A Taste of Ivy League Hoops

[IE]

--Harvard Crimson

(school newspaper)

One quarter is the perfect sample size. For instance, the first bite of a burrito is often disappointingly lopsided?too much tortilla and sauce (unless, of course, you start eating your burrito from the middle?can?t say that I?ve tried that). But one quarter of a burrito unleashes the truest blend of delicious flavor and texture.

Similarly, at exactly one quarter of the way through the conference schedule, a clearer picture of the Ivy League is beginning to emerge.

At the top in a class by itself, Cornell reigns as the league?s Qdoba. Last weekend?s 36-point blowout win over the Crimson demonstrated as much. Seeing as two of Cornell?s three losses came against Syracuse and Kansas, the recipe for beating the Big Red seems to be nothing short of playing like a top-five team. Coaches around college basketball have taken notice, honoring Cornell by ranking it 25th in the nation, the first time an Ivy team has cracked a poll since the Tigers reached 8th in 1998.

Harvard and Princeton belong in the next division with Chipotle. The two teams have shown that, while capable of competing with anyone, they are not invulnerable to struggles. Last week, on the biggest stage it?s seen in years, the Crimson showed a surprising lack of poise, turning the ball over 25 times, getting into foul trouble, and giving up 14 offensive rebounds. The Tigers too have some clunkers on their resume, including a 27-turnover loss at home to Army, and a road defeat to Rutgers, a game in which Princeton shot 28.8 percent from the floor.

After Harvard and Princeton comes a dramatic drop-off. Brown, Columbia, and Yale?the Felipe?s of the Ivy League?all have either seven or eight wins, but only two of those 22 victories have come against teams with winning records. They might be able to steal a win or two against teams in the tier above them, but as the Bears? loss to the Quakers last weekend demonstrates, they are just as likely to lose to the Ivy?s cellar dwellers.

Which brings us to the bottom of the league. In terms of burritos, Dartmouth and Penn are like 7-Eleven or a T station?the place that?s probably violating health codes (though you?d rather not know for sure). Yet, each team has shown flashes of competence lately. The Big Green has challenged both Harvard and Columbia for a full 40 minutes, and, improbably, the Quakers defeated Brown in Providence on a controversial tip-in at the buzzer.

Penn?s win goes to show that although the league hierarchy is taking shape, the remaining three quarters of the conference schedule promise to hold plenty of surprises.

PRINCETON (11-5, 2-0 Ivy) at HARVARD (14-4, 3-1)

The Tigers and the Crimson, tied with one another for second place in the conference, make for by far the best matchup on the weekend. Adapting to Princeton?s unique style of play will be Harvard?s greatest challenge. Crimson coach Tommy Amaker compares the Tigers to Georgetown, who beat Harvard, 86-70, in December.

Harvard will need to contain Princeton point guard Doug Davis, whose swagger will surely attract the derision of fans. I get the sense that the Crimson is looking to redeem itself for its lackluster performance in Ithaca and will come out with guns blazing.



YALE (8-13, 2-2 Ivy) at No. 25 CORNELL (18-3, 4-0)

From what I saw out of Cornell last weekend, I think they could beat the Bulldogs with just four players. Although Ryan Wittman is rightly considered his squad?s biggest weapon, at least four other Big Red players are capable of leading the team in scoring on a given night. Yale, on the other hand, relies exclusively on league-leading scorer Alex Zampier. One-dimensional teams can?t survive against Cornell, and neither will the Bulldogs.



PENN (2-14, 1-1 Ivy) at DARTMOUTH (4-14, 0-4)

Thankfully for one of these teams, someone has to win. Penn is coming off a surprising win against Brown, but that game might have said more about Brown, which couldn?t close out a five-point lead with 20 seconds left, than it did about the Quakers. Dartmouth is the only Ivy still winless in conference play, but this match-up at home is its best chance for a win all season. I?m taking the Big Green in a nail-biter.



BROWN (7-14, 1-3 Ivy) at COLUMBIA (7-11, 1-3)

The Bears stumbled last week against Penn, and their road gets harder this week with a trip to New York. Knowing that Cornell looms on Saturday, Brown needs to play with extra urgency against the Lions or risk falling to 1-5 in league play.

Columbia would normally have a good shot at the Bears, but senior guard Patrick Foley went down with a shoulder injury last week, and his status is questionable. This game is a toss-up, but I like the Lions behind guard Noruwa Agho, who seemed to find his three-point stroke against Dartmouth.



PRINCETON at DARTMOUTH

The Big Green had better win Friday night, or its season will continue to snowball with a loss here to Princeton and next week on the road to Brown and Yale. The Tigers are simply in a different class than Dartmouth and have no business losing on the back end of their trip.



YALE at COLUMBIA

This game is another virtual toss-up for Columbia. I imagine Yale will be hungry after getting shellacked by Cornell, but the Bulldogs simply aren?t good enough to have their way with the Lions. The game will likely be a showdown between Zampier and Agho. Given the injury to Foley, I don?t know if Agho can carry the scoring burden on back-to-back nights. I?m giving the slight edge to Yale.


BROWN at No. 25 CORNELL

In terms of margin of victory, I wouldn?t rule out any possibilities for this game. Cornell beat Harvard, the supposed second best team in the conference, by 36. My guess is that the Big Red will stop around 25 tonight.



PENN at HARVARD

After facing two tough teams in a row, the Crimson will find some respite on Saturday. Penn?s Zack Rosen is an excellent point guard and is even being heralded as a dark horse for conference Player of the Year, but the Quakers simply aren?t on Harvard?s level. Hopefully the Crimson uses this game to work out some of the problems it?s had over the last few games?ball control, shooting, and foul trouble.

 

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Harvard offense to push Tigers' 'D'


Off to a hot start at the beginning of league play, the men?s basketball team (11-5 overall, 2-0 Ivy League) will head to Cambridge on Friday to face Harvard (14-4, 3-1). And on Saturday night, Princeton will take on Dartmouth (4-14, 0-4) in Hanover, N.H. In the Crimson, the Tigers will face a formidable opponent ? led by point guard Jeremy Lin, Harvard has garnered considerable national recognition for its performance early in the season.

?This is the toughest test we?ve had so far,? junior guard Dan Mavraides said. ?The game will be a good barometer for where we are right now as a team.?

Harvard has boasted a high-flying offense this season behind Lin, the Ivy League?s third leading scorer with 17.1 points per game. The Crimson has averaged 74.7 points per game by virtue of .486 shooting, and taken a league-high 452 free throws, or 25.1 per contest. Both Lin and Harvard have garnered significant media attention for their accomplishments: Lin has been mentioned as a potential NBA draft pick for the coming spring, and Harvard was featured in a Sports Illustrated piece this past week.The contest on Friday will be a match of strength against strength ? Harvard will face in Princeton the top defensive team in the Ivies. The Tigers have yielded a league-low 53.9 points per game on .429 shooting, producing 259 turnovers (16.2 per game) and sending their opponents to the line 275 times (17.2 times per game). The Tiger defense, though, won?t focus exclusively on Lin.

?Lin is a very good player, and for us to win, we?re going to have to key in on him effectively, but we defend [foremost] as a team,? senior guard Marcus Schroeder said. ?Everyone needs to do their part for us to contain [Harvard] effectively.?

The Crimson, with its potent offense and occasional ill regard for defense (four times opponents have scored 70 or more points), is capable of lulling its opponents into trying to match its style of play. The Tigers are aware of this, and players say that leading up to the game, the emphasis for Princeton has been on discipline.

?We need to be consistent in our pace and not get sped up ? to stick to our principles as a team,? Mavraides said. ?A fast [paced] game is to our disadvantage.?

?We?re going to focus on us and our defense, and try to play [the game in] our own style,? sophomore forward Patrick Saunders said.

An area of potential concern for the Tigers comes in the frontcourt matchup: Harvard boasts two starting forwards, six foot, seven inch Kyle Casey and six foot, eight inch Keith Wright, who have made a consistent contribution in rebounding with 5.1 rebounds per game each.

Princeton, on the other hand, has been led in rebounds by the six foot, three inch Mavriades. Starting center Pawel Buczak has struggled with foul trouble, and of the only other rotation mainstays who are six feet, seven inches or taller, all but freshman Ian Hummer and center Zach Finley play a perimeter-oriented game. While the Tigers have shown heart on the boards this year, especially from their guards, they find themselves overmatched in the frontcourt against Harvard.

?Harvard is a good rebounding team; [against such a potent offense] boxing out and holding [the Crimson] to one shot will be vital,? Saunders said.

?We struggled against [Harvard?s] bigger frontcourt last year, but we?ve gotten a greater rebounding effort out of all five positions this season,? Mavraides said. ?Our coaching staff has stressed rebounding as a team concept.?

The emphasis for Princeton will be on staying within themselves and playing its own type of game, on both ends of the floor. This means structured, patient offense and disciplined, fundamentally sound defense. And, of course, stopping Lin.

?Regardless of the pace, our offense focuses more on finding good shots than scoring points in any particular style,? Sanders said. ?We can score out on the break if we have to ? we?re really not a sluggish offense, but the quality of shots is what counts.?

?We need to make sure we hold to our own offense and principles,? Mavraides said. ?That?s the key.?

Most of all, the game against Harvard will present one of Princeton?s truest tests in Ivy League play. Harvard, Princeton and No. 25 Cornell boast the only winning percentages above .500 this year.

Though Harvard and Cornell have faced tougher schedules than the Tigers have, one win would jettison Princeton to contender status within the league.

With Harvard reeling from an 86-50 loss to Cornell last Saturday, the opportunity is ripe for Princeton to knock off a Crimson squad at its most vulnerable.

?If we can come out aggressively and compete in the first half, we have a good chance of winning,? Mavraides said. ?If we stick to our defensive principles and make shots, we can beat anyone out there.?

 

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New life in New England

Fresh off victory at Brown, Penn to face a Big Green foe still winless in Ivy play


Penn finally has another opportunity to establish something it has been missing all season: a winning streak.

After a stunning win over Brown, the Quakers head to Dartmouth tonight with a shot at a second-straight victory before travelling to Cambridge, Mass., to face Harvard tomorrow.

The Big Green (4-14, 0-4 Ivy) have not won consecutive games this season either, and the similarities between Penn and Dartmouth don?t end there.

Both lost their head coaches midway through the season ? Dartmouth?s Terry Dunn stepped down in early January ? and are without last year?s leading scorers.

While forward Tyler Bernardini red-shirted this season due to injury, the Big Green lost forward Alex Barnett and his 15.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game to graduation.

And not unlike the injury depleted Quakers? bench, the Big Green played with just nine available bodies against Columbia last week.

Still, the Quakers (2-14, 1-1) are looking for redemption against a Big Green club that swept them last season.

Jack Eggleston and Zack Rosen are the only two returning starters from last year?s meetings. The two combined for 25 points in the teams? second matchup Feb. 20, 2009.

But with a talented Harvard opponent looming the next day, it will be up to Penn coach Jerome Allen to determine how long to keep his two stars on the floor.

?[Allen] is going to do whatever it takes for us to get the win,? Eggleston said. ?If that means Zack and I playing every minute, then that?s it.?

For a Quakers squad that has struggled against opponents that boast one standout scorer, the Dartmouth lineup could provide some relief. No player on the roster tops 8.1 points per game.

Still, Allen is not putting too much stock into that statistic.

?One of the things that says... is that guys are sharing that sense of responsibility,? he said. ?Everybody is equal.?

Eggleston also believes tonight may be a battle of attrition.

?[Penn and Dartmouth] are two teams that are maybe a little undermanned right now, but both desperately in need of wins,? he said. ?So we?ll definitely expect a fight from them.?

Meanwhile, Saturday?s trip to Harvard (14-4, 3-1) should show the Quakers the other end of the Ivy spectrum.

Crimson coach Tommy Amaker?s club, especially senior guard Jeremy Lin, has invigorated the Cambridge community and transformed Harvard into a legitimate threat, even outside of the Ivy League.

The Crimson beat Atlantic Coast Conference foe Boston College and lost to then-No. 13 Conneticut by only six points earlier this season.

And despite a 36-point drubbing at the hands of No. 25 Cornell last week, the Crimson have won seven of their last eight games and are undefeated at home.

Lin?s play has warranted two Ivy League Player of the Week awards, a mid-season Wooden nomination as well as a Sports Illustrated feature.

The Quakers will need solid contributions from each player on the court to keep Lin, who scored 30 points against Connecticut, under his average of 17.1 points per game.

?We throw five guys at him,? Eggleston said. ?I imagine Rob [Belcore] will draw the assignment per se, but it?s a five man effort.?

?We?ve got to help screens, bump him when he?s cutting through the lane, hedge ball screens and just make everything as difficult as possible for him,? he added.

Penn may have an extra advantage, as it is one of few Ivy teams prepared to handle the rowdy crowd at Lavietes Pavilion. In last year?s showdown at Harvard, the Quakers left with a 66-60 upset.

Harvard Director of Athletic Communications, Kurt Svoboda, confirmed the staff is adding extra seating for the weekend matchup.

?The Palestra gets raucous. We played in Cameron [Indoor Stadium at Duke], I think we?re prepared,? Eggleston said.