Category: Ivy League

Ivy League Weekly Roundup: Midseason Summary

Last Week in the Ivy League: Princeton survived a pair of scares to stay perfect. Harvard ended Yale’s two-year win streak in New Haven. After homages to The Palestra, the “ZombieQuakers” finally rose. And we reached the halfway point of Ivy play, which means it’s time for our annual per-possession rankings: Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: Midseason Summary” →

Yale 73, Dartmouth 64: Bulldogs Keep Rolling On

Some tend to confuse playing slowly with automatically being poor offensively in basketball circles, but there are many, many teams (looking at you TCU, Virginia, and Saint Mary’s) who play deliberately, but are among the most effective offenses in the country. You can’t really put Yale in that category, but while most of the attention went to their defense (33rd and 70th the last two seasons), they have been a very solid offensive team the last three seasons.

Friday against Dartmouth, they again showed why. With the Big Green taking away the perimeter, Yale went to the basket, making 24-of-40 on two-point shots. While senior captain Anthony Dallier was held to 5 points (and only 3 shots), Alex Copeland stepped up with 14 points on 7-12 shooting. With Miye Oni held to 9, Trey Phills stepped up with 10.

Continue reading “Yale 73, Dartmouth 64: Bulldogs Keep Rolling On” →

Ivy League Weekly Roundup: The Mania Begins

Last Week in the Ivy League: The first full weekend of back-to-backs, and boy did a lot happen. Three games came down to the wire within minutes, including a bananas finish at Harvard. Columbia is the four-seed frontrunner. Yale swept in New York, staying an extra night due to a mid-game power outage. Replay reviews upon replay reviews. The nerdiest trash talk ever. Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: The Mania Begins” →

Yale 87, Columbia 78: Yes, Bulldogs Look Like Ivy Contenders

Yale has had plenty of opportunities to make excuses this season if it wanted. Loss of three starters (all post players) to graduation? Sure. Preseason Ivy League Player of the Year Makai Mason (who only scored 31 in an NCAA upset of Baylor last March) gone with a broken foot in the preseason? Yeah, that works. Teams and opposing crowds taking aim at the current kings of the Ivy League? Why not? Letdown after finally breaking through to the NCAA Tournament after 54 years? Could make a case.

Except Yale doesn’t just not want to hear it, they’re taking those potential alibis and shoving them down the throat of the Ivy League in 2016-17. With a hard-fought, but impressive 87-78 win at Columbia, the Bulldogs are not only 4-1 in conference play, but if it gets a win Saturday night in Ithaca over Cornell, would be 5-1 with six of their remaining eight regular season contests in the friendly confines of Lee Amphitheater, where all the Bulldogs have done is won 21 straight games.

If you’re surprised that Yale looks like it will be in the Ivy League hunt once again until the end, they’re not. And they’re curious why you would be.

Continue reading “Yale 87, Columbia 78: Yes, Bulldogs Look Like Ivy Contenders” →

Q&A: Robin Harris on the Ivy League’s Tournament, Regular Season

For the first time this year, the Ivy League will hold a postseason tournament to determine its automatic bids to the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments. Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris spoke with NYC Buckets earlier this week to discuss preparations for the tournament and how it has affected the regular season so far. Continue reading “Q&A: Robin Harris on the Ivy League’s Tournament, Regular Season” →

Ivy League Weekly Roundup: Lions and Bulldogs Roar, #2BidIvy Watch Returns

Last Week in the Ivy League: Columbia got a huge sweep, moving solidly into the top four. Yale needed another exciting comeback to top Brown. AJ Brodeur led Penn to its first Big 5 win, closing non-conference play in the Ancient Eight. Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: Lions and Bulldogs Roar, #2BidIvy Watch Returns” →