Editor’s note: Ivy Hoops Online writer Richard Kent has followed Ancient Eight men’s basketball for decades and after consultation with players, coaches and fans has compiled his personal list of the top 10 men’s hoops teams since the formation of the Ivy League as we know it in 1955. No top 10 list in this category is going to look the same, so if you have a top 10 of your own that you’d like to share, please share it in a comment below.
General
Ivy hoops roundup – May 11, 2020
Yale women’s incoming class announced
Yale women’s basketball announced its three-member Class of 2024 Monday. The class consists of:
- Brenna McDonald, a 6-foot-2 forward from Natick, Mass. who was named to the Boston Globe Dream Team her senior year
- Haley Sabol, a 6-foot-2 forward from Pittsburgh who was a first-team all-state selection her junior and senior years for Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va.
- Elles van der Maas, a 6-foot-2 guard from Sydney who made the 2018 All-Australian team
Paul Atkinson returning to Yale for senior season
Paul Atkinson announced on Twitter Saturday night that he will return to Yale for his senior campaign, a season after he was named Ivy League Co-Player of the Year.
Atkinson had announced last month that he would enter the 2020 NBA Draft while maintaining his college eligibility.
Katie Benzan changes course, decides to play at Maryland for 2020-21
Harvard’s Katie Benzan shifted from the burnt orange of Texas to the black and gold of Maryland as the Terrapins announced her arrival for the 2020-21 season.
The three-time first team All-Ivy guard surprised Ivy hoops fans in late August when she decided to forgo her senior season at Harvard. Two months later, she chose to play for coach Karen Aston at the University of Texas as a graduate transfer.
After the season, Aston’s contract was not renewed and the Longhorns hired Mississippi State head coach Vic Schaefer on April 5.
Shortly after that, Benzan decided to change course and look elsewhere.
Ivy Hoops Online spoke to Benzan from her home in Wellesley, Mass., where she is taking classes to finish her undergraduate degree in psychology.
Penn senior guard Ryan Betley commits to California for graduate transfer year
One more year! Let’s get it 🐻🐻🐻 pic.twitter.com/uxxN41g0nK
— Ryan Betley (@RyanBetley) April 17, 2020
Penn senior guard Ryan Betley announced on Twitter Friday night that he will be spending his graduate transfer year at California.
Betley was Penn’s leading scorer during the team’s 2017-18 Ivy League championship season and was an effective sharpshooting wing for the Red & Blue. Betley averaged 12.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 30.9 minutes per game in 74 contests for Penn. From three-point range, Betley made 38.3% of his shots on his career.
Bella Alarie goes to Dallas with the fifth pick in the WNBA Draft
Princeton’s Bella Alarie didn’t have to wait long to hear her name, as she was called with the fifth overall pick by the Dallas Wings in Friday night’s WNBA Draft.
“It’s been my lifelong dream to play in the WNBA, so it was a really special moment,” Alarie told WNBA media. “I’m glad I got to share it with my family.”
Earlier in the week, Dallas President, CEO and General Manager Greg Bibb discussed his interest in Alarie with Ivy Hoops Online and sealed the deal with the team’s second pick of the first round.
Bella becomes the second member of the family chosen in the first round, following her father, Mark, who went to the Denver Nuggets with the 18th pick in the 1986 NBA Draft. She also joins former teammate Leslie Robinson as the only other Tiger to be drafted in the WNBA and equals the highest spot ever by an Ivy League hoopster with Harvard’s Allison Feaster (1998; Los Angeles Sparks).
Pre-WNBA Draft buzz for Princeton’s Bella Alarie
With the nation continuing its fight against the coronavirus pandemic and the sports world on hiatus, the WNBA will provide some actual live entertainment on Friday night as the league’s draft will be televised at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN. Ivy hoops fans will have an additional bit of interest waiting to hear Bella Alarie’s name.
Alarie, a three-time Ivy League Player of the Year, four-time first team All-Ivy, two-time AP Honorable Mention All-America and all-time Princeton leader in both points and blocks, looks to be the third Ancient Eight athlete picked in Draft history and the first chosen in the opening round since Harvard’s Allison Feaster went No. 5 overall to the Los Angeles Sparks in 1998.
Brown chooses Monique LeBlanc as its new women’s head coach
On Friday afternoon, Brown Athletic Director Jack Hayes announced the hiring of Monique LeBlanc as the Bears’ new women’s basketball coach, the fifth in program history.
LeBlanc, a native of Cumberland, R.I., will arrive in Providence after a nine-year tenure at Merrimack College. This past season, when the Warriors made the jump from Division II to Division I, LeBlanc had her best season with a 20-10 record and a 13-5 third-place finish in the Northeast Conference.
How to help the helpers
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to devastate the nation, the areas surrounding all eight Ivies are doing what they can to protect others. Here are some ways to help the helpers, categorized by Ivy area. If you know of other organizations helping out in these areas, please email tips@ivyhoopsonline.com or post it in a comment below.
BOSTON/CAMBRIDGE
Boston Children’s Hospital is seeking donations for masks, gowns and other miscellaneous items and will accept all donations in original, unopened packaging. From outside the organization, please ship to
BCH-DONATIONS
MA2 Receiving
53 Binney Street
Boston, MA 02115
ATTN: Brian Becquart
Anyone with questions may contact Erica Denhoff directly at erica.denhoff@gmail.com.