Category: Ivy League

Ivy League Can’t Have Buyer’s Remorse Now

You might be surprised to find out that no one truly knows who the Murphy actually is behind Murphy’s Law, and there are plenty of tenured Ivy League professors who would be happy to debunk it for you with evidenced-based research.

Now the karma police? That might be another story.

Regardless of what supernatural forces you think guide the universe, the optics of the race for the final spot of the inaugural Ivy League Tournament devolving into chaos are quite striking. Two decades after every other conference in America figured it would take the money and attention that a conference final on national television brings, the Ivy League finally comes kicking and screaming to the table next week at The Palestra in Philadelphia.

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Updated Ivy League Tournament Tiebreak Scenarios

With one regular-season night remaining, the Ivy League Tournament race remains wide open. Penn lost a 76-74 nailbiter at home to Dartmouth, while Columbia was blown out 88-68 at Brown (which was playing without point guard Tavon Blackmon). Here’s how the scenarios break down, with three teams still alive: Continue reading “Updated Ivy League Tournament Tiebreak Scenarios” →

Ivy League Weekly Roundup: Tiebreaker Madness

Last Week in the Ivy League: Princeton clinched at least a share of its 27th championship. Columbia kept its postseason hopes alive by beating Penn, throwing the final week into tiebreaker chaos. The Lady Bulldogs got hot, shaking up the other playoff race. Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: Tiebreaker Madness” →

Harvard 77, Yale 64: Bulldogs Still Searching For Answers

Yale seemed to finally have it figured out Friday night, climbing out of an early deficit to grab a three-point halftime lead that probably could have been bigger if not for some poor shot selection and turnovers toward the end. Most importantly, it held host Harvard to 0.84 points per possession, showing some of the defense that led them to the Ivy League title last season.

Alas, the second half was still to come, and streaking Harvard sent them back into the skid they came from, shooting 18-27 from the field (74.1 eFG%) and scoring 1.28 ppp en route to a fairly easy 77-64 win in front of a sellout crowd at Lavietes Pavilion.

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Princeton 64, Columbia 45: Tigers One Step Closer To Perfect Season

When Mitch Henderson played at Princeton, it was normal for the Ivy League champion to go undefeated. In his rookie season of 1995, Penn went 14-0, capping a streak of three straight seasons without a loss. Henderson soon got his own taste of perfection, helping the Tigers to unbeaten campaigns in his junior and senior years. Continue reading “Princeton 64, Columbia 45: Tigers One Step Closer To Perfect Season” →

Ivy League Weekly Roundup: Return of the Killer P’s

Last Week in the Ivy League: Princeton stayed perfect, while Penn stayed in the race. Columbia is reeling from an overtime collapse at Dartmouth, even after getting a reprieve in regulation by a fraction of a second. The first Ivy League Tournament is taking shape, and everyone is still arguing about it. Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: Return of the Killer P’s” →

Penn 71, Yale 55: Quakers Making Own Path To The Palestra

Even as things appeared to be spiraling out of control a month ago, Penn coach Steve Donahue continued to maintain that he believed in his team. Every coach says that, of course, but there was something a little different about the way Donahue said it. Or maybe he’s just more convincing than most.

Anyway, the facts (real ones) are that the Quakers were 0-6 in the Ivy League after a loss to Princeton at The Palestra on Feb. 7, some four games behind Columbia for the fourth and final conference tournament berth. The real culprits in that slide were not the defeats to Princeton, but a home loss to Brown and one at Dartmouth.

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Princeton 71, Yale 52: Complete Performance From Cannady, Tigers

Devin Cannady’s minutes increased this season, as happens with many players who move from freshmen to sophomores in college basketball. His numbers have not, however. Last season, he torched opponents by shooting 45.6% on three-pointers (48.3% in Ivy League play) and 48.5% overall.

This season, although Cannady moved up from 11.6 to 12.6 points per game, he was shooting 37.9% from behind the arc and 41.0% overall. Amazingly, Princeton was winning anyway, 11 straight heading into Friday night’s game at Yale, which included a game two weeks ago at Harvard in which he was shutout on 0-8 shooting, and a 6-point performance at Penn three days later. In the first meeting against the Bulldogs, Cannady had seven points on 2-11 from the field as Yale nearly stole it before falling 66-58.

Offense isn’t everything, of course, and Cannady has helped the Tigers grab a two-game Ivy League lead in other ways, but there is one conference game that leaps off his stat page: the opener against Brown, where Cannady shredded the Bears for 29 points on 10-14 from the field, 7-9 from three. The result was a 97-66 bludgeoning for Princeton that set the tone for what it has done since.

Continue reading “Princeton 71, Yale 52: Complete Performance From Cannady, Tigers” →