With conference play in the 2022-23 Ivy League men’s basketball season fast approaching, let’s take a look back at the nonconference results for each team and examine each program – listed by season winning percentage:
Yale (10-3): With a gaudy winning percentage of .769, Yale has been the Ivy League’s top dog so far. The Bulldogs ripped off six straight wins to begin the season and didn’t drop a contest until November 27, when they were collared by Colorado, 65-62, in Boulder. Yale has been winning with big second-half performances and suffocating defense, a signature of any team coached by James Jones. The Bulldogs are yielding an average of only 56.1 points per game, which ranks No. 8 in the nation.
In addition to playing stingy defense, the Bulldogs have been lifted by the stellar play of junior forward Matt Knowling, who has filled up the stat sheet with a team-high output of over 16 points per game. However, if Jones has a concern heading into Ivy League play, it might be the health of Knowling, who has missed Yale’s last three games due to injury.
Cornell (10-3): New season, same surprisingly good results. A year ago, the Cornell Big Red put the rest of the league on notice by winning eight of 11 nonconference games. This season, they won 10 of 14 nonconference games (including a perfect 6-0 record at home), and head into the new year with a winning percentage of .714, second-best among Ivy teams.
The Big Red are once again getting it done with prolific and balanced scoring from a deep roster of players. At the midway point of the season, Cornell leads the league in offense by scoring an average of 84.8 points per game, more than eight points higher than the next-best team, Yale. With 13 games in the books, coach Brian Earl is coaxing more than seven points per game from no fewer than eight different players. That’s not to say that Earl doesn’t have a star player he can rely on to carry the team in times of need. Senior Greg Dolan, who leads the Big Red with 13.8 points and 4.6 assists per game, looks like a strong candidate to earn first-team All-Ivy League honors.
Princeton (9-4): The defending Ivy League champions posted a respectable winning percentage of .692 during their nonconference slate, and along the way, the Tigers claimed the program’s first holiday tournament championship in over two decades by winning the Inaugural London Basketball Classic in November. This promising news is tempered by the reality that Princeton probably played its weakest nonconference schedule during the Mitch Henderson era. For the first time in recent memory, the Tigers did not schedule a single high-major opponent. Moreover, two of Princeton’s nine wins came against Division III opponents.
The weak schedule could end up paying dividends, however, as it may have helped a talented group of freshmen build confidence as they begin Ivy League play on New Year’s Eve. Princeton’s exciting cadre of freshmen, including Xaivian Lee, Deven Austin and Caden Pierce, have played a critical role in Princeton’s success so far. Any hope the Tigers have of repeating as Ivy League champions will depend on whether the rookies can sustain the high level of play they displayed during nonconference play. Finally, the key number that emerged from Princeton’s first 13 games is 70 points – not for the Tigers, but for their opponents. So far, Princeton is 9-0 when holding their opponents under 70 points. Conversely, when the Tigers allow 70 points or more, they are 0-4.
Harvard (9-5): Harvard entered the season as somewhat of a mystery, and 14 games into the 2022-23 season, there are still more questions than answers about Tommy Amaker’s squad. Despite a winning percentage of .643, the Crimson look like a work in progress. On one hand, the Crimson have registered impressive wins against UC Irvine, the highest ranked team by KenPom to have been beaten by any Ivy team this season, and Loyola-Chicago. On the other hand, the Crimson inexplicably dropped a contest at home to Howard by 12 points on December 18. Road losses to Louisiana and Fordham also raised questions about how complete a team the Crimson are.
The good news for Harvard is that senior forward Chris Ledlum, who missed most of the Ivy League season last year due to injury, is back in action and looking dominant when he’s on the floor. The power forward from Brooklyn is averaging 18.7 points per game, second-best in the Ivy League. Harvard will need Ledlum to stay healthy to have any chance of winning the league title this season.
Brown (7-6): At first glance, Brown’s nonconference record looks promising, especially when you consider how much talent coach Mike Martin lost from last year’s squad. But Brown’s encouraging start to the season echoes the Bears’ results from a year ago, when Brown went 8-7 in pre-league play only to lose six of its first eight Ivy League contests. The Bears ended up with a disappointing sixth-place finish in the Ivy League.
To avoid another disappointing Ivy campaign, Martin will have to find a way to generate more offense. The Bears currently average only 64.3 points per game, worst among Ivy League teams. On the flipside, Brown’s defense has kept Bruno within striking distance in nearly every game so far. In its first 14 games, Brown has yielded only 63.3 points per game, second only to Yale among Ivy League teams.
Penn (7-7): The Quakers got off to a slow start, losing their first three games and four of their first five. Since then, however, the Quakers have steadied the ship, winning six of their last nine, including a 77-57 thumping of Big 5 rival Temple. Penn’s demolition of Temple probably qualifies as the best win by any Ivy team so far, although you could make an argument that Harvard’s 62-57 win over UC Irvine, ranked No. 102 by KenPom, represents the best Ivy win to date.
Heading into league play, however, Penn bears the burden of having been declared the preseason favorite by the media to win the conference title. So far, the Quakers haven’t really looked the part, save for the shellacking of Temple. The problem appears to be on defense, where Penn has yielded a woeful 73.1 points per game, worst among Ivy teams and 305th out of 362 Division I squads in the nation. On the positive side, coach Steve Donahue has the top candidate for league MVP on his roster in Jordan Dingle. The junior guard sensation leads all Ivy scorers by a mile, averaging an astonishing 24.1 points per game, good enough for third among all Division I hoopsters in the nation. So long as Dingle remains healthy and productive, the Quakers should remain in contention for an Ivy League championship.
Columbia (5-10): The Lions were picked by the media to finish last in the Ivy League this season and out of the gate, Jim Engles’ squad gave every indication that the media’s preseason prognostication was on the mark as Columbia dropped eight of its first 10 games. The Lions regrouped, however, and have won three of their last six, including a memorable 57-45 upset of Lafayette on December 12.
A bright spot for the Lions during the first half of the season has been the play of sophomore guard Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa, who ranks seventh in the league in scoring, rebounding, and sixth in three-point shooting. Freshman guard Avery Brown has also been impressive, earning Ivy Rookie of the Week honors after averaging 15 points per game in a pair of contests against Fairleigh Dickinson and Lafayette.
Dartmouth (4-10): The season has not unfolded the way coach David McLaughlin was hoping for. Dartmouth begins Ivy League play on a five-game losing streak, with the Big Green scoring in the 50s in each of its recent losses. Any hope Dartmouth had of gaining some momentum before league play begins on January 1 was vanquished earlier this week when the team announced a postponement of its final nonconference matchup versus New Hampshire due to COVID concerns. Despite its sub-par record, the Big Green has had some positive moments this season. Playing short-handed at UMass, Dartmouth nearly pulled off the upset, holding a 10-point lead late into the second half.
But for Dartmouth to be a factor in the Ivy League regular season, McLaughlin will have to find a way to obtain more reliable scoring from his core players, such as 6-foot-8 senior forward Dame Adelekun. Adelekun was held to under 10 points in five of Dartmouth’s first seven contests. Lately, he has been better, tallying 19 in a tough 55-50 loss at UCF. Dartmouth will need consistent production from Adelekun, Ryan Cornish (11.2 ppg), and Dusan Neskovic (11.3 ppg) to contend for a berth in the Ivy League Tournament.