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Harvard 75, Yale 67: Future Looks Bright For Ivy League

If you looked closely at Lee Amphitheater Saturday night, you could see into the future. And you didn’t even need a Delorean to do it.

Harvard ended Yale’s 22-game, two-year long home winning streak in impressive fashion, 75-67, before a sellout crowd that was into the game from the opening tip. The Crimson (14-7, 6-2, identical to Yale) were led by freshman Bryce Aiken with a career-high 27 points. Like most freshmen, Aiken has had some growing pains this season, but Saturday his full array of talent that ACC and Big East schools wanted was on display: shooting, getting to the rim, putting opponents on skates (as the kids say these days), even a four-point play from the corner that was huge in the Harvard victory.

Aiken, of course, is just one piece of a freshman class that includes Chris Lewis, Justin Bassey, and Seth Towns (who all started Saturday while Aiken did not). Sophomore Corey Johnson added 12 points for Harvard as well.

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Top NEC Under the Radar Players for 2016-17 Season

Throughout the offseason, I’ve been hearing a lot of chatter regarding several unknown players within the NEC. Because there’s plenty of opportunity given the graduations and transfers, coaches are desperate to prop up their guys in the preseason to see if they’ll rise to the challenge. Sometimes they will, sometimes they won’t. Continue reading “Top NEC Under the Radar Players for 2016-17 Season” →

Election Provides Awkward But Teachable Moment For Coaches

If you’ve been in a deep, dark cave for the last few months without a television or Wi-Fi connection, why didn’t you invite us?

In all seriousness, Tuesday night marks one of the most important and polarizing Election Days in America’s recent history, and it is also the first Presidential election most college students can vote in, three days before most of the basketball players among them begin the 2016-17 season.

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Boston University 64, Quinnipiac 57: Papale Wins In Homecoming

HAMDEN, Conn. – There was some bad Sunday afternoon, certainly, but in this holiday season, let’s focus on some good to start, shall we, namely Boston University senior John Papale.

Papale is only 120 miles away, so it’s hard to call a game against Quinnipiac a “homecoming”, but he did have his own cheering section Sunday, having grown up in nearby Wallingford (same hometown as former Sacred Heart point guard Phil Gaetano). He struggled for much of the afternoon, going 2-7 from three-point range, but in the end, he shared the team lead in points (13) and had some key plays down the stretch to seal the Terriers’ come-from-behind 64-57 victory, their second straight to draw even at 5-5 on the season.

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Yale 72, Vermont 54: Bulldogs Shut It Down Again

(photo courtesy: Steph Crandall)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – We’ve reached the point in the season where we have enough useful data to attempt to make sense of your favorite team, but not quite a full profile of who they will be going forward.

One of the top methods we use – especially in mid-major land – to compare conference teams that will eventually meet up is the transitive property. If A beat B and then B topped C, then A will certainly win against C, right? In a vacuum, maybe. But early-season games are not a vacuum, you have injuries, coaches fiddling with rotations and sets to see what and who will work, and the equalizer that is home-court advantage.

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