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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Three thoughts about Princeton women’s basketball’s play-in matchup with Iowa State at the NCAA Tournament

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Princeton’s corps of forwards is all smiles in a pregame huddle at the Ivy League Tournament in Providence, RI on Friday. (Steve Silverman | Ivy Hoops Online)

The Ivy League’s dream of a three-bid Ivy came to fruition on Sunday night when the final invitation to the Big Dance went to the Princeton Tigers.

“It’s awesome,” Princeton coach Carla Berube told reporters on Monday afternoon.  “We have a email chain going with the whole Ivy League and head coaches and, yeah, I mean, we’re thrilled, but we’re not shocked or surprised, and we know just the level of basketball and how talented our student athletes are. And we’re going about it the right way with our nonconference schedules and how we have to build that up.”

Princeton, a No. 11 seed, will face off in a play-in game against Iowa State, also a No. 11 seed, in the opening game of the NCAA Tournament on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET in South Bend, Ind. The winner will face No. 6 Michigan on Friday.

Here are three thoughts about Princeton’s bid and tomorrow’s matchup against the Iowa State Cyclones:

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Handicapping the Columbia and Penn men’s basketball coaching changes

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The Penn and Columbia men’s basketball coaching jobs are both open. There has been much speculation and more rumors.

What we know is neither team is in the postseason, but some of the candidates are. Penn has hired Georgia-based Parker Executive Search, an executive search firm.

Columbia athletic director Peter Pilling is handling the Columbia search. Pilling made a great hire on the women’s side in Megan Griffith in 2016 and should know talent when he sees it. He was at Ivy Madness on Friday and Saturday and played all conversations close to the vest. Every candidate will want to know definitively if there will be some form of NIL available.

The candidates and the odds:

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NCAA Tournament matchups set for Ivy League teams, with record-high three women’s bids

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The Ivy League’s men’s and women’s NCAA Tournament representatives are set, with a record-high four of them thanks to #3bidivy achieved on the women’s side:

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Ivy men’s final: No. 1 Yale takes Ivy League Tournament title in 90-84 shootout over No. 2 Cornell

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Yale men’s basketball celebrates its 2025 Ivy League Tournament championship at the Pizzitola Sports Center (Steve Silverman | Ivy Hoops Online)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Faced with a 16-point deficit early in the second half against the conference’s best team, Cornell staged a furious rally to get within a single possession on several occasions. But Yale always found a way to hold on and came away with a hard-fought 90-84 win to claim the 2025 men’s Ivy League Tournament championship.

“You know, it’s a hard game between us and Cornell, what you might expect playing the team a third time,” Jones told the media after the award ceremony. “I thought our guys battled and played really tough.”

Celebrating on the floor of Brown’s Pizzitola Sports Center, the Bulldogs (22-7) hoisted their second straight Ivy League Tournament trophy and fourth overall. James Jones’ squad, the first to win the conference tournament as the top seed since Princeton did it in 2017, will wait a few hours to hear its name called for next week’s NCAA Tournament.

“A tough game, obviously, Yale is really hard to beat, as someone in the tournament is going to find out in a week, Cornell coach Jon Jaques told the media immediately after the game. “You know, I thought we gave him a really good punch.”

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