Ivy League must shake up conference scheduling to attract student support, reduce competitive imbalance

Members of a Brown Athletics-reported crowd of 525 watched as Brown men’s basketball took on Yale at the Pizzitola Sports Center on Jan. 17, 2022, nine days before Brown’s second-semester classes began. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

This Ivy League men’s basketball season, Brown men’s basketball will open its conference season against Penn.

Brown and the Red & Blue have formed a bit of a rivalry in recent years, facing off in key battles in the last three seasons vying for a berth in the Ivy League Tournament.

Brown has come up just a bit short in these moments and is yet to win an Ivy tourney bid. The Penn Band adds a raucous element on the road.

But here’s a group who won’t be in Providence for the matchup: the vast majority of Brown students.

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Brown men defeat Bryant and Hartford to extend winning streak to four

Senior guard Paxson Wojcik (32) has hit three treys in each of Brown’s last two games – both wins – going 6-for-14 from three-point range and scoring 37 points at Bryant and Hartford. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Despite missing two of their starting five for this weekend’s games, the Brown men came away with two convincing road victories against Bryant and Hartford.

The Bears (5-4), winners of four straight wins and five of their last six, are playing their best basketball of the year as they head into the last and hardest stretch of their nonconference schedule.

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2022-23 IHO Women’s Preseason Poll

It’s still Princeton’s conference until another Ivy proves that it isn’t. Our contributors are united in believing that the Tigers will stay on top in 2022-23, with Megan Griffith’s ascendant Columbia program again placing second.

But there wasn’t consensus on how the rest of the top half of the league will fill out.

Penn could break back into the Ivy League Tournament after missing it for the first time last season, but we expect the Red & Blue to draw stiff competition from Harvard and Yale in their first years under new coaches.

Will #2bidivy happen in the league for only the second time in conference history? It very well could, and the bottom half of the conference is likely to be substantially stronger this season as Brown and Dartmouth return more experienced rosters under coaches that now have a year of Ivy play under their belts.

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2022-23 Ivy season lookahead with Brown women’s coach Monique LeBlanc

Brown women’s coach Monique LeBlanc joins Ivy Hoops Online writer and host Steve Silverman to reflect on her journey from Prudential Financial into coaching, getting her top six scorers back from last season and expectations for 2021-22 rookie standout Isabella Mauricio, a large incoming first-year class, what a successful 2022-23 campaign would be for her program and more:

in case you missed it, check out Steve’s interviews with Cornell men’s coach Brian Earl here, Cornell women’s coach Dayna Smith here, Brown men’s coach Mike Martin here and Dartmouth women’s coach Adrienne Shibles here

2022-23 Ivy season lookahead with Brown men’s coach Mike Martin

Brown men’s coach Mike Martin joins Ivy Hoops Online contributor Steve Silverman and reflects on his being on track to become the all-time winningest coach in program history and his team’s disappointing results in close Ivy games last season (2-5 in games decided by four or fewer points). Martin also details his hopes for more late-game “unpredictability” on offense this season, considers the future of Ivy back-to-backs, explains why he favors expanding the Ivy League Tournament to include all eight schools and much more:

in case you missed it, check out Steve’s interview with Cornell men’s coach Brian Earl here and Cornell women’s coach Dayna Smith here.

Ivy hoops roundup – April 10, 2022

Cannady completing a comeback

Devin Cannady is nearing the end of a 10-day contract with the Orlando Magic that has marked an extraordinary comeback from a devastating injury for the former Princeton standout.

Cannady signed the contract March 31, making the jump from the Lakeland Magic of the NBA G League, where he had been averaging 15.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 16 games and 11 starts.

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Ivy Madness reporter’s notebook: Day 3

Princeton women’s basketball’s post-Ivy League Tournament final press conference was one of several revealing pressers during Ivy Madness. (photo by Rob Browne)

 

“This is the business we’ve chosen.” – Brian Earl and Hyman Roth

“We played for, I would say, a good 15 minutes tonight, but that’s not good enough against a good program.” – Columbia head coach Megan Griffith, following the Lions defeat to top-seeded Princeton

No matter what the coaches who did not earn victories on Saturday thought, I felt there were three really good games of college basketball on display at Lavietes Pavilion, including a fantastic opener that saw Princeton escape an upset big from Cornell, 77-73.  Hopefully, West Coast fans woke up at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning to catch it.

Here are some random thoughts and observations from the Ancient Eight’s Super Saturday:

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2021-22 IHO All-Ivy Men’s Awards

The Ivy League announced its major men’s awards Tuesday, but we know this is the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Ivy Hoops Online’s 2021-22 All-Ivy Awards, as determined by IHO’s contributors:

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Yale men best Brown as Swain shines on Senior Night

Senior guard Azar Swain shook off pre-game Senior Night anxiety to lead Yale to a 74-65 win over Brown Saturday night, registering 22 points on 8-for-15 shooting. (Photo by Erica Denhoff) 

On an emotionally charged Senior Night, Yale took care of business and defeated Brown in a Saturday night showdown, 74-65, at John J. Lee Amphitheater.

Four Yale seniors, Azar Swain, captain Jalen Gabbidon, Eze Dike and Jameel Alausa, played their last home games for the Bulldogs. Dike started after not playing this calendar year due to injury.

“I thought we played a better brand of Yale basketball,” coach James Jones said in comparing the performance to the efforts against Dartmouth and Cornell on the road last week. Jones captured his 350th career win. It was also his 191st Ivy League win, moving him ahead of former Penn coach Fran Dunphy into second place all-time in league history behind only Pete Carril.

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It’s unanimous: Clark Slajchert’s heroics elate Penn men and crush Brown

 

Even before the last-minute dramatics that resulted in a stunning road 88-87 win for the Red & Blue, everything about Saturday night’s game between Penn (12-13, 9-3 Ivy) and Brown (12-15, 4-8) was set up to made it a classic Ivy League showdown.

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