Half the league picked up their first wins, but 10 days into the season, no team is above .500 in D-I play. Inside this week: Two weird losing streaks continue, scorers keep scoring, and Penn fans demand cheesesteaks. Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: Series Streaks and Scoring Stars”
Category: Penn
Ivy League Weekly Roundup: A Nightmare Start
This is a pretty depressing week to have an Ivy League Weekly Roundup column. We entered the preseason with hopes of a multi-team title race, star power throughout the conference, and realistic chances for quality wins. But on the first day of basketball, the league lost three potential All-Ivy candidates — one indefinitely, one for the season, and one for good. That set the stage for a weekend in which the Ancient Eight nearly went winless in D-I play, an inauspicious start to the season.
The Ivy League isn’t alone. Friday’s top games nationally were Texas A&M-West Virginia, which had two key players suspended, and Georgia Tech-UCLA, which was overshadowed by alleged NCAA violations, LaVar Ball and Louis Vuitton. The biggest college basketball story throughout the season will be an FBI investigation. Sports are never just about actual sports, but it feels especially so right now. Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: A Nightmare Start”
Ivy League Preseason Rankings, Awards Forecasts
This is the tightest race at the top that I can remember entering a season. For me, it comes down to a toss-up between three body parts tugging in three different directions: Continue reading “Ivy League Preseason Rankings, Awards Forecasts”
34 Teams in 34 Days: Penn
Penn
Outlook: Fitting all the pieces together will be a challenge, but the Quakers have enough talent to return to the Ivy League Tournament. Continue reading “34 Teams in 34 Days: Penn”
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 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”
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”
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