Another Ivy League showdown is on the way

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The stage is set for another showdown on Friday night. Two familiar foes in recent years will meet in Jadwin Gym with first place in the Ivy League on the line, and that’s pretty much what was expected all along. The only question was the teams’ records coming in, and they will remain separated by a game in the loss column after Harvard pulled out a 72-66 win at Yale on Saturday night.

Princeton took care of their end of the bargain by blasting Cornell a night after they took care of Columbia. With the late start in New Haven, this was known well before the game was over. It was just a question of whether or not Harvard would hold up its end and head to Princeton with one league loss or two.

… Continue Reading

Brown puts forth a rare bad effort against Harvard

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Give Harvard credit for coming to play on Friday night and putting forth a good game. Brown has played Harvard tough, taking them to double overtime earlier this month, and the Bears don’t lack confidence playing against them. But Brown did a lot to hurt its own cause on Friday night in dropping a 65-47 decision, and head coach Mike Martin didn’t mince words.

“That was unacceptable from me on down tonight,” said the Brown mentor. “We have to be a lot better than we were tonight, and we will be going forward. Absolutely unacceptable performance from our team tonight.”

… Continue Reading

Young Harvard takes the first Ivy League showdown

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Round one of the Ivy League battle for the top went to the home team, as tends to happen. Harvard, a young team that has grown up a lot during the season, used a big second half to knock off Princeton 69-57 and go up by a game in the all-important loss column. While they played like a championship-caliber team, Harvard knows a lot of basketball is still left to be played. With that, as well as the past as a guide, Harvard will take nothing for granted right now.

Ivy League play is just past the halfway point, but already is looks like it will once again be a two-team race between the teams that battled in Lavietes Pavilion on Saturday night. Both entered the night two games up in the loss column over everyone else in the league. That’s not the case now and not just because of this game’s result, as Cornell also won to go to 5-3, a game behind Princeton in the loss column for second place. Cornell has come to life in Ivy League play after some struggles in non-league play, but there’s every reason to think this will come down to Harvard and Princeton.

… Continue Reading

Allen tries to guide Penn through a lot of growing pains

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Ivy League has two standard-bearing programs that have dominated the league for much of its existence. Penn and Princeton have combined to win 51 of the league’s 65 titles to date in men’s basketball, with Penn claiming 25 of them. The Quakers have often been right there with Princeton in the years the Tigers were champions as well, and they have done it with veteran and young teams alike. They seemed immune to having to rebuild like so many programs must.

So it would surely surprise someone to look up at the Ivy League standings and see Penn with a 5-18 overall record, not to mention 2-4 in the Ivy League. That’s where they stand after Friday night’s 73-54 loss at Harvard. The records have an explanation, but they would surely still surprise many.

… Continue Reading

Behind young guards, Harvard’s offense has become a big part of the story

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Over the past few seasons, as Harvard has become an Ivy League contender and then champion, the Crimson developed an identity. They were known as a defensive team, one that would shut you down no matter the style of play. They became known as a team that lives off its defense. That’s still important, but this year’s team is making its mark on the offensive end in a big way, and that was apparent once again in their 67-64 win over Yale on Friday night.

Harvard is shooting a little under 49 percent from the field on the season, a figure that puts them in the top 15 nationally. They also shoot over 41 percent from long range, good for fifth nationally, and assist on over 60 percent of their made field goals. They average nearly 70 points per game, which won’t put them among the national leaders but is a pretty good number nonetheless. About the only knock on the stat sheet is that they have a few more turnovers than assists, though they closed the gap on that one Friday night.

… Continue Reading

Offensive issues plague Yale again in Ivy League opener

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – “Pass the ball.”

Those are three words often uttered by coaches and even fans at basketball games everywhere. For much of Saturday night’s game, Yale had some difficulty with that, at least doing so for the desired end result of a basket. The end result: 32.8 percent shooting from the field in a 65-51 loss in the Ivy League opener at Brown.

Yale didn’t have a single assist in the first half of Saturday night’s game. In fact, their first one didn’t come until nearly seven minutes into the second half, and they finished the evening with just four. While that number will jump out at you from the box score, the reasons for it go beyond simply passing the ball or not. The problem wasn’t that they had ball hogs or shot the ball too early; it wasn’t simply the ball not going in on some good looks, as sometimes happens. Both ball-handlers and those without the ball were at fault.

… Continue Reading

Growing pains come first for young Dartmouth

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – There is a lot of reason for optimism with Dartmouth, and two straight recruiting classes like the ones they have pulled in will make that happen. But what usually happens at first is youth being served, as well as growing pains, and it is quite clear that this group is going through that right now as they head home with a 2-9 record after Monday’s 79-58 loss at Boston College.

Dartmouth is young, with just one junior and a little-used senior on the roster. The core of this team for the present and foreseeable future will be the recruiting classes of the past two years. The young players come with plenty of talent, but rarely does that translate into instant success. With a challenging, road-heavy non-league slate, they have also been humbled in their introduction to college basketball. However, this team also shapes up as one that other Ivy League teams will not want to play in February. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see them knock off a contending team at home sometime in the final weeks of the regular season.

… Continue Reading

A high point after a year full of lows for Tucker Halpern

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Those who saw Brown score a dramatic win over Providence on Friday night will remember that Tucker Halpern made the two biggest shots in the final minute as part of a game-closing 9-1 run. They will probably remember that they were the last two of eight three-pointers he made on the evening en route to scoring 28 points. They might also come away with thoughts on several other things that will bury this story – things like the idea that Providence was crazy to even play at Brown in the first place, that they blew a seven-point lead in the final 45 seconds or that Vincent Council returned from injury.

What they should know is that Tucker Halpern’s story goes beyond merely Friday night’s game and is worth knowing for anyone who is a fan of the game. It’s the kind of game he probably expected of himself once upon a time. At the same time, a year ago a night like this was but a pipe dream.

… Continue Reading

How the conferences shake out as 2013 approaches

Non-conference play is almost over, and it has been quite a stretch. We’ve learned a good deal about a lot of teams, while some are still a mystery for various reasons – injuries, suspensions, ineligibility and a light schedule are all possible reasons. In addition, a few conferences have already seen a game or two mixed in with the non-conference schedule.

Conference play is right around the corner, and while a non-conference resume doesn’t tell the whole story, it does shed some light on teams and conferences. In conference play, there is more familiarity since teams play each other every year, although the changing landscape is starting to diminish that factor a bit. That’s one reason why we see some teams put forth a very good non-conference showing, including some good wins, then go on to have a mediocre showing in conference play.

With that in mind, here’s a look at how every conference in America shapes up.

… Continue Reading

Cornell is trying to find consistency before Ivy League play

BOSTON – Cornell is trying to find some consistency with non-league play winding down. That’s not a good place to be, and after a 70-57 loss at Boston University on Saturday the issues the Big Red face seem just a little more noticeable.

One look at the box score tells much of the story. The Big Red had a nice 48-24 bench scoring advantage, but undoing that is the fact that their starters scored just nine points and had 12 rebounds. The starters also didn’t hand out a single assist on the afternoon. Eight different Big Red players have started at least one game this season, and only two have started all 12 games. Clearly, head coach Bill Courtney and his staff are trying to find the right combination.

… Continue Reading