Harvard-Yale: The Elis must hold serve

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The biggest drama Friday night at Yale may be halftime, when Yale will find out if Columbia was able to knock off Princeton at Jadwin. If not, the Elis will likely have to win out.

Yale will be playing its first repeat league game without Jack Montague, with the Elis having already played (and defeated) Harvard sans Montague less than two weeks ago. The experience of that will help. Montague, unfortunately is now out for the rest of the season after having withdrawn from the university.

The Elis beat Harvard, 67-55, at Lavietes Pavilion earlier this month. It was not that close.

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On the Vine – Feb. 25, 2016

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The panel looks back at Yale-Princeton and ahead to this weekend’s crucial Columbia-Princeton matchup, as well as assessing Cornell’s slide and Yale’s outlook now that Jack Montague has withdrawn from the school. Peter Andrews and Mike Tony are joined by IHO founder Ian Halpern and IHO writer George Clark for this episode.

Jack Montague withdraws from Yale, will not return to team

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Jack Montague drills a game-winning three-point shot at then-defending national champion UConn on Dec. 5, 2014.
Jack Montague drills a game-winning three-point shot at then-defending national champion UConn on Dec. 5, 2014. (Sox and Dawgs)

Jack Montague has “withdrawn” from Yale, the Yale Daily News reported Wednesday, citing an update regarding Montague’s status from the University Registrar’s office Tuesday. Later Wednesday afternoon, Yale announced in a press release that Montague will not return to the team, declining further comment.

The University Registrar’s office declined to specify why Montague, the team’s captain, had withdrawn from the university, and Montague had told the YDN he was taking a personal leave on Feb. 17 and added then that he was “trying to come back as soon as possible.”

According to Yale’s policy on absence, withdrawal and reinstatement, the earliest he could have come back to Yale is the spring ’17 semester if his withdrawal is medical, or the fall ’17 semester if his leave is due to personal (non-disciplinary) reasons. If a personal leave is done to avoid disciplinary reasons, then there is no reinstatement. If the withdrawal is due to disciplinary reasons, then the return date is determined by Yale College Executive Committee.

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A lost weekend, a lost season for Cornell?

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The last several weekends have been difficult for the Cornell basketball program.  Although losses to Princeton and Yale were expected, it was hoped that there would be more competition against the top tier, along with one or two victories against Brown and Penn.  Unfortunately, the Tigers and Bulldogs together averaged 30-point wins, while the Bears and Quakers were able to withstand Cornell’s pressure and emerged victorious.  In the midst of a four-game losing streak, it was thought that the Ithaca arrival of Dartmouth and Harvard, two teams that were defeated on the road by the Big Red a few weeks ago, would provide the opportunity for Cornell to get back in the win column.

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Ivy Power Rankings – Feb. 23, 2016

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1. Princeton (18-5, 9-1 Ivy)
The Tigers have it all on the table. Princeton’s toughest game remaining, according to KenPom, will be at Harvard next weekend, not hosting Columbia Friday night. But Princeton’s lowest win probability, which comes visiting the Crimson, is still 75 percent. To take advantage of a favorable schedule, Princeton must continue firing on all cylinders offensively, which means getting the most out of X-factor Amir Bell, whose effective field goal percentage has been solid ever since he dominated in the Ivy opener at the Palestra.

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Penn basketball fans living in hope again

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Hope is a powerful thing.  There is the hope for that coveted job, that special girl/boy or, at one time in high school, hopes that the school of our dreams would take us. Hope is especially important this season in Ivy hoops, just ask Columbia, Yale and Princeton.  For Penn fans when it comes to Quaker basketball, there have been hopes of the quixotic variety since 2007. Each year since then, however, our optimism has often been punctured by the harsh realism of what we all knew would eventually transpire nonetheless – that is, until now.

The Quakers, as young and undermanned as they are, once again “looked good” this past weekend as they split the back-to-back with Brown and Yale.  Sure, they lost to a better team, but just like last week on the road at Columbia, they hung in there for a solid half of basketball against a more experienced and deeper squad.

Not good enough, you say?

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A substantial sweep for Princeton

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The Tigers’ weekend sweep of Yale and Brown at Jadwin gave them control of their destiny in the hectic Ivy race and tied them with the Bulldogs in the all-important loss column.

The largest Jadwin crowd in the Mitch Henderson era, bolstered by a beer-soaked cadre of undergraduates and Garden State chief executive Chris Christie, Delaware ’84, was on hand for Friday’s matchup with Justin Sears and company. Yale controlled the backboards and the game in the early going, taking an 11-6 lead after six minutes. Two Sam Downey free throws gave the Bulldogs their largest lead of the game, 19-13, with nine minutes to go in the first period. The key statistic was Yale’s six offensive rebounds while shutting the Tigers out in that category. At the five-minute mark the margin remained six, 27-21.

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Ivy Saturday roundup

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Harvard 76, Cornell 74

This will surely be remembered as the weekend that ensured Bill Courtney’s exit as Cornell’s head coach after six years of no postseason tournament appearances, following him taking over a program fresh off a Sweet 16 run in 2010. On Friday night, Cornell came out flat and struggled mightily for long stretches in a home 78-66 loss to Dartmouth, a game that the Big Red had to have after being on the wrong end of back-to-back weekend sweeps. Then this game happened.

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Ivy Friday roundup

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Columbia 90, Harvard 76

The Lions entered this weekend knowing they needed to win out to have a realistic shot at the Ivy title after Princeton stole one at Levien Saturday night. And Columbia held serve at Levien in its return to game action, with Alex Rosenberg and Maodo Lo pitching in 23 and 22 points respectively as their senior seasons get into crunchtime. The Lions notched 1.43 points per possession and shot 57.4 percent from the floor, enough to withstand similarly hot shooting from the Crimson, who shot 11-for-18 from beyond the arc. Let’s be honest though, this game should be remembered for Lo’s ridiculous, nonchalantly athletic quarter-court bank shot to end the first half.

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On the Vine – Feb. 18, 2016

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The panel breaks down how Princeton-Columbia went wrong for the Lions after host Peter Andrews’ show-opening monologue about the Sisyphean task of being a Columbia fan, Ivy title and NIT prospects for Princeton and Yale, and much more. Peter Andrews and Mike Tony are joined by IHO writer George Clark and Big Apple Buckets editor-in-chief John Templon for this episode.