Kyle Smith’s Uglyball approach is paying dividends for the Light Blue. (Columbia Athletics)
What is the most memorable basketball offense of all time? Chances are your mind just jumped to memories of the Showtime Lakers, the Seven Seconds or Less Suns, the Stockton and Malone pick and roll, or the present-day Spurs. Visions of great ball movement, transition dunks and helpless defenders are probably dancing through your head like sugarplums at this very second.
The offense Kyle Smith and the 2014-15 Columbia Lions are running more resembles the Four Corners offense which, while ultimately leading to many victories, sucked the life out of the game and ultimately led to the implementation of the shot clock. Despite playing at this snail’s pace, only four teams in the NCAA have attempted a higher percentage of three-pointers than the Lions. This combination of a slow tempo and an absurdly high percentage of threes taken has created a painful-to-watch offense that is the key to Columbia’s season.
Corbin Miller has scored in double figures in three of Harvard’s past five games. (gocrimson.com)
On Monday night, Harvard’s tough defense and late-game toughness pushed the Crimson over Boston University, 70-56, at Lavietes Pavilion in Cambridge. For the first thirty minutes of the game, Harvard and BU traded leads and the scrappy Terriers just would not go away. Then halfway through the second half, Harvard pulled ahead for good on a Wesley Saunders three-pointer, and the game was never in doubt after that. BU’s head coach, Joe Jones, noted after the game that Harvard played like a “winning team” down the stretch, and BU simply did not.
Once again, Saunders had an outstanding night, with 15 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. Great performances from Saunders are becoming the norm (he is currently the only player in the NCAA averaging at least 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists per game), so it was another Harvard player’s performance that caught the attention of Crimson fans.
Mitch Henderson is looking to right the ship for the 3-7 Tigers. (ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com)
Princeton turned a nine-point first-half lead into a 14-point deficit at the end of last night’s clunker in Jersey City. Desi Washington, the Peacocks’ leading scorer, returned after missing eight games due to a wrist injury. Washington dominated this one, scoring 18 to lead both teams in the 60-46 St. Peter’s victory. Although tied at the half at 25, the Peacocks (4-6) seized control early in the second stanza in what must have been an eerie reminder to the Tigers (3-7) of their second half meltdown last week at FDU. The Tigers now face their second West Coast trip in less two weeks as they head to Berkeley to face California this weekend. Probably won’t be a happy flight … in either direction.
Check out our very first podcast episode of On the Vine, where Peter Andrews, Bruno March and I discuss Columbia’s impressive performance at No. 1 Kentucky, compare Wesley Saunders and Justin Sears, ponder a possible turnaround for Brown and much more. You can listen here.
Freshman guard Darnell Foreman was named Ivy Rookie of the Week Monday for his nine points, two blocks and two steals in 28 minutes at Navy and 11 points, eight boards and two steals at Binghamton. The Quakers won both games, their first two victories of the season.
Forward Mike Auger and guard Antonio Woods also received Rookie of the Week honors earlier this season, putting Penn in the highly unusual position of boasting three different rookies of the week – just three weeks into its season. In part due to junior guard Tony Hicks’ foul trouble, Woods is averaging the most minutes per game of any Quaker (30.4), and four of the top eight Quakers in minutes per game are freshmen. The ultra-young Red and Blue will have a chance to string together three consecutive wins for the first time in three seasons tonight against Marist at the Palestra.
Steven Cook notched 28 points and seven steals in a pull-away victory over Stony Brook. (ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com)
PRINCETON, N.J. – On a night when the Ivy League generally beat up on the America East Conference, Princeton did its part, besting the Stony Brook Seawolves at Jadwin in the Tigers’ return home after almost two weeks on the road. A little home cooking was just what the Tigers needed, especially after Wednesday’s disaster Fairleigh Dickinson.
The storyline for Saturday, a come-from-behind 77-64 victory, starts with a formula developed when we began to keep score in basketball: Find the guy with the hot hand and keep getting him the ball. Steven Cook, the rangy Tiger sophomore from Winnetka, Ill., was that guy.
Cook scored a career-high 28 points, doubling his previous best, shooting 5-for-7 from three point territory. He added an impressive seven steals, mostly from the top of the Tigers’ 1-3-1 zone, a total exceeded only one time in the last 40 seasons.
Maodo Lo posted 20 points in a win over Bucknell Saturday. (gocolumbialions.com)
NEW YORK – “Maodo Lo” is a combination of syllables that practically begs for a nickname. After a brief flirtation with “Lo Library” — a clever reference to the central building on Columbia’s campus, but not the most intimidating name for a slashing shooting guard — the Levien denizens (led by the raucous Columbia University Marching Band) seem to have settled on “Chairman Maodo.” The reference to the founder of the People’s Republic of China seems appropriate for the politically engaged student body in Morningside Heights.
On Saturday night, “the Chairman” gaveled the meeting between Columbia (4-2) and Bucknell (3-6) to order with a trio of three-pointers in the first six minutes, pacing the Lions to a 62-39 rout of the visiting Bison.
Yale’s victory over UConn marks a signature win on the Elis’ resume. (yalebulldogs.com)
Yale had a Montague, but UConn had no Capulet to defend. And as such, Yale defeated UConn, 45-44, at Gampel Pavilion, in a stunner to most of the 9,538 in attendance.
Jack Montague hit a three-pointer from the left corner with 1.7 remaining on the clock to give Yale the win. Montague was 50-95 in threes entering the game but had not made one against the Huskies. The Elis were only 3-for-21 from three for the game.
If there was any doubt about how good, tough and athletic Yale is, it was answered by the middle of the first half, when the Elis held a 22-9 lead over the defending national champions.
“Well that was pretty wild!,” Jack Montague tweeted after the game. (yalebulldogs.com)
Yale hadn’t beaten UConn in 28 years. UConn had won 68 games in a row against in-state rivals.
But it took only one play to flip that script.
Trailing 44-42 with 3.2 seconds left on the game clock, Yale inbounded the ball. Just a second and a half later, junior guard Jack Montague nailed a three-pointer that clinched the Elis the win, only the second for an Ivy over a defending national champion since Princeton trumped UCLA in 1996.
Leading the way for the Bulldogs (8-2) was junior forward Justin Sears, who notched 12 points and 15 rebounds, just 10 fewer boards than UConn (3-3) posted as a team. Senior guard Javier Duren also contributed 15 points.
Alex Mitola and the Big Green have a chance to jumpstart its season against Maine Saturday.
You could call Dartmouth’s 1-4 start a big disappointment, or you could call it the norm since the Big Green have struggled mightily under Paul Cormier, going a combined 31-83 over the last four seasons. If they don’t turn it around soon, they could be looking at yet another long, unbearable season.
On a more positive note, besides a 20-point blowout loss in the season opener against St. Bonaventure, most of their games have been close. Three of Dartmouth’s four losses have been by five points or less, including the most recent loss (by one point) to Longwood.
Poor free throw shooting has been the difference between a winning record and the abysmal 1-4 start for Dartmouth this season. In their two-point loss to New Hampshire, the Big Green shot just 11-for-18 from the charity stripe, or 61.1 percent. Against Longwood, a game decided by one point, Dartmouth shot a grim 57.9 percent from the line compared to Longwood’s 79.2 percent. This kind of foul shooting wouldn’t help a high school team win games, much less a division one basketball program. Turnovers have also been a major issue. In order for this Dartmouth team to have any success at all, it will need to do a much better job of protecting the basketball.
Although early in the season, Dartmouth has a lot of work to do if it hopes to be competitive in Ivy League play. While its defensive play has been solid, it must also improve on the offensive side of the ball. The Big Green currently rank second to last in the league in scoring, and most of their offense comes from junior point guard Alex Mitola. Dartmouth’s starting center, Gabas Maldunas, a second-team All-Ivy selection his sophomore year, has been inconsistent at best in his return from tearing his ACL last January. While understandable since it has only been 10 months since the injury, Dartmouth is going to need him to make an Adrian Peterson-like recovery and return to full strength as soon as possible. Unless Mitola gets some offensive help fast, it could be another long season for Cormier and the Big Green.
