many impactful works that those in the Ivy League are doing off the court, whether they”re Ivy academics conducting sports-related research, former basketball players embarking on noteworthy projects, or anything else that merits checking in on.

First up is Kevin Kniffin (@KevinKniffin), visiting assistant professor of organizational behavior and leadership at Cornell. Kniffin coauthored a 2015 study in the Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, “Sports at Work: Anticipated and Persistent Correlates of Participation in High School Athletics,” which examines whether former high school athletes make better employees than nonathletes. The study found that former student-athletes are expected to possess relatively greater leadership ability as well as more self-confidence and self-respect than others, and that participation in competitive youth sports results in demonstrated higher-status careers. Perhaps most importantly, the study found that there is a troubling lack of studies focusing on the effects of youth sports participation, suggesting that sports participation”s impact on the workplace need to be further examined as well.

Let”s hear from Kniffin after the jump…

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Making sense of Tony Hicks' departure from Penn basketball

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Tony Hicks was a two-time All-Ivy honorable mention and reached the 1,000-point plateau in February. (USA Today Images)
Tony Hicks was a two-time All-Ivy honorable mention and reached the 1,000-point plateau in February. (USA Today Images)

Tony Hicks has walked away from a most interesting scene, just when we thought he’d be front and center.

Unfortunately, what made the scene so interesting in theory is probably what kept it from ever becoming a reality.

The senior guard has left the program, according to a Friday afternoon press release from Penn Athletics:

“After speaking with Coach (Steve) Donahue about the best situation for Penn basketball and myself, I have decided the best decision for me will be to take a break from basketball,” Hicks said in the release. “I plan to graduate from Penn in May, and then take my next step as a basketball player next year.

“This is a personal decision, and I wrestled long and hard with it because I have thoroughly enjoyed playing for Penn the last three years and wearing the Red and the Blue. I want to wish the guys on the team and the coaches all the best for this season and future seasons, and I will definitely be backing them in The Palestra during these next several months.”

Hicks leaves a lot on the table. He was named a captain for the 2015-16 season, was the leading scorer for the Quakers for the past two seasons and figured to be the greatest beneficiary of an offensive system under coach Steve Donahue that values efficiency through careful shot selection (i.e., shoot under the hoop or behind the three-point line).

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Ivy League KenPom rankings released

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Celebrated weather expert Ken Pomeroy has come out with his 2016 College Basketball Ratings, and he is riding the Princeton bandwagon, reinforcing the idea that the smart money is on Princeton to win the 2015-16 Ivy championship. KenPom’s numbers reflect the notion that Yale’s comparatively weak adjusted offensive efficiency and Columbia’s comparatively weak adjusted defensive efficiency will respectively hold them back from trumping the Tigers this season.

81 – Princeton
115 – Yale
126 – Columbia
169 – Harvard
224 – Penn
229 – Dartmouth
243 – Brown
311 – Cornell

And the final 2015 KenPom College Basketball Ratings:

70 – Yale
73 – Harvard
148 – Princeton
165 – Dartmouth
175 – Columbia
205 – Cornell
261 – Brown
289 – Penn

Ivy Preseason Media Poll puts Yale at top of league

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Today’s release of the Ivy Preseason Media Poll yielded a predictably unpredictable outlook for the 2015-16 14-game tournament.

Yale was selected to finish first in the poll, garnering 117 points and five first-place votes. But by no means is there an Eli-favoring consensus here. Columbia and Princeton, finishing second and third in the poll respectively, each actually finished with more first-place votes (six) than Yale.

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Justin Sears gets Slam spotlight, but not CBS Sports kudos

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Yale Athletics
(Yale Athletics)

Yes, Justin Sears remembers how Yale’s season ended last year.

According to an insightful new article from Slam Magazine, Sears found a box of t-shirts in the locker room with “2014-15 Ivy League Champs” emblazoned on them, including the message, “We’re in.”

This message would be great if it weren’t for the fact that Harvard beat Yale in the Ivy League playoff last season, thus swiping a NCAA Tournament berth away from the Bulldogs in dramatic fashion.

But Sears took one of the shirts and put it in his room as a reminder of what he has to work toward as a senior. Motivation indeed.

And oh yeah, did I mention Sears is reigning Ivy Player of the Year? Because Sears, casino online players in college hoops for 2014-15″ href=”http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/24773610/cbssportscoms-top-100-players-in-college-hoops-for-2014-15″ target=”_blank”>for the second year in a row, was left completely off the CBS Sports list of the top 100 basketball players.

Yale (No. 80) was also placed behind Columbia (No. 72) in CBS Sports’ ranking of all 351 teams in college basketball, despite Sears’ return.

If sports is about redemption, Yale is your team to root for this season.