I thought today would be the end. I had planned on doing a roundup of all the games the NYC Buckets coverage had played in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament and beyond and that would be it. Continue reading “A Stunning Win (And Other Thoughts)”
For one of the league’s traditional powers, Penn’s last decade was utterly forgettable. The Quakers went 10 seasons without a title or an NCAA tournament appearance, the longest such streak in program history, finishing above .500 only once in that span. But that era fully closed on Sunday, when Penn beat Harvard, 68-65, to punch its ticket back to the Big Dance. Continue reading “#2 Penn 68, #1 Harvard 65: Quakers Are Dancing Again”
After a downright weird regular season, the Ivy League Tournament has given us a very normal final: #1-seed vs. #2-seed, co-champion vs. co-champion, Player of the Year against the presumed runner-up. Harvard and Penn split the season series, with each team winning in its home gym — and the rubber match will be at The Palestra, making the Quakers a small favorite on paper. Continue reading “Ivy League Tournament Mini-Preview: #1 Harvard vs. #2 Penn”
Penn throttled Yale from start to finish on Saturday, cruising to an 80-57 win in the Ivy League Tournament semifinal. The Quakers are now 40 minutes from their first NCAA tournament bid in 11 years, and everything is lined up in their favor heading into tomorrow’s championship game — the culmination of three years of improvement under Steve Donahue. Continue reading “#2 Penn 80, #3 Yale 57: Quakers Roll Into Ivy Final”
The outlook: Home-court advantage makes Penn a clear favorite, but if Yale follows the same gameplan it used last weekend, the Quakers will have to play their best to advance. Continue reading “Ivy League Tournament Preview: #3 Yale vs. #2 Penn”
Inside this week: Wrapping up the regular season and handing out NYC Buckets’ individual awards. Don’t miss Ray’s dispatches from Cornell’s clinching victory and Columbia’s crushing defeat, and stay tuned later this week for in-depth Ivy League Tournament previews. Continue reading “Ivy League Season Roundup: NYC Buckets’ Individual Awards”
Inside this week: A long-lost star returns, the playoff races heat up, and we dive deep on the national 3-on-3 tournament that launches this postseason. Don’t miss our weekend coverage of Princeton’s nightmare collapse , Penn’s unlikely hero at Columbia, and Yale’s impressive win at Dartmouth. Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: Return of the Mak-ai”
In practice leading up to Friday night’s game, Penn point guard Devon Goodman was not high on Columbia’s scouting report.
Goodman’s last competitive playing time had come a very long month ago — coincidentally, against the Lions — when he was scoreless in four ineffective minutes, finally losing his tenuous place in Penn’s rotation. Even in the Quakers’ practices this week, he was playing on the scout team, aping Columbia point guard Mike Smith. Continue reading “Unlikely Hero Devon Goodman Leads Penn Past Columbia”
This is the weirdest Ivy League season I can remember. Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: The Weirdest Season”
While Dartmouth had been extremely competitive in Ivy League play, it was still somewhat surprising to see the winless Big Green leading Penn by four heading to the final media time out Friday night at Leede Arena.
A hoop or two in the next couple of possessions could finally give Dartmouth its first league win and give it fleeting hope at least of the beginnings of an improbable run to its first Ivy League Tournament. After all, Penn had started 0-6 last year and pulled it off.
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