Dartmouth Director of Basketball Operations Scott Waterman and Yale Undergraduate Sports Analytics Group President Luke Benz are set to join IHO writer George Clark and hosts Peter Andrews and Mike Tony for this week’s podcast episode of On the Vine. Listen live Thursday at 7 p.m. EST and send questions for the panel at Mixlr here.
Second division looking for a second wind
After a crazy first full weekend of conference play, a definite separation has developed between Princeton, Harvard and Yale and the remainder of the league .
1) Princeton 8-0 (wins versus Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Penn x 2)
T-2) Yale 6-2 (wins versus Columbia, Penn, Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown x 2)
T-2) Harvard 6-2 (wins versus Yale, Brown, Penn, Cornell, Dartmouth x 2)
4) Columbia 4-4 (wins versus Harvard, Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth)
T-5) Brown 2-6 (wins versus Penn, Cornell)
T-5) Penn 2-6 (wins versus Columbia, Cornell)
T-5) Cornell 2-6 (wins versus Columbia, Dartmouth)
T-5) Dartmouth 2-6 (wins versus Brown, Penn)
Looking at the standings, nine wins will give a team an automatic spot in the four-team postseason tournament. At this time, Princeton is one win away, while Yale and Harvard are three away. Barring a complete collapse from any of these teams, three quarters of the tournament are close to being set.
Despite being swept by Penn and Princeton this past weekend, Columbia still has the upper hand for the last spot in the tournament since the Lions have a two-game lead and is the only remaining team that can get to nine victories. If Columbia cannot win at least five of its last six, then things get more complicated.
Makai Mason reportedly to become grad transfer in 2018
Yale point guard Makai Mason will play for the Elis in the 2017-18 season and become a graduate transfer following that season, according to Jon Rothstein of FanRag Sports.
Mason was a standout during Yale’s NCAA Tournament run last season but was injured in a scrimmage in November, reportedly needing to undergo surgery to repair his foot.
Mason’s apparent decision to play for the Bulldogs in 2017-18 indicates the junior has remained enrolled at Yale rather than withdrawing from school.
Last season, Mason averaged 16.0 points, 3.8 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game and added 31 points in Yale’s NCAA Tournament first-round win over Baylor.
Ivy weekend roundup – Feb. 13, 2017
As IHO writer Rob Browne pointed out to me Sunday night, this was a topsy-turvy weekend for Ivy hoops. Comebacks came and went, winning and losing streaks were snapped and the race for the league tournament No. 4 seed got muddled:
Princeton extends winning streak to 11 games
After a weekend sweep at home against Cornell and Columbia, the Tigers have now played every other team in the league, Penn twice. With a perfect 8-0 record, Princeton is clear of the second-place Harvard Crimson and Yale Bulldogs by two full games and is in control of the No. 1 seed in next month’s Ivy League Tournament. The Tigers are easily within the top 100 teams as ranked by KenPom and Sagarin, while Harvard and Yale are outside. It is doubtful that either team will leapfrog the Tigers, even if one or both of them finish the regular season tied with Princeton. The top seed is crucial for the team that gets it. If it’s Princeton, that means Yale and Harvard will play each other in the tournament.
Q&A with Columbia coach Jim Engles
At the midway(ish) point of Ivy play, Columbia stands at 4-2, good enough for third place when factoring in its win over Harvard.
This weekend, the Lions experience their first full Ivy road weekend of the season, beginning with a Penn squad desperate for its first Ivy win and a tilt at first-place Princeton, hoping to avoid their first loss. With all of that in mind, I spoke with Columbia coach Jim Engles this week to talk about the weekend ahead and the adjustments the team has made and still needs to make this season.
Ivy Hoops Online: With Penn winless and Princeton undefeated, how hard is it to keep the players from overlooking Penn and just focusing on the Saturday game?
Harvard splits the Ps, looks ahead to Brown and Yale
The Crimson played two wild games this past weekend, as Harvard took down Penn before dropping a stunning game to Princeton. On Friday night, the Crimson trailed 19-4 before storming back to beat Penn. On Saturday night, Harvard staged a double-digit comeback to lead Princeton late, but missed free throws, silly fouls and some rebounding issues led to this wild ending and a Harvard loss. Here are a few of my thoughts on Harvard at this point in the season:
Trey Phills: Kind of like the new Nick Victor for Yale
Trey Phills and Nick Victor are different people. Really.
Phills is a sophomore at Yale and stands 6-foot-2. Victor graduated from Yale last year and stands 6-foot-5. He currently plays in Norway and last week was named Player Of The Week in his league, scoring 24 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.
Now let the comparisons begin.
On the Vine – Feb. 9, 2017
The panel breaks down last weekend’s highlight matchups, including Princeton-Harvard and Brown-Columbia, and looks ahead to this weekend’s slate.
Peter Andrews is joined by IHO writers Rob Browne, George Clark, Robert Crawford and Sam Tydings. (Skip ahead to 1:37 unless you enjoy meditating on Ivy League basketball in silence.)
Princeton switches it up on Penn – literally
I attended both of the Penn-Princeton basketball games, each time as a writer for CSN Philly (you can read my recap of game one here and game two here!). While that means I looked for more of a Penn storyline to write about, I was struck after Tuesday’s game by how revealing the blowout 64-49 win was for the Tigers (hence this article).
The first game was an unmitigated disaster in the first half with just two combined assists and a plethora of turnovers, but Princeton emerged with a double-digit lead and soon expanded said lead to 21 points in the early second half. From there, Penn made just about every three-pointer imaginable for a good 10 minutes and tied the game. The Tigers pulled away soon after, but it was an impressive display of shooting for a road team, especially with the much ballyhooed sight lines at Jadwin Gym.