harvard

Kent: Does Ivy League hear alarm bells with another departure?

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With the news that Alexander Lesburt Jr. is pulling a Caden Pierce at Brown men’s basketball, sitting out his senior season and entering the portal, the alarm bells are getting louder and louder.

First, as to Lesburt. He was expected to be a key player for Mike Martin after averaging 10.3 points and 3.6 rebounds per game last season and is a skilled three-point shooter. But he is no longer on the team, Brown announced Tuesday, noting he left the program to preserve his final year of eligibility.

Numerous Ivy players in basketball and other sports are exploring this three-year graduation route to obtain a coveted Ivy League degree and get another payday year elsewhere.

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Career night from Abigail Wright leads Harvard women’s basketball at Boston College in overtime

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Harvard women’s basketball rode the hot hands of junior forward Abigail Wright, who notched a career-best 23 points and 13 rebounds in her first-ever double-double, to a 72-65 overtime victory over Boston College at the Conte Center on Wednesday night.

While the Crimson got back into the win column and evened its record at 3-3 on the season, the triumph was tempered by the loss of Karlee White, who had been the team’s leading scorer, midway through the third quarter. The junior guard, who is arguably the on and off court leader for Carrie Moore’s team, went down with a non-contact left knee injury and did not return for the rest of the evening.

Harvard Athletics did not respond to a request for comment on White’s status.

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Weak second half dooms Harvard women’s basketball at UMass

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Playing its third game in five days, including a second straight road trip, Harvard women’s basketball ran out of gas in the second half and fell 68-55 to UMass at the Mullins Center on Tuesday night.

In a fast-paced physical game, the Crimson (1-2) used an 8-0 run to close out the first frame to take a 17-13 lead, then scored 12 of the last 14 points of the second quarter to head into the locker room up 29-22.

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No. 13 Michigan women’s basketball runs away from Harvard, 84-55

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Playing in front of 3,348 fans, including 75 family and friends of Detroit-area native and Harvard coach Carrie Moore, the No. 13 Michigan Wolverines dominated both sides of the ball on their way to a comfortable 84-55 victory at the Crisler Center on Sunday afternoon.

The game was knotted at 7-7 three minutes into the contest before the Maize and Blue (2-0) went on a 17-0 run to end the first quarter up 24-8. Harvard (1-1) battled back in the second frame, twice cutting the deficit to 10 with less than two minutes to go in the half. But three layups over the final 61 seconds sent Michigan to the locker room with a 40-24 lead.

The Wolverines didn’t let up in the second half, extending their advantage to 20 late in the third quarter and 29, 84-55, by the time the final buzzer sounded.

Some reflections on a tough first road game of the season for the reigning Ivy League Tournament champions:

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Harvard women’s basketball takes down St. John’s on Banner Reveal Night

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If you’ve followed Harvard women’s basketball throughout the Carrie Moore era, you know the team is a reflection of the coach and her Detroit grit. That style was on full display on Friday evening, as the Crimson battled through injuries and rough shooting from the field to come away with a 61-56 win over visiting St. John’s at Lavietes Pavilion.

The season-opening victory, which put an exclamation point on a night that started with Harvard (1-0) raising its 2025 Ivy League Tournament championship banner, was the second straight over the Johnnies (1-1) and fifth in a row against a Big East opponent.

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2025-26 Ivy League women’s basketball preview

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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.

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2025-26 IHO Men’s Preseason Poll

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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:

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2025-26 IHO Women’s Preseason Poll

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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:

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Yale men’s hoops remains on top heading into 2025-26 campaign

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Yale doesn’t rebuild. It reloads.

It is trite but true. Yale and Princeton have been the premier Ivy programs since 2015. But it looks as if Yale will hold that mantle this year, as it has the last two regular seasons.

Incoming frosh will be vastly better than their recruiting rankings, and sophomores will become contributors and then ultimately stars. It always happens for Yale.

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Intellectual grit powers former Ivy League stars’ success in professional 3X3 basketball

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At the Spokane Hoopfest, home to the world’s largest 3X3 basketball tournament, seven former Ivy League women’s basketball stars will lace up their sneakers this weekend alongside 25 other elite hoopsters from across the globe in a center court showcase staged by the 3X3 Basketball Association. 

Blake Dietrick and Carlie Littlefield (Princeton), Harmoni Turner and McKenzie Forbes (Harvard), Camille Zimmerman and Hannah Pratt (Columbia), and Roxy Barahman (Yale) have signed up to play on the 3XBA tour this summer, with the Spokane Hoopfest as the opening stop. 

An eighth Ivy alumnus, Kaitlyn Chen, had signed up to play in Spokane as well, but the former Princeton star and recently crowned national champion at UConn pulled out of the 3XBA tour after she was offered a contract to play for the WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries. 

In April, the Valkyries selected Chen early in the third round of the WNBA Draft, only to waive her a few weeks later during training camp. Ditto for Harvard’s Turner, who was also drafted in the third round by the Las Vegas Aces and later waived.

Other WNBA Draft picks failed to earn roster spots this spring as well, and many of those players have now found an opportunity to continue developing their professional basketball careers by signing on to join the 3XBA tour.

The 3xBA describes itself as “the premier professional women’s FIBA 3X3 tour and youth development pipeline in the United States.” Part of its mission is to provide an outlet for standouts like Chen and Turner, who didn’t quite make the cut in their first attempts, to land a roster spot in the WNBA.

“The idea, is that young players, the bubble players, who maybe are the 13th and 14th kids who would make a WNBA roster if we had that many spots, can come and play 3X3 and potentially end up on a USA national team or make money, have a livelihood during the summer, and then go and play their five-on-five season overseas if they want to, in the fall and spring,” Blake Dietrick told Ivy Hoops Online.

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