On the Vine – Feb. 12

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Home of the weekly live podcast On the Vine with Peter Andrews and Mike Tony, where our roundball poets delve into all things Ivy hoops.

Check out our archive of the latest On the Vine podcast, in which IHO’s own George Clark (Toothless Tiger) and Ian Halpern (Bruno March) join Peter Andrews & Mike Tony to cover the latest Ivy action. Segments include reflections on the ugliness of Harvard-Yale, Princeton’s identity issues, reasons to watch out for Dartmouth down the stretch, and predictions on who will prevail in this weekend’s matchups:

IHO Power Rankings – Feb. 10

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1. Harvard (5-1)

Harvard’s still the class of the conference. The Crimson held Yale to 11 points in the entire first half at Payne Whitney Gym to tie Yale atop the Ivy standings at 5-1 in league play. Wesley Saunders’ career-high 33 points did Brown in in overtime the night before. Reports of the Crimson’s demise were clearly premature. Harvard hosts Columbia and Cornell at home, two more solid defensive squads that will not be easy outs at Lavietes. The thing about Harvard is that the Crimson win the close ones – they’re 8-1 in overtime games since 2010. I have a feeling that that stat will be coming into play at least one more time down the stretch.

2. Yale (5-1)

The Bulldogs responded to the biggest game for their program in quite some time by going 3-for-22 in the first half. Harvard’s defense is awesome, but the Elis were visibly a little tense in the early going too. Still, Yale is 5-1 and tied for the conference lead with its greatest rival and another shot at that rival at Lavietes, the same place Yale trumped Harvard last season. All is not lost for the Elis, but it was disconcerting to see them abandon Justin Sears in the second half.

More importantly, the Whiffenpoofs are full steam ahead.

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Coach James Jones breaks down Yale’s breakdown

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James Jones' Bulldogs scored just 11 points in the first half of their loss to Harvard. (vnews.com)
James Jones’ Bulldogs scored just 11 points in the first half of their loss to Harvard. (vnews.com)

IHO caught up with Yale coach James Jones after the Bulldogs’ 52-50 loss to Harvard Saturday night, which allowed the Crimson to tie Yale atop the conference standings.

IHO: Did Harvard do anything special to stop [Justin] Sears, who only had nine points?

JJ: Nothing really special, but they did get him out of the box.

IHO: How do you account for a 16-11 halftime score?

JJ: Both teams came out and let the moment get the best of them.

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The test is yet to come for Columbia

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Maodo Lo 4
Maodo Lo notched 16 points in Columbia’s 83-56 rout of the Quakers Saturday night.

NEW YORK – Last night had the feeling of a bigger game than it actually was. Levien Gymnasium was sold out and deafening as Columbia rained down three-pointers against an easily relenting Penn defense. Press row was as packed as I have seen it since Columbia played against Harvard the last few years or Cornell in 2010 –  as in, against teams that went on to win the Ivy League, not one looking to avoid the cellar. Columbia could not have drawn up a better game, and every adjustment Penn attempted was met with a barrage of Lions three-pointers that actually went in, unlike in their previous struggles in their home gym. Unfortunately for Columbia this led to an all too common refrain from their fans: Where has this been the last two weeks?

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Crimson survives at Brown, prevails at Yale

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Reports of Harvard's demise were proven premature in New Haven Saturday night.
Reports of Harvard’s demise were proven premature in New Haven Saturday night.

The Crimson’s season hung in the balance: There were eight seconds left and Harvard trailed by two points. A loss would seriously hurt the Crimson’s chances of even a share of the Ivy title.

This was not the narrative for Harvard’s Saturday night tilt against league-leader Yale, however – this was the storyline of their game against bottom-dweller Brown on Friday.

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Princeton has itself a wacky Empire State weekend

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Bill Courtney said "Stop" to Princeton's 50-37 lead in the second half. Cornell responded with a 25-2 run to defeat the Tigers. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
Bill Courtney said “Stop” to Princeton’s 50-37 lead in the second half. Cornell responded with a 25-2 run to defeat the Tigers. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Another wild and wacky weekend in the Ivy League began for the Tigers in the recently friendly confines of Levien Gym at Columbia. The typical back and forth of the first half quickly gave way to a Tiger offensive outburst turning a close game into something of a rout. Spurred by super-sub Ben Hazel’s second-half heroics, the Tigers cruised to a relatively easy 74-62 victory. A Harvard win in New Haven on Saturday together with the anticipated Tiger success over a demoralized Cornell quintet reeling from Penn’s come-from-behind victory would create a three-way race for the Ivy title with Princeton very much a contender. The Crimson did their part, but the Tigers self-destructed in Ithaca.

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On the Vine – Feb. 4

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Check out our archive of last night’s On the Vine podcast, in which Steven Tydings of the Daily Pennsylvanian, David Freed of the Harvard Crimson and IHO’s own George Clark (Toothless Tiger) join Peter Andrews and Mike Tony to cover the latest Ivy action. Segments include reflections on last weekend’s intense conference slate, insights into how Harvard could cool Yale’s Justin Sears down, and predictions on who will prevail in Harvard-Yale and the rest of this weekend’s matchups:

IHO Power Poll – Feb. 2

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Ben Franklin AQIt is I, The AQ. This week I am guest hosting the IHO Power Rankings. For the purists out there, after the first back-to-back Ivy weekend, the rankings should probably look something like this:

Yale
Harvard
Princeton
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Pennsylvania
Brown

Normally, this list is dutifully accompanied by the earnest commentary and incisive statistical analysis that you’ve come to know and love from IHO. An introspection of our favorite teams that is indeed worthy of our elite educations.

For those of you expecting this, my apologies in advance. This week, since it is still early in the 14-Game Tournament and because there were no real surprises in the games last weekend, I thought it was the perfect time to switch things up a bit. (After all, you have the whole month of February to get your ORAT freak on.) Instead, I’ve decided to rank the teams as I see them which of course has nothing to do with reality. So without further ado, here is The AQ’s “Special” IHO Power Rankings for February 1, 2015.

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