Nick Townsend

Ivy Madness: Men’s Basketball Media Day

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A memorial to Washington Post reporter John Feinstein, who unexpectedly passed away on March 13, was stationed in the Ivy Tournament Media Room (photo: Rob Browne for Ivy Hoops Online)

PROVIDENCE, R.I.- Day two at Ivy Madness started in the mid-morning with the four participants on the men’s side of the ledger.

In a very nice gesture, the Ivy League memorialized a seat for Washington Post sportswriter John Feinstein, who unexpectedly passed away at 68 Thursday. Despite attending Duke, John was a big fan of Ivy League sports, attending several Ivy League tournaments and writing about the conference’s gridiron in this past November’s “The Ancient Eight: College Football’s Ivy League and the Game They Play Today.”

Yale arrives as the regular season champion and heavy favorite to the be the first No. 1 seed to win the conference tournament since Princeton did it in 2017.

While this is the fifth time at Ivy Madness for No. 2 Cornell, it is the first time the Big Red enter as a semifinal favorite and are being led by former player and longtime assistant Jon Jaques.

Speaking of first timers, Dave McLaughlin and Dartmouth are making their inaugural appearance at the Ivy League’s Big Dance. The Big Green are looking to emulate Brown, which upset higher-seeded Princeton last year in its debut tournament last year.

Dartmouth was picked eighth in the preseason media poll and ended up third. On the other hand, the Tigers were picked to repeat as regular-season champions but ended up fourth. They clinched their seventh top-four finish in the tournament era on the final day of the season.

 As the top seed, Yale opted to hang out for an extra hour and gave the opening slot to Princeton. After the Bulldogs’ press conference, Cornell and Dartmouth followed in the traditional No. 2 and No. 3-seed slots.

Below are highlights from the four media sessions:

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2024-25 IHO Men’s All-Ivy Awards

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The Ivy League announced its major men’s awards Wednesday. But we know this is the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Ivy Hoops Online’s 2024-25 All-Ivy Awards, as determined by IHO’s contributors:

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Harvard men’s basketball hands Yale its first Ivy League loss

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It was Yale-Harvard, so ignore the records. The Crimson ended Yale’s 13-game winning streak, 74-69, before a crowd of 1,636 at Lavietes Pavilion Saturday, handing the visitors their first loss in Ivy League play.

“I thought they had a really good game plan,” coach James Jones said. “Hopefully we can take this as a learning tool going into our last game (at Brown) and the Ivy tournament.”

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Dartmouth men’s basketball gets a winning atmosphere, but Yale gets a 72-67 win

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Yale and Dartmouth men’s basketball tip off at Leede Arena for what became a 72-67 win for the Bulldogs over the Big Green Friday. (Ray Curren | Ivy Hoops Online)

HANOVER, N.H. – Troubles with the Wi-Fi are not new at Leede Arena. It is a notoriously dreadful place to get a signal, even when the crowd can be counted in dozens.

But the line to the restroom that wrapped far outside the door at halftime? That was definitely something that hasn’t been seen in a long, long time.

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Yale men’s basketball dumps Columbia to clinch Ivy League regular season title

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Letdown? One could have happened.

After all, Yale clinched an Ivy title last night in a scintillating tilt.

But letdowns aren’t a thing with James Jones-coached teams. The Bulldogs destroyed Columbia, 90-64, at John J. Lee Amphitheater on Senior Night Saturday.

“I keep being surprised, but in awe of this group,” said Jones. “We scored 90 points and gave up 64. I just think we could be perfect.”

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Yale men’s basketball beats Cornell, 92-88, to clinch share of Ivy League title

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Yale men’s basketball is honored postgame after it clinched a share of the Ivy League championship at John J. Lee Amphitheater Friday night with a 92-88 win over Cornell. (Ray Curren | Ivy Hoops Online)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Embarrassing and humiliating were words thrown around by Cornell last week after a brutal thrashing at the hands of Dartmouth, a loss so bad it dropped the Big Red 35 slots in KenPom. More importantly, the defeat put the Big Red in Ivy League Tournament peril because it was their third straight loss and a trip to unbeaten Yale happened to be next.

Another word was prevalent at practice in Ithaca: pride. The Big Red showed plenty of it Friday night at Lee Amphitheater, pushing the Bulldogs around and leading by double digits for most of the first half.

But Yale has plenty of pride as well, of course, and in the end gutted out a 92-88 victory that clinched it a share of its sixth Ivy League title in 10 years in a tremendous showcase of Ivy League basketball.

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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 72-71 loss at Yale

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Another week, another gut-punch loss for Penn.

The Quakers were on the verge of pulling the biggest upset in Ivy League play this season before another sequence of late-game disasters sent Penn to a 72-71 defeat at Yale.

Penn (6-15, 2-6 Ivy), after another flat start, used a pair of deep Sam Brown threes to take two late leads on the Bulldogs (15-6, 8-0), but the Red and Blue never were quite able to land the killshot they needed.

Eventually, Yale made Penn pay. With the game on the line and the visitors clinging to a one-point lead, Bulldogs big man Nick Townsend found freshman wing Isaac Celiscar cutting to the hoop for an easy layup with a little more than eight seconds to play. The Quakers ran both their big men at Townsend, and Brown was just a step behind Celiscar.

Penn couldn’t even get a potential winning shot off. The Quakers had a sideout inbounds opportunity on Yale’s end of the floor with six seconds to play, but no one could get open and Ethan Roberts’ desperation pass to freshman Michelangelo Oberti was easily deflected for a game-killing turnover.

The Quakers’ devastating loss brought back plenty of bad memories, starting with how …

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Yale men’s basketball survives Penn scare, 72-71

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It took a lay-in by freshman forward Isaac Celiscar off a nifty assist from junior forward Nick Townsend assist with eight seconds remaining to give Yale a 72-71 win over upset-minded Penn at John J. Lee Amphitheater Friday..

“We were trying to iso [senior guard] John [Poulakidas] and Nick,” Yale coach James Jones said. “Nick is as unselfish as they come.”

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Yale men’s basketball throttles Cornell at Newman Arena

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Total domination. There’s no other way to describe Yale’s 103-88 win over Cornell at Newman Arena, in a battle between two of the top three teams in the Ivy League standings.

Cornell (13-7, 5-2 Ivy) led 44-40 in a nip-and-tuck battle in which neither team held more than a five-point lead.

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