Home of the Roundball Poets
This is part 1 of IHO’s 2017-18 Ivy League team-by-team season preview. Read part 2 here.
The rise of the Ivy League is projected to continue.
The Ancient Eight is slated by KenPom as the 13th-best conference in Division I this season, just seven years after it placed 26th. That’s a quantum leap, a product of the league’s bolstered recruiting in that time frame. The Ivy hoops status quo now consists of top-25 recruiting classes, Nike Skills Academy members and expectations of NCAA Tournament success.
There’s a three-way cluster between Harvard, Princeton and Yale projected to top the league. In the Ivy Preseason Media Poll, Yale received the most first-place votes (eight) but Harvard garnered the most points overall. Without a clear conference favorite, it’s quite likely that the regular season champion will not also be the conference tournament winner, with Bart Torvik’s Ivy Tourney Simulator tabbing Penn as the favorite in an Ivy tourney as a No. 4 seed.
Amid an 80-degree, summer-like Homecoming on Saturday, the Cornell men’s basketball team held its Red-White Scrimmage, unofficially beginning year two of the Brian Earl era. With a year of experience under Earl’s more disciplined system, as well as the coach’s bringing in his first recruiting class, the Big Red look like a more confident and balanced unit that should improve upon last season’s 8-21 record.
Cornell has released the 2017-18 schedules for its men’s and women’s basketball teams. Coach Brian Earl will look to improve upon last season’s 8-21 (4-10 Ivy, T-6th) record for the men, while coach Danya Smith looks to avoid an expected rebuilding year from last year’s 16-11 (7-7 Ivy, T-4th) squad that just missed earning a spot in the inaugural Ivy Tournament.
Coach Earl’s first season as a head coach was a challenging one. Not only did he bring in a completely different style of basketball without any of his own recruits, but he had to confront defections and or injuries to three key members of his front court. Heading into this season, the coach will be bringing a six-member recruiting class to campus. With a second year in Earl’s more disciplined half-court systems and greater depth, the Big Red will try to move up the standings and earn a spot in the postseason Ivy Tournament.
Brase’s next move
Former Princeton forward Hans Brase will be a graduate transfer, according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports and FanRag Sports. Brase was a first-team All-Ivy selection in 2014-15 before missing the following season with a torn right ACL. He came back this year and played five games before another season-ending injury to his right knee on November 29.
Daugherty walks away
Bill Koch of the Providence Journal confirmed that sophomore Corey Daugherty has decided to leave the Brown basketball program but stay enrolled at the university. Daugherty, who played in 16 games last year and 29 games this season, was one of the first players off the bench for Mike Martin the last two years. The Barrington, R.I. native averaged 19.6 minutes and 4.2 points a game, while posting a 1.9 assist-to-turnover ratio.
A new Big Red commit
Jimmy Boeheim, oldest son of longtime Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, has committed to Cornell.