On Nov. 20, Princeton went to Lehigh and muddled its way through a mediocre performance, eventually getting nipped at the wire by a seemingly more motivated Lehigh team, 76-67. There were plenty of excuses to be had: the Tigers had just flown back from Utah and a season-opening loss to BYU, they had a poor shooting night, they were trying to figure some things out. Continue reading “Princeton Figures Out How To Win Inaugural Ivy League Championship”
Category: Ivy League
Ivy League Final Mini-Preview: #3 Yale vs. #1 Princeton
We could’ve done this a year ago. Continue reading “Ivy League Final Mini-Preview: #3 Yale vs. #1 Princeton”
Narrow March Margins Evident In Ivy League
Historians like to talk about the moments that changed the world, the ripple effect of small pieces of time and seemingly small twists of fate that eventually led to something much larger.
Sports are a microcosm of life, at least sometimes. So consider this: with 2:33 left in Saturday’s first Ivy League Tournament (ever) semifinal, a red-hot Ryan Betley lined up for an open three-pointer. At the time, he was 7-9 from the field, 2-3 from behind the arc, and the shot looked good from the time it left his hand.
Already leading 57-53 and with The Palestra crowd ready to explode, it might have been the fatal blow to the game and Princeton’s NCAA Tournament hopes, despite a 17-game win streak and a perfect 14-0 conference regular season record. It have turned the heat up on an already ready to boil debate about the merits of the Ivy Tournament and the now kinetic rather than potential inequities that lie within it.
Continue reading “Narrow March Margins Evident In Ivy League”
Ivy League Tournament Quadrupleheader Is Good For Fans
When I was a freshman writing for The Daily Princetonian in the fall of 2009, I was given the women’s basketball beat. It was hardly a marquee assignment at the time; I only ended up there because the men’s beat I really wanted was taken by seniors. After the meeting, a fellow freshman was complaining that he was assigned to cover volleyball, a sport he knew nothing about. I offered to switch assignments; he declined. Continue reading “Ivy League Tournament Quadrupleheader Is Good For Fans”
#1 Princeton 72, #4 Penn 64 (OT): Stephens’ Putback Saves Tigers
The Princeton Offense is known for several things: Passing, cutting, shooting, spacing, you name it. One thing it is decidedly not known for is offensive rebounding. So it’s funny that the three biggest plays of the Tigers’ season have been second chances. The biggest of all came Saturday at The Palestra, where Myles Stephens picked up Amir Bell’s errant layup and dropped it through the net with six seconds left, sending the first men’s Ivy League Tournament game ever to overtime. Continue reading “#1 Princeton 72, #4 Penn 64 (OT): Stephens’ Putback Saves Tigers”
Ivy Tournament Not Just About Princeton-Penn
(Please read Kevin Whitaker’s excellent previews on Penn-Princeton and Yale-Harvard before proceeding:)
Wide-eyed and full of smiles, the Brown women’s basketball team arrived at The Palestra with their phones in hand to take in everything about their experience at the inaugural Ivy League Tournament Friday.
The Ivy League tried to make their tournament a bit unique by setting up The Palestra for open practices (like the NCAA Tournament does) the day before the controversial proceedings begin tomorrow. As you’d expect, most of the attention has gone to the men’s side of the draw, mostly the 237th all-time meeting between Penn and Princeton Saturday afternoon, which should have a near full house for one of the most storied college basketball rivalries in America.
What can be wrong with that? Well, depends on your perspective. In any other year, undefeated (in Ivy play) Princeton would be sitting around waiting for Sunday night to see where (likely as a No. 12 or No. 13 seed) they would try to continue the Ivy’s run of NCAA Tournament upsets next week. Now, they face a sometimes dangerous Penn team on its home floor, and if they get past that, possibly an in-form Harvard team that the Tigers barely defeated twice this season.
Continue reading “Ivy Tournament Not Just About Princeton-Penn”
Ivy League Tournament Preview: #3 Yale vs. #2 Harvard
Harvard and Yale have a lot of similarities. Both are among the nation’s least experienced teams, looking nothing like the squads that played in the last Palestra playoff two years ago. Both rely on athletic, highly touted underclassmen, and their best days are still ahead of them. But as they enter the first Ivy League Tournament, the rivals are going in very different directions. Continue reading “Ivy League Tournament Preview: #3 Yale vs. #2 Harvard”
Ivy League Tournament Preview: #4 Penn vs. #1 Princeton
To steal a phrase from Joe Sheehan, the least important words of any preview are the last ones. As is customary, I’ll make a prediction at the bottom, but we know Championship Week is a crapshoot; the value of a preview is in setting the stage and showing how the game will be decided. Continue reading “Ivy League Tournament Preview: #4 Penn vs. #1 Princeton”
NYC Buckets’ Ivy League Awards
With the 14-game Ivy League season fully in the books, it’s time to unveil our picks for the individual awards. This was the most wide-open year I can remember in several categories, so if you think we’re wrong, you’re probably not the only one. Continue reading “NYC Buckets’ Ivy League Awards”
Ivy League Weekly Roundup: On To The Palestra
What Happened Last Week: Princeton is 14-0, thanks to another Harvard-killing shot (now with Titanic music!). Penn is the 4-seed, thanks to its own Crimson-beating game-winner. On the women’s side, Penn is the repeat champion, and Brown won a de facto play-in game to punch its Palestra ticket. Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: On To The Palestra”
NYC Buckets Archive 