Mike Tony

Ivy Friday Roundup

February 14, 2015 by Mike Tony

Harvard 72, Columbia 68

All season long, Ivy pundits (including myself) questioned the Crimson’s ability to rely on outside shooting to win tight games down the stretch. So it’s ironic that Harvard dismissed that doubt – if just for tonight – against one of the most potent three-point shooting teams in the league, Columbia. Wesley Saunders and Siyani Chambers combined to go 6-for-10 from beyond the arc, and Corbin Miller went 2-for-5 as well for a healthy 40 percent clip. The Lions overcame a 48-31 halftime deficit to tie Harvard at 68-68 with eight second left with a Jeff Coby trey, but Siyani Chambers responded with the game-winning jumper, an indication that he may be ready to shake off the slump he’s been working through all season. This is Harvard wins – it teases us, it allows big runs, it struggles with lineup groupings. But it always comes through in the big games.

On the Vine – Feb. 12

February 12, 2015 by Mike Tony

Home of the weekly live podcast On the Vine with Peter Andrews and Mike Tony, where our roundball poets delve into all things Ivy hoops.

Check out our archive of the latest On the Vine podcast, in which IHO’s own George Clark (Toothless Tiger) and Ian Halpern (Bruno March) join Peter Andrews & Mike Tony to cover the latest Ivy action. Segments include reflections on the ugliness of Harvard-Yale, Princeton’s identity issues, reasons to watch out for Dartmouth down the stretch, and predictions on who will prevail in this weekend’s matchups:

IHO Power Rankings – Feb. 10

February 10, 2015 by Mike Tony

1. Harvard (5-1)

Harvard’s still the class of the conference. The Crimson held Yale to 11 points in the entire first half at Payne Whitney Gym to tie Yale atop the Ivy standings at 5-1 in league play. Wesley Saunders’ career-high 33 points did Brown in in overtime the night before. Reports of the Crimson’s demise were clearly premature. Harvard hosts Columbia and Cornell at home, two more solid defensive squads that will not be easy outs at Lavietes. The thing about Harvard is that the Crimson win the close ones – they’re 8-1 in overtime games since 2010. I have a feeling that that stat will be coming into play at least one more time down the stretch.

2. Yale (5-1)

The Bulldogs responded to the biggest game for their program in quite some time by going 3-for-22 in the first half. Harvard’s defense is awesome, but the Elis were visibly a little tense in the early going too. Still, Yale is 5-1 and tied for the conference lead with its greatest rival and another shot at that rival at Lavietes, the same place Yale trumped Harvard last season. All is not lost for the Elis, but it was disconcerting to see them abandon Justin Sears in the second half.

More importantly, the Whiffenpoofs are full steam ahead.

Penn basketball – where’s the progress?

February 13, 2016February 7, 2015 by Mike Tony

NEW YORK — I covered Penn-Columbia after being graciously invited by friend of IHO Rob Browne to speak about Penn and Ivy basketball at a Penn Club event in New York prior to Saturday’s game. Here the gist of what I said:

On the Vine – Feb. 4

February 4, 2015 by Mike Tony

Check out our archive of last night’s On the Vine podcast, in which Steven Tydings of the Daily Pennsylvanian, David Freed of the Harvard Crimson and IHO’s own George Clark (Toothless Tiger) join Peter Andrews and Mike Tony to cover the latest Ivy action. Segments include reflections on last weekend’s intense conference slate, insights into how Harvard could cool Yale’s Justin Sears down, and predictions on who will prevail in Harvard-Yale and the rest of this weekend’s matchups:

On the Vine – Jan. 29

January 30, 2015 by Mike Tony

Check out our archive of last night’s On the Vine podcast, in which Michael James (@ivybball), John Phillips and Sam Tydings join Peter Andrews and Mike Tony to cover the latest Ivy action. Segments include how to turn Harvard around, how much momentum Penn really has after beating St. Joe’s, what losing Leland King means to Brown’s program and predictions for the first full Ivy weekend slate of the season:

Leland King leaves Brown basketball … now what?

January 30, 2015January 29, 2015 by Mike Tony

Leland King led or was tied for the team lead in points and rebounds as just a sophomore this season. (nbcsports.com)

Brown Athletics announced today that the team’s leading scorer, sophomore forward Leland King, has decided to leave the program for personal reasons.

The news is very unexpected with Brown just two games into Ivy League play (both losses, making Brown the only Ivy with two losses thus far).

And now that King is gone, so are his 14.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, a huge blow for a team that has already struggled on both offense (worst assist-turnover ratio in the conference) and defense (worst scoring defense in the conference) this season.

King had missed Brown’s last two road games, including the Bears’ 69-65 loss at Yale Saturday, a game in which senior forward Rafael Maia and sophomore guards Steven Spieth and Tavon Blackmon combined for 50 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists in King’s absence.

Senior guard Zeve Sanderson left the team earlier this team as well, and highly touted freshmen Aram Martin and Matty Madigan also left the program after their freshman campaigns in 2013-14.

On the Vine – Jan. 22 Episode

January 24, 2015January 22, 2015 by Mike Tony

Check out our archive of tonight’s On the Vine podcast, in which Ashley Wu of the Yale Daily News and IHO’s own Sam Tydings join Peter Andrews and Mike Tony to cover the latest Ivy action. Segments include thoughts and predictions for the upcoming Yale-Brown and Cornell-Columbia matchups:

On the Vine – Jan. 15 Episode

January 15, 2015 by Mike Tony

Check out our archive of tonight’s On the Vine podcast, in which Kevin Whitaker of Big Apple Buckets and IHO’s own Robert Crawford join Peter Andrews and Mike Tony to cover the latest Ivy action. Segments include post-Penn-Princeton analysis, thoughts on our IHO writers/readers’ poll and predictions for the upcoming Brown-Yale and Columbia-Cornell matchups:

Ivy Hoops Online Writers/Readers’ Power Poll

January 13, 2015 by Mike Tony

After polling Ivy Hoops Online’s writers and longtime readers before the Ivy season tipped off Saturday, here’s IHO’s official power ranking:

Harvard
Yale
Columbia
Princeton
Brown
Cornell
Dartmouth
Penn

Harvard and Yale were the near unanimous picks to finish Nos. 1 and 2 respectively, although Yale did garner three No. 1 votes. Columbia obviously prevailed at No. 3 but got significant competition for that spot from Princeton. Brown never finished higher than fourth in any ranking and even fell to seventh in two rankings. A third of our poll participants selected Cornell to finish in the top half of the league while 40 percent of our participants picked the Big Red to finish in the bottom two spots, making Cornell the team with the most range in our rankings. In what is perhaps the most damning stat of all, the only four people who picked Penn to finish higher than last are Penn alums/students.

So … two-team race. Got it.