Former Penn and Temple coach Fran Dunphy was honored for the impact he made throughout his coaching career during a ceremony at City Hall in Philadelphia Monday, four days after he received an honorary degree as Temple University graduated its 132nd class last week.
Mickey Crowley, long-time NCAA basketball referee and former Ivy League Coordinator of Officials for men’s basketball, died on May 5 at the age of 85. Crowley played for the All-Army baseball team from 1954-1957 and the Yankees minor league system in the early 1960s before turning his attention to basketball. He was the assistant executive director of officiating for high school athletics for more than 20 years in Nassau County (Long Island) before becoming an NCAA referee. He officiated in 21 straight NCAA Tournaments, including the 1989 and 1991 championships. Crowley eventually became the head of officiating for the Ivy, Patriot and A-10 Leagues, retiring from the Ancient Eight in 2009.
“Mickey was a well-respected fixture in college basketball officiating thanks to his engaging personality, devotion to the integrity of the game and knowledge of the rules,” Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris said. “The Ivy League is deeply saddened to hear of his passing and we extends our sympathies to his wife Pat and entire family.”
Philadelphia Phillies Chairman David Montgomery (Penn ’68, Wharton MBA ’70) died Wednesday at the age of 72, after battling cancer of the jaw for the last five years. Montgomery worked for the Phillies for almost 50 years, starting in the ticket office in 1971. He was promoted to executive vice president after the 1981 season, became chief operating officer in 1992 and remained in that position until being promoted to general partner, president and chief executive officer in 1997. He took a leave of absence in August 2014 to deal with his cancer and when he returned in January 2015, he was named chairman. Montgomery was a member of the Penn Board of Trustees and one of the men’s basketball team’s most loyal fans, who was so committed to his team that he arranged his cancer treatments to fit the Quakers’ schedule. His longtime friend, former Philadelphia mayor and Pennsylvania governor, Ed Rendell talked to Mike Jensen of Philly.com of Montgomery’s love of Penn and Philly hoops.
Princeton’s Bella Alarie made it to the semifinals of the USA Basketball 3×3 National Tournament in Las Vegas on May 3rd and 4th. Her Team Defend (Aleah Goodman – Oregon State, Jordan Lewis – Alabama, and Michaela Onyenwere – UCLA) went 4-0 in pool play before defeating the University of Maryland in the pre-quarterfinals and the University of Connecticut in the quarterfinals. In the semis, Alarie’s team lost 19-13 to the University of Oregon, which was led by first team All-American Sabrina Ionescu. The two-time Ivy Player of the Year (and Penn’s Eleah Parker) will next head to USA Basketball’s Pan Am Trials from May 16-20 in Colorado Springs.
In the men’s division of the same 3×3 National Tournament that same weekend, Ariel Slow & Steady (7-1) defeated Ariel NYAC (5-2) to captured its fourth championship in the last six years. Damon Huffman (Brown 2004-2008; Honorable Mention All-Ivy 2007, First Team All-Ivy 2008), Kareem Maddox (Princeton 2007-2011; Ivy Defensive POY 2011, First Team All-Ivy 2011) and Dan Mavraides (Princeton 2007-2011; Second Team All-Ivy 2010 and 2011) make up three quarters of Ariel Slow & Steady, while Ariel NYAC has Pawel Buczak (Princeton 2006-2010; Honorable Mention All-Ivy 2009). The victory gives Slow & Steady a spot in the 2019 FIBA 3×3 World Tour Masters held July 20-21 in Saskatoon, Canada, as they continue their quest to make it into the inaugural Olympic 3×3 Tournament at the Tokyo 2020 games.
Following a roller coaster few weeks, Brown sophomore Desmond Cambridge finally has a school for next season. After announcing that his transfer list had been narrowed to Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and Stanford on April 18, he dropped Stanford from that group on April 23.
Cambridge then announced he would be making his decision on Monday the 29th, but none arrived. On May 2, he tweeted that he would be reopening his recruitment, traveled to Nevada for an official visit on the 5th and then 100% committed to Steve Alford’s Wolfpack on Tuesday. Cambridge is the second player of the Mike Martin era to transfer to Nevada, following Leland King’s move in the fall of 2015. King, who had been named one of Sports Illustrated’s potential sophomore breakout stars of 2014-2015, sat out 2015-2016 and played one season for Eric Musselman’s Wolfpack before leaving for UC Santa Barbara as a graduate transfer.
Dartmouth’s Guilien Smith took a simpler route with his transfer, choosing to go to Northeastern for a graduate season.
Harvard senior Tommy McCarthy tweeted that he will be going to Rice as a graduate transfer in the 2019-2020 season. McCarthy is the second Ivy grad transfer to go to Rice, following former Penn forward Dylan Jones in 2017-2018. To continue the Ivy connection, Rice is led by Scott Pera, a former Penn assistant under Jerome Allen from 2012-2014. (IHO reached out to Rice Athletics this March to find out if Pera had been interviewed by Penn Athletics for its internal investigation into the Jerome Allen scandal, but the request went unanswered.)
Another former 2012-2014 Jerome Allen assistant, Jason Polykoff, resigned from the head coaching position at Earlham College in mid-April. Polykoff, who went 26-99 overall and 18-72 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, will reportedly return to coach Friends’ Central School in Philadelphia where he went 113-28 between 2007 and 2012. He is also listed as the head coach of Maccabi USA’s open men’s basketball for the Pan American Maccabi Games. (IHO reached out to Earlham Athletics this March to find out if Polykoff had been interviewed by Penn Athletics for its internal investigation into the Jerome Allen scandal, but the request went unanswered.)
Dave McLaughlin has filled the hole in Dartmouth’s staff with the hiring of Will Thoni from Davidson. Thoni is a 2014 graduate of Davidson, who played his senior season as a walk-on and was student manager the preceeding three years. After graduation, he spent two seasons on coach Bob McKillop’s staff as an Assistant for Program Development before being named director of student-athlete development for the 2016-2017 campaign. Two season later, Thoni was named Director of Basketball Operations in 2018-2019.
Cornell’s Matt Morgan was named Top Senior Male Athlete by the Cornell Daily Sun newspaper. The unheralded Concord, N.C. recruit ended his career with school records in points scored (2,333), scoring average (20.5 ppg), field goals made (743), field goals attempted (1,580) and free throws made (513). He also finished with single season records for points scored (687 in 2018-19) and made three-pointers per game (3.32 in 2018-19), as well as game records for 3-pointers in a game (9, twice). His first year point total of 510 were school and Ivy League records. In addition to finishing his career as the Ivy League’s second all-time leading scorer (trailing only Princeton’s Bill Bradley with 2,503 points), he was named second team All-Ivy in his first two seasons and first team in his last two campaigns. Morgan is the first Big Red cager to be named to the paper’s top spot since Nia Marshall, the women’s all-time leading scorer, was chosen in the spring of 2017. Samantha Clement, the captain of the women’s team was also named one of the Sun’s Top 25 Senior Athletes.
Courtney Banghart talked with Princeton Town Topics about the last days of her Princeton tenure and the beginning of her journey at the University of North Carolina.
The NBA released its list of 66 players invited to the 2019 NBA Draft Combine and Yale’s Miye Oni, the 2019 Ivy Player of the Year, made the cut. Missing the list will make the draft possibilities more difficult for Morgan, former Yalie Makai Mason, Princeton’s Devin Cannady, and Harvard junior Bryce Aiken.
Oni worked out for the Detroit Pistons on Friday, in advance of the Combine. An article at the Pistons’ website notes that Oni is projected as the No. 53 prospect at ESPN.com and No. 43 by The Athletic. The Pistons hold the No. 45 overall pick. If chosen by Detroit, Oni would be the first Ivy Leaguer playing for the organization since Columbia’s Jack Molinas was selected No. 3 overall by the then-Fort Wayne Pistons. Molinas was selected to the All-Star team in his rookie season but was suspended before it was played for betting on Pistons games.
Looking forward to the 2020 WNBA Draft, Howard Megdal of High Post Hoops has Alarie going No. 5 overall to the Dallas Wings, and the Draft Site website has Alarie going at No. 6 to the Minnesota Lynx. Meanwhile, Mechelle Voepel, who recently critiqued Banghart’s hiring by UNC and that school’s commitment to returning to the top, left Alarie (and any other non-Power 5 athletes) off her list of Top 12 seniors for 2019-2020.
Alarie’s former Princeton teammate, Leslie Robinson, was waived by the WNBA’s Chicago Sky, on May 8. Robinson, who was drafted by New York with the No. 34 pick in last year’s draft and waived during the Liberty’s training camp, went on to spend her first season of pro ball in Germany.
Penn men’s basketball postseason banquet:
AJ Brodeur (MVP), Jackson Donahue (Most Inspirational Player), Bryce Washington (Top Newcomer)
Columbia’s Sienna Durr, who had earlier been named Rookie of the Year by the Ivy League and Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association, was chosen as the top Female Rookie by Columbia Athletics.
The Harvard men’s basketball team announced its five-person Class of 2023:
Ciaran Brayboy F (New Trier High School, IL), Chris Ledlum F (Northfield Mount Hermon, MA; home – Staten Island, NY), Tommy O’Neil F (Vermont Academy, VT; home – Lexington, MA), Luka Sakota G (Kings Christian Collegiate, Ontario), Idan Tretout G (Wilbraham & Monson Academy, MA; home – Brooklyn, NY)
The Harvard women’s basketball team announced its five-person Class of 2023:
Gabby Donaldson G (Wakefield High School, NC), Gracie Martin G/F (Biddeford High School, ME), Lola Mullaney G (Manasquan High School, NJ), Sara Park G (Potomac School, VA), Annie Stritzel G (Nazareth Academy, IL)
The Cornell women’s basketball team announced its four-person Class of 2023:
KC Carter G (Holderness School, NH; home – Brooklyn, NY), Anna Hovis F (Bishop O’Connell High School, VA), Ania McNicholas G (Archbishop Mitty, CA), Shannon Mulroy PG (Lenape High School, NJ)
HoopDirt.com reported that Scott Faucher, the head coach of Nichols College has taken the same job at Assumption College. Faucher is the son of former Dartmouth head coach Dave Faucher. The elder Faucher arrived in Hanover in 1984 as an assistant to new head coach Paul Cormier. After Cormier left for Fairfield in the 1991-1992 season, Faucher was picked as his replacement and stayed for 13 seasons until he resigned at the completion of the 2003-2004 campaign. He finished his time at Dartmouth with the fourth most wins in program history (136-208), two second place finishes and a 54-53 victory over Penn on February 9, 1996, that ended the Quakers historic 48-game conference winning streak. Faucher has continued coaching at high schools and lower level college programs over the years and, most recently, was the interim coach for Lebanon High School in New Hampshire this past season.