Jim Engles was the obvious choice to replace Kyle Smith as Columbia’s head coach. The 47-year-old Staten Island native has experience in light blue, having spent five years as a Lions assistant in the mid-2000s. And he has experience as a New York metro area head coach, having led NJIT from the midst of a 51-game D-I losing streak when he took over to a pair of 20-win seasons when he left. Continue reading “Jim Engles Takes Over Columbia At Critical Juncture”
Tag: Kyle Smith
The Scene As Columbia Is The CIT Champion
I’ll have much more to say about Columbia’s victory over UC Irvine last night. For the moment though, let’s enjoy the CollegeInsider.com Tournament championship. Continue reading “The Scene As Columbia Is The CIT Champion”
Columbia Rolls Into CIT Finals Carrying Ivy League Flag
After beating NJIT somewhat handily 80-65 Sunday night in the semifinals of the CIT, Columbia coach Kyle Smith talked about how great the Ivy League has been.
“The league’s good. I was really happy for Yale,” Smith said. “I feel like sometimes it’s like ‘if a tree falls in the forest’ thing because that’s how I feel about the Ivy League. I’ve been screaming at the top of my lungs that there’s really good teams and that helps prove that. Princeton got a horrible seeding in the NIT, should not have been on the road, and they almost advanced as it was.”
Continue reading “Columbia Rolls Into CIT Finals Carrying Ivy League Flag”
Columbia 66, Brown 63: Lions Win But Lose Ivy Title Hopes
Columbia’s dream of an Ivy League title died with 5.2 seconds remaining in the first half against Brown on Friday night. Continue reading “Columbia 66, Brown 63: Lions Win But Lose Ivy Title Hopes”
Columbia 93, Penn 65: Lions Rock The Palestra
Columbia kept its very slim Ivy League title hopes alive with a 93-65 win over Penn at The Palestra on Saturday evening in Philadelphia. Though, considering Princeton and Yale won as well, the Lions’ hopes of playing in the Big Dance are on the brink of impossible. Continue reading “Columbia 93, Penn 65: Lions Rock The Palestra”
Princeton 88, Columbia 83: A Sad Case Of Score Deja Vu
Kyle Smith looked down at the ground and shook his head as he walked alone back to the Columbia locker room. It was a game that the Lions head coach wouldn’t admit was a must win, even as his blank stare in the post game press conference told a different story. Continue reading “Princeton 88, Columbia 83: A Sad Case Of Score Deja Vu”
Princeton 88, Columbia 83: Dissecting A Difficult Loss
Columbia fans at a sold out Levien Gymnasium had their hearts broken not once, but twice on Saturday night. Continue reading “Princeton 88, Columbia 83: Dissecting A Difficult Loss”
Columbia Beats Penn, Princeton Looms
This isn’t how Columbia normally does things. Continue reading “Columbia Beats Penn, Princeton Looms”
Yale 86, Columbia 72: Sherrod Can’t Miss, Bulldog Offense Can’t Be Stopped
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – There was a time not long ago when the vaunted Yale offense was not so vaunted. In their last two games before Christmas break, the Bulldogs put up 0.94 and 0.89 points per possession in losses to Illinois and USC.
Yeah, those are BCS schools, you say? Well, in the game after finals, Yale posted 0.97 ppp against Central Connecticut, who has spent some time at No. 351 in KenPom this season and whose defense has been in the bottom five in efficiency nationally all season. The Bulldogs still won that game handily and were in the other two thanks to its defense, tops in the Ivy League last season, and by all accounts, the backbone of its Ivy challenge this season.
Continue reading “Yale 86, Columbia 72: Sherrod Can’t Miss, Bulldog Offense Can’t Be Stopped”
Ivy League Weekly Roundup: A 3-Team Race Emerges
What Happened Last Week: The top three contenders looked the part: Columbia stayed perfect, thanks to an Alex Rosenberg buzzer-beater. Yale did the same, but not without a scare from Princeton. Cornell got a surprising road sweep, while Harvard crashed and burned. Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: A 3-Team Race Emerges”
NYC Buckets Archive 