The out-of-conference portion of the Yale men’s schedule ended today with an emphatic 93-65 win over visiting Howard.
Yale (7-6) was picked to finish second behind Princeton in the Ivy media preseason poll.
So what have we learned about Yale?
“We’re very talented,” Yale coach James Jones said. “The amount of depth that we have – everyone from one through 13 can be successful.”
The Bulldogs had some outstanding performances against Quinnipiac, Purdue, Stony Brook, Farfield and Vermont but laid some defensive eggs against Illinois Chicago and Delaware.
Yale “has the best numbers (metrics) in the league” said Jones. Yale had a NET ranking of 98 and a KenPom ranking of 93 entering the Howard game. Yale now sits at No. 87 in KenPom, tops for the Ivy League.
Freshman forward Isaac Celiscar, a clone of 2022 Yale alumnus Jalen Gabbidon, is one of the top two frosh in league, along with Harvard’s Robert Hinton.
Celiscar is averaging 8.5 points and six rebounds per game.
Yale has played injured for a portion of the season. Leading scorer and senior guard John Poulakidas had turf toe and missed the Vermont, Akron and UTEP games. Junior forward Casey Simmons is currently out with a high ankle sprain, due back on Jan. 11 against Brown.
The Bulldogs are favored in all Ivy games by Bart Torvik. They are unlikely to go 14-0, but they’ll be a strong contender for the Ivy automatic NCAA Tournament bid to be secured by winning the Ivy League Tournament.