While I had the similarity scores loaded I wanted to run them for a few other teams. I’ll cover in the NEC teams in this space next week. Instead I ran the numbers for a few random teams that are of particular interest this season: Syracuse, Murray State, Harvard, Oral Roberts and Georgia State. The Orange and Racers are undefeated at the moment. Harvard is the favorite in the Ivy League and ORU and GSU came from the “Ask the Audience” segment on Twitter. Check out all of those teams’ Top 5 comparisons. (All data through January 17.)
Category: Ivy League
Columbia’s offense struggled, but maybe its the defense
After another heart-breaking Ivy League loss, 62-58, to Princeton on Saturday night at Levien Gym Columbia sits at 0-2 and in last place in the conference. Even at home it was going to be a tough opening weekend for the Lions, but in two games decided by a total of six points Columbia couldn’t quite find the answers down the stretch.
Continue reading “Columbia’s offense struggled, but maybe its the defense”
Hurt so much they did it twice
Game #8-795: Princeton Tigers at Columbia Lions
January 14, 2012 7:00 pm
Levien Gym
BBState Stats/Recap
Columbia came into the opening Ivy League weekend full of promise. The Lions looked like a strong defensive team as they worked their way to a solid 11-5 record in non-conference play. Kyle Smith’s team also had a nice advantage too, a home set to start the 14-game tournament against two teams they’d have to be competitive with in order to move into the middle tier of the league, Penn and Princeton.
Friday night came and the gym was packed for the Quakers’ appearance. The Lions battled hard, but Zack Rosen’s play making down the stretch proved to be too much for the Lions to handle. The Penn senior made the key plays in the final moments and the Quakers pulled out a 66-64 victory.
Luckily Columbia had another chance just 24 hours later. Princeton would be in town. This was a big game. The Tigers also lost in their opener the night before, to Cornell. Then Princeton had to get on a bus and drive the four hours down I-81 and I-80 to New York City. It’s the longest back-to-back swing in the league. Both teams were going to have some tired legs.
“We’re going to stay right here and review them,” said Lions’ point guard Brian Barbour on Friday night. “There’s no rest for the weary. You just have to get right back at it.”
It played out that way too. The shooters didn’t seem to be affected, but it was a slow-down drag out type of game. But with 11 minutes remaining the Lions pulled out to their largest lead of the game, 41-35 on a three by Barbour (who was on his way to his second 25-point performance in as many nights). Then at that moment Columbia seemed to hit a wall. The Lions went the next 10 minutes without scoring from the field.
By the time Columbia had recovered, the Lions were down 54-46 with 1:24 to play. They’d been here before. The night before against Penn a frantic rally had fallen just short. Maybe this time the Lions could use the lessons they’d learned
It started out looking good. Columbia drew within two points multiple times down the stretch, but once again they couldn’t get over the hump. Princeton knocked down its free throws and finished off the win.
It was a golden opportunity missed. There were multiple moments down the stretch where the Lions could’ve made the play that would’ve changed the outcome of the game. It would go on to be a theme throughout the Ivy season for Columbia. The Lions ended up being just a play short in seven of their 10 Ivy League losses, which came by five points or fewer or in overtime. Columbia took the Ivy’s best teams to the wire, but never could get over the hump.
Part of it was that Barbour can’t do everything. Princeton did a good job taking him away during parts of the second half, especially during the big drought.
“They tried to ice me out a bit,” Barbour said after the game. “I thought they did a good job with it. I’ve got a lot of confidence in Meiko [Lyles] and [Alex] Rosenberg to take that responsibility and make some plays on drives and stuff.”
Lyles struggled in both games, but he’d turn things around by the end of the season. Also, Mark Cisco emerged as a consistent force in the paint. All the knocks Columbia suffered this season should only make them stronger. Smith’s team is going to be picked in the top half of the league next season, and deservedly so. They just can’t let close ones, like those first two Ivy nights at Levien, get away.
PRINCETON 62, at COLUMBIA 58
01/14/2012
PRINCETON 10-8 (1-1)– T. Bray 3-5 4-5 12; D. Davis 3-7 3-6 10; I. Hummer 3-10 5-6 11; P. Saunders 2-3 1-2 7; M. Darrow 3-5 2-2 10; J. Sherburne 2-4 2-2 6; B. Hazel 1-3 0-0 2; B. Connolly 1-4 2-2 4; D. Koon 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 18-43 19-25 62.
COLUMBIA 11-7 (0-2)– B. Barbour 7-11 9-11 25; M. Cisco 4-6 4-4 12; M. Lyles 1-9 2-4 4; A. Rosenberg 4-7 1-1 10; S. Egee 1-6 3-3 5; B. Staab 0-2 0-0 0; J. Daniels 1-5 0-0 2; C. Osetkowski 0-0 0-0 0; N. Springwater 0-0 0-0 0; C. Crockett 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-46 19-23 58.
Three-point goals: PRIN 7-14 (P. Saunders 2-2; D. Davis 1-2; J. Sherburne 0-2; I. Hummer 0-2; M. Darrow 2-3; T. Bray 2-2; B. Hazel 0-1), COLU 3-11 (S. Egee 0-3; B. Barbour 2-4; M. Lyles 0-2; A. Rosenberg 1-2); Rebounds: PRIN 21 (I. Hummer 6), COLU 35 (M. Cisco 10); Assists: PRIN 10 (T. Bray 5), COLU 7 (A. Rosenberg 2); Total Fouls — PRIN 20, COLU 21; Fouled Out: PRIN-None; COLU-A. Rosenberg.
Columbia falls to Penn in Ivy opener
Kyle Smith thought the shot was true, but Brian Barbour knew that it wasn’t going to be.
SGOTW: Columbia vs. Princeton
Ivy League play kicks off this weekend and Columbia has the benefit of getting a home set for the first two games. This gives the Lions the opportunity to at least get a split (and possibly a sweep) during the first weekend and get Kyle Smith’s team up to the top of the standings. I answered some questions ($) for Jon Solomon over at Princeton Basketball and he was kind enough to return the favor. Learn about Princeton in the Q&A and then check out some statistical keys to the game.
Ivy League Projection: The rise of the middle class
When we last looked at the Ivy League Harvard was rolling the Crimson were ranked in the Top 25 and everyone’s darling. Since then Harvard has gone 2-1 with a loss to Fordham. (Yes, Fordham.) Conference play starts for real on Saturday as the Crimson host Dartmouth and start their attempt for a perfect Ivy season, but now it doesn’t seem like quite as much as a sure thing.
I re-simmed those 10,000 seasons and a funny thing happened on the way to crowning Tommy Amaker’s club, some other teams started winning. Last time I went through this exercise Harvard won the title outright in 87.6% of the simulations and at least shared the title in 95.1%. That’s dropped to 77.8% and 89.5%. The Crimson went undefeated just 840 times in the new simulation.
It’s also worth noting that things have gotten worse for Brown. The Bears lost two more games, to American and St. Francis (NY), since the last time the sim was run and now it’s as likely that someone will go winless as it is Harvard will go undefeated. Brown failed to win a game in 635 sims and Dartmouth did the same in 123 seasons.
The other thing worth noting about Harvard’s fall? There’s a chance, even if it’s very unlikely, that another team might go undefeated. Princeton, Yale and Columbia (yeah, I know…) all went undefeated at least once. Also, with Harvard’s dominance slipping a bit there were more ties. 1,258 of the seasons ended in a tie, up from 792 in the first sim. Most (1,075) were two-team ties, but there were a few four-team and five-team ties. Unfortunately there was no six-team madness.
I’ve also started tracking the average number of wins for a team. It’s included in the chart for your amusement. It appears that things break down into Harvard – Princeton, Yale – Penn – Columbia, Cornell – Dartmouth, Brown right now. Where the Quakers end up could make a big difference in this Ivy League season.
[Table=13]
Can’t wait to actually see some real Ivy League games soon!
Ivy League Projection: Harvard and everyone else
There’s no way to miss who the Ivy League favorite is this season. Tommy Amaker has built up a team at Harvard that can contend for a spot in the Top 25 and even with the league at one of the highest levels its been in a long while it’s still the Crimsons’ to lose. In 10,000 simulations Harvard at least shared first place 9,508 (95%) of the time. That’s incredible.
Continue reading “Ivy League Projection: Harvard and everyone else”
Karmic Rewards
Game #8-227: Long Island Blackbirds at Columbia Lions
December 10, 2011 2:00 pm
Levien Gym
BBState Stats/Recap
Karma – The cosmic principle according to which each person is rewarded or punished in one incarnation according to that person’s deeds in the previous incarnation.
Whether you believe in karma or not, life sometimes does have a funny way of working out. A little less than a month ago it seemed like Columbia’s season was over. Noruwa Agho, an All-Ivy League player, lay prone on the ground clutching his knee. The Lions were falling to 0-2 on the season and would be without their best player for the remainder of the season. Things definitely didn’t look good.
Kyle Smith and Columbia could’ve given up right then. Luckily they didn’t, because there were still 30 games left in the season. Instead, Smith changed his rotation a bit and attempted to get the freshmen more involved. Two more losses followed, but then things began to change.
On Saturday, November 26, the Lions took on Manhattan. Columbia was 0-4 and Manhattan was 3-2 at the time. The Jaspers were coming off a tricky two-game set in Colorado, and it just so happened that Manhattan’s star guard George Beamon had tweaked something during that trip. Unexpectedly, he didn’t play. Smith joked after the game that the NCAA had decided since Agho was out that Beamon shouldn’t get to play. It was the banter of a head coach thrilled to get the monkey of a first win off his back.
Something funny happened during that game. Columbia found out that it liked winning. In fact, the Lions haven’t lost since then, but not without some lucky breaks along the way.
The Lions trailed by 16 at halftime against Holy Cross. They couldn’t put a ball in the ocean. Then the second half came around, and a furious comeback was mounted. It climaxed in a stunning series of plays that allowed Mark Cisco to hit two free throws with two seconds remaining to seal the victory for the Lions.
The toughest test of the entire run though was supposed to be on Saturday, December 10 against Long Island. The Blackbirds are the defending NEC champions and play an exciting up-tempo style of basketball. This was Columbia’s last game before an 18-day break for exams, and the Lions’ next chance to prove that the defensive identity that the team had formed after Agho’s injury was for real.
The crowd inside Levien Gymnasium before the game was decidedly split between Long Island and Columbia supporters. Of course, the Lions’ pep band, which always had an amusing rendition of something up its sleeve, was in attendance, but otherwise the student turnout was light. Apparently they wait for the Ivy League games to make an appearance.
Still, before tip-off another the Lions got another break. LIU’s star forward, Julian Boyd, was going to miss the game due to a wrist injury. Yet another time that the key piece of an opponent’s attack was going to miss the game against Columbia.
Columbia took advantage of it, too. While the final score, 63-53, doesn’t make it seem like a defensive struggle, it certainly was. The game itself actually wasn’t very pretty. In fact, Smith called it “muck ball.” There were turnovers and missed opportunities galore, but at the end it didn’t matter for the Lions. They’d won again.
And they’d done it with a rotation that wasn’t anything like the one that had played in that fateful game. Freshman Alex Rosenberg started the game, and his classmates Corey Osetkowski and Noah Springwater came off the bench in key roles. John Daniels didn’t play at all against Furman, but against the Blackbirds he pumped in 12 points in 24 minutes. Everything just seems to be clicking now.
There’s a silly sportz reference when a team’s star player goes out and the team becomes better than the sum of its parts. It’s named after an old New York Knicks center. While the name is ridiculous, the idea behind it isn’t. People need something to bond around. A moment, a cause, an action. Agho’s injury was Columbia’s call to action. After losing someone so integral to the attack the Lions were forced to rethink what they were doing; and they came out stronger because of it. It just makes you wonder, maybe there is some higher reason for it all.
at COLUMBIA 63, LONG ISLAND 53
12/10/2011
LONG ISLAND 5-5 (2-0)– J. Brickman 2-5 2-4 6; M. Culpo 1-7 0-0 2; C. Garner 1-8 0-0 2; J. Olasewere 7-9 3-4 18; K. Onyechi 3-8 6-11 12; B. Thompson 0-2 0-0 0; A. Mayorga 3-7 4-4 11; B. Hucks 1-2 0-0 2; G. Martin 0-0 0-0 0; K. Joseph 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-49 15-23 53.
COLUMBIA 7-4 (0-0)– B. Barbour 4-9 2-2 11; M. Cisco 5-9 2-3 12; M. Lyles 2-8 2-4 6; J. Daniels 5-10 2-2 12; N. Springwater 1-3 1-2 4; A. Rosenberg 1-4 2-3 4; C. Crockett 0-3 0-0 0; S. Egee 2-5 0-0 6; C. Osetkowski 3-6 0-0 6; M. Johnson 1-3 0-0 2; B. Staab 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-60 11-16 63.
Three-point goals: LIU 2-13 (B. Hucks 0-1; A. Mayorga 1-3; M. Culpo 0-3; J. Olasewere 1-1; K. Joseph 0-1; B. Thompson 0-2; J. Brickman 0-2), COLU 4-19 (C. Crockett 0-3; S. Egee 2-4; M. Johnson 0-2; B. Barbour 1-3; M. Lyles 0-3; A. Rosenberg 0-1; N. Springwater 1-3); Rebounds: LIU 37 (B. Thompson 7), COLU 29 (M. Cisco 8); Assists: LIU 8 (J. Brickman 4), COLU 14 (B. Barbour 6); Total Fouls — LIU 17, COLU 21; Fouled Out: LIU-J. Olasewere; COLU-None.
Dribble Handoffs: End of November
The first month of college basketball season is coming to an end, but that means the information available is just heating up. Lots of great stuff is being written about all the teams in the area.
Full of Surprises
Game #8-136: Columbia Lions at Manhattan Jaspers
November 26, 2011 2:00 pm
Draddy Gymnasium
BBState Stats/Recap
As I rode the 1 train up to the Bronx to watch Manhattan play Columbia, the feature I wanted to write on Steve Masiello and the culture change that was happening formed in my head. After starting the season 3-2, the 6-25 record of a season ago was quickly becoming a distant memory. While I climbed the steps up the hill to Draddy Gymnasium the words were already forming in my head, but little did I know all the surprises I was in for.
I think that surprise is my favorite thing about college basketball. While the elements of the game are always the same, and made baskets turn into points which in turn display the dichotomy of winners and losers on the scoreboard, how you get there is never the same. I’ve seen buzzer beaters and blowouts, technical fouls on timeouts, clutch free throws made and missed, and everything in between. It’s probably because college students, some of the most unpredictable people in the world, play the game. But I’m still not smart enough to realize that I should wait to start thinking about my story.
I should’ve learned this lesson long ago. My first ever college basketball game on deadline for a daily newspaper the home team was up the entire game until collapsing with 5.3 seconds remaining. I had my story completely written. It was useless.
But that didn’t stop me from planning in my head this dandy little feature. It would be a perfect thing to write as Manhattan moved to 4-2, just two wins shy of its entire win total from last season. Of course first the Jaspers had to beat Columbia.
And as soon as I walked into the gym and received the starting lineups the surprises started coming. First, Manhattan’s George Beamon, the team’s leading scorer and offensive soul, wasn’t in the starting lineup. Secondly, Alex Rosenberg, a 6’8″ freshman forward for Columbia, was. Both were new developments. No one had heard anything about Beamon being injured before Saturday and as the game started and he stayed on the bench press row buzzed about his absence.
Of course one person had to know what was up, Manhattan’s SID. He was on the other side of the court busily working during the first half. There wasn’t an opportunity to find out what was up during the first 20 minutes as the Lions jumped out to a 27-19 lead at the half.
At halftime the few reporters that were at the game went over to the other side to ask the obvious question, “Why wasn’t Beamon playing” The answer came a few minutes later – an injury, coach’s decision. As Manhattan came out to the center circle and stood there clapping while his teammates warmed up it was obvious he wasn’t going to play and the Jaspers were going to have to find another way to pull out the win at home against winless Columbia.
They tried too. The Jaspers closed to within five points in the second half, but the Lions never yielded. A 14-0 run sealed the game for visitors midway through the second half. Columbia, which is dealing with its own set of injuries, didn’t look like a winless team down the stretch and Rosenberg certainly didn’t play like a freshman, handling the Manhattan press very well. In the end Columbia pulled out a 59-41 victory.
It would’ve been great to write about Rosenberg, a freshman getting his first ever start who came in and tallied 11 points, five rebounds, three steals and only two turnovers in 32 minutes of work, but I was in for another surprise. Columbia doesn’t let freshmen talk to the media until second semester. Rosenberg’s voice would have to wait for another day.
After the game we found out that Beamon has a thigh contusion that needs to rest in order to heal. He’s been playing with it for a little while now and the coaches held him out so he could rest in and get ready for MAAC season play, which starts soon. That’s good, because the Jaspers need him in the lineup to be effective.
I never did get to write that feature I had planned. (I did write this article and post these photos.) The feature will have to wait for another day. Surely it’ll get written. Manhattan has played much better basketball overall this season, even if it did shoot a miserable 11-42 from the field on Saturday without Beamon. I’ll just have to let the story come to me instead of planning it, because college basketball is full of surprises.
COLUMBIA 59, at MANHATTAN 41
11/26/2011
COLUMBIA 1-4 (0-0)– B. Barbour 8-21 4-4 22; A. Rosenberg 4-8 1-1 11; C. Crockett 2-10 1-2 6; M. Lyles 2-10 0-0 5; J. Daniels 2-3 0-0 4; M. Cisco 2-3 0-0 4; B. Staab 1-4 3-5 5; N. Springwater 0-2 2-2 2; C. Osetkowski 0-0 0-0 0; M. Johnson 0-0 0-0 0; D. Stevens 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-61 11-14 59.
MANHATTAN 3-3 (0-0)– K. Brutus 0-4 2-2 2; M. Alvarado 1-6 3-4 5; E. Andujar 2-8 3-3 7; D. Kates 0-5 0-0 0; L. McCabe-Moran 1-5 2-4 5; R. Colonette 3-7 4-5 10; M. Koita 1-3 2-2 5; R. Brown 3-4 1-3 7; K. Laue 0-0 0-0 0; R. McCoy 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-42 17-23 41.
Three-point goals: COLU 6-27 (C. Crockett 1-9; B. Barbour 2-7; M. Lyles 1-6; A. Rosenberg 2-3; N. Springwater 0-2), MAN 2-16 (L. McCabe-Moran 1-4; M. Koita 1-2; K. Brutus 0-4; E. Andujar 0-3; D. Kates 0-3); Rebounds: COLU 38 (J. Daniels 11), MAN 31 (E. Andujar 10); Assists: COLU 11 (B. Barbour 4), MAN 7 (M. Alvarado 2); Total Fouls — COLU 22, MAN 18; Fouled Out: COLU-C. Osetkowski; MAN-None.
NYC Buckets Archive 