Brown regular season recap – Ivy women’s tournament preview

Prior to the Ivy League Tournament, Ivy Hoops Online will recap the seasons of each of the four women’s seeds. First up is No. 4 seed Brown.

Record: 16-11 Overall, 7-7 Ivy (Tie – 4th Place)

Ivy Tournament Seed: No. 4 (earned spot due to 2-0 season series record against Cornell)

Home 8-6, Away 8-5, Neutral 0-0

Present Streak: 2 Wins; Last 8: 3-5

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Mitch Henderson finds the perfect pitch for Princeton

In his sixth season as Princeton’s head coach, Mitch Henderson led the Tigers to the Ivy League’s first undefeated regular season since 2007-08. (Ivy League Digital Network)

For Mitch Henderson, the climb to the top of the Ivy League mountain has been anything but easy.

Critics point out his teams’ surprising inability to close the sale in some past seasons and his struggles with Harvard and Yale as indications of something missing in his program. Supporters point out he is young, smart and has brought a vision for the long haul.  He has developed a new culture and identity for Tiger basketball that bears his unmistakable imprint.

The Tigers’ 14-0 march through the 2016-17 Ivy schedule, making Henderson the odds-on favorite for Coach of the Year honors, tips the scales in favor of the supporters’ case.

Let’s take a closer look at what Henderson has done, particularly over the last three seasons as he put the building blocks of the current juggernaut in place.

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Ivy weekend roundup – Mar. 6, 2017

What a long, strange trip it’s been …

This has been a crazy season for Ivy League basketball, all 16 weeks of it. From Harvard’s starting the season 14 hours away in Shanghai to Penn’s regular season-ending triumph over the Crimson Saturday night, this season has been full of surprises and unusual trends.

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Tweak the Ivy League Tournament tiebreakers

That Penn win on Saturday night … I’m kind of speechless. I tried my best to capture the moment for CSN Philly, but that was just a stunner of an ending. As a Penn alum, that Jackson Donahue shot is something I will not forget for a long time. To be fair, even if I wasn’t a Penn alum, that game was a thriller to attend.

With that being said, I do want to raise one quick issue about the Ivy League Tournament. I will still gripe that it should be just three teams, but if that had been the case going into tonight, we would have been robbed of a pretty fantastic moment.

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Brown punches last ticket to women’s tourney

After Brown’s victory at Dartmouth on February 12, the Bears were in fourth place with a 5-3 record and a two-game lead on fifth-place Cornell.  With four games in a row at home, things looked positive for Brown to hold onto fourth and claim a spot in the Ivy League Tournament.

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Q&A with Columbia coach Jim Engles

Columbia coach Jim Engles is looking to lead the Lions to a berth in the  Ivy League Tournament, but the Lions’ making or missing the tourney won’t define how Engles assesses the team’s performance in his first season at the helm in Morningside Heights. (USA Today Sports)

After a thrilling Senior Night victory over Penn to keep their Ivy Tournament hopes alive, we sat down with Columbia head coach Jim Engles during his weekly media availability to ask him what he knows about the Ivy’s tiebreakers, Columbia’s road difficulties and more.

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Ivy women’s update – Mar. 2, 2017

On Friday night, Penn clinched a berth in the inaugural Ivy League Tournament with a 47-34 victory over Cornell at the Palestra. The Red battled back from Penn’s initial 7-0 start, but could not counter the Quakers’ 11-0 run at the start of the second quarter. Both teams shot poorly (Cornell 24 percent overall and 18 percent from three; Penn 37 percent overall and 29 percent from three), but Penn’s more dominant inside game proved to be the difference.

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On the Vine – Mar. 2, 2017

On the Vine welcomes two very special guests – Princeton basketball 2008 alum and radio and Ivy League Digital Network commentator, and IHO contributor Ian Wenik.

Savage breaks down the many factors fueling Princeton’s undefeated Ivy run through 12 games, previews the Tigers’ regular season-closing weekend and looks ahead to how the Ivy League Digital Network will cover the inaugural Ivy League Tournament. Wenik reflects on the atmosphere at Levien Gym and analyzes how Columbia bounced back from a drubbing by Princeton Friday evening to pivotally push past Penn the following night. The panel considers potential future sites for the Ivy tournament and predicts what the inaugural tourney’s four men’s seeds will be next weekend.

In addition to Savage and Wenik, hosts Peter Andrews and Mike Tony are joined by IHO writer George Clark.

On the Vine – program alert

Joining us tonight On the Vine will be IHO contributor Ian Wenik and very special guest Noah Savage, a 2008 Princeton alum and ace Tigers commentator for radio and the Ivy League Digital Network.

Listen live at 7 p.m. EST: mixlr.com/on-the-vine