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Well, that didn’t last long.
With Billy Lange moving on to a player development role with the New York Knicks, Saint Joseph’s has appointed former Cornell and Penn head coach Steve Donahue as the program’s new head coach, the school confirmed Wednesday. Donahue joined Lange’s staff as associate head coach back in May after being fired by Penn.
March 23 marked the 50th anniversary of an extraordinary moment in Ivy League basketball history, when Princeton University’s cagers shocked the college basketball world by winning the 1975 National Invitational Tournament. I fell in love with Princeton basketball that season as a 10-year old kid growing up in Princeton, N.J.
Armond Hill, Mickey Steurer, Barnes Hauptfuhrer, Tim “Speedy” van Blommesteyn, Peter “Mugsy” Molloy, Brian O’Neill, Ilan “Spider” Ramati — these Tigers were regular topics of dinner conversation in my house that year. I collected all of these heroes’ autographs on game programs marked with the players’ sweat.
Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark recaps an 84-77 loss for Princeton (24-5, 12-3 Ivy) versus UNLV (20-12, 12-7 Mountain West) at Jadwin Gym in the opening round of the NIT to end the Tigers’ season:
Two days removed from earning its first-ever bid to the National Invitational Tournament, Cornell men’s basketball had Ohio State on the ropes. Each team took swings with double-figure leads, but with a minute remaining, the Big Red led by two.
Fifth-year forward Jamison Battle knocked down a three with 43 seconds remaining, putting the Buckeyes up 82-81. Then came the first of two crucial mistakes for Cornell.
The Princeton and Cornell men had disappointing exits from the Ivy Madness semifinals, but their seasons aren’t over. The Tigers and the Big Red have both earned bids to the National Invitational Tournament.
Editor’s note: Dan Gavitt is the son of the great Dave Gavitt, the driving force behind the creation of the Big East. The younger Gavitt is NIT board chair and NCAA senior vice president of basketball, and he has backed a new NIT policy which eliminates the automatic bid for mid-major conference champions who do not win their conference tournaments.
Dear Dan:
What would your father say?
It was déjà vu all over again for Yale in the first round of the NIT as host Vanderbilt defeated the Bulldogs at Memorial Gymnasium, 71-62.
Vanderbilt jumped out to an 11-0 lead two days after Yale fell behind in a 12-0 role against Princeton in the Ivy League Tournament final. The deficit proved too much for Yale to overcome.
The Ivy hoops postseason picture is emerging.
The Princeton men were handed the lowest seed handed to an Ivy since Penn was disrespected with a No. 16 seed in 2018, while the Columbia women were deprived of a NCAA Tournament berth altogether despite a top-50 NET ranking.
The Bulldogs are headed back to the Big Dance.
Yale men’s basketball earned its third NCAA Tournament berth in five opportunities since 2016 with a 66-64 win over Princeton in the Ivy League Tournament final Sunday afternoon at Lavietes Pavilion.
No. 6 Harvard put up a valiant effort in the second round of the NIT Sunday night but fell, 78-77, at No. 2 NC State in a game that showed how talented the Crimson really are.