The back-and-forth continues.
A week after Princeton took a tumble in the final game of its four-straight road contests, Harvard did the same, dropping a 70-69 decision at Yale. The Tigers' loss dropped Princeton from two-thirds to win the Ivy title to just one-third. The Crimson's defeat the following weekend deadlocked it with the Tigers right at 50/50.
And so we venture into the league's final weekend - the ultimate outcome in severe doubt for the first time since 2002. Both teams seem to have their own advantages - Harvard merely needs a home sweep for a share and in so doing, would force Princeton to win at Penn for its share. Meanwhile, the Tigers only need to win in Boston on Saturday night to clinch a share and only take one of their other two road games (in Hanover and Philly) to take the league outright.
Both the Penn and Princeton games at Lavietes are sold out and have been for weeks now. ESPN3 hopped on board to broadcast the Saturday night showdown between the Crimson and Tigers over the internet. If Harvard survives Friday night unscathed, it could be the most consequential night in the Ivy League in nine years, only to be topped, in the event of a Crimson victory, by a potential playoff game the following weekend.
Showing posts with label 14-Game Tournament. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 14-Game Tournament. Show all posts
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
14-Game Tournament: America Loves Drama
No one expected Princeton to survive the four-game road trip unscathed.
But there the Tigers were, having dispatched the three toughest challenges, according to Pomeroy, and needing just one more win at Brown to maintain a commanding lead in the Ivy race. With a return home to face Columbia and Cornell and a trip to Dartmouth upcoming, Princeton would have little trouble showing up in Boston on March 5th at 12-0 in league play.
Then the Bears proved why Saturday night road games have a special distinction in the minds of the Ivy League faithful. Brown built an 11-point first half lead, only to watch Princeton chip it away entirely to grab a one-point lead of its own. Undaunted, the Bears immediately responded with a 21-10 run to go up double-digits with under three minutes to go and never looked back.
Meanwhile, Harvard was beginning the same road trip - just on a week's delay. The Crimson had little problem dispensing with Cornell and Columbia, but now must deal with the pairing that gave the Tigers trouble, starting tonight at Brown.
Harvard has exactly the same stakes as Princeton as well. A sweep would have it return home to Boston at 11-1, needing just a win as a near-double-digit favorite against Penn to set up a winner-take-all showdown (for Harvard, at least) for the NCAA berth. A loss at either Brown or Princeton would swing the odds back to the Tigers' favor, though barely.
But there the Tigers were, having dispatched the three toughest challenges, according to Pomeroy, and needing just one more win at Brown to maintain a commanding lead in the Ivy race. With a return home to face Columbia and Cornell and a trip to Dartmouth upcoming, Princeton would have little trouble showing up in Boston on March 5th at 12-0 in league play.
Then the Bears proved why Saturday night road games have a special distinction in the minds of the Ivy League faithful. Brown built an 11-point first half lead, only to watch Princeton chip it away entirely to grab a one-point lead of its own. Undaunted, the Bears immediately responded with a 21-10 run to go up double-digits with under three minutes to go and never looked back.
Meanwhile, Harvard was beginning the same road trip - just on a week's delay. The Crimson had little problem dispensing with Cornell and Columbia, but now must deal with the pairing that gave the Tigers trouble, starting tonight at Brown.
Harvard has exactly the same stakes as Princeton as well. A sweep would have it return home to Boston at 11-1, needing just a win as a near-double-digit favorite against Penn to set up a winner-take-all showdown (for Harvard, at least) for the NCAA berth. A loss at either Brown or Princeton would swing the odds back to the Tigers' favor, though barely.
Friday, February 11, 2011
14-Game Tournament: Defending Newman
There will be a Jim Goffredo reference in this story. That's how old it is.
Earlier this season, Columbia walked in to Newman Arena and did something that no Ivy team had done in the past 22 tries.
It won.
While that snapped Cornell's impressive home league winning streak, what it failed to snap was the Big Red's nine-straight, home back-to-back weekend sweeps. That mark spans back to the same place that the 22-game win streak reached - a 85-79 loss to Harvard on March 2, 2007 in which Jim Goffredo dropped 32 points in his second to last game to outshine freshman Ryan Wittman's 24 points on 92 eFG% shooting.
Maybe the nine-straight sweeps are merely a relic of the past waiting their inevitable turn to join the many other streaks and spurts that came to an end this year. In such a dismal season (by record, at least), it could also be a reminder that there is still plenty to play for, especially for a team that could still have been the Ivies' second best in many of the recent years past.
This current Cornell team will never be consistent offensively - the Big Red just doesn't have the personnel required to do the low-variance things like getting to the line and making interior buckets. The same frontcourt problems leave Cornell exposed defensively, forcing it to cede easy layups or quickly venture into foul trouble.
What the Big Red can do is shoot. Cornell hits at a 37.4 percent rate from deep at Newman, and that is its ticket to saving this Ivy season. Yes, it's high variance. Yes, it makes it tough to hold leads.
But it's who the Big Red is, and if it wants to salvage the rest of its Ivy season, it would be best to embrace that fact and just fire away.
Earlier this season, Columbia walked in to Newman Arena and did something that no Ivy team had done in the past 22 tries.
It won.
While that snapped Cornell's impressive home league winning streak, what it failed to snap was the Big Red's nine-straight, home back-to-back weekend sweeps. That mark spans back to the same place that the 22-game win streak reached - a 85-79 loss to Harvard on March 2, 2007 in which Jim Goffredo dropped 32 points in his second to last game to outshine freshman Ryan Wittman's 24 points on 92 eFG% shooting.
Maybe the nine-straight sweeps are merely a relic of the past waiting their inevitable turn to join the many other streaks and spurts that came to an end this year. In such a dismal season (by record, at least), it could also be a reminder that there is still plenty to play for, especially for a team that could still have been the Ivies' second best in many of the recent years past.
This current Cornell team will never be consistent offensively - the Big Red just doesn't have the personnel required to do the low-variance things like getting to the line and making interior buckets. The same frontcourt problems leave Cornell exposed defensively, forcing it to cede easy layups or quickly venture into foul trouble.
What the Big Red can do is shoot. Cornell hits at a 37.4 percent rate from deep at Newman, and that is its ticket to saving this Ivy season. Yes, it's high variance. Yes, it makes it tough to hold leads.
But it's who the Big Red is, and if it wants to salvage the rest of its Ivy season, it would be best to embrace that fact and just fire away.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
14-Game Tournament: Where Were You On Feb. 3, 1989?
No, it wasn't the day the Berlin Wall fell. It wasn't the day when the Tiananmen Square protests came to a head either. And, nope, it wasn't the end of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (though that was Feb. 2, so good guess).
February 3, 1989 was the last time that Harvard defeated Princeton at Jadwin Gym. The victory marked the end of a 4-2 spurt over six years for the Crimson in New Jersey, a run which came on the heels of a 25-year road losing streak to the Tigers.
The current skid (21 years and counting) hasn't been entirely smooth sailing for Princeton. One of Harvard's worst teams in school history took the eventual Ivy League champion Tigers to double-overtime in 2004 and the Crimson pushed Princeton to overtime again in 2007 without Brian Cusworth, who had exhausted his eligibility midseason. Every time, however, the Tigers have found the extra clutch basket to escape with the victory.
Rarely do the games yield many style points, but Princeton would be just fine with more of the same, if it means another crucial league win.
February 3, 1989 was the last time that Harvard defeated Princeton at Jadwin Gym. The victory marked the end of a 4-2 spurt over six years for the Crimson in New Jersey, a run which came on the heels of a 25-year road losing streak to the Tigers.
The current skid (21 years and counting) hasn't been entirely smooth sailing for Princeton. One of Harvard's worst teams in school history took the eventual Ivy League champion Tigers to double-overtime in 2004 and the Crimson pushed Princeton to overtime again in 2007 without Brian Cusworth, who had exhausted his eligibility midseason. Every time, however, the Tigers have found the extra clutch basket to escape with the victory.
Rarely do the games yield many style points, but Princeton would be just fine with more of the same, if it means another crucial league win.
Friday, January 14, 2011
14-Game Tournament: The CORNELL!!!/columbia Series
None of the Lions faithful want to remember that 2002-2003 season.
Columbia went 2-25, 0-14 in the Ivy League and rarely even close. The Lions also scored fewer than 50 points in 13 of the 27 games that year and 40 or fewer a whopping seven times.
Most of the effects of that disastrous season wore off rather quickly, as Columbia rebounded to go 6-8 in league play the following year and put together three-straight .500 finishes from 2007 to 2009. One landscape shift, however, hasn't reset itself to pre-2003 levels yet, and it happens to be one of the most important in league play - the season-opening travel partner series.
Columbia went 2-25, 0-14 in the Ivy League and rarely even close. The Lions also scored fewer than 50 points in 13 of the 27 games that year and 40 or fewer a whopping seven times.
Most of the effects of that disastrous season wore off rather quickly, as Columbia rebounded to go 6-8 in league play the following year and put together three-straight .500 finishes from 2007 to 2009. One landscape shift, however, hasn't reset itself to pre-2003 levels yet, and it happens to be one of the most important in league play - the season-opening travel partner series.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
14-Game Tournament: What If The 14-Game Tournament Was A Prelude?
Ivy basketball aficionados already know this, and if you watch enough conference tournament week action, you've probably been made aware of this on more than one occasion.
The Ivy League does not hand its automatic bid to the Big Dance to the survivor of a three-day knockout tourney. In fact, it doesn't even hold a conference tournament at all. Rather, the league's representative to NCAAs is decided during the January-to-March round robin schedule with the champion taking home the automatic bid.
The Ivy League does not hand its automatic bid to the Big Dance to the survivor of a three-day knockout tourney. In fact, it doesn't even hold a conference tournament at all. Rather, the league's representative to NCAAs is decided during the January-to-March round robin schedule with the champion taking home the automatic bid.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Previewing The 2010-2011 14-Game Tournament
It's not so easy this year, is it?
After two years of a reigning champion with a stocked, returning roster, the Ivy League is finally up for grabs again. Cornell not only lost four of five starters, but also lost a couple more pieces of its rotation, making the race for the league's automatic bid as muddled as it's been since the Big Red won its first of three straight championships in 2008.
After two years of a reigning champion with a stocked, returning roster, the Ivy League is finally up for grabs again. Cornell not only lost four of five starters, but also lost a couple more pieces of its rotation, making the race for the league's automatic bid as muddled as it's been since the Big Red won its first of three straight championships in 2008.
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