Last Week in the Ivy League: Milestones and milestones. Harvard and Yale are on the rise, while Dartmouth is still winless. Princeton lost another big game, and will be without a starter, but at least Mitch Henderson got into the Hawaiian spirit. Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: Contenders Emerge”
Alex Copeland officially played 4.2% of possible minutes last season as a freshman for Yale, and even that is generous, perhaps 99% of that came in blowouts or just as the final horn was about to sound in a game already decided (yes, that’s Copeland entering as James Jones emptied his bench in the Ivy League clinching win over Columbia in March).
This season, Copeland expected his role to be increased after four seniors graduated. But point guard Makai Mason still remained, as did Trey Phills and Anthony Dallier, the next two on the Yale depth chart when practice opened in October.
James Jones knew, even if he did have a healthy Makai Mason playing for him, that he was going to have an extremely inexperienced team this season. But Jones forgot a little how painful the process of gaining that valuable commodity can be. Yale ranked 27th and 21st nationally in experience the last two seasons and played a big part in their 45 wins, two Ivy League titles, and last season’s NCAA Tournament victory.
This season: 280th. So you get stretches like the second half last week at Bryant where the Bulldogs blew a big second half lead and lost. And the first half Thursday at Sacred Heart, where Yale couldn’t execute a basic pick and roll and turned the ball over 11 times in 34 possessions.
Last Week in the Ivy League: Brown went 3-0, and Mike Martin is self-aware. Penn played a big game, but not as big as Patrick Steeves’ homecoming. Yale fell off its hot pace. Columbia lost a close game, but what else is new? Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: Viral Moments and Marquee Games”
On the scatterplot of Division I head basketball coaches, Bryant’s Tim O’Shea slides toward the upper end of both the laid-back and positivity metrics, so it shouldn’t be that surprising that he was able to brush off Monday’s unfortunate mistake by freshman Ikenna Ndugba that contributes to a tough 91-90 loss at Brown Monday night.
It’s likely that a Google search of Ndugba’s name will turn up the incident for the rest of his college career at least, as it made the rounds to SportsCenter and local television around the country. But for O’Shea, the discussion about it afterward lasted about three seconds, and publicity is publicity, right?
Continue reading “Three Thoughts: Bryant 79, Yale 70 – Ndugba Doesn’t Need Redemption”
Last Week in the Ivy League: After losing several close games Saturday, the Ancient Eight are a combined 11-24 in D-I action. Though Nate Hickman had lots of heroics, Columbia got 88-83’d again. Harvard is reeling, Penn and Columbia took bad losses, and even Yale went winless. Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: Non-Conference Struggles”
Last Week in the Ivy League: Princeton fell to a disappointing 0-2. Brian Earl earned his first win as head coach, while Dave McLaughlin is still waiting. Penn got a name change. Yale pulled off the weekend’s biggest upset, though not in basketball. Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: Block Party”
The road was a tough place to be for most of the local teams on Sunday. Hopefully Feast Week can give every team some much needed home cooking. Continue reading “About Last Night: Nov. 20, 2016”
Two-time Ivy League Player of the Year Justin Sears is gone. Brandon Sherrod is no longer in a Yale uniform. Neither are Nick Victor, Khaliq Ghani, and, yes, Jack Montague. Continue reading “Yale Finds a Way to Keep Home Streak Alive”
What Happened Last Week: Games started, but not before a season-changing injury. Yale upset another pack of Huskies despite missing two top players. Princeton fell short at BYU, and Harvard lost to Stanford on the other side of the world. Penn and Columbia looked like playoff contenders. Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: The Injury Monster Strikes Again”
NYC Buckets Archive 
