Q&A with Yale coach Allison Guth

by
Yale coach Allison Guth has a lot to look forward to in her fourth season leading the rising program. (Ivy League Digital Network)

We caught up with Yale women’s basketball coach Allison Guth, who is embarking on her fourth season helming the Bulldogs and fresh off a recent contract extension through the 2023-24 season. 

Ivy Hoops Online: Not many teams have an opportunity to win their last game of the season. Yale did last year, winning the WBI. What was that experience like?

Allison Guth: Anytime your team can experience a “one and done” tournament setting is a benefit to the growth of your program. Having your back against the wall and needing to get the “W” to advance proves a mental toughness and fortitude.  Our team was able to grow as a result of winning one in a row four times to earn a postseason championship.

IHO: You did suffer some major graduation losses. Can you assess how that impacts the team?

Read more

Penn men aim to repeat with the help of new recruits

by

Following an 0-6 start to Ivy play in 2017, the Penn men’s basketball team went 6-2 through the remainder of the conference schedule to claim the final spot in the inaugural Ivy Tournament. Despite having home court advantage and never trailing to undefeated Princeton during regulation, the Quakers could not find a way to close out the game and lost in the semifinals. Heading into 2017-2018, the expectations were that Penn, while not ready to challenge for the top of the conference, would build upon their immediate success and have a much more comfortable time at securing the four seed. The preseason media poll reflected this idea, with the Red & Blue being picked fourth with 88 points, 28 points behind third ranked Princeton and 31 points ahead of fifth place Columbia.

The Quakers entered the Ivy schedule at 9-5 with highlight wins on the road at Monmouth (in 4 OT) and Dayton.  However, Penn’s 85-72 home loss to Toledo (KenPom #113) on December 29th was a troubling way to enter the January 9th conference opener against the Tigers.  Penn put any concerns to rest, snapping an eight-game losing streak to Princeton on its way to a 7-0 start to the league schedule.  Following a loss at Harvard, the Quakers won its next four, including a three point home win against the Crimson.  A controversial last second 80-79 loss at Yale left Penn tied with Harvard going into the regular season finale.  A 99-93 over Brown gave the Red & Blue (24-9 overall, 12-2 Ivy, 1-3 Big Five) a share of the Ivy title, its 26th overall championship and first since 2007.

Read more

Former Columbia forward Jeff Coby signs with New York Knicks

by

 

The New York Knicks announced Sunday night that they have signed former Columbia forward Jeff Coby, making Coby’s Knick status official.

Ian Begley of ESPN reported Sunday that Coby and the Knicks had reached a verbal agreement prior to training camp.

Coby averaged 5.1 points and 3.9 rebounds in 14.9 minutes per game during his four seasons as a Lion, providing strong rebounding for Columbia’s 2015-16 CIT champion squad.

Read more

Yale’s Allison Guth receives contract extension through 2023-24

by
Yale indicated it wants to keep women’s basketball coach Allison Guth around long-term by offering her a contract extension through the 2023-24 season. (Ivy League Digital Network)

Yale athletic director Vicky Chun announced Friday that the school had signed women’s basketball coach Allison Guth to a contract extension through the 2023-24 season. This follows a season, where the Bulldogs made its first appearance in the Ivy Tournament, earned 19 wins and won the Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI) Tournament championship. Said Chun in the Athletic Department announcement, “Allison Guth has proven herself to be an excellent coach, recruiter and mentor. Yale women’s basketball is in great hands with her leading the way.”

In three years as Yale’s head coach, Guth has an overall record of 48-38 with a five-win improvement between years one and three.  In the Ivy League, she is 19-23 with a 8-6 mark last season.  She is in her second stint at Yale, where she was the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator from 2010-2012.  “Having the support of tremendous visionaries like President (Peter) Salovey and Vicky Chun make my job especially rewarding,” said Guth in the program’s announcement. “I am incredibly grateful for the belief that our leadership at Yale has in our program’s growth, knowing that this opportunity exists because of our fantastic staff and players who have worked relentlessly to build a championship culture.”

Read more

Princeton men’s recruits look to help team return to form in 2018-19

by

Even though the Princeton men’s team lost Ivy Player of the Year Spencer Weisz, first team All-Ivy Steven Cook and 25 game starting center Pete Miller from the undefeated regular and postseason Ivy champions of 2016-17, last year’s team was still expected to challenge for the 2018 Ivy title. Selected third in the preseason media poll, the Tigers trailed Yale by three points and Harvard by only eight, while picking up three first-place votes. With returning first team All-Ivy and conference Defensive Player of the Year Myles Stephens, honorable mention All-Ivy Devin Cannady and a resurgent Amir Bell anchoring the back court, Princeton entered the season optimistic that the new frontcourt would develop by the start of league play to give the team a shot at a repeat.

Early-season losses to Butler, BYU, St. Joseph’s, and Miami contributed to a 2-5 start for the Tigers. They rebounded in the later part of the non-conference schedule, including a 103-93 overtime victory at USC, to pull even at 7-7 by the start of the Ivy schedule. Despite an opening game loss at the Palestra to an improved Penn, Princeton found itself at 3-1 in league play, following an overtime win against Yale. The Tigers then, unexpectedly, went 0-7 with three overtime defeats and losses to each of the previous year’s lower division teams. After two wins against Dartmouth and Brown, Princeton entered the regular season finale with a solid shot at the fourth spot in the Ivy Tournament.  The Tigers got the necessary Harvard win over Columbia, but they lost by four to Yale, in their fifth overtime game of their Ivy season. In 2018-19, the Orange & Black (13-16, 5-9 Ivy) will look to put last year’s fifth-place effort behind them and show the rest of the conference that they belong in the league’s upper division.

Read more

Reports: Jerome Allen pleads guilty to taking bribe while coaching Penn

by

Multiple publications reported Friday that former Penn head coach Jerome Allen pleaded guilty to a bribery-related money laundering charge in Miami federal court this week.

Allen admitted to accepting $18,000 in bribes in 2014 from Morris Esformes, a wealthy Miami Beach businessman who was the father of a then-prospective student, according to multiple outlets. As part of the agreement, Allen will reportedly repay the $18,000 in addition to a $200,000 fine.

Penn fired Allen in March 2015, and he has been assistant coach for the NBA’s Boston Celtics since July 2015. Allen will be suspended from his role as assistant coach by the Celtics for about two weeks, according to the Boston Herald.

Penn Athletics announced in July that it was retaining outside counsel to investigate bribery allegations against Allen, who was the head coach at Penn for six seasons, following reports that Allen took bribes at Penn.

An expanded indictment against Esformes accused him of giving Allen more than $74,000 in the form of cash, a recruiting trip to Miami and a separate ride on a private jet in 2013 and 2014, according to Bloomberg.

Penn Athletics declined comment Saturday on Allen’s guilty plea, adding that it not have any updates on outside counsel’s investigation of Allen.

Read more

2019 Ivy men’s and women’s recruiting update

by

Since Ivy recruits do not sign National Letters of Intent, the Athletic Departments of the Ancient Eight schools cannot comment on student-athletes’ commitments until after they are formally accepted and place their deposits.  As a result, the following list is a summary of committed recruits for the Class of 2023 that have been obtained from searching the internet.

If any reader has any athlete to add to the list, please send a note to [email protected].

Read more

Report: Former Yale basketball player defends Brett Kavanaugh amid questions about his drinking history

by

On Sunday, Chad Ludington, a former Yale men’s basketball player, issued a statement to the New York Times that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was not truthful about his drinking history during his Thursday testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.  After watching the Judge discuss his past behavior during a Fox News interview and under oath in front of the judiciary committee last week, Ludington felt it was civic duty to come forward to tell of his experience drinking with Kavanaugh during their undergraduate years.  In addition to the Times, the former ballplayer planned on telling the information to the FBI in Raleigh, N.C, on Monday.

According to a report at Yahoo.com, Kavanaugh, a Yale undergraduate from 1983-1987, tried out for the Bulldogs’ varsity team in the fall of 1983, but was cut by then-coach Tom Brennan.  After time spent playing on the junior varsity basketball team and reporting on the varsity program for the Yale Daily News, Kavanaugh attended Yale Law School from 1987-1990.  Following his graduation, he became a clerk for Judge Walter King Stapleton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, a fellow with the Solicitor General of the United States, a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, a member of Ken Starr’s Office of the Independent Counsel, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, an associate of the White House Counsel Alberto Gonzalez, an Assistant to President George W. Bush, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and a nominee for an Associate Justice position of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Read more

Q&A with Yale coach James Jones

by
Ivy Hoops Online caught up recently with Yale coach James Jones.
Ivy Hoops Online: Please tell us about how Jordan Bruner is progressing after his injury last season (a torn meniscus that kept him out in for the entire 2017-18 campaign).
James Jones: Jordan is in great shape. He’s progressed well with his injury and is looking forward to returning to game action.

IHO: You have a group of talented freshmen. Do you expect them to get much playing time?
JJ: All of our freshmen have an opportunity to help us this season. It will mainly depend on how quickly they pick up our actions on both sides of the ball.
IHO: Have you seen, since your first days as Yale coach, as much strength throughout the Ivies as in this upcoming season?
JJ: The overall talent in the league has improved greatly over the years, as well as all the overall level of each team.
IHO: You open up in China against California on Nov. 9. How did that game develop?
JJ: We were approached by the Pac-12 with this once in a lifetime opportunity, and it was an experience we couldn’t pass on.

Read more