Following a season in which he led Yale back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016 and became a finalist for the St. John’s coaching job, James Jones was rewarded this week with a contract extension that will keep him in New Haven until the conclusion of the 2025-26 season.
Miye Oni
Ivy hoops roundup – May 4, 2019
Another week full of Ivy news, with none bigger than Courtney Banghart’s move from Princeton to North Carolina. The former Big Green All-Ivy guard and Tigers head coach signed a five-year contract to take over a Tar Heels program that needs a new start. Per Jeff Gravely of WRAL in Raleigh, Banghart’s contract starts at $650,000 in 2019-2020 and increases to $730,000 in 2024-2025. Athletic and academic bonuses are included that can increase the yearly salary by $10,000 to $470,000.
Ivy hoops roundup – April 27, 2019
Former Dartmouth assistant coach John Andrzejek has joined Kyle Smith’s staff at Washington State as its director of analytics. This will be Andrzejek’s third stint with the former Lions head coach. While completing his undergraduate degree in philosophy in just two and a half years from Columbia in 2013, Andrzejek served as the Lions’ team manager during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons before being hired as the team’s director of basketball operations in July of 2014. He stayed in that spot until the 2016-2017 season, when he went west to join Smith as the University of San Francisco’s director of basketball operations for a year.
James Jones staying at Yale after St. John’s interview
James Jones boasts the longest tenure among current Ivy men’s head coaches, and that tenure isn’t done.
There will be a 21st season at Yale’s helm in store for Jones despite him interviewing for the head coaching position at St. John’s that ultimately was offered to and accepted by Mike Anderson, who was fired by Arkansas after nine seasons there last month and was previously a head coach at UAB and Missouri.
Jones was among the final candidates that St. John’s considered after a protracted search that saw Bobby Hurley, Porter Moser and Tim Cluess withdraw their names from consideration.
Cornell men’s basketball 2018-19 season recap
With Stone Gettings transferring from Cornell, expectations went from a possible contender to a team that may not even get 10 wins. But despite not getting into the Ivy League Tournament, the Big Red had a pretty solid season and they far surpassed their expectations. Matt Morgan was still Matt Morgan, but forwards Jimmy Boeheim and Josh Warren stepped it up and each had big roles as secondary scorers while seniors Steven Julian and Joel Davis anchored the defense. The team played some great games, including almost-upsets over Yale and Syracuse and a sweep of Harvard.
A lot of Cornell’s problem throughout the season was poor rebounding. The Big Red could hold teams to 35-45 percent from the field most nights, yet still lose. For context, they were 352nd out of 353 Division I teams in offensive rebound percentage.
News from around the Ivy League – Apr. 5, 2019
Some Ivy updates before heading into Final Four weekends in Tampa and Minneapolis:
Yale junior guard Miye Oni declaring for NBA Draft
ESPN reported Friday that Yale junior guard Miye Oni will declare for the NBA Draft after being named Ivy Player of the Year for the 2018-19 season.
“I plan on entering the 2019 draft,” Oni reportedly told ESPN via text message. “I submitted my name to the Undergraduate Advisory (Committee) to legally protect myself and my NCAA eligibility, but I have every intention of staying in the draft. I’ll be signing with agent Harrison Gaines of SLASH Sports.”
The 6-foot-6, 210-pound wing out of Northridge, Calif. contributed 17.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game this season amid Yale’s Ivy title run.
Oni also announced the decision on his Instagram page, saying that he made the decision to declare for the NBA Draft after discussing his options with his family.
Rally for No. 14 Yale falls short vs. No. 3 LSU in NCAA Tournament
No. 14 Yale made four of its last seven three-point attempts in its NCAA Tournament Round of 64 appearance vs. No. 3 Louisiana State at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville Thursday afternoon.
The problem was it missed 26 of its previous 30 despite being a dangerous outside shooting team all season, digging just too deep a hole for the Elis to overcome in a 79-74 loss to LSU, marking Yale’s second straight comeback fallen just short in a NCAA Tournament game.
No. 14 Yale vs. No. 3 LSU: Keys to the game
Yale can notch its second NCAA Tournament win in four seasons against LSU at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville today if it does the following:
No. 2 Yale shoots its way past No. 1 Harvard, 97-85, for second NCAA Tournament berth in four years
With Yale trailing by one, 54-53, in a back-and-forth Ivy League Tournament final battle Sunday, Yale junior guard and Ivy Player of the Year Miye Oni picked up his fourth foul and was promptly benched. Even on its home floor at John J. Lee Amphitheater, the Bulldogs looked like they’d been bit.
But they were about to bite back.