It was penciled in in September as a huge game. One which would go a long way toward deciding the Ivy League Championship, again: Yale at Harvard. Then something went wrong and something else went very right.
Richard Kent
Columbia-Yale: A quick primer
Last year, Yale won at Columbia, 63-59, and Columbia won at Yale, 56-50, a season after the Elis prevailed at Levien Gym in the CIT quarterfinals at the Lions’ expense. But in this series’ matchup in New Haven last season, it was the Bulldog guards who had led the way in a losing effort for Yale, as Justin Sears scored just seven points on 3-for-8 shooting.
Yale enters the game tonight as the best team in the Ivies. Columbia can compete with Princeton as No. 2 until proven otherwise. Columbia is finally playing good defense in Ivy play after bad outings against Longwood, Fairfield and Stony Brook, among others. The Lions have the offensive weapons in Alex Rosenberg, Maodo Lo and a resurgent Grant Mullins to match Yale offensively. Those three notch a combined 42.6 points per contest. Indeed, the Lions are outscoring opponents by 8.5 points per game and outshooting the opposition from three. Luke Petrasek is shooting 53.6 percent from the floor and Lukas Meisner can certainly score off the bench. The Lions are not as strong as Yale in their starting lineup, player for player, and the bench which Yale used sparingly against Princeton, could spell the difference. Once again, if Sears and Sherrod can avoid foul trouble and the crowd is into the game despite a concurrent home hockey contest, the Elis should win. If the Columbia threes are falling, it could be a different story. Time will tell.
Q&A with Sports Illustrated senior writer Alexander Wolff
Alexander Wolff, Princeton ’79, has a new book out that studies Barack Obama through his love of basketball, and that’s good news for anyone who likes sharp biographical and political writing. Wolff, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated who has been on the publication’s staff longer than anyone else (since 1980), was kind enough to answer a few questions from IHO about that book, The Audacity of Hoop: Basketball and the Age of Obama.
Ivy Hoops Online: What was your first exposure to Ivy basketball?
Alexander Wolff: I grew up in Princeton until age 12. I remember as a six-year-old being sent to bed by my parents on a December night in 1964 and understanding that they, and not I, would be watching Princeton and Bill Bradley play Michigan and Cazzie Russell in the Holiday Festival later that night. It made a huge impression on me because, even then, I knew my parents didn’t care at all about sports, yet Bradley and the Tigers had so captured the community that even they had gotten hooked. A few years later I sat right behind the bench at a Princeton freshman game in Dillon Gym and watched Geoff Petrie and John Hummer play. I also caught the occasional Les Keiter telecast on Channel 17 from the Palestra . . .
Princeton vs. Yale: A crucial showdown in New Haven
January 30 is a bit early for one of the three top most significant Ivy games of the year. But here it is. Princeton at Yale.
Last year, Yale beat Princeton on the road, 81-73, and smothered the Tigers at home in February, 81-60. Justin Sears had a total of 53 points on 19-for-26 shooting. Princeton simply had no one to contain him.
Penn comes first for Yale this weekend
Last year, Yale trumped Penn easily at the Palestra, 75-48, with Makai Mason leading the way off the bench with 14 points. The series finished much closer in New Haven, with the game not decided until the final minute. Yale won, 55-50, partially due to a 32-24 rebounding advantage and 9-for-10 free throw shooting from now graduated Javier Duren.
Why Nick Victor is Yale’s X-factor
Thirty-six minutes,15 points, four blocks, four assists, 11 rebounds. Not bad. But fairly typical of the glue of the Yale team, 6-5 Nick Victor, in leading his team to a 77-68 win over scrappy Brown Saturday at home.
Need a key bucket? Victor will score it. Want a player in position for an offensive rebound. That’s him? How about a steal? Count on Nick.
Yale looks to keep rolling against Brown
We are all aware that a No. 1 seed has never lost to a No. 16 seed in the NCAA men’s tourney. When Yale takes on Brown in New Haven Saturday, it will be a No. 1 vs. a No.8, and I don’t see No. 8 having a decent chance at a win.
The best thing that Brown has going for it is the one game dynamic over the weekend, which will assist its lack of depth. With the transfer of Justin Massey out of the program in December, Brown really is down to two star players, in longtime defensive specialist Cedric Kuakumensah and scorer and ball distributor Tavon Blackmon. That’s not enough weapons to stop Yale, especially on the road, as Brown ranks next to last among all Ivies in scoring defense and rebounding margin, two of Yale’s greatest strengths.
Justin Sears is still the top Ivy player and despite an eye injury, will be back in force on Saturday. Senior guard Nick Victor, the glue of the team, is shooting north of 50 percent from three-point range, Brandon Sherrod is tough on the boards and Makai Mason may be the best guard in the Ivies as only a sophomore. Jack Montague has not been shooting well, but can really light it up when on. Sophomore guard Eric Anderson is showing a lot more than expected off the bench. James Jones is the dean of the Ivy coaches and is as well versed in the league as anyone, coach or commentator.
Look for Yale to win easily at home.
A closer look at the strength of the Ivy League this season
Maybe I and others overrated the Ivy a tad bit before this season started. I actually said that it might be a two-bid league come NCAA Tournament time. Now it appears that there will be an automatic NCAA bid and perhaps no NIT bid.
The Ivy League is currently ranked 17th among 32 Division I conferences according to Ken Pomeroy’s rankings, the lowest the Ivy has been ranked since the 2011-12 season, when it was also ranked 17th. The Ivy hasn’t been ranked lower than that since 2009-10, when it was slotted 22nd by KenPom. (The rankings are based on the average adjusted offensive and defensive efficiencies of teams within each conference.)
Why is the Ivy’s arrow pointed slightly down at the moment?
Ivy Power Rankings – Dec. 8, 2015
Now that we’re well into nonconference season, we’ve got a bead on how the Ivies are coming along so far. Our Richard Kent breaks down his Ivy power rankings. What are yours?
1. Yale (5-3) The best team by far thus far. Makai Mason is making an early case for Ivy Player of the Year, coming up big against top competition (37 points and 15 assists against SMU and Duke combined). Justin Sears is, well, Justin Sears (and the reigning Ivy POY, who has to like his chances of doing major damage to the Tigers, who he scored 53 points against in two games a year ago) after Stony Brook forward Jameel Warney dominated the Tigers in the frontcourt last week. Brandon Sherrod is a specimen after taking a year off. Should have beaten the Mustangs and were competitive at Cameron Indoor for a half.
Reporter’s Notebook: A trip to Duke
Our Richard Kent chronicles Yale”s trip to Durham to face defending national champion No. 6 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium Wednesday. Yale lost to Duke, 80-61, but Kent astutely observed a whole lot more than a final score.
Tuesday 6 p.m. Time for the Yale hard practice in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The building seemed a lot smaller in person and loads of camera phone pictures were taken before the practice started. Then the team and certainly the coaches were all business. Coach James Jones was as intense as I have ever seen him. The practice was orchestrated to the minute. Assistant coach Justin Simon, a former Bulldog himself, was in charge of the Duke scouting report. He was focused to a large extent on the Duke post players and wanted to be certain that forwards Justin Sears and Brandon Sherrod were positioned properly. Both players seemed to pick up the report easily and Sears was focused on working on his short-range side jumper and free throws.