Ivy League Men's Basketball Power Rankings: Pre-Conference Play

By Ben Zauzmer

Ivy League play tips off on Saturday night with a double-header: Penn and Princeton get the show underway at 5:00, followed by Harvard and Dartmouth at 7:00. The latter game will be broadcast live on www.whrb.org, and the first half will also be on 95.3 FM WHRB (the airwaves will then switch to coverage of #3 Harvard men’s hockey vs. #19 Yale at the Madison Square Garden).

Thanks to some not-so-great non-conference losses from all eight Ivy League teams, it has become quite clear that, as always, only one Ivy league team will represent the conference in March Madness. Furthermore, that conference champion will almost surely get a low seed, probably between 12 and 14, regardless of how conference play turns out.

And so, given that information, the season truly starts on Saturday night. Let’s see how the teams rank heading into those crucial 14 games:

1. Harvard (9-3)

Yes, the Crimson have struggled mightily away from home, with a neutral-court loss to Holy Cross, a loss at Arizona State, an embarrassing blowout at #3 Virginia, and requiring overtime to win at Vermont. But at the very least, they beat UMass, who is barely a top-100 team, and they’ve taken care of business against lesser competition at Lavietes. There is also a whole lot more talent and experience on this team than any other in the list, starting with the guard pair of Siyani Chambers and Wesley Saunders that is legitimately one of the top 30 backcourt combos in the nation. The Crimson have offensive struggles, but the defense is one of the 15 best in America. I’m not saying they’re as good as the Crimson teams from any of the past three years (they’re not), but I am saying they’re still the favorites to win the Ivy League.

2. Yale (10-6)

That said, the most impressive victory on the season has to go to Yale. The Bulldogs managed to stun the Connecticut Huskies 45-44 on a buzzer-beater three-pointer. It was only the second time an Ivy school beat a defending champion, the other being Princeton’s legendary upset of UCLA in the 1996 NCAA tournament. Yale is led by Javier Duren and Justin Sears, both of whom have experience beating Harvard and have Ivy League Player of the Week honors already this year. But Yale has also shown vulnerabilities: the losses to Providence, Vanderbilt, and even the blowout at Florida are excusable; falling at Quinnipiac and NJIT and at home against Albany is not. In fairness, Harvard does have an even worse loss in Holy Cross, but the Crimson haven’t looked that bad since (other than the UVa game), whereas NJIT was just yesterday.

3. Columbia (7-6)

I still maintain that with Alex Rosenberg, the first-team All-Ivy forward taking a year off due to injury, the Lions are the best team in the Ivy League. But that’s all academic now, as it’s up to Maodo Lo and impressive freshman Kyle Castlin to lead the team heading into conference play. Strangely enough, the high point of Columbia’s resume came in a loss, but it was a 56-46 loss on the road to undefeated #1 Kentucky, a game that the Lions actually led in the second half. And trust me, if you can play with Kentucky, you can certainly play with Harvard and Yale. But since then, the Lions have stumbled, losing to UConn by 15, St. Francis (NY) by 8, and Stony Brook by 9. They need to pick things up immediately, since their first conference match – on the road at Cornell – won’t be the cakewalk it has been in recent years.

4. Dartmouth (6-6)

Every year, it seems Dartmouth has finally found its stride. And then they play Harvard twice to start of conference play, fall to 0-2, and are never able to seriously reenter the race. Having fallen to the Crimson 10 times in a row, is this the year? I think there’s a chance, though a long shot. Alex Mitola is shooting lights-out, Gabas Maldunas is healthy again, and the Big Green could easily be 8-4 if a couple more buzzer-beaters had fallen in. They really only have one truly bad loss, a 79-67 stumble against a weak Jacksonville State team, though on the other hand they don’t have any top-150 wins either.

5. Princeton (6-9)

The Tigers’ season started off disastrously. After an opening-day victory over Rider, Princeton lost its next five games in a row. But they seem to have picked up a little steam recently, winning three of their last four, and the lone loss came to borderline top-100 team Wake Forest. Now, I know the wins weren’t anything spectacular (Lipscomb, Liberty, and Norfolk State), but they did beat each of those teams handily. They don’t have the resume of a usual top-five Ivy League team, but that’s because I think there’s a very large gap between the top three and everyone else on this list.

6. Brown (8-8)           

Cedric Kuakumensah and Leland King have really come into their own this season, and along with Rafael Maia they could make an argument for having the best frontcourt in the conference. Among them, only Maia is graduating, and both guards (Steven Speith and Tavon Blackmon) are sophomores. This team could be scary next year, with legitimate Ivy title hopes. And that core managed to come together and beat top-50 team Providence earlier this year in one of the season’s biggest upsets, right up there with Yale over UConn. But among their other 14 games, they’ve really just beat some bad teams and lost to some not-that-great teams, and it’s not enough to convince me to rank them any higher.

7. Cornell (7-8)

The Big Red have definitely taken a step forward with the return of injured star Shonn Miller. But frankly, he’s the entire team, and it’s really showed in losses against the likes of Buffalo, St. Peter’s, Radford, Drexel, and Loyola (MD). They did manage to come within one point of an impressive Penn State team, thanks to double-figures from Galal Cancer, Robert Hatter, and Devin Cherry, and if they see more teamwork like that, this team could still be competitive for a surprising Ivy title.

8. Penn (3-7)

While 1-3 could all be rearranged, as could 4-7, #8 is unquestionably Penn. They have yet to beat a top-250 team, and there are only 351 teams in Division I. Navy is their best victory, and with all due respect, that’s not much to write home about. It’s not just that they scheduled harder – one of their losses was to Wagner, a team that even Penn should beat. But there is a core that could emerge here, just not quite yet this season: Penn has four Ivy Freshman of the Week awards this year … and all four went to different players. That’s a recipe for success in 2018, maybe even 2017, but not 2015.

Football: Ivy League Week 8 Preview

Brown (6-1) at Yale (4-3)
Yale is staring down the barrel of mediocrity. In fact the world came tantalizingly close to a hilarious result in NYC last week, as Columbia had the ball down only three points late in the fourth quarter (Yale effectively ended the game with a pick). That said, I’m willing to give the Bulldogs some benefit of the doubt, as the game was played in a snowstorm and the Lions were thoroughly out-gained. Brown, meanwhile, used the same ugly weather to hold Penn’s Billy Ragone to 6-of-15 for 32 yards and 3 INTs in a 6-0 shutout. Despite not being obviously good at any one thing, Brown hasn’t lost in over a month.

Harvard (6-1) at Columbia (0-7)
Harvard’s offence has been all sorts of unstoppable in the past month, and I mean that more or less literally: Opponent’s offence keeping them in the game? Collier Winters can throw for 400! Collier Winters injured? Colton Chapple can throw for five touchdowns! Minor blizzard making it hard to throw a ball? Run for 400! A skeptic might point out that this has come against teams who are 7-11 against other opponents, to which I say: Yes, but Columbia’s on the docket this week.

Princeton (1-6) at Penn (4-3)
Five of Princeton’s six losses have been by double digits, and their win is over Columbia. And yet the Tigers have "only" been out-gained by 23 yards/game. The real problem has been turnovers: Princeton is -12 in turnover margin. Penn has now been out-scored by four points, cumulatively, on the season. Both these teams are quite good on the ground, each out-rushing opponents by over 60 yards/game. If Princeton can get Billy Ragone to screw up more than their own Tommy Wornham (both QBs have thrown 8 picks this season), they could actually keep it close.

Cornell (3-4) at Dartmouth (2-5)
Two of the Ivy League’s most valuable players will take the field in Hanover on Saturday. Cornell’s ground game is awful, so they put the ball in sophomore Jeff Mathews’s hands 34 times (for almost 300 yards) per game. Meanwhile, Nick Schwieger continues to be Dartmouth’s offence, as the Big Green have only averaged 120 yards/game passing. The defense hasn’t been great either; the cumulative effect is that Dartmouth has been out-gained by almost 110 yards/game. The winner of this game takes a death grip on 5th place in the Ancient Eight.

Picks to bet your Coop Rebate on
Yale over Brown, Harvard over Columbia, Penn over Princeton, Cornell over Dartmouth.

Football: Ivy League Week 6 Preview

Yale (3-2) at Pennsylvania (3-2)
Eli dropped a game in Lafayette last weekend. Apparently the Bulldogs tried an onside kick down two points with about 13 minutes left in the fourth. It didn’t work, and the Leopards scored an insurance touchdown. Good hustle, though, boys. Penn had an exciting comeback win over, uh, Columbia. I have no idea what to make of Penn; they’ve outgained opponents by 73 ypg, but have needed two last-minute touchdowns to take down Dartmouth and Columbia. One of these teams is going to emerge 3-0 in the Ivy.

Brown (4-1) at Cornell (2-3)
The Bears remain undefeated against non-Harvard teams, having pounded Princeton 34-0 last weekend. They held Tigers QB Tommy Wornham to a hilarious 11-of-27 for 75 yards. While we’re on the topic of stingy pass defense, Cornell allowed 3-of-10 for 52 yards with two interceptions last weekend against Colgate. The Big Red lost anyway. It’s a beautiful world we live in.

Princeton (1-4) at Harvard (4-1)
Last week Colton Chapple completed a modest 13 passes against Bucknell—it’s just that five were for touchdowns. A 223-to-(-5)-yard rushing edge and four opponent interceptions will do that for a guy. Princeton’s trip to Providence was an all-purpose pantsing. The Tigers gave up twice as many yards as they earned and threw an interception to boot. Even with that loss, though, Princeton has only been outgained by 32 ypg; they should be a tougher out for Harvard than the records would indicate.

Columbia (0-5) at Dartmouth (1-4)
WHRB Sports’ 8-time Defending Ivy League Sleeper Pick has now dropped four in a row. Last week’s not-that-close loss at Holy Cross saw Dartmouth outgained by nearly 300 yards. Which: Oh boy. Nick Schwieger’s 110 ypg rushing accounts for about 42% of the Big Green’s total offence on the year. Meanwhile, Columbia is bad.

Picks to bet your Felipe’s Super Carnitas Burrito on
Penn over Yale; Cornell over Brown; Harvard over Princeton; Nick Schwieger over Columbia.

Football: Ivy League Week 5 Preview

Princeton (1-3) at Brown (3-1)
All three Princeton losses have come against non-conference opponents, including a 28-23 loss last weekend against Hampton. The Tigers are out-gaining their opponents by 72 yards/g on the ground, but giving most of that back through the air. The Brown Bears have taken Princeton’s record and flipped it, going 3-0 out-of-conference. Look, we get it, Brown. You’re different. And I mean that’s great. But it sorta feels like you’re trying too hard, y’know?

Cornell (2-2) at Colgate (3-3)
Big Red vs Big…what is that, Magenta? Wikipedia claims it’s a Maroon. Whatever. Colgate RB Nate Eachus has 628 rushing yards in only four games. The Red (it’s more brown than red, but I guess you know best) Raiders have won two straight with Eachus back from injury. Cornell’s last outing saw them give up 530 yards of offense to your Harvard Crimson. Sophomore QB Jeff Mathews (155.2 efficiency rating) has built on last year’s strong freshman campaign.

Bucknell (4-2) at Harvard (3-1)
The Bison run defense has been very good this year, allowing only 62 yards/g. Their pass defense has been less good, giving up closer to 244. Bucknell’s +13 turnover margin on the year helps explain their winning record; Senior DB Bryce Robertson has five picks already. Harvard, meanwhile, goes for their fourth straight win after last week’s offensive explosion at Cornell. Come on guys, you’re not going to lose on Drew Faust’s 375th birthday, are you?

Dartmouth (1-3) at Holy Cross (2-3)
After two close losses, Dartmouth had a more Dartmouth-y 30-0 loss to Yale last weekend. Senior RB Nick Schwieger’s 39 yards was enough to move him into first on Dartmouth’s all-time rushing list. Holy Cross could also use a win, having dropped consecutive seven-point games to Brown and New Hampshire. The Crusaders are only 11-for-15 on extra point attempts, somehow.

Pennsylvania (2-2) at Columbia (0-4)
Oatmeal has won two straight, including last week’s 35-20 victory over Fordham. Billy Ragone has looked more like himself lately, completing 68% of his passes with no picks in those two wins. Meanwhile, Columbia is bad.

Yale (3-1) at Lafayette (1-4)
The Bulldogs have won games by 10, 20, and 30 points this year, and lost one by 30. I’m just going to assume this means Yale doesn’t have the constitution to keep games close and exciting. Boooo Yale. You’re boring all these nice people! Lafayette hasn’t played since losing to Harvard two weeks ago. The Leopards’ have been doubled-up on the ground so far this year.

Picks to bet your BoardPlus on
Princeton over Brown; Colgate over Cornell; Cornell joins the 300-team New Mountain West Conference; Harvard over Bucknell; Holy Cross over Dartmouth; Columbia over Columbia (to Penn’s benefit); Lafayette over Yale by 40.

ECAC Hockey: Dialing It Down To 11? An Editorial

With today's announcement that Notre Dame now considers itself an East Coast team in every sport but football and has thus joined Hockey East, there are now vultures circling over the ECAC. Eleven teams is difficult (though not impossible) to schedule so it's possible that once again, a former ECAC team will be joining the original "superconference." The candidates for Hockey East, at least from an ECAC-centric view, are RPI and Quinnipiac. (Okay, there are some people mentioning Cornell based on traditional strength and Harvard based on geography. It's not going to happen though, so let's all just move on from the Ivies for a second.) There are some Atlantic Hockey teams that Hockey East may go after (well, UConn) that would make sense and just to not be cruel, Alabama-Huntsville is probably getting dolled up and pointing out they are about as east as Notre Dame. For more on almost all of these possibilities and why they will or won't happen, read this post by Without a Peer, an RPI site.
While that's all well and good for Hockey East, the biggest concern on this blog is the future of the ECAC's team. If RPI or Quinnipiac leave, it's now the ECAC that has to find a 12th team, again. So let's go through the candidates.
Rochester Institute of Technology (Atlantic Hockey) - InsideHockey.com's Jason Klump told us RIT is the "blatantly obvious" choice for the potential 12th spot in the conference. They certainly fit the profile, especially if RPI is the team that jumps. Strong academics, Division III team in Liberty League, like most of the ECAC, doesn't offer athletic scholarships, etc. Here's the one problem - they are in Rochester. I don't mean to say this to denigrate the fine city of Rochester itself but to point out that Rochester's location doesn't quite fit the ECAC blueprint. RIT's closest team would be Cornell, a good 2 hour drive away. RIT would thus likely become Cornell's travel partner, while Colgate, about an hour and a half from Ithaca and the Big Red's geographic rival, would probably get paired with Union, over two hours away. If it's Quinnipiac that leaves (and judging by the value they've been placing in athletics, as evidenced by their big and shiny new sports complex, you have to imagine President Lahey is outside Joe Bertagna's office with a boombox blaring power ballads), then the same thing probably happens, with RPI becoming Harvard's travel partner, Brown and Dartmouth pairing together, and Yale and Princeton becoming an item. While Rochester wouldn't be the furthest trip in the league, with that distinction belonging to the Princeton-North Country swing, it is still a long trip (7 hours from Cambridge, though blissfully as a broadcaster, almost all highway driving.)
Army (Atlantic Hockey) In some ways I think Army makes the most sense of any team to add for the ECAC. A Division-I school, does not offer scholarships, Patriot League ties with Colgate, strong academics, great location that it could easily become either Union or Princeton's travel partner depending on who leaves and that is also close to New Haven. Plus they were an ECAC team two decades ago. The problem is that Army is not going to leave fellow military academy Air Force behind, and those West Point to Colorado Springs Friday-Saturday trips don't seem too appealing. It's just not going to happen.
Holy Cross (Atlantic Hockey) I admit, this is probably the most appealing option to me in terms of adding teams. Again, a Division I institution that does not offer scholarships, it has Patriot League ties with Colgate and a Bay State rivalry with Harvard in other sports (they are the tradition season opener in football and typically on the basketball schedule as well.) There's no denying that the Ivy League and Patriot League get along together so it would be a great fit in that regard. Worcester could also be an easy pairing with either Union if RPI leaves, or with some reshuffling, Harvard if Quinnipiac leaves. On the other hand, there's a reason Holy Cross did not get brought on board when Vermont left in 2004 and that isn't changing.
Connecticut (Atlantic Hockey) First, let me make the pitch for Hockey East to leave the ECAC alone and go after UConn. The Huskies are traditional rivals with Notre Dame in Big East basketball. They were once rivals with Boston College and want to head to the ACC in other sports to be reunited with Boston College. They are a large state school and fit the profile of many of the Hockey East teams. Plus they are already playing women's hockey in your conference. Alright, that being done with, here are the problems for UConn and Hockey East, though not necessarily problems for UConn and the ECAC. Not a great rink, can't offer men's scholarships thanks to Title IX (so come to a conference where over half the league doesn't offer scholarships, is my thinking). That said, UConn doesn't really "feel" like an ECAC school but frankly, their big name, even if not in hockey, should be a plus for the ECAC, feelings aside. Also, if Quinnipiac leaves, this is sort of a slam dunk in terms of geography.
Other Atlantic Hockey Schools/Alabama-Hunstville Geographically, probably not close enough. Sorry.
Penn/Columbia/MIT/Other Schools Without Hockey Teams Unless Terry Pagula accidentally leaves out the "State" when sending his giant check to the "Penn State Hockey Team," Penn's not getting a hockey team in time to be the 12th team. Same with anyone else that would fit the academic and/or geographic profile.
Callup from Division III If the ECAC is trying to get Tufts or UMass-Boston or any other school to make the jump (not to pick on those schools, they were just first to come to mind), the ECAC is probably in trouble.

Alright, looking at all that, geography aside I think RIT is probably the best choice for the league, but I like Holy Cross or UConn more personally. That said, I think there's another solution that everyone is missing and after thinking it through, it is the solution I'm most in favor of. What is it and why have I grown to like it? Find out after the jump.

Football: Ivy League Week 2 Preview

Editor's Note- Every week, we here at WHRB will take a look back at last week's results and this week's schedule. This week our weekly preview comes to you from our own Zak Kline, who through no fault of his own (and through a lot of fault of mine) cannot post on the blog yet. -BR

Ivy League Week 2
by Zak Kline

Friday, September 23, 2011

Brown (1-0) at Harvard (0-1)
Harvard opens its home schedule with a Friday night game. The Crimson are 4-0 under the lights since installing them in 2007. The Crimson’s season started with a sloppy 30-22 loss at Holy Cross last Saturday. The Brown Bears opened their 2011 season with a 21-20 win over Stony Brook. Stony Brook had a 55-yard FG attempt come up short in the last minute. Senior QB Kyle Newhall-Caballero hit on 22 of 37 passes for 292 yards and three touchdowns. For his efforts, he won the weekly New England Football Writers’ Gridiron Club of Greater Boston Gold Helmet Award, which decision was in turn nominated for the WHRB Longest Combined Name of Award Giver and Recipient Award.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Cornell (1-0) at Yale (1-0)
Yale started 2011 with a 37-27 win over Georgetown, as Patrick Witt threw for 280 yards and Mordecai Cargill ran for 92 yards on just 15 carries. Cornell also opened with a victory, beating Bucknell on the strength of 323 yards from QB Jeff Mathews and a stingy 1.8 yards/carry allowed on defense. But really, can anything be called a victory if you have to go home to Ithaca or New Haven afterwards?

Albany (0-2) at Columbia (0-1)
The Great Danes haven’t stopped anyone through two games, allowing almost 480 yards rushing and another 410 through the air. Sean Brackett, named to the All-Ivy first team last year, did not have his best day for the Lions against Fordham, completing fewer than 50% of his passes with two touchdowns and two picks. That line will probably improve this week.

Dartmouth (1-0) at Sacred Heart (0-2)
Sacred Heart’s offense has accumulated 13 points through two games. Their only touchdown came after a Marist muffed punt gave the Pioneers a red zone opportunity in Week 1. They’re not very good. Dartmouth, meanwhile, opened with a lopsided win over Colgate. All-Everything running back Nick Schwieger got his Ivy League MVP reelection campaign off to a good start, notching 175 yards on 8.8 per rush.

Bucknell (2-1) at Princeton (0-1)
The Bison get another crack at an Ivy opponent after being downed by Cornell. Bucknell’s most notable feature is that my computer’s spell-checker doesn’t recognize the word “Bucknell”. Princeton lost by twelve to Lehigh, letting Mountain Hawk QB Chris Lum throw for 384 yards and 4 TDs. The Tigers were able to grind out 180 yards rushing, which success they’ll need to duplicate if their secondary takes another day off.

Penn (0-1) at Villanova (0-3)
Villanova has long been mentioned as a possible football addition to the Big East, where most of the Wildcats’ other programs already play. The football Wildcats have been demonstrating they could be competitive in a “BCS Conference” by losing to Temple (by 35), Towson (by 21) and Monmouth (NJ) (by 11). The Quakers, meanwhile, started the year by getting slapped around by Lafayette, 37-12. Reigning co-Ivy first-team QB Billy Ragone had an awful day, finishing 8-for-23 with 91 yards and two interceptions. He will have to be better if Penn wants to beat Villanova for the first time in 100 years.

WHRB's 2011 Ivy League Football "Helmet Schedule"

To our dear readers,WHRB has created an Ivy League helmet schedule listing each week of the season and the corresponding Ivy League football matchups. Helmet images courtesy of nationalchamps.net. Enjoy!

2011 Ivy League Football Helmet Schedule Sheet1

Ivy/Patriot Challenge? Good Idea or Bad Idea?

On their blog today, the Cornell Basketball Blog suggested that it would "seem to make sense" for the Ivy League and Patriot League come to a formal agreement to have a challenge series between the two conferences, a la the ACC/Big 10 challenge, SEC-Big East invitational, and the now-concluded Big XII/Pac-10 Hardwood Series. At first glance, this seems like a perfect idea. Both conferences have a similar academic profile (e.g.- it was only recently that the Patriot League allowed athletic scholarships in non-football sports) and are similar geographically. Further, one only needs to look at football schedules to see a natural affinity between the two conferences. To take Harvard as an example, the Crimson football team will play all three non-conference games against the Patriot League this upcoming season, as they have for many years past. But, is that affinity actually problematic for such a series to take place on the hardwood?

The Ivies and Patriots already meet up a bit in basketball. Last year, Ivy League teams averaged 2.5 games against the Patriot League, with a range of 1 (Harvard and Cornell) to 5 (Dartmouth). If the two conferences agreed to a challenge series, would that place a burden on teams like Dartmouth (which actually had home and homes last season with two teams in the Patriot League, pretty rare for non-conference play) in terms of filling out their non-conference schedule? Looking at last year's ACC schedule, for example, there was only one ACC/Big 10 match-up outside of the challenge- a tournament game between Boston College and Wisconsin. It seems like it would be problematic for some of the Ivies if games against Patriot League opponents was held to one game since, as noted, the Patriot League makes a lot of sense as a non-conference opponent. Likewise, the challenge loses some of its appeal if teams can schedule non-conference games outside of the series. Perhaps one solution would be to follow Dartmouth's lead and make the series a home and home- this way, the Ivy League as a whole only "loses" 4 non-conference games.

(It should be noted that the original proposal that sparked this discussion was a Horizon/MAC challenge and the author at the Chicago Basketball Blog proposed his challenge because the two teams in those conferences meet up so much and in his proposal the Horizon League would "lose" 8 non-conference games, so maybe this isn't a problem.)

More analysis after the jump:

Women's Softball to Tucson

Update- Edited the game schedule as I was missing a game.
Second Update- Edited the game schedule to reflect Friday night's results

The path to Oklahoma City will start in Arizona for Harvard's softball squad after a dominate Ivy League performance. The Crimson found out the news around the same time that they officially closed the book on a successful Ancient Eight campaign. After sweeping their North Division opponents, Harvard defeated Cornell in two shutouts in Cambridge to claim the Ivy League championship. Individually, the Crimson swept the league awards, with Ellen Macadam becoming the first Crimson player since Tiffany Whitton in 2002 to earn Player of the Year honors, Rachel Brown earning Pitcher of the Year honors, and Kasey Lange earning Rookie of the Year. Shortstop Jane Alexander and outfielder Stephanie Regan joined the trio as First Team All-Ivy selections, with Laura Ricciardone, Allie Scott, Whitney Shaw, Ashley Heritage and Mari Zumbo earning Second Team All-Ivy accolades. Now the Crimson will head west to take on #8 Arizona, Texas Tech, and New Mexico State in the double-elimination regional round hosted by Arizona.

After the jump, we'll preview Harvard's regional opponents and see how the Crimson stack up. The schedule is at the end of the post.

Dartmouth's Cormier on Harvard grad Jeremy Lin

Editor's note- for whatever reason, it appears that the links to Twitter we used below only work if you are logged into a Twitter account. As I've never faced this problem before, I don't know how to fix it. Sorry. -BR

UPDATED on 1/31 at 11:31AM- Added a response from Dartmouth athletics to the end of the post.
UPDATED on 1/31 at 3:22PM- Added a response from WVBR (Cornell radio) 
UPDATED on 1/31 at 5:02PM- Added a response from the Golden State Warriors
 
If you follow our twitter feed, you may have seen an interesting conversation pop up yesterday. The Cornell Basketball Blog reported through their feed that Dartmouth head coach Paul Cormier said in an interview with WVBR (Cornell student radio) that Jeremy Lin was signed by the Golden State Warriors "just to sell tickets."
(Ed.- The Cornell Basketball Blog has asked us to further specify the fact that they were recalling the quote from memory and like us, did not have the actual quote in hand when they made this post.)
Now, accepted at face value, this seemed to us to be quite an inflammatory statement from Coach Cormier- why bring up (and more specifically knock) Lin's signing? Not only would it be a knock on a league rival (that Dartmouth was done facing for the season) because it was saying their one NBA player in recent memory did not deserve to be there but also a knock on the Warriors with their former scout criticizing the signing of a player he did not feel was NBA ready. Cormier came back to Dartmouth as their head coach- it would be interesting for him to burn bridges of that magnitude since he was the Warriors scout looking at Lin. Why would Cormier use WVBR to lash out at his former employer for that decision?

(So that we're clear, this is getting an expansive post dedicated to it because firstly, I'm unaware how much our Twitter followers got of the whole story, so I think it's important that it gets made clear and secondly because, if Cormier's quote matches the CBB's interpretation than this is a big story in regards to Harvard, Dartmouth, Cormier, Lin and even Golden State.) 

The thing was, we didn't accept it at face value. Journalism 101 says consider your source and all we had was the Cornell Basketball Blog's interpretation and no actual quote. Now the Cornell Basketball Blog covers the Ivy League very well- I can admit freely that they are a better source of recruiting news for say, Harvard, than we are, as an example. Still, it is the Cornell Basketball Blog and not the Ivy Basketball Blog, so while it presents news, it does not purport itself to be a news source- it is, at its heart, a place for Cornell basketball fans to discuss Cornell basketball. Further, they certainly have shown, at times, a bias against the Cantabs. (For example, their game recap of Harvard vs. Cornell tried to say that a secondary recruiting violation was the reason for Harvard's win, not the fact that Cornell is currently a 4-14 (0-4 Ivy) team that lost six talented players from an NCAA Sweet Sixteen run. Again, that's fine, even though it seems like some sour grapes, but it just helps contextualize that this interpretation came from a fan blog, not a news source.) Here are some further editorializing quotes from the CBB's twitter feed regarding the Cormier/Lin story.
"The Ivy League coaches never voted Jeremy Lin as MVP of the Ivy League... and he goes to the NBA? All about marketing... now it is a fact."
Not a knock on Lin, he IS a terrific player, but he is not at a level above Cornell's BIG 3 from a year ago-- Foote, Wittman and Dale.
These quotes, plus the lack of the actual Paul Cormier quote, made us wonder: was the CBB projecting an interpretation of something Paul Cormier said to try to make sense of the (to them) illogical fact of the universe that Jeremy Lin received an NBA contract and is currently in the D-League while Foote plies his trade in Spain (Ed.- had Israel here before but while under contract to Maccabi Tel Aviv, he's on loan to a Tier Two Spanish team), Dale is in Germany and Wittman is getting a mutual release from a second tier Italian League? (I'd like to also note, the CBB told us Cormier mentioned Lin without prompting. As you'll see, Lin is not mentioned by name in the prompt. Cormier's time scouting for Golden State at the Harvard-Cornell game, however, is- CBB presented it as if Cormier brought up Lin completely out of the blue when, in context, it sort of makes sense to mention Lin.)

Admittedly, and to their credit, the CBB did walk back from the language of "just to sell tickets" to say it was an influence. Well, that's a very different statement. To think fan interest and ticket sales is not a factor in pro contracts is naive but it is a slight on a player to say he is "just" there to sell tickets, implying he does not have the talent to justify a contract in the league. More importantly, the difference in the language has NBA implications as well. How would you feel as a Golden State Warrior fan if you found out, from a former employee, that the front office signed a player in order to get you to buy tickets even though they did not think he was good enough? And how would you feel if, after falling for this plot, the GM demoted Lin to the D-League insuring you have to fly to Reno in order to see him? (It should be noted, I haven't seen anyone that covers Golden State buzzing around this quote. Seems to me a former scout saying his team signed a guy that they didn't see fitting in the NBA would be big news- unless that was never actually the implication.)

Further credit to the CBB, they were able to get the audio of the clip up on Youtube (WVBR did not respond to our request for the audio or a chance to speak with Barry Leonard, the broadcaster that conducted the interview.)  We present that to you now and ask what do you think? After the jump, we'll transcribe the interview and give our final thoughts.

Thoughts from the Booth: Questions Abound After Deflating Loss at Brown

by Scott Reed

The Harvard Crimson took a step back Saturday night in Providence, Rhode Island, losing 29-14 in disappointing fashion to a Brown team that, while talented, was predicted to finish behind Harvard in the preseason. The game was dominated by Brown from the outset yet at the same time was maddeningly within reach, as Crimson mistakes in the second half halted any semblance of a comeback. After the jump, we look at some of the causes in Harvard's poor performance.

2010 Ivy League Football Preview: Princeton

Editor's Note: This is a series that will be running in the lead-off to the start of the Ivy League football season. Members of the WHRB staff are writing up previews of each team, looking at the positives and negatives for all of the teams, and giving an overall impression if where the team was picked in the Ivy League football media day was correct. Our series last looked at Dartmouth; today, we take a look at the Princeton Tigers.

 

Princeton Football Preview:

by James Yoon

Princeton is looking to surprise teams in the Ivy League after a strong finish to last season. After starting 1-5, Princeton capped the season with a 3-1 record and look to continue that momentum into this year. However, many questions surround this young and inexperienced team. We'll take a look at some of those questions after the jump.

2010 Ivy League Football Preview: Dartmouth

Editor's Note: This is a series that will be running in the lead-off to the start of the Ivy League football season. Members of the WHRB staff are writing up previews of each team, looking at the positives and negatives for all of the teams, and giving an overall impression if where the team was picked in the Ivy League football media day was correct. Our series started yesterday with Cornell, and continues today with the team picked to finish 7th in the Ivy League, Dartmouth.


Dartmouth Football Preview:
by Kara Hollis

The Big Green came in the polls this preseason as 7^th in the Ancient Eight.  Head coach Buddy Teevens respectfully disagreed with the ranking, stating that voters were clearly missing the bigger picture. 

So what is in the big picture that everyone seems to be missing?  There are a number of things, but the three most important are coaching, experience, and offense. We'll take a look at those three keys after the jump.

2010 Ivy League Football Preview: Cornell

Editor's Note: This is a series that will be running in the lead-off to the start of the Ivy League football season. Members of the WHRB staff are writing up previews of each team, looking at the positives and negatives for all of the teams, and giving an overall impression if where the team was picked in the Ivy League football media day was correct. Our series starts today with the team picked to finish last in the Ivy League at football media day, Cornell.

Cornell Football Preview:
by Brendan Roche


The Cornell Big Red had their worst season since 2003, going 2-8 overall, and 1-6 in the Ivy League, and is everyone’s favorite to bring up the rear of the Ancient Eight once again. Below the jump, I take a look at their new coach, their offense and defense, and whether or not the media was right to pick them for last.

Women's Lacrosse: Inaugural Ivy Tournament Field Set

2010 will mark the first time that the Ivy League will host a tournament to determine its automatic bid to the NCAA Championships for women's lacrosse. After today's last slate of games, that field is now set.

# 1 Pennsylvania (7-0 Ivy) will host the tournament, where they will face local rivals #4 Princeton (4-3 Ivy) in the opening round.

# 2 Dartmouth (5-2 Ivy) will face # 3 Cornell (4-3 Ivy).

The winners will advance to play for the NCAA automatic bid.

The first round is Friday, April 30th. Dartmouth and Cornell will square off at 4 p.m. and Pennsylvania and Princeton will do likewise at 7 p.m.

The Championship Game will be played Sunday, May 2nd at 12:30 p.m.

Men's Lacrosse: Harvard's Ivy League Playoff Chances

As detailed today on Sportstalk, Harvard's first win over Princeton since 1990 kept the Crimson alive in the Ivy League playoff race. Looking over this article on Inside Lacrosse, provided by Princeton Athletics, we've compiled the list of what needs to happen for Harvard to get in to the playoffs. The article says Harvard needs a win and some help...although all of the scenarios they go on to list with a Harvard win have the Crimson in the top four. So as far as we can tell, win and the Crimson are in. Lose at Yale, and the season is over.

We look at what the playoffs will look like after the jump.

MBB: Ivy League and the Coaching Carousel

A week ago, when news of the national search for the Boston College head coaching position first broke, there was a strong possibility that the Ivy League would be involved in the proceedings. Now that Boston College has named a new head coach, Cornell's Steve Donahue, that has certainly come to pass. Now the three-time defending champion Big Red begin their own search for a new head basketball coach. Boston College, with Donahue now signed, also continues to shake up the Ivy League, as Donahue is assembling a staff from across the Ancient Eight. Donahue brings with him from Cornell an assistant coach, Nat Graham, and an assistant coach from Pennsylvania, John Gallagher. The biggest move Donahue made, from an Ivy standpoint, was the hiring of Columbia head coach Joe Jones, to be an assistant at Boston College. This means there are now three head coaching vacancies in the Ivy League, Cornell, Columbia, and Dartmouth. Add in Penn, and the Ivy League next year will have four teams with a head coach that was not the head coach of the program at the beginning of the 09-10 season. It'll be interesting to see if the shuffle continues in the league, as we may see some current Ivy assistants moving to become head coaches at some of these vacancies.

We'll be keeping tabs on these three searches, mostly on Twitter, but we'll also take a look here on the blog as these coaching vacancies are filled.

Reactions to Harvard's Loss against UConn

Not really being a basketball guy, I don't have a lot of meaningful things to say about yesterday's basketball game against UConn (besides the obvious that Jeremy Lin is a good basketball player and the Crimson played well against a talented opponent), but I am good with Google and spare time, so I turn it over to the professionals for their reactions, be it from columns or from Twitter, after the jump...

(photo by Steve Slade of Jeremy Lin's block courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications and GoCrimson.com)

... Fair Harvard Holds Sway

I'll leave THE GAME to the football guys to actually describe once they recover from an amazing broadcast, but just wanted to put up this photo of the great crowd of Crimson Crazies that was out at the Yale Bowl to watch Harvard's 14-10 win over the hated Yale Bulldogs in the 126th playing of THE GAME, courtesy of the Harvard Department of Atheltics and GoCrimson.com.

For We Know That O'er Old Eli...

Today's Video: Harvard Beats Yale 29-29

Well, it's the end of the Ivy League football season, and this is it. It's the 126th playing of "THE GAME," one of the oldest rivalries in college football. There are plenty of storied traditions:

1875: Both teams met on the field for the first time, although the game was not football, but a rugby/soccer mix. Harvard grabbed 4 goals and 4 tries, while shutting the Elis out, to claim first blood.

1905: In what could be described as the first Game of the Century, undefeated Harvard and Yale clashed in what would be an 8-0 Yale victory. No touchdowns were scored. That edition of THE GAME was described as such: "It was the most magnificent sight ... every lineman's face was dripping with blood."

1916: Yale coach T.A.D. Jones tells the Elis “Gentlemen, you are now going to play football against Harvard. Never again in your whole life will you do anything so important," inspiring them to a 6-3 victory at the Yale Bowl.

1968: THE GAME to end all games. "Never in my lifetime will I ever see another ending like that one. It just doesn't happen." - John Yovicsin. Yale enters Cambridge on a 16 game winning streak, with a future NFL star at running back and Brian Dowling, who inspired a character in Doonesbury, at QB. The Crimson are down 16 in the waning minutes, but with 42 seconds left, the Crimson trailed 29-21. With no time remaining, Harvard would then make it 29-27 and need to go for two. And they got it, earning a share of the Ivy League title.

1983: THE GAME had its 100th playing. Much like the first game, it was Harvard that would claim the win 16-7 at the Yale Bowl.

2005: After 122 meetings, Harvard-Yale finally had its first overtime game. And the overtime game did not disappoint. First though, it took an effort just to get to OT, as the Crimson trailed 21-3. But Harvard rallied, getting the game to 24-24. After the 1st OT, the score had not changed. Nor did it in the second. The sun was setting over New Haven, and the possibility that a tie would need to be called on account of darkness seemed possible in the light-less Yale Bowl. But then, Clifton Dawson would run from 2 yards out to give the Crimson the improbable and historic win.

2009: What lays in store for these two teams as they meet for the 126th time? Let's start with where they were last week.
Harvard (6-3, 5-1) was at home for Senior Day in Cambridge, facing fellow Ivy League leader Penn in a showdown for the Ivy League title during the pouring rain. Penn jumped out to a 17-0 lead. The Crimson cut into the deficit to make it 17-7, but they were battling the elements, the clock, and the stiff Penn defense, and a goal line stand by the Quakers left the Johnnies with a bitter taste in their mouth and little chance at an Ivy League title.
Yale (4-5, 2-4) will be looking to finish the year at .500, after being dropped last week on the road against Princeton. Princeton led 21-3 at one point, but Yale made a game out of it, falling 24-17. The Elis gave up 383 yards on the day, including 247 rushing yards, but their offense also put up 402 yards on the day.

Pregame coverage of the 126th Playing of THE GAME will begin at a special time, 10:45 AM. Here are some of the highlights:
- Baltimore Raven center, Pro-Bowler, and Harvard Crimson alum Matt Birk will be on the show to talk about Harvard-Yale and his current NFL career.
- Former writer of the Harvard Crimson and current writer for Sports Illustrated, Pablo Torre, joined us to chat as well.
- Tim Murphy, as always, talked with us a few minutes about Harvard going into THE GAME.
- We look at the five greatest Crimson victories in THE GAME, and talk with the players that made them special, along with guest analysis with John Powers of the Boston Globe.
- Some other Harvard athletes show their support for the Crimson on Harvard-Yale weekend as two Crimson hockey players, no strangers to the radio booth, stopped by to talk with Kicker Patrick Long, the host of our football halftime show, in a special segment we're calling "Kicking It Top Shelf".
- Of course, as always, James Yoon and Charlie Hobbs will give us the inside scoop on Harvard-Yale, and make their predictions for THE GAME.
- A special thanks to the seniors of the Harvard Crimson football team, who lent us their time and voices for a very special presentation which will bring us to our broadcast, where Alasdair Wilkins, Kara Hollis, and Scott Reed will have the call live from the Yale Bowl at 12 PM.
- And a second special thanks to the entirety of the WHRB Sports department, Alasdair Wilkins, Tom Brennan, Kara Hollis, James Yoon, Scott Reed, Brendan Roche, Tom McCarthy, Raafi Alidina, and Charlie Hobbs, who all put a ton of work into making this broadcast the best broadcast of THE GAME ever. So don't miss a minute, beginning with the pregame at 10:45 AM and kickoff at 12 PM on 95.3 FM WHRB, and streaming online at WHRB.org.

After the jump, we'll talk about the rest of the action in the final week of Ancient Eight play.