Princeton men’s basketball’s 1975 NIT title run remembered 50 years later

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The 1975 NIT program, found in the author’s attic.

March 23 marked the 50th anniversary of an extraordinary moment in Ivy League basketball history, when Princeton University’s cagers shocked the college basketball world by winning the 1975 National Invitational Tournament. I fell in love with Princeton basketball that season as a 10-year old kid growing up in Princeton, N.J.

Armond Hill, Mickey Steurer, Barnes Hauptfuhrer, Tim “Speedy” van Blommesteyn, Peter “Mugsy” Molloy, Brian O’Neill, Ilan “Spider” Ramati — these Tigers were regular topics of dinner conversation in my house that year. I collected all of these heroes’ autographs on game programs marked with the players’ sweat.

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Quakeaways on Fran McCaffery becoming Penn men’s basketball’s new head coach

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Penn men’s basketball made it official on Thursday, revealing that the school has hired Class of 1982 alum Fran McCaffery as its head coach.

At first glance, the deal looks like a win-win for both sides. The Quakers get a proven high-major winner and one of the best offensive coaches in the country to revitalize the program and the alumni base. For the 65-year-old McCaffery, the homecoming job is a soft landing after a 15-season run at Iowa. McCaffery can recruit and scheme what will presumably be his last collegiate coaching job without the pressure-cooker environment inherent to power conference basketball these days.

There will be much ink to spill about McCaffery in the coming days and weeks, but in the short term, here are a few thoughts about the hire I’ve jotted down:

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Fran McCaffery returns to Penn as new head men’s basketball coach

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New Penn head coach Fran McCaffery has an overall record of 548-207, while taking four different programs to the NCAA Tournament. (Iowa Athletics)

With apologies to Thomas Wolfe, it appears you can go home again… even if it takes 42 years.

Former Iowa men’s basketball coach and 1982 Penn alum Fran McCaffery was named the University of Pennsylvania’s new coach in a Penn Athletics announcement Thursday.

The hire will be a homecoming for McCaffery, who grew up in Northwest Philadelphia, attended La Salle College High School and played for the Quakers from 1979 to 1982.

“I am thrilled to bring Fran back to Penn and Philadelphia as our next head men’s basketball coach,” Penn director of athletics Alanna Wren said in the press release. “Fran has had success at every level of Division I and is passionate about restoring our program to glory. His energy and enthusiasm for leading young men was apparent throughout the process and he has proven to be committed to player development and relationship-building with his student-athletes throughout his storied career.”

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LISTEN: Reaction to Princeton men’s basketball assistants reportedly being asked not to return

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Princeton correspondent George “Toothless Tiger” Clark reacts to a Daily Princetonian report Tuesday that associate head coach Brett MacConnell and assistant coach Lawrence Rowley were asked not to return to the Tigers’ bench after a fourth-place finish in the 2024-25 Ivy League standings despite being the preseason conference favorite:

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Columbia men’s basketball hires Kevin Hovde to be its next coach

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Former University of Florida assistant coach Kevin Hovde was named the new head coach of Columbia men’s basketball Monday. (Maddie Washburn | Florida Athletics)

Columbia athletic director Peter Pilling announced that Kevin Hovde, an assistant coach at Florida, has been named the Columbia men’s basketball program’s next coach Monday.

“I am honored to be named head coach of Columbia men’s basketball,” Hovde said in a statement. “Columbia is truly a special place for my family and me, and we are thrilled to be back. It’s humbling to have the opportunity to develop young men into leaders on and off the court at one of the top universities in the world. I am eager to get to work and build a program our alumni and community can be proud of. Our team will focus on having a consistent approach and an unrelenting competitive spirit as we strive for success in the Ivy League and beyond.”

This will be Hovde’s second stint in Morningside Heights, where he was an assistant to then-head coach Kyle Smith from 2011 to 2016.

Hovde will remain with the 2025 SEC Tournament champion Gators, which is in the Sweet 16 of this year’s NCAA Tournament, for the duration of the team’s run.

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No. 10 Harvard women’s basketball loses 64-50 slugfest to No. 7 Michigan State in NCAA Tournament

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The Harvard women’s basketball team celebrates after winning the women’s Ivy League Tournament championship game over Columbia at the Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, R.I. on March 15. Steve Silverman | Ivy Hoops Online)

In a NCAA Tournament Round of 64 matchup pitting No. 10 Harvard, one of the nation’s stingiest defenses, against No. 7 Michigan State, one of the country’s most prolific offenses, it was the higher seed coming away with a 64-50 victory Saturday. But the Spartans did it by effectively shutting down the Crimson for 40 minutes.

While Robyn Fralick’s squad, which won its first tournament game since 2019, moves on to a second-round game at Reynolds Coliseum Monday against host No. 2 North Carolina State, Carrie Moore’s team will use the experiences of this week, as well as the memories of its first Ivy League Tournament title, to make another run next season after ending an 18-year NCAA Tournament drought Saturday.

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No. 11 Columbia women’s basketball falls to No. 6 West Virginia, 78-59, in NCAA Tournament

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In a historic season of firsts, the Columbia women’s basketball team couldn’t get a NCAA Tournament Round of 64 win, falling on Saturday afternoon to the West Virginia Mountaineers, 78-59, in Chapel Hill, N.C.

The Mountaineers, who used a furious rally in the third quarter to defeat Princeton in last year’s NCAA Tournament Round of 64, ousted another Ivy foe on Saturday, dominating Columbia wire-to-wire.

Columbia is used to turning over its opponents with relentless full court pressure, but there’s an old saying in basketball that team’s that press don’t like to be pressed themselves, and that adage proved correct on Saturday as West Virginia’s signature zone press wreaked havoc on the Lions, forcing 25 turnovers, including 11 in the first quarter.

“West Virginia is a great team and a super-unique team in the women’s game,” Columbia coach Megan Griffith said postgame.  “I think what they do not a lot of teams do, right, and especially defensively. March Madness is who can make the other team the most uncomfortable, and I thought they did that successfully to start the game. You know, forcing 11 turnovers.”

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No. 13 Yale men’s basketball falls to No. 4 Texas A&M in NCAA Tournament

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All good things must come to an end.

So it went for No. 13 Yale men’s basketball in its 80-71 loss to No. 4 Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament Round of 64 Thursday night in Denver.

Junior forward Pharrel Payne had a career-high 25 points and added 10 rebounds for the Aggies.

A 1:43 sequence at the end of the first half epitomized Yale’s night in its third NCAA Tournament berth in four years.

The Bulldogs were struggling offensively and had no points from the Ivy Player of the Year, senior guard Bez Mbeng, yet were down only 35-29.

Aggies junior forward Solomon Washington was whistled for a flagrant foul off of a rebound.

Mbeng missed both free throws. Yale (22-8) did not convert on the free possession and then turned the ball over.

“In terms of our team, I couldn’t be prouder of our effort today,” Yale coach James Jones said. “It wasn’t our best performance.”

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Columbia women’s basketball takes down Washington in NCAA Tournament First Four victory

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The Columbia women’s basketball team took on Washington in a First Four game won by the Lions, 63-60, in Chapel Hill, N.C. Thursday night. (Columbia Athletics)

Twenty minutes from a second straight defeat in the NCAA Tournament’s First Four, the Columbia women’s basketball team “heard what they needed to hear” from coach Megan Griffith and overcame a 13-point deficit to defeat Washington 63-60 at Carmichael Arena on the campus of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Thursday night.

Thursday night’s NCAA victory, the first ever for the Lions’ program, propelled Columbia (24-6) into a first-round matchup against No. 6 West Virginia on Saturday at 2 p.m. on ESPNEWS. The Huskies (19-14), making their first appearance in the Big Dance since 2017, look to use this experience as motivation for next season.

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After third-quarter collapse, Princeton women’s basketball falls to Iowa State, 68-63, in the opening game of the NCAA Tournament

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The Princeton Tigers women’s basketball team probably wishes that third quarters could be dropped from the NCAA Tournament.

For the second year in a row, the Tigers squandered a first-half lead in the Big Dance, losing on Wednesday night in the opening game of the 2025 NCAA Tournament to fellow No. 11 seed Iowa State, 68-63, in a play-in game at Purcell Pavilion on the Notre Dame campus in South Bend, Ind.

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