Ivy Hoops Online caught up with James Jones as he begins his 26th year at Yale with early-season September workouts to prepare his team for the 2024-25 slate:
IHO: What are the strengths of your team this season?
JJ: Confidence, which comes from our success. We are smaller than we have been with a higher work ethic. Everyone on the team has it. Last season we had a good work ethic, but not like this.
IHO: Talk about John Poulakidas and Bez Mbeng, both seniors.
JJ: They are comparable to any of our top two seniors over the years. Like Brandon Sherrod and Justin Sears.
IHO: Who are some guys that you think might have breakout seasons?
JJ: Samson Aletan [sophomore center] and Trevor Mullin [sophomore guard] come to mind.
IHO: Talk about your three freshmen.
JJ: If you came to a practice, there is no way that you would be able to pick them out as freshmen. They are better than some upperclassmen. Jordan [Brathwaite, guard from Fulton, Md.] rebounds it really well and Riley Fox [forward from West Hartford, Conn.] can shoot it. Isaac Celiscar [forward from Winter Haven, Fla.] is really good.
IHO: Do you see Fox replacing the graduated August Mahoney?
JJ: That would be a tall order. August was the best pure shooter we have ever had percentage-wise.
IHO: How about your out-of-conference schedule?
JJ: It’s a good one. Good opportunities. We are at Minnesota and have called them for years to play and they said no about this season. But when they saw that we would be a quality opponent and then saw that Danny Wolf left [for Michigan], they called back and said that they wanted to play us. It is still tough to get games.
IHO: How about playing at Mohegan Sun?
JJ: We play Fairfield and Delaware there. It will be a great experience. Not sure that Fairfield would have played us home and away, even after beating us last season, but they agreed to play us on a neutral floor.
IHO: How about a look at the Ivy?
JJ: On paper, maybe the league will not be as good as last season, but there are plenty of good and improved teams. Princeton will be very good. Columbia and Brown should be improved. Brown came on strong at the end of the season.
IHO: Many Ivy players left to play power[-conference] basketball. Who do you think will shine the most?
JJ: Probably Malik Mack at Georgetown [after transferring from Harvard]. They lost their point guard and he should slot in.
here comes samson!
that’s a veiled shot at wolf. i disagree