Killer P?s Up Next for Harvard

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Exams are over and the Ivy League has started. After nearly three weeks out of action, the Harvard men?s basketball team (6-12, 1-1 Ivy) is ready to return to the court.

While the season-opening split with Dartmouth seems so long ago, the Crimson will take its 1-1 Ancient Eight record to Penn (5-12) and Princeton (3-12) this weekend, looking to end a long drought against the two perennial Ivy powerhouses.

Harvard will enter The Palestra at Penn tonight seeking its first victory there since 1991 and will travel to Princeton?s Jadwin Gymnasium tomorrow night with an even longer losing streak, dating back to 1989. The last time the Crimson swept the trip was in 1985.

Historically, the two squads have ruled the Ivies: no other team has won the League outright since 1988. But, for the first time in years, both of the ?Killer P?s? look vulnerable?even beatable.

?Penn and Princeton is the famously tough weekend,? junior guard Andrew Pusar said. ?But we?re trying not so much to concentrate on the records, or the other factors in the environment.?

The Quakers, coming off three straight Ivy League championships, are poised for a big drop-off this season, having lost last year?s star seniors in two-time Ivy League Player of the Year Ibrahim Jaaber and All-Ivy forward Mark Zoller.

In their absence, Penn has turned to freshman Tyler Bernardini, a dangerous three-point shooter who is leading the Quakers at 12.9 points per game.

Tonight?s matchup will be the Ivy opener for Penn, who lost their final three non-conference games.

?We just want to be hard-nosed and tough,? Pusar said. ?[The Palestra] is a fun place to play. It?s got a lot of history. We just want to take that energy and use it to become an extremely competitive team. We want to outwork them, outfight them.?

On the other hand, the Tigers finished dead last in the Ivy League last season at just 2-12. One of those two victories came against Harvard in a double-overtime 74-68 thriller at Princeton in which guard Drew Housman notched a career-high 33 points.

That loss left the Crimson with a bitter taste in its mouth, eagerly anticipating the return trip to Jadwin.

?We certainly want to get back at them,? Pusar said. ?It was a tough one last year. We just really want to harp on being physical, being tough, and taking them out of what they are trying to do.?

A year later, the Tigers are still struggling. Princeton finally snapped a 12-game losing streak with a victory last Sunday?the Tigers? first win since Nov. 14.

Home court will play a big factor tomorrow night. Not only does Princeton typically defend its home court well?all of the Tigers? victories this season have come at home?but the Crimson is also just 1-10 away from Lavietes Pavilion this season.

?That [away record] certainly says that we need to start cranking down and pulling these out,? Pusar said. ?We?ve been in a lot of close games and we just haven?t been able to pull it out. We have to get a little bit gritty, get a little bit more fire so that these teams can?t pull away at the end and we can take a few away from them.?

Tomorrow?s contest will also be nationally televised on ESPNU?Harvard?s second appearance this season on the network. In the first, the Crimson upset Michigan in front of a raucous home crowd, 60-51.

?I don?t think it changes our preparation [to play on ESPNU]. I think we?re looking forward to it,? Pusar said. ?It?s kind of fun when the cameras come on and the gym is packed, and we?re going to take that energy and focus it into a more determined effort on the court.?

Two victories this weekend would not only end the stigma that follows the Crimson and this trip, but it could give the team the confidence it needs to become major players early in the Ivy League race.

In order to do so, the Crimson will look for solid performances from big men Evan Harris and Brad Unger. With sophomore Pat Magnarelli still nursing a knee injury suffered against Dartmouth, others will have to step up to fill his shoes.

?We?re just trying to focus on what we need to do to be the best team we can be,? Pusar said. ?What that includes is being tough defensively, hitting the boards hard, and being quicker to loose balls. If we can do those three things well, we feel that we can be competitive with anyone.?

 

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Ivy Hoops Preview | Ivy foes set to meet 'Maker



Less than a month into his first season with Harvard, coach Tommy Amaker was feeling good.

After a 62-51 win over Michigan on Dec. 1, Amaker had not only stuck it to his former team, he had also pulled the Crimson's record up to .500 in the tough early going of the non-conference season.

It looked as if Harvard, which hasn't broken the seven-win barrier in Ivy play since 1997, was on the upswing.

But the Crimson didn't win another game in 2007, losing seven in a row and dispelling the notion that a big-time coach would immediately lead to big-time results.

Harvard fired Frank Sullivan, its coach of 16 years, after a 5-9 Ivy campaign in 2006-07, and was looking to shake things up in what has been a stagnant program.

With Amaker came Cem Dinc, a 6-foot-11 Turkish forward who was born in Germany and has had a tumultuous journey through the American basketball scene.

After a year at Indiana, a declaration for the NBA draft and a stint at a community college, Dinc came to Cambridge, Mass. The Harvard basketball community had high hopes for him.

But in his debut season, he hasn't logged a minute on the court.

With Dinc on the bench and 7-foot center Brian Cusworth graduated, the Crimson have looked to their backcourt to set the tone.

Sophomore Jeremy Lin leads the team in scoring (13.2 points per game) and assists (3.4), and junior Drew Housman is not far behind in either category.

While sophomore forward Pat Magnarelli hasn't put up dazzling numbers, he has held together the Harvard frontcourt in Cusworth's absence. After missing the entirety of the conference schedule last year, he has put up 10.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game so far this season.

"We tried to recruit him at Brown, we thought he was a very good player," Penn coach Glen Miller said of the 6-foot-7 Magnarelli. "He's had a terrific year to this point, he's probably one of the better front-court players in the league."

Although the Crimson were picked to finish sixth in the league and lost one of two meetings to Dartmouth, they might ruffle a few feathers during the upcoming conference slate.

"I think they're capable of beating any team in our league on any given night," Miller said.

That may be, but for Amaker, one thing is becoming clear.

He's not in the Big Ten anymore.

 

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Ivy Hoops Preview | Trying to put a Big Red in front of perennial champs


Cornell is not used to being in this position. In fact, no one is besides Penn and Princeton.

The Big Red (10-5, 2-0 Ivy) were picked to win the Ivy League by media members before the season began, and so far, their play has pretty much lived up to the hype. They cleared their first hurdle to the title by sweeping the two-game series with Columbia.

Steve Donahue's team has been most impressive on offense, where it leads the Ivy League in field goal percentage (.482), three-point percentage (.413) and scoring margin (+5.9). The Big Red have averaged 76.9 points per game - more than six points better than any other Ancient Eight team.

Cornell's success on offense begins and ends with its perimeter play, where coming into the season it boasted arguably the best group of guards in the league. Louis Dale acts as the team's floor general, but he's also a scoring option. The All-Ivy point guard leads the league with just under five assists per game and is second on the team in scoring average, at 13.3.

The group took a big hit when sixth-man Collin Robinson left the team shortly before its first win over Columbia. The University of Southern California transfer had been providing a huge boost off the bench, averaging over ten points and four assists.

Robinson's departure means starting guard Adam Gore may have to pick up some of the scoring slack. The junior has played fairly well after missing almost all of last season with a knee injury, but he has not lived up to the expectations that came with being named the 2006 Ivy Rookie of the year.

The most dangerous offensive weapon is not a guard, though he certainly plays like one. 6-foot-6 forward Ryan Wittman, thanks to a blistering .478 clip from three-point range, leads the team in scoring at 14.3 ppg.

Although the Big Red have looked superior offensively to their Ivy League competitors, don't anoint them champions just yet. They still have serious question marks on defense and in the interior.

Cornell is in the middle of the pack in points allowed and is second to last in rebounding margin at -3.1 per game. No player on the roster averages five rebounds or more.

The Big Red have also yet to establish a legitimate low-post scoring presence, despite the improved play of sophomore forward Alex Tyler.

With a team that depends on perimeter play to win, it is often hit or miss. If their long jumpers aren't going down, the Big Red are beatable. But if Wittman and Dale are dialed in, bringing an Ivy League title back to Ithaca - for just the second time - seems to be a strong possibility.

 

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Ivy Hoops Preview | Last year's runner-up, Yale has Madness on its mind

Season-opening split with Brown kicked off Ivy slate for Bulldogs' ballers




This may be the year for Yale to polish off those dancing shoes.

While they may be horribly out-of-style by now (the last time the team went to the NCAA tournament was 1962), with four seniors returning and a seemingly wide-open Ivy League, the question is, why not Yale?

Led by captain and first-team All-Ivy guard Eric Flato, the Bulldogs have one of the more experienced teams in the Ancient Eight.

"Having four seniors helps a lot," Flato said. "Especially with what we went through last year, now we'll have a little maturity during road games."

Last year the Bulldogs surprised everyone, even giving Penn its only league loss. In fact, before a few late-season missteps doomed their run, the Bulldogs were neck and neck with the Quakers for the Ivy title.

In the end, Yale finished second in the league, with a record of 10-4.

"We're certainly good enough to be successful again this year," coach James Jones said, "especially with the parity in the league."

He's right about that, considering that along with Yale, Penn, Cornell and Brown are all being given chances by pundits.

But for the Bulldogs (7-9, 1-1 Ivy) to do well and break away from the pack, they must keep up their defensive intensity, something lacking in their loss at Brown last weekend.

"Last year we were a better defensive team," Jones said.

"We were great at getting stops," he added. "If we're going to win we have to go back to old-fashioned bearing down defensively. We did a great job in the first game with Brown, but not in the second."

That kind of inconsistency has plagued Yale this season, and Jones hopes that the team will find its rhythm given the recent loss to Brown.

In addition to Flato - who leads the team with 13.8 points per game - the Bulldogs are led offensively by junior Ross Morin (10.3 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game) and senior Caleb Holmes (10.2 points per game and 3.5 boards).

Yale is also a deep team, as nine players average double-digit minutes.

But when it comes down to it, the Bulldogs must still take care of league favorite Cornell, and defending champ Penn if they want to go to the NCAA Tournament.

"Cornell is 2-0 [in the league], so we don't want to get further behind them," Jones said. "It's been the Penn matchup the last three years that's been the key matchup. So we've certainly been ready to play for that."

Even though Penn's been at the top of the league recently, Yale has consistently competed with the Quakers, even winning three of the last four home games against Penn.

So while the Bulldogs seemingly have the Quakers' number in the John J. Lee Amphiteatre at Payne Whitney Gymnasium, they still have to beat everyone else if they want to make it to the NCAAs.

"My team has always been good enough to compete with anyone in the league," Jones said.

"But there comes a time where you have to be good enough to beat everybody."

And with Yale's situation this year, maybe the time is now, and the place is New Haven, Conn.

 

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As Buzzwords Abound, Light Blue in Need of Consistent Play


There are a lot of buzzwords floating around Columbia basketball these days. They need to be more aggressive. They need to hustle. They need to find some consistency. The formula seems to be simple. Increase the effort and aggressiveness, and expect a more consistent nightly performance.

?We played very passively at both ends of the court,? head coach Joe Jones said. ?Cornell was very aggressive on both sides of the ball and we were very passive on both sides of the ball. I don?t know how to explain it, to be honest. I?ve got to make sure my team is ready to play.?

For much of the first half, if Columbia had a plan on offense, it seemed to be top secret. On most possessions, Brett Loscalzo would bring the ball to the three-point arc and then pass it to another player on the perimeter. There were no cuts inside, no high screens to free up shooters, and few solid post-entry passes. Toward the end of the shot clock, one of the four outside shooters on the floor would take a contested three. Relying too much on their outside shots, the Light Blue have to figure a way to jump-start their offense.

Ben Nwachukwu is one of the more naturally-gifted post players in the Ivy League. On his best nights, he?s active on the glass and creative enough to find opportunities in the post. On his worst, he?s quickly rendered ineffective and soon benched. He responds poorly to double teams, lacking the soft hands to receive well in the post. If he fumbles the entry pass, he?s soon overwhelmed by defenders and runs out of options. The senior center is not a particularly strong passer out of the post, nor does he make quick decisions.

This would not be such a problem, except that the entire Columbia offense of late has been predicated on outside shooting. The guards are passive, as Jones indicated, refusing to attack a small Cornell frontcourt. Slashing guards would also free up the shooters on the outside in a way that Nwachukwu?s presence has been unable to. After an injury to senior Justin Armstrong, Mack Montgomery is Columbia?s best option. His willingness to settle for jumpers instead of entering the lane takes away a valuable dimension of Columbia?s offense. After scoring 16 points in the opener against the Big Red, Montgomery went 0-3 without a single point.

Assuming Nwachukwu?s problems don?t solve themselves, one solution is to play John Baumann in the low post in a shorter lineup. Though it may eliminate some of his raw scoring output, it would improve the team?s overall ball-handling and allow for better movement. Another option would be to start using him in screen-and-roll situations to force mismatches underneath the basket. Either way, Columbia needs to find a way to use its best player more creatively.

It isn?t as simple as reconfiguring plays, however. Cornell exposed a problem that has plagued Columbia all season. The team seemed to play without energy or urgency, a problem that Jones himself acknowledged. The problem extended beyond offense?both Nwachukwu and Baumann were unable to challenge Cornell?s slashing guards in the paint. This prompted Jones to give freshman Asenso Ampim unprecedented minutes. Age and experience should theoretically translate into consistent effort, but so far it doesn?t seem as though Columbia properly understands the importance of every game.

Perhaps it is the weight of a disappointing season or the pressure of a final season for most of their starters. But such pressure generally leads to increased effort, perhaps too much energy, and for Columbia, apathy has been a more apt description.

 

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The Revival of a Program


In the realm of men?s sports across the nation, two sports reign supreme in terms of coverage, attendance and interest: football and basketball.

At Dartmouth, however, recent years have been marked by disappointing performances in both sports. Over the past four years, the football team has compiled a record of 8-32, a .200 win percentage. Over this stretch, the men?s basketball team has a record of 29-80 and a marginally better win percentage of .266.

Coinciding with these abysmal records has been the relegation of Dartmouth?s football program to little more than nationwide jokes, while Ivy League men?s basketball has become terribly neglected. As much as I love these two sports, being from rural Indiana where both sports hold spots in all Hoosier hearts, it?s been hard to get myself to attend games. And with men?s hockey struggling this year, teams to root for have been noticeably lacking.

But this year?s men?s basketball team has fostered in me an excitement for Dartmouth athletics for the first time.

After stumbling out of the gate, the Big Green squad has hit its stride going into the bulk of Ivy League competition, winning three in a row to wrap up the non-conference schedule and even its record at 8-8, 5-1 at home.

At this same point last year, Dartmouth had little hope of competing in the Ivy League conference, especially factoring in all the injuries it had suffered. The team had no semblance of a home-court advantage, losing three of its first five Ivy home games. The team was mostly young and relatively inexperienced, a problem that was exacerbated by injuries. There was no consistent line-up capable of keeping pace with the upper-echelon Ivy schools. Most glaring was the Big Green?s utter inability to win on the road, with its only Ivy League road victory coming at lowly Princeton, the only team to finish behind Dartmouth in the league.

The situation could not be more different now. Entering a brutal four-game road trip that starts Friday, Feb. 1, Dartmouth has more confidence than ever. The Big Green is healthy, and it has won five of six on its home court. It has strong senior leadership in co-captains Johnathan Ball ?08 and Mike Giovacchini ?08, and juniors DeVon Mosley ?09 and Alex Barnett ?09 have matured into a dynamic scoring duo. So far this season, the team has proved it can both dominate games from start to finish and bounce back from adversity. Had Dartmouth played like this to begin the season, its record could have been even better.

But no matter the past. This Big Green team has its eye on greater things, most importantly an Ivy League Championship and its first NCAA Tournament berth since 1959. Several current players on the team have parents that weren?t even alive back in 1959.

Several players were optimistic about the Big Green?s chances of capturing its first title since the Eisenhower administration.

?I do believe this is our best chance to win the Ivies,? Ball said.

?We have a great chance at winning the conference,? Mosley added. ?I?ve never felt better at the beginning of conference play.

Assistant coach Shay Berry echoed his players optimism.

?Our team believes that in the end, we can be contenders for the championship,? he said.

This is not merely lip-service. Head coach Terry Dunn sees something special happening with his team, reportedly calling a recent road come-from-behind victory a ?defining moment? for the team and basketball program as a whole.

The statistical differences alone between this year?s team and last year?s are telling.

One year ago, Dartmouth finished seventh in the league competition in scoring offense, averaging just 58.9 points-per-game; this year, the Big Green is averaging 64.5. Dartmouth?s scoring defense ranked sixth in the league last year, giving up 67.3 points per game; this year, the Big Green has the fourth best defense and is consistently improving, allowing just 59 points-per-game over the last three contests. Dartmouth is second in rebounding this year after finishing sixth last year. The Big Green is shooting better?42.3 percent from the field?and defending better as well, as it is currently the second best team in the Ivy League in its turnover-margin, second in blocked shots and fourth in steals. Dartmouth also has the Ivy League?s leading scorer and rebounder in Barnett, averaging an impressive 16.3 points and seven rebounds a game.

Yet it is the intangible characteristics of this year?s team that seem to have led to such a turnaround.

First of all, the senior leadership of co-captains Ball and Giovacchini is priceless.

?I?ve learned that this group is different in that it has an incredible amount of resilience, and it all starts with having guys who have persevered, like our captains,? Dunn said.

This leadership has translated into something that everyone seems to be talking about in relation to this team: pride.

?[This year] we have a great sense of pride,? Mosley said.

Ball added, ?[Coach Dunn] told us he was proud of us.?

This pride has manifested itself on the floor these past couple weeks. First, Dartmouth rebounded from a disastrous loss at Harvard to dominate the Crimson at home just a week later. Then the Big Green overcame a double-digit deficit in the final minutes of play at the hostile home of the Universit of New Hampshire Wildcats to win a thriller in overtime. Next, Dartmouth outclassed Maryland-Eastern Shore at home, playing with an intensity on both ends of the floor that the frustrated Hawks simply could not match. In each performance, the Big Green hustled for every loose ball, hit the floor whenever there was a scramble, helped each other out on defense and played with a confidence that proved contagious.

The fans are starting to become just as proud of their new Dartmouth team as the players and coaches are.

?I?m quite impressed with our basketball team this year,? fan Kevin Pellecchia ?09 said. ?I would be proud to place Dartmouth into the second round of my NCAA tournament bracket, given the opportunity.?

All the pieces seem to be in place for a run at the Ivy League Championship. Firstly, the personnel is capable.

?We have enough weapons where if I don?t score, I know others are going to step up,? Ball said. ?We have the weapons to step up and win games.?

Barnett and Mosley have established themselves as potent scoring threats. Ball provides arguably the most versatile play, balancing assists, points, and rebounds (4th in the Ivy League) day in and day out. Guards Marlon Sanders ?09, Giovacchini, and Ronnie Dixon ?11 provide stability at the point. Big men John Marciano ?11, Elgin Fitzgerald ?10, and Kurt Graeber ?09 are all capable of establishing solid post presences against any competition. Other players such as Robby Pride ?10, Brandon Ware ?10, and Clive Weeden ?11 are able to contribute productive minutes off the bench.

Secondly, the Ivy League has seen parity spread through the ranks. No one has established itself as the team to beat in the Ancient Eight. Cornell, picked by many pundits to win the conference, has started the season with the best record, albeit only posting a mark of 9-5 overall. With Brown posting a record of 8-7, Dartmouth is third-best with its 8-8 mark. While Cornell may still be the favorite, it is by no means a shoo-in. Any team in the Ivy League is capable of beating any other team on any given night. Plus, with the Big Green?s sky-high confidence going into the bulk of conference play, it is easy to see why there is reason to believe that this is Dartmouth?s year to return to the NCAA Tournament with an Ivy League Championship for the first time in almost 50 years.

Yet, a paradox exists: despite the Big Green men?s basketball team having its largest expectations in decades, despite all its momentum, senior leadership, statistical advantages and intense on-court play, Dartmouth ranks dead last in overall season attendance amongst the Ivy League.

This is shameful.

Leede Arena is never packed, and while the fans that do attend the games are highly engaged and the players are able to feed off their intensity, the campus as a whole has yet to recognize just how skilled the current Big Green team is, just how much potential this season holds.

The importance of having fans in the seats at home games is obvious to all.

?[Fans] help us establish the type of atmosphere we need to have heading into the Ivy League [season],? Dunn said.

Dartmouth superfan Josh Drake ?08 agrees.

?I think more people should support men?s basketball, for sure, especially this year with a streaky men?s hockey team,? Drake said. ?A strong home crowd lifts the level of [Dartmouth?s] play, and the right combination of this team coming together and the student body getting behind them could see some special things happen with this team.?

Ball believes the crowd has the ability to swing a game in the Big Green?s favor.

?I can say now that our crowd can have the potential to be a sixth man for us on the floor,? Ball said.

Just imagine the ?potential? if the campus got energized about this year?s basketball team, filling the stands and helping to ensure that Dartmouth holds its home court, which is of utmost importance if the Big Green is to make a run at the championship.

Furthermore, the lack of due campus respect for this Dartmouth squad mirrors the national lack of attention to Dartmouth and Ivy League basketball in general.

In Vegas, oddsmakers have predicted the Big Green to lose all but one game this year so far. Gary Parrish, a college basketball writer for cbssportsline.com, projected that Cornell would get the Ivy League tournament bid, but instead of offering at least marginal analysis in support of his claim, Parrish simply commented that Cornell opened up Ivy League play with a win over Columbia. Even the college basketball pundits haven?t been able to pick a conference champion with certainty or credible rationale

In 2K Sports? College Hoops NCAA 2K8, a popular college basketball video game, the ratings for each Ivy League team show a complete lack of any sort of meaningful research. In contrast, the ratings seem completely arbitrary. Dartmouth is 7th amongst Ivy League teams with an overall rating of 67. Any superficial analysis of team strength would demonstrate that the Big Green is surely not 7th best in the league. While Brown, one of the better teams in this year?s conference, has an overall rating of 69, so does Penn, a team that has posted an abysmal 5-11 record to-date. According to 2K Sports, Columbia and Yale are the teams to beat, yet they have posted mere 7-9 and 7-8 records, respectively.

But at least our basketball team is an available option on college basketball video games. In football games, although one can play as Dartmouth, there is no research done on the team as the number of the players are all wrong. Our baseball team, for example, is not even a playing option for recent EA Sports baseball games. And college hockey, of course, does not attract enough nationwide interest for a video game.

While I?ll confess that analyzing video game ratings, betting odds, and amateur national sports writers may seem like odd ways of proving a point, it is difficult to deny the fact that the Ivy League, and Dartmouth basketball more specifically, simply does not garner the respect nationally that seems to deserve this season.

Dartmouth has played some big-name schools in recent years. This year, the Big Green faced the University of Massachusetts, a reputable college basketball program that has had plenty of success on the national level. Last year, Dartmouth hung with then-top 10 ranked Boston College, keeping the score within 10 points for most of the game, despite playing on BC?s home court. Two years ago, the Big Green went up against Kansas, ranked in the top 10 at the time.

Comparatively, Can you imagine the Dartmouth football team playing LSU?

The moral here is that the Big Green men?s basketball team has competed with big-name schools.

Now, as the program is fresh coming off its ?defining moment,? the team should be receiving the campus-wide respect and support that it deserves. Even with the improved talent and leadership on this year?s squad, Dartmouth will need all the support it can get if it is to make history and win an Ivy League Championship.

To qualify for the NCAA tournament in March, the Big Green must to finish its season with the best record against Ivy competition, as there is no post-season Ivy League tournament to crown a champion.

Dartmouth?s quest resumes Friday, Feb. 1 at Princeton, the start of an integral four-game road trip. Look for the Big Green to make use of its confidence in winning on the road to steal a couple away wins during the stretch to set itself up into a favorable Ivy position heading into the extensive home-court stretch of their schedule.

 

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Finley has a handle on Princeton's Ivy hopes

PRINCETON TOWNSHIP -- If Princeton center Zach Finley didn't get to the foul line, Manhattan basketball coach Barry Rohrssen said he might believe the sophomore is ambidextrous.

It's hard to tell with the way Finley uses both hands with the ball.






A center in the famed Princeton offense often can be found around the foul line looking for backdoor cutters, but this season the Tigers have realized it's best to dump the ball inside to the 6-foot-9, 230-pound Finley and let him go to work.

Finley will try to continue his strong season this weekend at Jad win Gym when Princeton (3-12) opens its Ivy League schedule against Dartmouth (7-8, 1-1) at 7:30 tonight and then against Harvard (6-12, 1-1) at 6 tomorrow night, an ESPNU telecast.

The Tigers are trying to rise up from their first last-place finish in Ivy League history last season.

"I think this is a new team, a new situation, a total different schedule," said Finley, who is averaging 11.1 points and 5.7 rebounds and has 18 blocked shots -- all team highs. "I don't think what happened last year is going to have any effect on us. We're just trying to win games in the league.

"It's a tough schedule, especially playing Friday, Saturday every week," added South Dakota's 2005-06 "Mr. Basketball." "These teams have been playing Princeton for a long, long time. I feel like everybody makes a big deal about when they play us. We're a storied program and people are gunning for us, so it's going to be tough every game."

The biggest target is on Finley, who has shot 62 percent (21-for-34) from the floor in Princeton's three wins. He has scored in double figures nine times and had a double- double (14 points and 11 rebounds) against Seton Hall.

"The problem with guarding that kid," Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez said, "is if you double down on him, they have shooters on the perimeter. And when you get him the ball down in the paint, he's got that old-school kind of hook, a little bit of moves down there. He's not an easy guard."

 

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Big weekend road trip takes Big Red to Brown, Yale


? Steve Donahue would love for his players to ignore the ?what ifs? surrounding this weekend's much-anticipated road trip through Brown and Yale.

?I don't put any more importance on any weekend at this point in the season, no matter if you win two, lose two or split,? said Donahue, who in seven years has never swept the Brown-Yale swing. ?There's so much basketball left that you can't let yourself go anywhere else in your mind after this weekend.?

But the players do understand the significance.
Travel partners Brown (9-7, 1-1 Ivy League) and Yale (8-8, 1-1) finished their season series on Saturday in Providence, R.I., with the Bears earning a split via a 77-68 victory. Currently, Cornell (10-5, 2-0), Brown and Yale appear to be the three strongest candidates to end the 20-year reign of Penn and Princeton atop the Ancient Eight.

Putting both the Bears and Bulldogs in a two-game hole would be a major coup for the Big Red, which plays six of its following eight at friendly Newman Arena.

?(A sweep) would be huge for us,? said Cornell junior guard Adam Gore, who scored 17 points in Saturday's 72-54 romp of Columbia. ?This weekend's big for us. We don't want to get stuck. We're leading the pack right now. We don't want to lose a game here or there and get stuck down in the middle of the pack and fight our way back. We want to stay on top of everything.?

Cornell visits Brown's Pizzitola Sports Center at 7 p.m. today, with a date at Yale slated for the same time on Saturday. The Big Red has beaten the Bears five out of the last six times, but hasn't won at Yale since February 2001 ? Donahue's first season.

?This is unchartered ground for a lot of us,? he said. ?No one really knows who to shoot for now. It's like anybody in our league (can win).?

As for Brown, Chris Skrelja's versatility makes the Bears' talented backcourt difficult to defend.

A tough, physical junior who at 6-foot-6 is built more like a power forward than a primary ballhandler, Skrelja has embraced his new role of point forward for the Bears, now running their complex Princeton sets in year No. 2 of coach Craig Robinson's tenure.

?It's sort of evolved that way,? Robinson said Thursday in a phone interview. ?He's our best point guard.?

Skrelja averages 9.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game while shooting at a .505 percent clip. Senior guards Mark McAndrew ? a returning first team all-Ivy performer ? and Damon Huffman are the Ivy League's second- and third-ranked scorers at 16.2 and 15.5 points per game, respectively.

Both have benefited from Skrelja's move to the point.

?It's definitely helped our offense, where everyone gets their touches,? said Skrelja, who pieced together a 16-point, 15-rebound effort in the Yale win. ?Damon and Mark don't have to use all their energy handling the ball.?

Instead, they use that additional energy working off screens and driving to the basket, which the pair is particularly adept at doing.

?They can make shots, just like (Cornell) has up there,? Robinson said. ?They're hard to guard.?

Donahue, Gore and Skrelja all agreed that the toughest part about playing Brown is matching the Bears' effort.

?Brown plays hard,? Gore said. ?Brown plays real hard. That's the one thing that kind of set them apart from Yale in the game they won. They just outworked Yale.?

Said Skrelja: ?We're definitely one of the hardest playing teams in the league, even in the country.?

Added Donahue: ?You've got to match that energy right off the bat, or you're going to be in trouble. They don't take possessions off on either side.?

Notes: Cornell is shooting .796 from the free throw line as a team during the final five minutes and overtime of games this year. Cornell is 6-1 at home this year. ... Yale visits Newman Arena on Feb. 22, with Brown due in Ithaca on Feb. 23. ... Donahue said sophomore forward Alex Tyler could draw the assignment of guarding Skrelja, with Ryan Wittman on McAndrew or freshman Peter Sullivan, Gore on Sullivan or McAndrew and Louis Dale on Huffman or McAndrew.

 

[IE]

First step is tonight against Harvard


Forget the Florida trip. Forget the Big 5. Forget Loyola. Forget North Carolina.

The real season starts today.

And it's a late start, to be sure. Harvard's trip to the Palestra tonight will mark the first time that the Quakers (5-12, 0-0) have ever opened their Ivy League season in February.

But as senior captain Brian Grandieri knows, a fresh start is worth the wait.

"This is the best part of the season for me, and it always has been," he said.

Penn coach Glen Miller is just as eager to put the team's rocky non-conference stretch behind him.

"It's really two separate seasons," he said.

"We all know that the road to the NCAA tournament has everything to do with conference play, but we're going to have to play much better basketball to be a team that can compete in the upper-tier of the conference."

Enter the Crimson (6-12, 1-1 Ivy), who have been every bit as inconsistent this season as Penn. In his first season at the helm, Tommy Amaker has led Harvard to an upset win over Michigan, the school that forced him out last season after six years as head coach there.

At the same time, his squad has yet to win a game this season on the road. What's more, the Crimson haven't won at the Palestra in their last 15 tries.

Returning from a 20-day layoff due to final exams, however, Harvard will be starting fresh as well. In their last outing, the Crimson couldn't complete a season sweep of Dartmouth, losing the second match of the home-and-home series.

But Harvard displayed a strong, balanced attack in its win over the Big Green a week earlier, featuring strong guard-play from Andrew Pusar, the Crimson's biggest perimeter threat.

Add Jeremy Lin on the outside, who has greatly improved his range and accuracy, and Harvard's backcourt combination is a formidable one.

It may be up to oft-injured Penn freshman guard Harrison Gaines to slow the duo down. He's missed time due to a hamstring injury but expects to be "100 percent" on Friday.

Even if the Quakers neutralize the guards, they still have a frontcourt with which to contend.

Forward Pat Magnarelli has also given Harvard a presence in the frontcourt. Coming off of a back injury from last season, Magnarelli - whom Miller recruited heavily when he coached at Brown - has posted four double-doubles to this point, recently netting 21 points and pulling down 11 rebounds against Colgate.

To that end, the Quakers will be focused on denying Magnarelli and his frontcourt-mates the ball.

"We've really focused on defense [in practice]," Grandieri said. "They do like to put the ball in the post, so we've been working on how we're going to defend the post."

On the Quakers' end, Miller emphasized that "the keyword is 'consistency.'"

"Through our struggles we've still shown that we can play some good basketball," he said. "We just have not been able to put full games together, and that has to change."

And with the Ivy League season finally here, that change needs to happen fast. Penn has no more room for error.