Ivy League

2017-18 Ivy women’s basketball preview, part 3

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This is part 3 of our 2017-18 Ivy women’s basketball preview. Read part 1 here and part 2 here.

4. Brown Bears (‘16-’17 record: 17-13, 7-7 Ivy; tied for fourth; Ivy Tournament semifinalist; lost in second Round of WBI)

Coach Sarah Behn (fourth season; 19th season overall)

Captains: Megan Reilly (senior guard) and Erika Steeves (junior forward)

Key Returning Players:
Justine Gaziano (sophomore guard) – 22 starts, 16.5 ppg, 47.5 percent field-goal percentage, 80 percent free-throw percentage, 35 made three-pointers
Shayna Mehta (junior guard) – 30 starts, 15.7 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 39.2 percent three-point percentage, 62 made three-pointers, 58 steals

Key Losses:
Abby O’Keefe (Guard) – five starts, 17.7 mpg, 4.6 ppg, 19 made three-pointers

Key Additions:
McKenna Dale (guard) – Connecticut Gatorade POY; 1,792 points, 747 rebounds, 264 steals, 162 blocks in career
Dominique Leonidas (Guard) – first team all-state (Ga.); 1,000-plus career points

IHO Brown schedule breakdown here

Gaziano and Mehta were both in the top five in scoring and named members of the All-Ivy second team. In her rookie season, Gaziano was in the top 10 of five offensive categories, while Mehta, the 2015-16 Ivy League Rookie of the Year, was in the top 15 for eight offensive and defensive statistics.  Steeves, the league’s top total rebounder, was in the conference’s top 15 for six offensive and defensive categories. Will was in the top 10 for five statistics.

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2017-18 Ivy women’s basketball preview, part 2

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This is part 2 of Ivy Hoops Online’s 2017-18 Ivy women’s basketball preview. Read part 1 here and part 3 here.

8. Dartmouth Big Green (‘16-’17 record: 8-19 overall, 3-11 Ivy; tied for seventh)

Coach Belle Koclanes (fifth season)

Captains: Andi Norman (senior forward) and Emily Slagle (senior guard)

Key Returning Players:

Kate Letkewicz (senior guard) – 23 starts, 34.6 mpg, 11.2 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 51 three-pointers made

Isalys Quinones (junior forward) – 21 starts, 27.2 mpg, 9.1 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.6 steals per game

Key Losses:
Fannie Szabo (guard/forward) – 20 starts, 29.9 mpg, 10.6 ppg, 2.0 apg

Amber Mixon (point guard) – 21 starts, 21.5 mpg, 2.0 apg

Key Additions:
Anna Luce (forward) – AP Washington State Co-POY; 1,700-plus career points

Elle Louie (guard) – 1,000 + points, 700 rebounds, 400 steals, 300 assists and 100 blocks in career

IHO Dartmouth schedule breakdown here

The Big Green return three players who started 20-plus games last season (Letkewicz, Quinones, Olivia Smith), and one who started 13 games (Norman).  Letkewicz was an Honorable Mention All-Ivy selection the last two seasons.  She was top 15 in the league for points and total rebounds, while being in the top five for three-point field-goal percentage (41 percent), three-pointers made, and defensive rebounds (6.1 per game). Quinones, who played for the Puerto Rican national team this summer, was top 15 in the conference in total rebounds, offensive rebounds, steals, free throw percentage and field goal percentage.  Norman was in the top 10 for three-point field-goal percentage and three-pointers made.

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2017-18 Ivy League team-by-team season preview, part 2

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This is part 2 of IHO’s 2017-18 Ivy League team-by-team season preview. Read part 1 here.

5. Columbia

Columbia’s season went south quickly after a 4-2 start in Ivy play, as the Lions fell out of conference tournament contention with a 1-7 finish in Ancient Eight action. What could push Columbia even farther south this season is the loss of Luke Petrsasek, who is was as versatile as players come. Petrasek ranked in the league’s top 10 in scoring, field goal percentage, free throw percentage, steals and blocks. So that’ll be hard to replace, especially since Columbia was so pedestrian in effective field-goal percentage at both ends of the floor in 2016-17.

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2017-18 Ivy League team-by-team season preview, part 1

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This is part 1 of IHO’s 2017-18 Ivy League team-by-team season preview. Read part 2 here. 

The rise of the Ivy League is projected to continue.

The Ancient Eight is slated by KenPom as the 13th-best conference in Division I this season, just seven years after it placed 26th. That’s a quantum leap, a product of the league’s bolstered recruiting in that time frame. The Ivy hoops status quo now consists of top-25 recruiting classes, Nike Skills Academy members and expectations of NCAA Tournament success.

There’s a three-way cluster between Harvard, Princeton and Yale projected to top the league. In the Ivy Preseason Media Poll, Yale received the most first-place votes (eight) but Harvard garnered the most points overall. Without a clear conference favorite, it’s quite likely that the regular season champion will not also be the conference tournament winner, with Bart Torvik’s Ivy Tourney Simulator tabbing Penn as the favorite in an Ivy tourney as a No. 4 seed.

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2017-18 Ivy women’s basketball preview – Part 1

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This is part 1 of Ivy Hoops Online’s 2017-18 Ivy women’s basketball preview. Read part 2 here and part 3 here.

At the end of the 2016-17 season, the Ivy League ended up as the nation’s eighth-best conference, according to the RPI.  The Penn Quakers went 13-1 to take the regular season title by four games over Princeton.  The Tigers ended up one game ahead of third-place Harvard.  Brown defeated Cornell in Ithaca on the last night of the season to force a tie for fourth-place, and the Bears claimed the last spot in the inaugural Ivy Tournament on the strength of a season sweep of the Big Red.  In the semifinal round of Ivy Madness, Penn defeated Brown 71-60 and Princeton beat the Crimson 68-47.  The next afternoon, the Red & Blue completed a season sweep of the Tigers, 75-49, to earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

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Ivy League men’s basketball 2018 recruiting update

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Harvard

Noah Kirkwood, a three-star recruit from the Ottawa area, committed on Tuesday to Harvard for the fall of 2018.  The 6′ 7″ shooting guard recently graduated from nearby Ashbury College High School, and will spend a year at Northfield Mount Hermon School (Mass.) prep school before heading to Cambridge.  247Sports noted that Kirkwood had offers at Wichita State, Virginia, Texas, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Tulane, GW, and St. Bonaventure.  Verbal Commits listed additional offers at Villanova, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and USC.

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Ivy news roundup – Sept. 1, 2017

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Oni impresses at Nike Skills Academy

Yale’s Miye Oni was one of 21 college players selected to compete at the prestigious Nike Skills Academy in late August.  Among the attendees were Grayson Allen, Trevon Duval and Marques Bolden from Duke, Nick Ward and Jaren Jackson from Michigan State, Tony Carr from Penn State, and Amir Coffey of Minnesota.  The sophomore guard, who was named a second team All-Ivy in 2016-17, certainly impressed those in attendance.  ESPN’s Jeff Goodman tweeted, “One college player who has stood out to NBA guys at the Nike Camp has been sophomore Miye Oni.  Guys love his ability to score.”

Ivy women excel in international hoops

Princeton sophomore Bella Alarie and Harvard sophomore Jeannie Boehm helped USA Basketball secure a silver medal at the recent FIBA U-19 World Cup.  Alarie, who was a late addition to the team’s tryout roster, earned a starting spot and finished the tournament averaging 7.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and 21.2 minutes a game.  Boehm averaged 3.2 rebounds and 8.8 minutes per game.  Team USA dominated the group stage and the quarterfinals.  In the semifinals against Japan, USA was up 22 at the end of the third quarter and appeared to hit a wall, allowing its opponents to get the lead down to seven by the end of the contest.  In the finals, the Americans were up six at halftime, but could not contain Russia’s two frontcourt starts, World Cup MVP Maria Vadeeva and Raisa Musina.  With the 86-82 defeat, the U.S. missed its chance to secure its seventh straight title.

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O Tannenwald

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Jonathan Tannenwald’s been an insightful reporter on Ivy League and Big 5 basketball for Philly.com, and before that, The Daily Pennsylvanian, for 15 years. He’s been a guest multiple times on our On the Vine podcast and he’s been a generous resource, mentor and friend to many at The DP, Penn’s student newspaper, over the years.

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Ivy news roundup – June 23, 2017

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Yale’s Miye Oni breaks down the NBA’s No. 1 Pick

The NBA Draft took place on Thursday, and Washington’s Markelle Fultz was taken as the first pick . by the Philadelphia 76ers. Before the Celtics traded away the pick to Philadelphia, WEEI in New England contacted Yale’s Miye Oni to discuss Fultz and the Bulldogs’ opening night victory over the Huskies. Fultz ended the game with 30 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Oni completed his first contest with 24 points, six rebounds and three assists.

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Lin’s accounts of racist behavior continue disturbing trend in Ivy sports

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Former Harvard guard Jeremy Lin (2006 -10) was interviewed by his Brooklyn Nets teammate on the “Outside Shot with Randy Foye” podcast on May 10.  After discussing the early part of his basketball career, Lin was asked if he was subjected to racial slurs when playing on the road.  The NBA’s first American-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent stated that he suffered more racist abuse during his time in college than in the pros.

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