Tip of the hat to the graduated John Poulakidas and Bez Mbeng. BUt Nick Townsend and Riley Fox are now Yale men’s basketball’s leaders, and the rest of the Ivy League should be warned that the Bulldogs are still the team to beat after their 97-68 road trouncing of Navy to open their 2025-26 campaign.
Columbia men’s basketball bests New Haven in Kevin Hovde’s debut at the helm
WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Contrary to popular belief, Friday’s Columbia season opener at Division I neophyte New Haven was not Kevin Hovde’s first shot at being a head coach.
No, back when he was a young assistant on the Upper West Side from 2011 to 2016 under Kyle Smith, there was an opportunity to schedule a handful of junior varsity games with Columbia’s big roster and Hovde drew the short straw to roam the sidelines as the man in charge.
“We had a three game schedule, we played the Army and Navy JV, and I want to say a prep school,” Hovde said. “But I went 2-1, so I had a winning record, even though I did lose one.”
2025-26 Ivy League women’s basketball preview
The release of the Ivy League preseason media poll and 2025-26 Media Day revealed Princeton as the favorite heading into the 2025-26 season, followed by three-time defending champion Columbia, 2025 Ivy Madness title-holder Harvard in third and Penn rounding out the upper half of the conference.
Brown, which has tied the Quakers for fourth place the last two years, is the clear choice for the fifth slot. Dartmouth, Cornell and Yale are pegged for the last three spots, with the Big Green one point ahead of the Big Red and seven points in front of the Bulldogs.
Orange & Black Report: Previewing the Princeton men’s and women’s basketball teams
In less than a week, the Princeton men’s and women’s basketball teams will tip off their new seasons, and for the first time since 2016, neither program will enter the campaign as the defending Ivy League champion.
What are the prospects for the Orange and Black returning to the top of the Ivy League standings in 2025-26? Let’s investigate the probabilities for both programs, starting with the women:
Q&A with Penn men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery, part two
With the NCAA men’s basketball season tipping off Monday and Penn’s season opener coming a few days later, Ivy Hoops Online caught up with new Quakers head coach Fran McCaffery for an extensive Q&A about his coaching philosophy, players and the state of the sport.
Both questions and answers have been edited for clarity and length. Check out part one of the conversation here.
Q&A with Penn men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery, part one
With the NCAA men’s basketball season tipping off Monday and Penn’s season opener coming a few days later, Ivy Hoops Online caught up with new Quakers head coach Fran McCaffery for an extensive Q&A about his coaching philosophy, players and the state of the sport.
Both questions and answers have been edited for clarity and length. Check out part two of the conversation here.
2025-26 IHO Men’s Preseason Poll
The 2025-26 Ivy men’s basketball season tips off Friday, so it’s time for Ivy Hoops Online’s preseason poll – not to be confused with the Ivy League-released media preseason poll. Here’s how our contributors collectively predict the league will shake out, with select observations from some of them:
2025-26 IHO Women’s Preseason Poll
The 2025-26 Ivy women’s basketball season tips off Friday, so it’s time for Ivy Hoops Online’s preseason poll – not to be confused with the Ivy League-released media preseason poll. Here’s how our contributors collectively predict the league will shake out, with select observations from some of them:
Q&A with Princeton women’s basketball coach Carla Berube
Princeton women’s basketball coach Carla Berube joins Ivy Hoops Online contributor Steve Silverman for an in-depth reflection on her program heading into the 2025-26 campaign, going over how Madison St. Rose looks coming back from injury, the Tigers’ standout Class of 2027, how the team’s offensive attack will be different this season, Princeton’s difficulty of mining the transfer portal, the team’s loaded nonconference schedule and much more:
Kent: Why Ivy League men’s media day was another lost opportunity for the conference
If you were one of the 46 people tuned into the Ivy League’s men’s media day hosted by the Field of 68 and Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman Tuesday, then you learned a lot on certain topics.
You know the difference between Boston and Cambridge. You are schooled in the athletic prowess of Goodman. You have a good feel about 2K games. You certainly know who the best dunkers are on most of the teams. You might be able to bet on Mitch Henderson winning a one-on-one basketball game. You were told that James Jones was once a great card player and was known as the professor. You even heard about a guard at The Palestra.