Dear Ivy League presidents:
I have tried to warn you for almost three years.
The warning signs were there. The arrogance was pervasive. The lack of understanding of the current landscape of college athletics on your part was mind-boggling.
Tommy Amaker
A strong defensive effort propels Harvard men’s basketball to 66-58 victory over Dartmouth
Despite missing out on the Ivy League tournament, the Harvard men finished the season on a high note, adding a 66-58 defeat of third-place Dartmouth to last week’s upset of regular-season champion Yale.
The Saturday matinee victory at Lavietes Pavilion, coupled with Brown’s defeat to the Elis, leaves the Crimson (12-15, 7-7 Ivy) in fifth place, one game ahead of the Bears and only one game away from a three-way tie for third with the Big Green and Princeton.
Despite the disappointing result, Dartmouth (14-13, 8-6) can hang its hat on an incredibly successful regular season, one in which the team bettered its eighth-place position in the league’s preseason media poll and earned its first appearance in Ivy Madness.
Strong second-half defense propels Brown men’s basketball to 59-52 win at Harvard
In an early Friday evening battle between fifth-place teams at Lavietes Pavilion, the Brown men’s basketball team held Harvard without a bucket for over nine minutes in the second half to help overcome an 11-point deficit and come away with a hard-fought 59-52 victory.
The result marks the eighth time in the last nine meetings between the two New England rivals that the visiting team came away with the win.
After all of the Ancient Eight’s contests were in the books for the evening, the Bears (14-11, 6-6 Ivy), which evened their season series with the Crimson (10-15, 5-7), sit alone in fifth place one game off the pace of Cornell, Dartmouth and Princeton. Harvard, meanwhile, is alone in sixth place with only two games left in the regular season.
Elegy for the Killer Ps
Not so long ago, the Princeton Tigers and the Penn Quakers – the Killer Ps – ruled the realm of Ivy League men’s basketball.
Hot shooting leads Harvard men’s basketball to 87-75 win over Columbia
Behind a career high 31-point performance from sophomore forward Thomas Batties II, the Harvard men cruised to an 87-75 victory over visiting Columbia at Lavietes Pavilion on Saturday night.
The win gave head coach Tommy Amaker his 301st as head coach at Cambridge and, coupled with a 75-73 triumph over Cornell on Friday night, a weekend sweep of the Empire State Ivies. The Crimson (9-13, 4-5 Ivy) finish the weekend where it started, in fifth place in the conference, only one game out of the running for the Ivy Tournament.
The Lions (12-10, 1-8), which lost to Dartmouth by 22 points the previous evening, have been in the loss column for nine of its last ten contests, including five of six since leading scorer Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa went down to an injury. Jim Engles’ squad heads back to New York City in sole possession of last place.
Why Dartmouth men’s basketball believes after a 76-56 romp over Harvard
HANOVER, N.H. – It’s getting to be Ted Lasso time for the Dartmouth men’s basketball team as we reach the midpoint of the 2024-25 Ivy League campaign.
The Big Green believe.
Yale and Princeton: This era’s Ivy League men’s basketball duopoly
I am old enough to remember the Princeton-Penn hegemony in Ivy hoops.
We’re talking 1965-2015. That’s 50 years. That’s a long time. Names like Carril, Dunphy, Bradley, Petrie, Calhoun and many, many more.
Tommy Amaker entered in 2007 and assisted in disrupting the world order. In 2010, Cornell made a run to the Sweet 16.
Since then, it has been mostly Yale and Princeton.
And the rivalry is very heated.
James Jones and Mitch Henderson could not be more different, personally and stylistically. But since 2016, their hegemony is crystal clear.
Yale has gone 88-28 and Princeton 85-31 in the Ivy regular season. Yale has won three Ivy League tourneys and Princeton two. They have each won two NCAA tourney games.
Little to separate them, but Yale has won 11 out of the last 14.
Princeton and Yale have, as a duo, separated from the pack.
This year, Yale sits atop the Ivy standings at 4-0. Princeton is 3-1 after a home loss to Cornell.
Yale has a league-leading NET ranking of 79 and a KenPom ranking of 75. Princeton sits at 130 and 137, respectively.
“I’m excited about the opportunity,” Yale coach James Jones. “That’s what college basketball is all about.”
And he is correct. The 5 p.m. start at Jadwin Gym will be televised by ESPN2.
Keys to the game:
- Yale senior guard John Poulakidas shooting from long range.
- Princeton senior guard Blake Peters making three-plus treys.
- Yale senior guard Bez Mbeng not picking up two quick fouls guarding Princeton junior guard Xaivian Lee.
- Princeton being able to rebound with Yale, especially on the offensive glass. How vocal an expected sold-out crowd is at Jadwin.
“We jumped on them quick”: Yale men’s basketball routs Harvard, 84-55
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale students were back at Lee Amphitheater, Harvard was starting three freshmen, John Poulakidas hit his first couple of shots, and all that meant the Crimson had no chance Saturday afternoon.
Harvard fought in fits and starts, but in the end, the result was a formality, an 84-55 Yale win that brought the Bulldogs to the top of the Ivy League after Princeton’s loss and setting up a showdown with the Tigers Friday night in New Jersey.
“We jumped on them quick,” Yale coach James Jones said. “We were really efficient, we didn’t have a turnover (in the first 19 minutes), we were poised and focused. We lost it a little at the end of the first half and fought to get it back, and we did in the middle of the second half. When we’re playing at a high level like we were, we’re pretty good and it’s fun to watch.”
Harvard men’s basketball bests Brown on the road, 80-67
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Two weeks ago, Harvard was down double digits to Division III Bowdoin and having trouble getting good looks in the paint.
Saturday afternoon at the Pizzitola Sports Center, the Crimson took it to favored Brown, dominating the interior and seemingly scoring at will – particularly in the second half – on their way to an 80-67 victory that rekindles some hope Harvard might return to Providence in March for its first Ivy League Tournament since 2019.
Princeton men’s basketball survives Harvard, 68-64
BOSTON – There were plenty of mistakes, their shooting was inconsistent, and closing the game out was a mess. But in the end, it was a 68-64 road victory for Princeton over Harvard to open Ivy League play Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers will gladly take it and be on their way.
“The league is so even this year. Even this game, next weekend at Dartmouth, it’s going to be hard. On the margins, that’s where we’ve been really trying to get better,” Princeton coach Mitch Henderson said. “I think it’s kind of going to be whomever is needed on a night that’s going to get us through.”