Home of the Roundball Poets
Rob Browne 
In a Thursday morning announcement, Massachusetts governor and former Harvard men’s basketball alum, Charlie Baker was named the next president of the NCAA.
Baker, a two-term governor who chose not to run for re-election this past November, will assume his new role on March 1, 2023. Maura Healey, the present state attorney general and a former Crimson women’s basketball captain, will take over for Baker on January 5.
On the strength of 14 three-pointers and a 30-point third quarter, the Columbia women soundly defeated UMass at the Mullins Center on Saturday afternoon, their second straight takedown of an opponent that defeated them in New York City last year.
“This is huge. We called it revenge week,” Abbey Hsu told Columbia Athletics following the win. “This was to prove that we are a better team than we were last year. We want to be a team that competes with teams in the post-season and we proved that tonight.”
STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Like the first stop in the Columbia women’s 2022-23 redemption tour, last night’s appearance in eastern Long Island was a resounding success for the Lions.
Senior forward Kaitlyn Davis’ 19 points (including this nifty behind-the-back drive in the third quarter), nine rebounds and three steals led a balanced offensive and defensive attack from the starting five as the Lions came away with an 84-68 victory over the Stony Brook at Island Federal Arena on Wednesday night.
The win avenges a 91-82 defeat at the hands of Seawolves last November at Levien Gymnasium.
“This was a big game for us, a revenge game from last year,” Davis told Ivy Hoops Online. “(We’re) Just trying to do our job, show that this year we’re a different team, a better team.”
Despite missing two of their starting five for this weekend’s games, the Brown men came away with two convincing road victories against Bryant and Hartford.
The Bears (5-4), winners of four straight wins and five of their last six, are playing their best basketball of the year as they head into the last and hardest stretch of their nonconference schedule.
“I love any buzz about our team,” coach Megan Griffith said at her weekly media availability. “Anytime somebody’s talking about our program, it’s a good thing.”
After crushing Arkansas-Pine Bluff by 38 and outlasting Miami in front of its home fans en route to winning the Miami Thanksgiving Tournament title Sunday, there’s definitely positive buzz about Columbia women’s basketball.
Just since this weekend’s games, the team has moved up to No. 9 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25. ESPN has listed the Lions as the automatic Ivy League qualifier and a No. 12 seed for the NCAA Tournament.
Something had to give on Sunday afternoon at Rose Hill Gymnasium, with both Harvard and Fordham riding four-game winning streaks. Unfortunately for the Crimson, the Rams withstood a late second-half rally and emerged with the hard-fought 68-60 victory in the Bronx.
Coming off an eight-day layoff, Harvard women’s basketball ran out of gas in the fourth quarter against Bay State rival Massachusetts and suffered its first loss of the season, 77-67, at Lavietes Pavilion Friday night.
It took 234 days, but Columbia women’s basketball got its revenge on Seton Hall, the team that came out victorious in last year’s WNIT Quarterfinal, in a 83-76 victory on Thursday night.
“I’m so proud of our team. We’ve had this game circled on our calendar for a while, since March 28,” head coach Megan Griffith said in a postgame interview. “It was just an opportunity for us to come back and battle with a really great Seton Hall program.”
Returning over 96% of the team’s points, rebounds and minutes from last year’s WNIT quarterfinal team, expectations are high for the Columbia women this season. The Lions took their initial step toward the program’s first ever NCAA Tournament bid with a 77-69 victory over Memphis at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse on Monday night.
The game was knotted at seven halfway through the opening frame, but the Tigers finished the quarter on a 11-2 run. Down eight with just over a minute to go, the Lions returned the favor and ended the half on 8-2 run to cut the deficit to two. Memphis extended the lead to four, 54-50, after three quarters.
But the game would quickly turn in Columbia’s favor.
Yale’s Camilla Emsbo was scheduled to play for Team USA at the Maccabi Games in Israel this summer, but the 6’5″ forward did not ultimately join the team. Several weeks later, the Next Hoops’ Jenn Hatfield tweeted that “a source familiar with the situation” told her that Emsbo entered the transfer portal for 2023-24. With only one year of eligibility remining, it appeared that the two-time All-Ivy player was done playing for the Elis, but she remained on Yale’s 2022-23 roster and the school would not discuss her status for this season.
The school announced that Embso has an undisclosed injury and will be out for the year Tuesday morning, a few hours before the Ivy League’s Media Day. Despite not playing on the court, the senior captain will remain with the team in a supporting role. The injury ends Emsbo’s Yale playing career.