Columbia readies for UC Irvine in CIT final

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NEW YORK — For Columbia, getting past UC Irvine and winning the CIT title will be a tall order — in every sense of the word.

The Anteaters’ defense is ranked 36th in the country in KenPom in opponent-adjusted points per possession (96.7). They’re probably the toughest defensive puzzle the Lions will have to solve this season outside of Yale.

The big reason for UC Irvine’s defensive success is the presence of 7-foot-6 center Mamadou N’Diaye. After introducing himself to the country with a strong performance in a narrow loss to Louisville in the 2015 NCAA Tournament, the Senegal product has turned in his best statistical effort this year.

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Megan Griffith hired as Columbia basketball coach

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Columbia Athletics announced Monday that Megan Griffith has been hired as Columbia’s next women’s basketball coach.

Griffith was an assistant at Princeton for the past four seasons and also served as Princeton’s director of basketball operations from 2010-12. The Tigers went 54-7 in that span.

Griffith succeeds Sheila Roux, who coached the 2015-16 season as an interim coach after Stephanie Glance stepped down in September 2015 to become the Executive Director of the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.

Griffith was captain of the Lions for three seasons and earned All-Ivy League honors in both 2006 and 2007.

Columbia defeats NJIT, 80-65, advances to CIT final

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Maodo Lo picked a great time to reach his season high in scoring.

The senior guard scored 29 points on 11-for-18 shooting and added six assists, three steals, three rebounds and two blocks, lifting the Lions past NJIT, 80-65, at Levien Gym and into a CIT final matchup with UC Irvine that will take place Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Levien. The win marked coach Kyle Smith’s 100th victory in six seasons at Columbia.

A 9-2 Lions run gave Columbia a 55-42 lead with 9:45 remaining that it would not relinquish. Freshman Lukas Meisner added 11 points and 10 rebounds in 27 minutes off the bench for Columbia, which outscored the Highlanders 16-5 at the free throw line and outrebounded them 39-29.

Enough already with the ‘new Ivy League’ narrative

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The Yale Bulldogs’ terrific showing in this year’s NCAA Tournament has inspired a new national narrative. As a Wall Street Journal headline put it, “The Ivy League finally merits your respect.”

But as someone who has been following Ivy League basketball for more than forty years, the story that’s being promoted in certain circles is revisionist history that just makes me want to scream.

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Columbia edges Ball State, 69-67, in CIT quarterfinals

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Columbia earned a berth in the CIT semifinals with a hard-fought 69-67 win over Ball State at Levien Gym Wednesday.

Junior forward Luke Petrasek hit the game-winning free throws for the Lions, breaking the 67-67 tie with 48 seconds left and registering a crucial block six seconds later. Petrasek also got the game-winning rebound off an intentional missed free throw from Ball State’s Sean Sellers with two seconds left after Sellers missed the free throw.

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Makai Mason to declare for NBA Draft

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Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated reported Monday Yale sophomore guard Makai Mason is declaring for the NBA Draft.

Under new NBA Draft rules, players can see where they are projected to be chosen and subsequently decide to return to school at their discretion.

“We want to take advantage of that new rule, show people beyond the Ivy League what he’s capable of,” Mason’s father Dan told Thamel.

Mason scored a career-high 31 points in No. 12 Yale’s 79–75 upset of No. 5 Baylor in the first round Thursday and went 2-for-12 from the floor in Yale’s 71-64 loss to No. 4 Duke Saturday.

Dartmouth fires head coach Paul Cormier after six seasons in second stint at school

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Paul Cormier finishes with a 141-211 record at Dartmouth in 13 seasons over two stints. (Dartmouth Sports)
Paul Cormier finishes with a 141-211 record at Dartmouth in 13 seasons over two stints. (Dartmouth Sports)

In what many Ivy overlookers consider a surprising move, Dartmouth fired Paul Cormier Monday six seasons into his second stint as Dartmouth’s head coach. Cormier went 54-116 (.318) overall and 23-61 (.274) in his second stint in Hanover after going 87-95 (.478) and 47-51 (.480) in his first stint from 1984 to 1991.

Last season, Cormier led Dartmouth to its first postseason appearance since 1959, as the team went 14-14 in the regular season to earn a fourth-place Ivy finish and CIT berth. The Big Green lost to Canisius in the first round of the CIT.

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Harvard’s 2016 recruiting class: Everything you need to know about the bright future of Harvard basketball

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Next season, the Crimson will bring in a star-studded, highly-ranked and extremely potent seven-man class consisting of Chris Lewis, Bryce Aiken, Seth Towns, Christian Juzang, Robert Baker, Henry Welsh and Justin Bassey. With four of these players ranked in either Scout.com or ESPN’s Top 100 lists and the class as a whole ranked 11th nationally by ESPN, expectations are high for this group. Combine all the rankings and buzz surrounding this class with Harvard’s lack of success this season, and the perfect storm for this class’s grand entrance is all but brewed. Here’s a breakdown, one by one, of what to expect from this recruiting class next year and beyond:

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Who will be Cornell’s next head coach?

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With the firing of Bill Courtney, Cornell will begin a national search for a new head men’s basketball coach.  Who might be targets for the Big Red search committee?  Can the past help decide the future?

Here is a list of the Cornell coaches from the last 40 years:
2010-11 through 2015-16: Bill Courtney (Graduate of Bucknell)
1st Head Coaching job
15 years as Division 1 Assistant and Associate Head Coach, including 8 seasons working under Jim Larranaga at George Mason
60-113 overall and 27-57 Ivy; No post-season appearances; Highest Ivy standing was 5th place
2000-01 through 2009-10: Steve Donahue (Ursinus)
1st Head Coaching job
12 years as college Assistant Coach, including 10 seasons working under Fran Dunphy at Penn
146-138 overall and 78-62 Ivy; 3 Ivy League titles; 3 post-season appearances, including a Sweet 16 run in 2009-10

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No. 10 Penn falls to No. 7 Washington, 65-53

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No. 10 Penn fell to No. 7 Washington in the first round of the NCAA women’s tournament Saturday at the Xfinity Center in College Park, Md., 65-53, ending a Penn season that gave the Quakers a program record for career wins.

Penn (24-5, 13-1 Ivy) led Washington (23-10, 11-7 Pac-12) 13-7 after the first quarter and 25-24 at halftime, giving the Huskies problems with its 2-3 zone. Washington shot just 3-for-18 in the first quarter, as Penn showed off its scoring defense which ranks eighth in the country.

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