After a weekend sweep of Brown and Yale, the question remains: How good is this year?s Columbia men?s basketball team?
Cornell, the clear creme of the Ivy League, defeated Brown and Yale by a combined 60 points. Both games were over by halftime. Yet Columbia was able to hang tight during both of their contests against Cornell, holding leads against the Big Red into the second half in the home opener and midway through the first half in Ithaca.
Cornell was not the only team to sweep its Ivy competition this weekend. The Lions also defeated two teams projected to finish ahead of them in the preseason media poll (Brown was ranked fifth and Yale, third).
Unlike many of their previous contests, the Lions found ways to come through late in the game.
?We listen to our coaches, and they tell us what we need to do in the locker room,? Niko Scott said after Columbia?s close win over Brown. ?We take it upon ourselves as a personal challenge to not be the person to make the error. We all work together and help each other to work as one.?
With every Ivy League team fairly close in terms of player quality (except for Cornell), the Lions have a chance to contend for second place?a remarkable achievement for such a young and relatively inexperienced team. But in order to do this, they must remain consistent.
The last six games provide a perfect microcosm of Columbia?s inconsistency this season. The Lions have gone 3-3 in these contests, a testament to their inability to string together three or more wins in a row. In their three victories, the Lions have allowed a mere 50.3 points per contest while holding opponents to 36.9 percent shooting from the field. Defensive pressure and rotation in the man-to-man defense has helped keep opponent point totals low.
?The ball pressure by the guards got us some fast-break points, and we were able to get a few of those in a row,? Jason Miller said after the Light Blue defeated Yale. ?That really picked us up when we?d get deflections and steals and the guards run off and we just get back ready to do it again.?
In the losses, conversely, they yielded an average of 72 points per contest while allowing opponents to shoot 48.3 percent from the field.
Offensively, too, the Lions must show more consistency. In wins, they have shot 45.4 percent from the field compared to 37.4 percent in losses. The drastic change in field goal percentage is attributed to the improved ball movement.
But how good are they really? Has poor competition allowed them to even their record at .500 in the Ivy League campaign? They have not been blown out by better teams this year as in years past, and they are beating teams on similar talent levels as their own.
So how good are they? Good enough for second?
Only time will tell.
Cornell, the clear creme of the Ivy League, defeated Brown and Yale by a combined 60 points. Both games were over by halftime. Yet Columbia was able to hang tight during both of their contests against Cornell, holding leads against the Big Red into the second half in the home opener and midway through the first half in Ithaca.
Cornell was not the only team to sweep its Ivy competition this weekend. The Lions also defeated two teams projected to finish ahead of them in the preseason media poll (Brown was ranked fifth and Yale, third).
Unlike many of their previous contests, the Lions found ways to come through late in the game.
?We listen to our coaches, and they tell us what we need to do in the locker room,? Niko Scott said after Columbia?s close win over Brown. ?We take it upon ourselves as a personal challenge to not be the person to make the error. We all work together and help each other to work as one.?
With every Ivy League team fairly close in terms of player quality (except for Cornell), the Lions have a chance to contend for second place?a remarkable achievement for such a young and relatively inexperienced team. But in order to do this, they must remain consistent.
The last six games provide a perfect microcosm of Columbia?s inconsistency this season. The Lions have gone 3-3 in these contests, a testament to their inability to string together three or more wins in a row. In their three victories, the Lions have allowed a mere 50.3 points per contest while holding opponents to 36.9 percent shooting from the field. Defensive pressure and rotation in the man-to-man defense has helped keep opponent point totals low.
?The ball pressure by the guards got us some fast-break points, and we were able to get a few of those in a row,? Jason Miller said after the Light Blue defeated Yale. ?That really picked us up when we?d get deflections and steals and the guards run off and we just get back ready to do it again.?
In the losses, conversely, they yielded an average of 72 points per contest while allowing opponents to shoot 48.3 percent from the field.
Offensively, too, the Lions must show more consistency. In wins, they have shot 45.4 percent from the field compared to 37.4 percent in losses. The drastic change in field goal percentage is attributed to the improved ball movement.
But how good are they really? Has poor competition allowed them to even their record at .500 in the Ivy League campaign? They have not been blown out by better teams this year as in years past, and they are beating teams on similar talent levels as their own.
So how good are they? Good enough for second?
Only time will tell.
