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HANOVER, N.H. – When we last left the Cornell men’s basketball team, it had given up 100 points or more in three straight Ivy League losses and didn’t seem to have many answers, seemingly on its way to being the third straight Ivy Madness hosts to not qualify for postseason play.
Fast forward six weeks, and the Big Red will not only be on the court in Ithaca next week, but it wouldn’t be shocking to see them win it.
PHILADELPHIA – There isn’t exactly a large sample size of Ivy League transfers from Duke (or Virginia for that matter), so when TJ Power signed with Penn last spring, the bar was set pretty high.
HANOVER, N.H. – Throughout a more than a little frustrating season, the defense has not been the problem for Brown men’s basketball.
The Bears are solidly in the middle of the pack in Ivy League defensive efficiency.
But the Bears just can’t score. Or more appropriately, they can’t shoot, ranking among one of the worst teams nationally in effective field-goal shooting (as well as three-point shooting).
All of which made the second half at Leede Arena Saturday night stunning.
HANOVER, N.H. – There was some concern for the Ivy League preseason favorite Yale men’s basketball team after it stumbled against Harvard at home on Jan. 31 and followed that up with a dreadful first half against Brown the following week before pulling it out.
But the Bulldog offense that had climbed as high as 15th nationally in efficiency back in nonconference play appears to be back. Dartmouth had no answers, particularly in the second half, as Yale rolled to an 83-70 win at Leede Arena Friday night.
“I think we were pretty clean offensively in both halves,” Yale coach James Jones said. “We were dominant and had good leads in both halves. Most games in the first half are going to be like a prizefight trying to figure each other out. That takes a little time, but I thought we played well.”
HANOVER, N.H. – For those of us who saw Harvard men’s basketball dominate the Ivy League (and make a big mark on the national stage) for most of the 2010s, it’s somewhat unfathomable to point out that the Crimson have not been part of Ivy Madness since 2019.
HANOVER, N.H. – Kevin Hovde knew his first order of business coming into Columbia was cleaning up the defensive end of the floor, which turned out to be his predecessor Jim Engles’ undoing, along with some unfortunately timed injuries.
HANOVER, N.H. – When Dartmouth made its inaugural appearance in the Ivy League Tournament last March, Kareem Thomas was what in hockey parlance is called a healthy scratch, he never saw the court.
In fact, other than blowouts, Thomas never played more than two minutes in any game as a freshman as he struggled to adjust to the college game.
Fast forward a few months, and Monday night everyone at Leede Arena knew who was getting the ball in a tied game on the final possession, including the Princeton coaching staff: Kareem Thomas.
In an Ivy League opening tussle that was close throughout, the Dartmouth men proved to be the deeper and more accurate team, pulling away over the last five minutes to claim a 76-68 win over Harvard at Lavietes Pavilion.
Monday night’s road victory was a great start for the Big Green (7-7, 1-0 Ivy), which is looking for its first regular season title since 1959 as well as its second straight trip to the Ivy League Tournament. The same cannot be said for the Crimson (7-8, 0-1), which is looking to claim its first regular season title since 2019 and get back to the Ancient Eight’s upper division for the first time since 2020.
HANOVER, N.H. – The Dartmouth men’s basketball team miraculously escaped an upset from in-state rival New Hampshire Wednesday night by scoring the game’s final nine points, with Kareem Thomas’ runner with 5.5 seconds left holding up for a 69-68 win.
The Big Green (3-3) looked disjointed for most of the evening, particularly on the offensive end, and there will likely need to be several areas of improvement if Dartmouth is to follow up on last season’s inaugural Ivy League Tournament bid.
But that’s not a surprise to them. With Ryan Cornish now graduated, others like senior Brandon Mitchell-Day and sophomore Connor Amundsen (who was also injured to start the campaign) have seen the brunt of opposing defenses’ attention, especially Amundsen, who at 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds is a clear target for teams like New Hampshire that have good size at the guard position.
HANOVER, N.H. – The Dartmouth men’s basketball team was the surprise of the Ivy League last season, defying preseason prognostications to finish third and qualify for its first Ivy League Tournament. That was some vindication for coach David McLaughlin in his ninth season in charge, as the Big Green’s winning conference record was the program’s first this century.
All praise is fleeting, of course, and a new campaign is upon us, one that got off to a bit of a rocky start with a 75-56 loss to Marist Sunday afternoon at Leede Arena.