PROVIDENCE, R.I.- Day two at Ivy Madness started in the mid-morning with the four participants on the men’s side of the ledger.
In a very nice gesture, the Ivy League memorialized a seat for Washington Post sportswriter John Feinstein, who unexpectedly passed away at 68 Thursday. Despite attending Duke, John was a big fan of Ivy League sports, attending several Ivy League tournaments and writing about the conference’s gridiron in this past November’s “The Ancient Eight: College Football’s Ivy League and the Game They Play Today.”
Yale arrives as the regular season champion and heavy favorite to the be the first No. 1 seed to win the conference tournament since Princeton did it in 2017.
While this is the fifth time at Ivy Madness for No. 2 Cornell, it is the first time the Big Red enter as a semifinal favorite and are being led by former player and longtime assistant Jon Jaques.
Speaking of first timers, Dave McLaughlin and Dartmouth are making their inaugural appearance at the Ivy League’s Big Dance. The Big Green are looking to emulate Brown, which upset higher-seeded Princeton last year in its debut tournament last year.
Dartmouth was picked eighth in the preseason media poll and ended up third. On the other hand, the Tigers were picked to repeat as regular-season champions but ended up fourth. They clinched their seventh top-four finish in the tournament era on the final day of the season.
As the top seed, Yale opted to hang out for an extra hour and gave the opening slot to Princeton. After the Bulldogs’ press conference, Cornell and Dartmouth followed in the traditional No. 2 and No. 3-seed slots.
Below are highlights from the four media sessions:
No. 4 Princeton (19-10, 8-6 Ivy)
Head coach Mitch Henderson on what he and the team learned about themselves in a challenging season:
I think that we may have been on the elevator on the way up to the penthouse the last couple of years, and it’s not always the way it is. Of course, we learned that it’s a little harder to get to this point. We also know we’re highly aware of what our weaknesses are, and we’ve worked hard to correct those things. And over time, together as a group, we’ve battled through some injuries all season. But I think that we know that we’ve been here enough in these situations to know that anything can happen, and it’s happened to us too … both good and bad. So I think (we have) a really good perspective coming in and … very grateful for the opportunity to be able to be playing a really important weekend.
Junior guard and First-Team All-Ivy Xaivian Lee on his feeling entering the postseason:
I’m nothing but excited and grateful for this opportunity. Two wins and we’re in the tournament. Obviously, we got a huge challenge here with Yale, and think we look forward to that. We got nothing to lose here and I feel ready, I feel confident. I think we’re playing good basketball, and I’m excited to play.
Junior forward and Second-Team All-Ivy Caden Pierce on the challenges at facing a Yale team that won both games this season:
I think, obviously, they’re a really, really talented team. (Yale) had a great Ivy League season, but we just got to match the toughness across the board. I think they’re big, they’re tough. We just got to match that and play together as a team, defensively and offensively. They play really well as a team, and they’re so connected as a unit. So I think to beat them, you kind of have to do that yourself.
Lee, a player who has received attention from NBA scouts, on facing Yale’s Bez Mbeng, the Ivy League Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year:
I mean Bez is great player, as by his awards, great defender. I’m excited. I think every time we go at it, it’s (a) battle … so, I’m looking forward to match up … giving him my all.
No. 1 Yale (20-7, 13-1 Ivy)
Coach James Jones on his three First-Team All-Ivy players: senior guard Mbeng (Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year), senior guard John Poulakidas and junior forward Nick Townsend:
I remember when he (John) was a freshman, he was a little frustrated because he didn’t play as much as he’d like to play, as most freshmen don’t, and I remember telling him that one day he was going to lead our team in scoring. Fast, forward four years, he’s led the league in scoring. You know, nobody puts more time in than especially these two guys (Bez, John) sitting up here. And there are times when I’ll go to my locker in the morning… before going to work and John’s in the gym getting shots up by himself…. He wants to be special. He wants to be great. He’s cast a huge shadow on our program. It’s left us with a great legacy thus far, and there’s still work to do with that. John has been tremendous and seeing him grow up from a little skinny kid from Illinois to what he is today, that’s really quite special.
Nick Townsend, (if) we were to cut him open right now, and you found a metal skeleton, I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s kind of like the Terminator. Every time he makes a mistake on the floor, I’m surprised, because he’s just so steady and so tough and does all the little things that you don’t notice in a basketball game, all those little things that matter for you to be really successful … A tremendous teammate, and almost to a fault. He never even says anything to the referees when he’s been brutalized by the opponent. I’ve seen him get knocked down numerous (times). He’s gotten fouled more often than anybody in the country … and he’s never even raised an eyebrow to it. He’s just next play.
Bez, he’s probably had the largest amount of growth, as far as I’m concerned, of the three, in a sense that he’s really worked hard on his offensive game over his four years at Yale. There were times where guys are going to play off him and go on the ball screens … not anymore. He, too, has put more time and effort into getting up shots and becoming better than most anybody (I) ever coached. Like I said, he and John are just in the gym all the time, and Bez has a fierceness to him that’s really quite amazing. He didn’t really have that as a freshman, at least, I didn’t notice it to this point. You know, there were times last weekend, he turned his ankle, and I was going to take him out and we were going to switch him off, and he gave me a look like, “No, you’re not doing that, mister.” His fierceness and the competitiveness that he has, and the energy that he has to help us win is just brilliant.
No. 2 Cornell (17-10, 9-5 Ivy)
Coach Jon Jaques and senior guard and Second-Team All-Ivy Nazir Williams on how their team’s experience in previous Ivy League tournaments could help against newcomer Dartmouth:
Jaques: Obviously, these guys (Williams and senior forward Guy Ragland Jr.) have played in this game three years in a row. A couple of other guys have done the same, some with two years of experience … I think, more than anything, the experience this group has gone through this year will help us. Both of these guys growing into new, larger roles, (and) a couple other guys on the team with much larger roles they had in previous years. To go through that and some ups and downs, and to now be playing our best basketball the year right now should hopefully put us in a good spot tomorrow.
Williams: To just piggyback off what coach Jaques said this year, it’s like a different experience for all of us. (We) started really hot, then lost a few games in a row, and now I feel like we’re finding our groove at the right time. So that’s really the only difference I could think of from this year and previous years. Previous years, I feel like we limped into the tournament and didn’t really finish strong. I feel like we finished strong this year, and hopefully we can carry it over to tomorrow (Saturday) and hopefully Sunday.
Senior forward Guy Ragland Jr. on what he and his teammates learned from the team’s various winning and losing streaks this season –
I would say that we learned that every game is different. Though we’re playing the same team, it’s not going to be the same kind of game. You got to come out ready to give your best punch and take some of their best punches too.
Coach Jaques on comparing Dartmouth’s new style of play to the way the Big Red play –
They’re playing much faster, clearly, and it’s worked for them. It’s just (that) they have talented guys, and I think a couple of guys who are healthy now. We both play fast, want to take good shots, and are both really unselfish teams. I think that’s more than anything.
The coach on how his three-point heavy offense will deal with a Dartmouth team that is entered Friday as the No. 6 team in three-point defense:
They are elite guarding the line. We don’t want to play too much differently than we normally do. For us, that means taking good threes, and we are fortunate we have a lot of good shooters … We want to shoot a fast shot. Clearly, we play one of the fastest tempos in the country, but we do want to shoot good ones at the same time. So I think all year we’ve been pretty good at finding that balance between shooting the early three, and then also like working to find the best one for us.
No. 3 Dartmouth (14-13, 8-6 Ivy)
Head coach Dave McLaughlin on his Ivy League Coaching Staff of the Year (Jabari Trotter, Rich Glesmann, Taurus Samuels and Ryan Kapustka) –
We have a phenomenal staff, incredibly lucky, and these guys (senior guard Ryan Cornish, junior forward Brandon Mitchell-Day) will attest to it. Just the work they put in is phenomenal, the talent they have, and just the relationships they build with our guys, it’s them first and foremost. They’re totally into the relationships and coaching these guys hard, and I really appreciate them for that.
McLaughlin and First-Team All-Ivy Ryan Cornish discussing any connection between the team dropping its unionization bid in January and the on-court results from this Ivy League season:
McLaughlin: The unionization has always been the players efforts and not an effort of the coaches. I appreciate always the press giving them time to give their opinion … it is a unionization of the players, not the coaching staff.
Cornish: I wouldn’t say it was a distraction…. while it was going on. If anything, I think it made us a lot closer as a team, just extra time spending with it, with the guys, and getting closer. You know, unfortunately, it didn’t work out in the way we wanted to. But I wouldn’t say that was a distraction and help us play better when it stopped going on.
The coach on how he and his staff were able to quickly get the team from the No. 313 tempo to the No. 23 tempo in the country:
We had to make some changes, right? We had to, and a big part of that is coach Glesmann’s influence. When he coached in the B.League in Japan for seven years, the head coach, they were one of the fastest tempo teams. We talked a lot as a staff this summer about how to play into these guys strengths, playing faster…. You know, I think the biggest thing is we have the shortest preseason in the country. We start class September 16 (and) start practicing nine days later … It was a really strong sense of belief from these guys to buy in because that’s not easy to do.
Mitchell-Day, a junior forward and Second-Team All-Ivy selection, on the connection between his increased offensive production and the team’s new style of play:
Like coach (McLaughlin) said, our strengths as playing fast, and with that playing fast comes a lot of trust in each other, and then also just it just makes the game flow a lot easier for us. And I think that’s played dividends. Me and Cornish have been given a lot of opportunities to show (what) we can do, and it’s helped us, for sure.
Mitchell-Day on his team’s lack of experience in the Ivy League Tournament compared with the other three participants:
Just for myself … I’ll just approach like any other game. I mean, of course, there’s a lot more added pressure from the outside media, whatever it may be, but, at the same time, basketball is basketball. So for me, just approach (the Ivy League Tournament) like any other game, and we’ll see what happens.
The coach and Cornish on how to beat Cornell, if the Big Red are more successful from three than the 3-for-27 effort in the Big Green’s 88-49 home win on February 15:
McLaughlin: You obviously want to defend the three. We happen to be doing that very well at a national level, and we always want to do that. I think we have to take great care of the ball. I think we have to play at the pace we want to play while being unselfish. I think we have to understand the value of transition on both sides of the ball, both our transition and their transition … Then you have to finalize possessions with rebounding. You can’t allow really good team second opportunities, so we have to finalize and finish possessions.
Cornish: Going off what coach (McLaughlin) said, we’re not going to be playing the same Cornell team that we saw at Hanover. They’re playing really good ball right now, so we’ve got to be a lot more disciplined and really more locked in and focused going into our game tomorrow … If we don’t have that same level of focus and determination into our game plan, then it’s not going to be the same result as it was in Hanover.
