Ivy Hoops Online sat down with Yale men’s basketball coach James Jones after a Yale practice Thursday:
Ivy Hoops Online: How is your team performing relative to your expectations before the season started?
James Jones: We are at 80% of where we should be now. At some points during the season, we were at 50%.We need to be more connected.
IHO: Talk about [sophomore big man] Danny Wolf this season. [Editor’s note: Wolf leads Yale in scoring and rebounding this season.]
JJ: His play has not been a surprise. I watched him play this summer [2023 FIBA U-19]. I told him when I recruited him that other coaches would say, ‘How did Yale get him?’ Many pro teams have been at our games and practices. Miye Oni also got a lot of attention at this stage of his career.
IHO: Your team played well at Kansas. What, if anything, did [Kansas coach] Bill Self say about your team?
JJ: He texted me after the game and told me that we outplayed them for much of the game and to have fun this season.
IHO: Does it bother you that UConn won’t play you?
JJ: I have no trouble with that. I know how life works.
IHO: Take a look at the Ivy now from 30,000 feet.
JJ: The league is very competitive and deep. Some teams are overperforming my expectations. Brown is a good team and may be underperforming what I had thought about them. They have had many close losses.
IHO: Was the atmosphere at Kansas the toughest you have seen in all of your years? [Editor’s note: Yale lost at then-No. 2 Kansas.]
JJ: The toughest I have seen were at St. Joe’s and OK State. The student bodies ridiculed you as soon as you got off the bus.
IHO: Any Yale or league prohibitions on NIL?
JJ: Not that I know of, except that it is my understanding that money received must be commensurate with what the student-athlete is doing.
IHO: Any 2024-25 scheduling info?
JJ: We are playing a MTE [multiple-team event] at Mohegan Sun with Delaware and Fairfield and trying to get a game with Purdue.
Pretty clear to me that Jones is referring to Princeton when he says certain teams are “over performing” his expectations. I wonder if Mitch and company will use this as motivation when the Tigers and Bulldogs clash in a few weeks. Not that either team needs any additional motivation . . . .