Three Thoughts About Albany and Siena After the Albany Cup

Albany defeated Siena 81-72 at SEFCU Arena on Sunday night, taking back the Albany Cup. The Saints fell behind by 18 at halftime, and then mounted a furious second half scoring assault that fell just a bit short. Foul trouble and defense bedeviled Siena, while Albany improved to 4-2 behind David Nichols’ 29 points and Joe Cremo’s 20. Continue reading “Three Thoughts About Albany and Siena After the Albany Cup” →

Ivy League Weekly Roundup: Non-Conference Struggles

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” →

Harvard Looks Set For Future, But Maybe Not Present

Tommy Amaker has taken Harvard – a program where basketball success was not only non-existent, but largely unfathomable – to four NCAA Tournaments, actually winning games in two, over the last six seasons. Prior to last season, he had led the Crimson to six straight 20-win seasons, five consecutive Ivy League titles, and a 59-15 league record.

So while no one is immune from any questioning or criticism of his methods or substitution patterns, certainly Amaker has more than earned the benefit of the doubt.

But coming off a 14-16 (6-8 Ivy) season, where the Crimson lost seven of eight conference games at one point, Harvard still looks to be a work in progress. It was picked second in the Ivy League largely due to a heralded recruiting class, but mixing and matching the new guys with the veterans has proven problematic with only five players allowed on the court at one time per current basketball rules.

Continue reading “Harvard Looks Set For Future, But Maybe Not Present” →

NEC Roundup: Early Thoughts and Power Rankings

Three to five college basketball games is hardly a relevant sample size, but there have been some interesting trends, story lines and awesome individual performances from the first week and a half of the 2016-17 season. Continue reading “NEC Roundup: Early Thoughts and Power Rankings” →

Ivy Favorite Princeton Searches For Answers After 0-2 Start

This first real snowfall hasn’t come yet, so it might have been a bit premature to sound the alarm, but there was Princeton coach Mitch Henderson in the postgame press conference after Sunday afternoon’s 76-67 loss at Lehigh sounding like a team on a 10-game losing streak in mid-February: Continue reading “Ivy Favorite Princeton Searches For Answers After 0-2 Start” →