Ivy League Basketball News

DailyPennSports tweeted,

Sophomore Malcolm Washington (son of Denzel) no longer listed on men’s hoops roster.

The Daily Pennsylvanian Buzz Blog commented on Washington:

Washington struggled in the few minutes he accrued during his freshman year, seeing little playing time behind unanimous all-Ivy point guard Zack Rosen. Washington started one game in Rosen’s place when the Rosen was briefly benched for a violation of team rules.

Beyond his meager statistics (a .157 clip in shooting) Malcolm’s future role on the team became questionable with the announcement of a large incoming freshman class ripe with supposed guard talent.

The roster now sits at 20 players, still five above the League travel limit, but with injuries the Quakers will likely not have too much trouble making weight.

No word as to whether it was Washington’s choice or a team move.

Penn is at #58 on the Mid Majority’s TMM100 countdown, a ranking all the 263 teams of the non-BCS, based on their performance over the course of the six-year Mid-Majority era.

The Soft Pretzel Logic blog tweeted, “As we approach 8 years since it happened, there are people who genuinely don’t believe me when I tell them Penn once hosted College Gameday.”

GoPrincetontigers.com announced that the February 4 game between Princeton and Harvard would be televised on ESPN-U, in addition Princeton’s Nov 14 games against defending national champions Duke. The Daily Pennsylvanian’s Buzz Blog commented on this news:

In what we think may be a sign of the times, this year’s Princeton-Harvard basketball matchup will be televised on ESPN-U.

With the Penn-Princeton rivalry on the back burner right now (Penn has lost the last three contests), is this the new rivalry for the Ivy League?

The Daily Pennsylvanian ran a story about Penn’s high-profile Dec 4 matchup with Army.

“The style of play displayed in the Patriot League compares to the Ivy League play very well,” senior forward Jack Eggleston said. “[It’s] a similar type of basketball [and has] a similar talent level, so I think playing Army is going to prepare us well for the Ivy League schedule.”

HoopsatHarvard announced via twitter that 2010 Harvard grad Dan McGreary took a job with the Cleveland Cavaliers head office.

Brown announced its five newcomers.

The Cornell Daily Sun interviewed the founders of the popular twitter feed @wittmanfacts.

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The Ithaca Journal spoke to former Cornell coach Steve Donahue about the pro placements of recent grads Wittman, Foote, Dale, and Jaques. Says Donahue,

“In a lot of ways, all four made really good decisions,” Donahue said by phone Thursday. “In terms of where they’re at, the type of coaches they’re playing for, the cities they’re living in, the style of play. It fits every one of them. The guys did the right thing, took their time, had good representation, and in the long run it helps — those three in particular: Louis and Jeff and Ryan — to keep improving.

“Eventually, their hope is they can compete and improve their game to get to their goal of playing in the NBA or at the highest of levels and make this a really successful career.”

Princetonbasketball.com reports that Tiger alum Marcus Schroeder will be attending open D-League tryouts in Oakland on Saturday.

Harvard released its 2010-2011 roster yesterday.  It includes five incoming freshmen.  Current  sophomore Spencer de Mars is no longer listed on the roster.

Harvard also officially released the schedule that was inadvertently released by the Ivy League office last week.

Brown has also released its 2010-2011 roster, which includes four new freshmen and a transfer.  Current junior Marques Coleman is no longer listed on the roster.

The University of Kentucky released an official schedule that includes a matchup with Penn on January 3.

The Daily Pennsylvanian’s Buzz blog comments on the UK match-up.

Last year Penn men’s basketball suffered one of its the program’s worst defeat ever at Duke.

This year, the Quakers are headed to perennial powerhouse Kentucky. But it’s okay, right? All their players left for the NBA draft…

Toledo transfer Stephen Albrecht, now playing at Brown, has been added to the Twitter directory.

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There is an interview with a couple of incoming Penn freshmen on Collegehoops.net. When asked whether they were concerned about playing time given Penn’s large 8-man incoming class, here’s how they responded:

Miles Cartwright: Not at all. The great thing about our class is that we just want to win, no matter what it takes or what the best formula is. We are already good friends through emails/texts/etc., so we are not worried about playing the same position. All we care about is wins and losses.

Fran Dougherty: Yes, but you just have to work hard every day. Everyone has an equal chance with a new coach coming in, so everyone has a shot at proving that they deserve some playing time.

Chris Hatfield, who will reportedly start on the JV squad: I have not really had that concern, nor do I really have an expectation as to how long I will be on the JV team. I have never played with any of the other players, so I cannot really gauge my skill level relative to the rest of the players. I am just happy to be on the team, and if the coaches do decide to move me up at some time in my career, I will be honored to play on the varsity squad.

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General
Ivy League Basketball News (this site’s twitter account)
Ivy League Athletics Office
Michael R James (Basketball-U)
Ivy.Basketball-U

Brown
Stephen Albrecht
Marques Coleman(former player; inactive)
Andrew McCarthy
Brown Athletics (inactive)

Columbia
Noruwa Agho (inactive)
Brian Barbour
Kevin Bulger (alum, inactive)
Chris Crockett
Steve Egee
Patrick Foley (alum)
Dean Kowalski
Columbia Athletics

Cornell
Louis Dale (alum)
Jeff Foote (alum)
Khaliq Gant (alum)
Max Groebe (inactive)
Jon Jaques (alum)
Jake Matthews
Peter McMillan
Conor Mullen (alum)
Andrew Naeve (alum)
Aaron Osgood
Errick Peck
Geoff Reeves (alum)
Manny Sahota
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Alex Tyler (alum)
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Asst. coach Jay Larranaga
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Asst. coach Ricky Yahn
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Wittman Facts

Dartmouth
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Harvard
Brandyn Curry
Evan Harris (alum)
Drew Housman (alum)
Jeremy Lin (alum)
Oliver McNally
Alex Okam
Laurent Rivard
Jonah Travis (HS, 2011)
Andrew van Nest
Christian Webster
Keith Wright
Asst. coach Yanni Hufnagel
Hoops at Harvard (official Harvard basketball twitter)
The Harvard Crimson Sports
WHRB Sports (Harvard radio)

Penn
Tommy Eggleston
Ibrahim Jaaber (alum)
Dau Jok
Justin Reilly (alum)
Andreas Schreiber
Darren Smith
Mark Zoller (alum)
Daily Pennsylvanian Sports
Penn Basketball
Soft Pretzel Logic (Philly sports)

Princeton
TJ Bray
Sean Gregory (alum)
Benjamin Hazel
Denton Koon (HS, 2011; inactive)
PrincetonBallsketball.com (Princeton Basketball blog twitter)

Yale
Greg Mangano (inactive)
Yale Daily News Sports
Yale Athletics

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Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports has a blog post about Jerome Allen’s goal of reviving Penn’s basketball program.  Excerpt:

Allen believes the Quakers can regain their spot atop the Ivy. Back when Allen was in uniform, Penn won three consecutive league titles and went a perfect 14-0 in conference play each of the three years.

“We try to use history to get guys to believe, but kids these days don’t remember what happened five years ago,” Allen said. “What people don’t know is that Penn is No. 10 in all-time wins in NCAA history – ahead of Indiana, Arizona and Louisville.

“Kids would think you were lying if you told them that,” Allen said.

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Sam Blum of the Bleacher Report previews NYC-area teams, including Columbia:

Columbia will enter this season looking at a whole different team. There will be no more Coach Joe Jones. After Jones left to join Ivy coaching counterpart, Steve Donahue at Boston College, Kyle Smith left St. Mary’s to come east for a job at Columbia.

As long as Columbia can stay defensive minded, Smith will have no trouble picking up where Jones left off, and he might get some wins in the process. They will return junior star Noruwa Agho, who might find himself the best player in the league now that Jeremy Lin has left Harvard and Ryan Wittman has departed from Cornell.

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Last week, Dartmouth coach Paul Cormier formally announced his coaching staff for 2010-11. Dartmouth Athletics reports,

Dartmouth men’s basketball head coach Paul Cormier today announced the hiring of his initial staff in his return to the Big Green for the 2010-11 season. Former UConn standout Ricky Moore, Joe Gallo, and Patrick Beilein have been brought on as assistant coaches, while Jordan Watson has been named the director of basketball operations.

“The first step of rebuilding our basketball program is in place with the hiring of these four tremendously talented and energetic coaches,” Coach Cormier stated. “I am confident that this staff will be terrific in player development and recruiting. And by putting together a couple of solid recruiting classes, our goal of winning an Ivy Championship will be within our grasp.”

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Rush The Court reviews the Ivy League’s summer — including coaching changes, Lin’s pro signing, and Harvard’s recruiting violation — and presents its predicted ivy standings for next year, which are as follows:

1. Harvard (12-2): Yes, they lose Jeremy Lin, but they return three ultra-talented sophomores, including Freshman of the Year Kyle Casey. The 6’7 forward began last season as the 6th man but started the last ten games, averaging ten points and five rebounds per game. They also boast a sophomore backcourt that we see as a potential top-10 duo in the country in Brandyn Curry and Christian Webster. The latter scored 24 points in only 28 minutes in Harvard’s postseason loss to Appalachian St. Sprinkle in another prized recruiting class that includes a few players in the top 150 and you have all the ingredients for an Ivy Championship.
2. Princeton (11-3): They were six points away from hoisting the conference championship trophy last season, as two heartbreaking three-point losses to eventual champion Cornell did them in. Most publications project the Tigers as 2010-11 champs, as this is another team that returns a talented trio in top scorer Doug Davis, leading rebounder Dan Mavraides and late-blooming freshman Ian Hummer. We see a nip and tuck race with the depth of the Crimson being the deciding factor.
3. Penn (10-4): Don’t be surprised if Penn projects itself into the Ivy race this season. And if they do, it will be most assuredly on the back of last year’s RTC Ivy POY Zack Rosen. The 6’1 junior was at or near the top in five key stats, including leading the league in scoring. If he continues to mature as a player, he very well could receive a lot of national recognition, a la Jeremy Lin and Ryan Wittman last season. Now, if only the rest of the roster can remain healthy — a difficult task the past two years — the Quakers can take aim at what they consider their rightful place at the top of the league.
4. Cornell (9-5): How the mighty have fallen; Is the reign of the Big Red over? Maybe not, despite huge losses via graduation. They return four players who saw considerable action during last year’s championship run (Chris Wroblewski, Errick Peck, Adam Wire, and Mark Coury), and thus have enjoyed and expect success. While this year’s freshman class was recruited by Steve Donahue, who is no longer with the program, they come with promising credentials. Should our projections hold true, the future in Ithaca should be bright. Remember, it was new leader Bill Courtney who recruited most of the George Mason NCAA Final Four team in 2006.
5. Brown (5-9): The bad news: the graduation of All-Ivy Matt Mullery, who led the Bears last season in several offensive stats. The good news: the next six scorers all return, led by Peter Sullivan and All-Ivy freshman Tucker Halperin. Brown could improve by leaps and bounds; They went 4-4 over their final eight league games, which included an almost unheard of weekend road sweep of Penn and Princeton. We would not be surprised to see the Bears make a run.
6. Columbia (4-10): One would have to consider the now-concluded Joe Jones era a disappointment. At times showing promise during his seven-year tenure (one top four finish), the bottom line is that the Lions were 20 games below .500 in Ivy play during that period. Enter Kyle Smith, the former associate head coach at St. Mary’s of California. He was responsible for running the offense and coordinating all recruiting activities. And lest you forget, St. Mary’s reached the Sweet 16 in last year’s tournament. Admittedly, it is not easy to build a program and win at Columbia — one has to go back to the Jim Macmillan/Heyward Dotson days. Maybe Smith, a master recruiter, is exactly what the Lions need.
7. Yale (3-11): There is still one Jones left in the Ivy League: James at Yale. And to offset the loss of All-Ivy swingman Alex Zampier, Jones brought in a national recruiting class, with players from California, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and New York, all of whom were 1000-point scorers in their high school careers. Additionally, the Elis return six players who averaged more than ten minutes of playing time per game, led by second-leading scorer Michael Sands. If the class of 2014 can contribute immediately, Yale could be one of the deepest teams in the league.
8. Dartmouth (2-12): Hope in Hanover? Paul Cormier, who returns for his second tour of duty at Dartmouth, must think there’s some. The basis for such optimism lies in the fact that the Big Green, who amazingly had no player average in double figures last year, returns five of their top six scorers and eight players who averaged double figures in minutes played. This group is led by 6’1 Ronnie Dixon, the best shooter on the team. If the rest of the returnees can show some improvement, perhaps Cormier can lead his team out of the cellar.

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Penn announced its eight-man incoming class yesterday.

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The Daily Pennsylvanian says Penn might need all the help it can get.

After a dismal 2009-10 season, in what area does the Penn men’s basketball team need the most help from next year’s newcomers?

“We were a 6-22 team last year,” forward Jack Eggleston said. “We need help everywhere.”

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One incoming freshman, Chris Hatfield, came as a surprise to the Daily Pennsylvanian, who briefly profile the Orina CA native.

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The Harvard Crimson had this comment on Penn’s large roster:

Penn announced today its eight-person freshman men’s basketball class, bringing its total roster size up to—gasp!—22 people. Did you know that the sky is now green, and grass blue? No, not really—that’s just what the Cornell Basketball Blog wants you to think with headlines like “Penn’s Overcrowded Roster Causes Player Discontent.” For the past few months, the Internet world has been abuzz news of the Quakers’ large roster size, as though there is no way Penn will be able to manage so many players. Perhaps there should be a new reality television show called “Jerome Allen Plus 22” tracking the drama that will surely ensue next season.

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The DP’s Calder Silcox discusses the pros and cons of Penn’s large roster, including the following:

PROS —

Cast a wide net. With no worrying about roster size or scholarship dollars, the program has no excuse not to get as much talent on the roster as possible. If you can secure eight recruits, maybe four or five will turn out alright over their four-year careers. That’s better than two good players coming out of a four-man recruiting class.

The Cornell effect. How did Cornell play its way to the NCAA’s Sweet Sixteen this year? With a lot of players — 19 to be exact. And during that run, the media couldn’t get enough of the Cinderella’s seniors, all nine of them, who lived together in one house (think The Real World: Ithaca). That team and class chemistry is vital. “It’s a built-in group of friends that you’re gonna have for your whole four years,” Class of 2011 member Jack Eggleston said of recruiting classes.

CONS —

Quality over quantity. I’m a foodie. I’d much rather have a nice 8 oz. cut of sirloin than a pound and a half of chuck meat. Instead of filling roster spots with potential talent, go out and find some recruits who are guaranteed to make a difference on the team from day one. I guess it depends on how hungry Penn is.

Playing time. No matter how much they tell you that it’s great just to be a part of the team, every college basketball player needs minutes like Penn grads need jobs. College sports are a huge time commitment, if you don’t get to play a few minutes here and there, you start to wonder whether you ever will. I remember chatting with rising senior Dan Monckton after his first opportunity to start last season, and that was just what he told me.

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Penn’s Dan Monckton, who averaged 7.9 ppg last year, might be out for months due to microfracture surgery on his knee, the Buzz Blog reports:

Dan Monckton had a microfracture surgery on his knee, according to a post on his facebook, which says that instead of sitting out a few weeks as he had planned, the recovery time will be a matter of months.

This is a considerable hit for Penn as the senior had a breakout season last year, and was looking primed to shine in his fourth year on the team.

Monckton started five games last season, racking up the third most total minutes, averaging 23.2 per game.

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Rivals.com thinks Princeton coach Sydney Johnson is one low mid-major coach that could move up after the 2010-11 season:

PRINCETON’S SYDNEY JOHNSON
Age: 36
League: Ivy
Buzz: Johnson, a Princeton alum, has done yeoman work in his three seasons as coach of the Tigers. They were 6-23 in his first season after he was hired off the staff at Georgetown. The Tigers improved to 13-14 in his second season, then finished 22-9 — including a run to the CBI semifinals — last season. Johnson was the Ivy League player of the year in 1996-97 and understands the intricacies of the league, including its tough recruiting standards. He’s also a good Xs-and-Os guy, not surprising when you consider he was recruited to Princeton by Pete Carril. As for the idea that a “big” school wouldn’t take a chance on an Ivy coach, there are four former Ivy coaches now working in a Big Six conference — Donahue in the ACC, Northwestern’s Bill Carmody in the Big Ten, Oregon State’s Craig Robinson in the Pac-10 and Georgetown’s John Thompson III in the Big East. Johnson was on Georgetown’s staff when he was hired away by Princeton — and Thompson was Princeton’s coach when he was hired away by Georgetown.

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SBNation’s Bay Area blog has the following note on Jeremy Lin’s summer league performance:

Harvard standout Jeremy Lin worked off the ball tirelessly for Dallas, running the baseline and cutting through the half court to free himself up. When he got opportunities with the ball, Lin displayed composure. His athleticism isn’t freakish — most of his drives to the hole are straight-line routes — but his incursions into the paint were fearless. He finished with 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting. He also racked up five turnovers when the speed of the game escalated. Lin acknowledged that there’s a chasm between Ivy League play and what transpires here in Las Vegas. “I think the style of the game, NBA rules, pick-and-rolls, the speed and athleticism are the biggest differences,” Lin said. “I’m just trying to figure out when to attack, when to shoot, reading defensive coverages. It’s a lot more complex than it was in college.”

SBNation’s Voodoo blog also notes on Jeremy Lin,

I saw that Harvard’s Jeremy Lin might be the best player to come out of the Ivy League since Bill Bradley, and he might become a decent role guy in the NBA.

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An ESPN Los Angeles blog thinks that Penn alum Ibrahim Jaaber has a good shot at making the Lakers roster.

Meet Ibrahim Jaaber, the latest player on the Los Angeles Lakers’ summer league roster who is starting to turn heads in the team’s front office as a potential player who can make the team next season.

Jaaber (pronounced Jab-burr), a 6-2, 170-pound guard from the University of Pennsylvania, is averaging a modest 6.5 points, 6.0 assists and 1.5 steals through the Lakers’ 0-2 start in Las Vegas (they lost 92-74 to Denver on Saturday) but has made a good first impression.

“He’s had a really good 10-day period with us,” Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said.

Jaaber’s NBA dream has been a long time coming after he finished his senior season at Penn by being named the Ivy League Player of the Year in 2007 and heading overseas to play for Lottomatica Roma in the Euroleague.

With the Lakers’ guard situation still in flux next season — with Jordan Farmar expected to sign with a new team and Derek Fisher and Shannon Brown involved in ongoing negotiations with the team — Jaaber could end up trading his practice jersey for an authentic uniform with sewn purple and gold lettering come October.

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ESPN.com’s College Basketball Nation blog discusses the weird format of the CBE tourney that Princeton will be participating in come November.

But here’s why the setup is funky: If, Princteon beats Miami of Ohio in the first “round,” they’ll “advance” to take on Duke. And even if Princeton upsets the Dukies at their own party, it doesn’t matter: The Tigers go home, and the Dukies move on to play in the semifinals of the event Nov. 22-23 in Kansas City.

It’s a bummer for the little guys. If you’re Princeton, and you just beat Duke, don’t you want the thrill of taking your suddenly explosive upset potential to Kansas City, where you can test your mettle against other top teams? Of course you do. It’s just a preseason tournament competition, but still, the games count. That’s a great opportunity.

Still, the tournament competition is a business, and business dictates that Kansas State, Duke, Gonzaga and Marquette advance and play each other in Kansas City, regional results be damned.

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ESPN’s Land o’ Lakers blog Summer League preview includes the following notes on Penn’s Ibby Jaaber:

Finally, among the guards, Ibrahim Jaaber is easily the most interesting name, literally and figuratively. College hoops fans may remember Jaaber as the guard who led some pretty decent Penn teams into the NCAA’s a few years back. Undrafted after his collegiate career wrapped up, Jaaber went to play in Europe, most recently in Italy for Lottomatica Roma. He’s become a pretty productive player over there, from what I gather via the Internet (lest you think we’re spending the LoL budget sending me to scout players in Italy, though I’m ready to volunteer should such an assignment be available). Jaaber’s reputation as a defender is solid, and at 6′2″, 170, he seems to qualify as a good change-of-pace behind Kobe, Blake, Fisher, and Sasha Vujacic.

He’s not much of a shooter, though, particularly from downtown.

Though born in New Jersey, he carries a Bulgarian passport and has played for the Bulgarian national team as a naturalized citizen. American players with European passports are pretty valuable over there, because they allow teams to circumvent some of the restrictions on carrying US players.

Anyhoo, just as it is with Strawberry, a high-level performance in Vegas combined with a good camp could (again, theoretically) earn a spot on the roster. Asssuming the Lakers don’t sign someone in the interim, of course.

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ESPN.com’s Back of the Envelope Guide to the Las Vegas Summer League includes some Ivy notes:

Ibrahim Jaaber: How do you not pull for a two-time Ivy League Player of the Year who tweets Ralph Ellison: “I not only entered the music but descended, like Dante into its depths.” The former roommate and teammate of Brandon Jennings is as passionate about his music as he is basketball.

Jeremy Lin: The standout point guard from Harvard drew a lot of fans when he dropped 30 points on UConn last December. The highest-ranked comment on the YouTube highlight reel of that performance is, “Yo this kid is sick. Rep’n for da Asians, homie.”

Ryan Wittman: The four-year Cornell standout went undrafted, but he might have the most limitless range of anyone in the gym. He also has some diehard fans who started a blog named Ryan Wittman Facts: “A three-year-old Ryan Wittman was the favorite in the 1991 Belmont Stakes before his parents pulled him out at the last minute.”

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The Ithaca Journal provides a summary of Ryan Wittman’s final Celtics summer game in Orlando.  Wittman will now play for the Knicks summer squad in Vegas.

In his final game with the Boston Celtics at the Orlando Summer League, 2010 Cornell graduate Ryan Wittman scored eight points on 4-for-7 shooting in 21 minutes, 2 seconds of action in an 86-68 loss to New Jersey.

Wittman added three rebounds and two steals in Friday’s loss. The 6-foot-7 small forward is scheduled to play for the New York Knicks’ summer league team in Las Vegas. The Knicks’ first game is scheduled for Sunday.

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ESPN.com’s Dana O’Neil has a story on former Penn assistant coach John Gallagher’s roundabout route to the head coaching job at Hartford in a story that involved Penn coach Jerome Allen and former Cornell coach Steve Donahue:

As things often happen in situations like this, the job Gallagher spent a lifetime waiting for came to fruition in a whirlwind flash.

When he was an assistant at Penn, Gallagher headed to this year’s Final Four, unsure if he and his interim head coach, Jerome Allen, would have a job next year. Penn finally tabbed Allen for the permanent gig two days after the national championship game and Allen kept Gallagher on as his assistant.

Eight days later, Donahue — a Philly native who worked at Penn and graduated from the same high school as Gallagher — called to ask Gallagher to join him at BC as an assistant.

Gallagher said yes, which opened a spot up on the Penn staff.

Eight days later, Allen hired then-Hartford head coach and former Temple assistant Dan Leibovitz to replace Gallagher.

Before coming to Penn, Gallagher had spent two years as Liebovitz’s assistant at Hartford.

So when Leibovitz left town, Hartford athletic director Pat Meiser made one call — to Gallagher. He interviewed with Meiser for two hours, met with university president Walter Harrison for 30 minutes and finally, after 21 years of dreaming, was offered his first head-coaching position.

For those without the benefit of a scorecard, that’s going from potentially unemployed to a Penn assistant to a Boston College assistant to Hartford’s head coach, all in the span of 11 days.

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The Tuscon Citizen comments on Jeremy Lin’s game yesterday:

In the initial NBA Summer League game between Denver and Dallas, Mayo and Draper were on the court along with Harvard rookie point guard Jeremy Lin with the Mavericks. Draper (who had three steals in the first half) and Lin (four points on 2-of-4 shooting) are credible, but Mayo looks out of his element.

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