PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Welcome to Ivy Madness VII (and Chag Sameach to those celebrating Purim)
This year, Ivy Hoops Online is coming to you from the heights of the Pizzitola Sports Center on the campus of Brown University.
“The Pizz” opened in 1989 and has a capacity of 2,800, making it the fourth largest of the eight Ivy arenas. There are no bad seats in the facility, and everyone is incredibly close to the action. If you are in the area and want to pick up any of the few remaining tickets for the three women’s games, you may want to check out the ones in the balcony.
If you are in the area and unable to secure tickets for any of the six games, you can visit the Ivy Madness Fan Zone that has been set up next to the arena in the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center.
The opening media sessions are a typically light day in terms of media coverage, but this year was probably the lightest that I can remember. In the end, it was me, Jenn Hatfield of The Next and a member of the Ivy League’s broadcasting group asking questions.
The stakes are incredibly high with the possibility that the Ancient Eight could end up with three bids to the NCAA Tournament. As of late Thursday evening, ESPN’s Bracketology has Columbia with the automatic qualifier, Princeton as team No. 67 and Harvard as team No. 68.
Per ESPN’s Charlie Creme –
For the second straight year, Ivy Madness holds the key to the final spots in the NCAA tournament field. Princeton and Harvard — currently the final two teams in the field — meet in Friday’s Ivy League semifinals, and no fan base outside of the northeast will be watching this game with more interest than the Virginia Tech faithful. If there is a decisive victory by either the Tigers or Crimson, the loser is likely out, once again opening a spot for the Hokies, who have spent much of the last month floating between the right and wrong side of the bubble. Depending on how these games go, any two — or possibly three — Ivy League teams can make the NCAA tournament (regular season champ Columbia is the favorite to emerge from the other side of the bracket). Last year, the Ivy got two bids for the first time ever. This season, it looks destined to match that — or do it one better.
The Ivy faithful inside the building certainly agree with Creme and hope for a tight battle between the No. 2 and 3 seeds when they meet up on Friday at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
Here are some highlights from the women’s press conferences.
No. 1 Columbia (22-5, 13-1 Ivy, Regular Season Champions)
Head coach Megan Griffith on senior guard Kitty Henderson, who was named First Team All-Ivy and Defensive Player of the Year:
Super proud of Kitty for just being whatever we need. You know, I think the things that make her great are the things that are just in her DNA: her toughness, her resilience, her ability to suffer well. The major steps I think she’s taken, even from last year, is just her on ball defense and off ball awareness, to be leading the league in conference, playing steals per game is, is a great feat. And you know, she just makes every play you need. You know, she’s a ball getter, total ball getter. And you know, I’m just, I’m just proud to see that one as our engine on the offensive end. And what makes us play fast. She’s able to press and get us organized defensively, starting at the top, usually, to get us into what makes us great in transition, in both ways of the court.
Senior guard Cecilia Collins on what was learned from the team’s 60-54 loss to Harvard on February 16:
I think a big thing for us was how important it is that we’re connected for the whole 40 minutes. Obviously, going into that next weekend against Princeton (an eventual 64-60 victory), we knew that we would face similar adversity and going into March, we knew we’d face that similar adversity. So, making sure that when we faced that adversity, that we stuck together, rather than, pulled apart from each other was definitely an emphasis. I think Kitty mentioned it at one point, (that) we needed to sit down and watch that game together and really hold people accountable, because that wasn’t our best basketball. So, I think that was a good learning experience for us and as long as you take those losses as a learning experience, then you can move forward and get better from it.
Kitty Henderson on the importance of being the top overall seed and getting to play the 4:30 pm afternoon game:
I think it’s really big. Obviously, the championships are back-to-back, so recovery is super important… if we take care of business like we should. But, yeah, I think it’s just like looking at it that way and making sure that we have everything else lined up, and then obviously we can watch the second game, which is great as well.
Henerson, Collins and sophomore guard and first team All-Ivy guard Riley Weiss, responding to junior guard/forward Perri Page’s question on how the players would describe their head coach –
I would say, mother, because I like my mother, she’ll be very honest with you, and (tell you) what you need to hear in that moment, but at the same time she’s going to love you really hard too. I just think she has such a good balance of pushing you really hard, but also loving you really hard, and knowing so much about you and caring about relationships, but then also obviously making you such a good basketball player. (Henderson)
My word would be winner. I think obviously you’ve been able to see coach G has won a lot of games. She completely turned this program around. But I think she’s also just a winner in life, with everything she does. I think the coaching staff preaches to us how you do anything, it’s how you do everything, and I think that’s how coach G goes throughout life and makes her (a) winner. (Collins)
I will describe coach G as tough. (Weiss)
No. 4 Penn (15-12, 6-8 Ivy, Tied for Fourth Place)
Head coach Mike McLaughlin on how the team responded after staring league play at 1-6:
Even when we started one and six, there was progress there, (but) we just couldn’t put it together. I thought the weekend we actually came here, we lost the Brown on a Friday, played terrific game against Yale, and then we had an opportunity to play back-to-back the next weekend at home, and just carried that Saturday effort over, and we won both of them games. And as I said, Jen, I think it’s all part of a process that we went through. We just kept getting better. The little things became really important to them. And like I said, we got rewarded. We got significantly better than when we were in the beginning of the year. We played the best basketball at the right time. I think as a coach, that’s all you want your team to do is to grow, get better and play at the right time, the best way. And I thought this group did it.
Senior forward and First-Team All-Ivy Stina Almqvist on the mentality of being a No. 4 seed:
It’s my third time now in a row being the fourth seed. I think we ended the season really well, and I think we’re just going to keep going with that momentum. We really don’t have anything to lose, and I just want to keep playing with these girls as long as I can. I think that’s what we’re playing for right now. I think we’ve given ourselves a chance to make it this far. We’re all on the same page, we’re going to put it all on the line. You have one more guaranteed game, so we’re going to give it everything.
Sophomore guard and Second-Team All-Ivy Mataya Gayle on what it will take to be top-seeded Columbia:
I would say probably defensively, like rebounding, we have to narrow the gap, and also just staying true to our own principles, not getting lost. And I think that’s for a much better game.
McLaughlin on trying to beat the Lions:
I think they’re just elite in transition. And to what Mataya said, you know, when the gap of rebounding was as wide as it was, and then they get out and run, it’s just a really difficult proposition to be successful. But I do think we’ve gotten better in that area. We have worked on our transition a little bit of a different mix tomorrow, perhaps to see we can keep them out of transition the best we can. They’re going to get out, they’re going to make plays, but (in) the game we had up here they just had too many real easy ones. They’re so talented across the board. We respect that, but we’re going to hopefully find ways to see we can slow them down at times.
No. 2 Princeton (21-6, 12-2 Ivy, Second Place)
Coach Carla Berube on the possibility of Friday’s game against Harvard being a de facto play-in game for the NCAA Tournament:
Yeah, I feel like we’ve been answering this question, and this is not something that we can control right now. I don’t think it’s something that we’re thinking about. The only thing that we’re thinking about is beating Harvard tomorrow night and playing the best basketball that we can possibly play, and the chips will fall, and we’ll see how things play out. But that is our goal, that’s our challenge, and what we’re focused on is winning tomorrow (Friday) night.
Sophomore guard and first-team All-Ivy Skye Belker on her reaction to her conference award:
I think the recognition is very nice, but we’re playing all year not for the recognition individually, but more so for the team, and for winning and getting to this point in the tournament and making it far. I think it’s nice to be nominated and selected, and huge for Ashley (Chea) too. I think our team has a lot of key weapons, and we had the most players selected (to All-Ivy), so I think that’s a huge testament to what our team has to offer as a whole.
Sophomore guard/forward and Second-Team All-Ivy Fadima Tall on what she learned from the team’s back-to-back losses to Portland and Utah in early December:
I think just thinking back to the Portland game, that was not one of my best showings. But I think I matured a lot during that game. Yes, it was difficult, but at the same time, I realized I had stuff to fall back on – I had my teammates to rely on, and my coaches to rely on. Even at my lowest point, I feel like instilling that trust in myself and in other people running on the court… So (it was a) good turning point.
Berube on that same weekend:
I think that was a sort of a pivotal trip. It’s great that you brought that up. I think after that, or actually during that trip, we had some good conversations with these two (Fadima and Belker), that they needed to really step up as leaders, as vocal leaders, but also just leaders on the court and taking a little bit more upon their shoulders. They certainly have done that throughout the season and done a great job with that. I think teammates really look to them as leaders both on and off the court.
Berube on the keys to beating Harvard for the third time this season –
They have a lot of weapons. People talk a lot about Harmoni Turner and Elena Rodriguez, but you can’t forget about the rest of their really great role players that play pivotal roles on their team…You have to know their strengths, and you have to take away what they want to do and what they’re looking for. They’re very good on the boards. You have to do a great job of limiting to one shot, you have to get back in transition….and Harmoni is really, really good in transition. You just have to know who you’re guarding at all times and defend them accordingly. But I think the team works really hard at defense. You know, they wouldn’t be able to wear these jerseys if they didn’t. I think that they’re ready, and they do their homework, clearly, and are ready to play them once again.
No. 3 Harvard (22-4, 11-3 Ivy, Third Place)
Coach Carrie Moore on Friday’s showdown possibly being a key game for an NCAA Tournament bid:
I knew someone was going to ask about that. You know, honestly, just really focus on the game and what we can control…Whatever happens tomorrow (Friday), that decision is not anything that that we can control. We just got to take care of business. If we come here and we take care of business and do our job (on) back-to-back days and win two games, then we don’t have to worry about that. But I do think we’re one of the best teams in the country. We’ve been one of the best teams in the country all year long. We’ve had the highest NET ranking in the league all year long, and if that’s one of the best evaluation tools that they use to get into the tournament, then it wouldn’t make much sense if we weren’t playing in it. But can’t worry about that. Just really worried about Princeton and playing our best basketball tomorrow.
Senior guard and first team All-Ivy Harmoni Turner on the significance of being named the Ivy League Player of the Year –
I’m super grateful for that. That was one of my goals that I’ve been wanting to accomplish for a while, and to see it come to flourish, and is definitely something that I really cherish in my heart. At the same time, we still haven’t won anything yet. So as grateful as I am for Player of the Year, what’s more important for me is for us to win a championship.
Senior guard/forward Elena Rodriguez on what the team learned from its 60-54 victory over Columbia on February 16:
I feel like we played gloomy the first time at home, and we got that loss (80-71 Lions win on Jan 31). I feel everyone looked inward and tried to be better the next time. I think we did a pretty good job of turning the page, (and) learning from our mistakes. I feel like that week of preparation was really good. We put (in) a lot of attention to detail. I feel like everyone came to the game with a sense of urgency and feeling that we could win that game, and we executed the game plan. The coaches did a really good job of adjusting to what their offense and their defense did to us in the first game. As Harmoni said that was a great win, but that doesn’t mean anything. We still have to win a championship here, so hopefully we’ll see them on Saturday after beating Princeton. But we have to take care of business first tomorrow (Friday).
The players and coach on what they need to do to get the team’s first win over Princeton in this year’s series:
Turner: For everybody – defense, rebounds, effort, toughness. This is what is (it’s) about. Just allowing the game to flow and come to us, not getting too high or too low in the moments. Just staying steady, next play mentality and moving on.
Rodriguez: It’s true that for Princeton, we know their starting five is really good, and those players coming off the bench also help them out. So, we don’t want someone coming off the bench having a great impact that they shouldn’t have. I feel like knowing the personnel, knowing their play is going to be huge, but at the end of the day, our coach always says, it’s about (us) making plays, so we’re ready for that.
Moore: I’ll just end it with what she (Harmoni) said. The first thing out of her mouth was her defense, right? We must defend. You know, we’re the number one scoring defensive team in the country. We’ve got to show that this weekend. We must sit down and get stops, and we must set the tone from start to finish. And you know that’s been kind of the difference, especially in that last game against them (Princeton). So excited to see how these guys fly around for each other.