Here’s what you’ve all been waiting for: the 2019-20 Ivy Hoops Online All-Ivy Men’s honorees as selected by IHO contributors, which are quite bit different from the selections that the Ivy League released:
Eric Monroe
Yale men get swept by Harvard
You know the adage. It has been uttered hundreds of times by countless college coaches and scribes.
It is tough to beat a team three times in a season.
That has to be a mantra for Yale heading into a week of practice before Ivy Madness.
Yale men roll to another Ivy League title
On Saturday, it will be exactly five years since one of the toughest nights in recent Yale men’s basketball history. Leading by five points in the final minute against a Dartmouth team that was playing just for pride, the Bulldogs lost in perhaps the most excruciating manner possible: a buzzer-beater by Gabas Maldunas off an inbound play. The Ivy League title trophy – set to be awarded to Yale – was quickly covered and hustled out of Leede Arena and Hanover.
After losing a tiebreaker to Harvard the following week, their NCAA Tournament drought reached 53 years, and – having graduated four contributing seniors – who knew when they would get another chance the way Harvard and Princeton were trending?
Yale men continue success against Princeton, remain atop Ivy standings
NEW HAVEN – The hegemony over Princeton continues for Yale at John J. Lee Amphitheater.
The Elis defeated the Tigers, 66-63, Yale’s sixth straight win in the series. The win also marks the ninth home weekend sweep of Princeton and Penn. To put this into historical context, Penn leads the overall series by 151-82 and Princeton leads it now 150-84.
Read moreYale men continue success against Princeton, remain atop Ivy standings
How the Yale men pulled off an improbable comeback to upend Penn
In a game strewn with improbabilities, the most improbable stat was Yale rallying from down 10 with 1:38 remaining to upend Penn, 76-73, before 2,106 screaming fans at John J. Lee Amphitheater.
Sure, AJ Brodeur had 25 points and Devon Goodman 23 for Penn in a losing effort, but the number which jumps off the page from the stat sheet is five.
That’s how many steals Yale defensive specialist Jalen Gabbidon pocketed, three of which came during the final 98 seconds.
Read moreHow the Yale men pulled off an improbable comeback to upend Penn
Penn men still looking for fulfilling finish after collapse at Yale
Whether it’s fair or not, we’re often defined in life by how we finish. How we finish relationships. How we finish jobs. How we finish thoughts.
For Penn at John J. Lee Amphitheater Friday night, the finish wasn’t worthy of the start.
Penn appeared to deliver the coup de grâce to Yale when senior guard Devon Goodman hit a three-pointer, his sixth of the night on seven attempts, to put the Red & Blue up 73-63 with 2:52 remaining.
Then the long nightmare casting a longer shadow over Penn’s Ivy League Tournament hopes began.
Read morePenn men still looking for fulfilling finish after collapse at Yale
Cornell blows eight-point lead with three minutes left to fall to first-place Yale in double overtime
Brian Earl has told me before that his Big Red squad has found every possible way to lose a game. Well, on Friday night at Newman Arena, they found yet another.
Cornell led for almost the entire ballgame and held a comfortable eight-point lead with just under three minutes to play in Ithaca. Eric Monroe drilled a three for the Bulldogs, and Jordan Bruner converted on a layup with just over two minutes in regulation, and then Azar Swain hit a tough three to tie things up with 61 seconds remaining.
The sides would then trade turnovers before a Terrance McBride halfcourt attempt to win the game fell short, sending the game to overtime.
Yale thrashes Princeton at Jadwin, 88-64
The Princeton-Yale series has, more often than not, at least in this century, featured consequential contests. Adding to the mystique of the H-Y-P rivalries, basketball games among these three usually match teams contending for the Ivy League championship.
Last night’s visit to Jadwin by the Bulldogs fit the bill perfectly, bringing together two teams tied atop the standings with 5-1 records in this week’s “Game Of The Year.” I remember writing about a Yale game at Jadwin Gym a few years ago described as “the most intense game I had witnessed in many years.”
The larger than usual crowd filing into the arena last night expected more of that intensity. Adding to the aura of excitement was the much anticipated annual halftime appearance of Red Panda, the San Francisco-based performer who uses her foot to flip cups onto a saucer placed on the top of her head while balanced on an 8-foot unicycle. You have to see it to appreciate it.
Yale men complete sweep of Brown
It was the Paul Atkinson and Matthue Cotton show at the Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, as Yale completed the sweep of Brown with a 73-62 win Friday night.
Both teams opened up cold from the field, and turnovers were the order of the day in the early going.
Yale coach James Jones brought Cotton in and the quick shooting sophomore guard from New Jersey hit four of his first five three-point shots to distance the league-leading Bulldogs from the Bears.
Yale led 33-25 at the half. Yale’s trademark defense forced high-scoring Brown into numerous off balance threes. The Bears focused largely on Jordan Bruner, who had torched Brown in New Haven.
The second half saw more of the same, as Atkinson scored inside on some nifty feeds and Cotton and dagger-shooting Azar Swain from the outside.
Reserve Wyatt Yess had another solid game for Yale with seven key rebounds.
Brown cut the deficit to six on two occasions late in the game, but an inside move by Atkinson and a three by Swain from the parking lot ended Brown’s bid.
Atkinson finished with 24 and Cotton with a career-high 20, with 15 coming in the first half. Bruner was held to two and had eight rebounds to lead Yale. Eric Monroe and Swain had 10 each.
“Really impressed with our team,” Jones said. “I knew Brown would be ready and give us their best. Our young men stepped up to the challenge.”
Brandon Anderson led Brown with 20 points and Tamenang Choh chipped in with 11 and a game-leading 12 rebounds.
Yale now sits at 14-4, 2-0 Ivy and Brown at 7-8, 0-2.
Both teams start Ivy back-to-backs next weekend, with Columbia at Yale and Cornell at Brown on Friday evening.
Yale men best Brown in Ivy opener, 70-56
No team in the Ivy is playing even close to the level of Yale and that was exemplified on Friday night before a huge throng at John J. Lee Amphitheater. The Bulldogs played their patented suffocating defense and defeated a talented Brown squad, 70-56.