Ivy

NCAA Basketball Conference Ranking: 2008-09

CHN — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:31:09 -0500

CHN's 31 conference ranking, including 10 year historical averages based on average RPI finish. For more information on historical RPI averages, check out the Conference Data Page. Links lead to league preview pages.

Big East

10 Year Average: 3

10 Year Average: 1

10 Year Average: 2

10 Year Average: 5

10 Year Average: 6

10 Year Average: 4

10 Year Average: 10

10 Year Average: 7

10 Year Average: 9

WCC

10 Year Average: 12

11 Conference USA

10 Year Average: 8

12 Colonial

10 Year Average: 14

13 MAC

10 Year Average: 13

14 WAC

10 Year Average: 11

15 MAAC

10 Year Average: 17

16 Horizon

10 Year Average: 15

17 Southern

10 Year Average: 19

18 Sun Belt

10 Year Average: 16

19 Big West

10 Year Average: 18

20 Patriot

10 Year Average: 23

21 Southland

10 Year Average: 27

22 Ivy

10 Year Average: 24

23 Big Sky

10 Year Average: 20

24 America East

10 Year Average: 21

25 Summit

10 Year Average: 26

26 OVC

10 Year Average: 22

27 NEC

10 Year Average: 28

28 Atlantic Sun

10 Year Average: 25

29 Big South

10 Year Average: 29

30 MEAC

10 Year Average: 30

-Independents

31 SWAC

10 Year Average: 31

Ivy Basketball Preview: 08-09

CHN — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:21:12 -0500

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Conference Rank: 22nd

10 year average: 24th

Conference Page

All-IVY Team
Pos.	Player	Team	Yr.

G	Louis Dale	Cornell	Jr
G	Jeremy Lin	Harvard	Jr
G/F	Tyler Bernardini	Penn	So
F	Ryan Wittman	Cornell	Jr
F	Alex Barnett	Dartmouth	Sr
CHN Award Winners		Returning Leaders
Mid-Major All-Americans Louis Dale Ryan Wittman		Points: Alex Barnett 15.6 Rebounds: Alex Barnett 7.3 Assists: Chris Skelja (Brown) 4.4

IVY LEAGUE Standings
Nat'l	Team	League	Tourney

87	Cornell* **	Ivy	1	NCAA
153	Penn	Ivy	2
171	Brown	Ivy	3
195	Harvard	Ivy	4
233	Princeton	Ivy	5
263	Yale	Ivy	6
290	Dartmouth	Ivy	7
329	Columbia	Ivy	8

*Click on links for full Top 144 team preview

** returning conference champion

Poll: Who Do You Think Will Win the Ivy League?

Other Ivy League Content

Conference Media Poll

Other

Rise & Fall: Ivy

State of 08: New York

Daily Conference Poll: Who Will Win the Ivy League?

Shawn Siegel — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:30:46 -0400

Rise & Fall: Low-Major Conference Review

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:52:45 -0400

In recent weeks, the Rise & Fall series has chronicled the progress (or regress) of college basketball's major conference teams. But if I equated each team to a civilization, I was mistaken. It is really the NCAA conference that equates to a burgeoning civilization or nation, each with its sometimes stable and sometimes rotating member states. Like civilizations, the prestige and power of conferences wax and wane..

Today, I'll start with the status of the low-major conferences before moving up to the big boys.

LOW-MAJORS

AMERICA EAST - DECLINING (SLOWLY )

For whatever reason, the AE's RPI rating swings wildly compared to most leagues.. anywhere between 16th and 29th in the last seven years. When teams like Delaware, Drexel, and Hofstra bolted for the CAA after 2001, it seemed like an iminent disaster (and was for a moment in 2002 with that 29th RPI). But Tom Brennan's great Vermont teams really saved the league's prestige. However, now that Vermont is still trying to regain form under Mike Lonegran and Albany's Jamar Wilson era is over, the league is retreating back into the mid-twenties RPI range where I expect them to finish in 2009.

ATLANTIC SUN - DECLINING

While Belmont was solid last year, it was an abysmal year for the ASun. The league's decline has mainly been do the negative effects of a changing league membership. Central Florida, FAU, and Georgia State have all left in recent seasons for "bigger" leagues, replaced by D1 newcomers like Kennessaw State and North Florida. Last year, 6 teams in the league finished with an RPI below 290th. This led to an overall RPI of 29th, one of the worst seasons in the league's history, and a stark change from the usual range of 20th to 23rd that the ASun enjoyed just a handful of seasons ago.

BIG SOUTH - RISING (SLOWLY)

Basically, this is all about the emergence of Winthrop in recent years. In the last 90's and early 00's, the Big south was right there with the MEAC and SWAC as the last rung on college basketball's ladder. But Greg Marshall's amazing success at Winthrop has the been the main catalyst for the league's overall improvement. While its unclear whether Randy Peele can continue Marshall's success, and UNCA might slip after last year's solid run, those worries can't overturn the league's positive momentum.

BIG SKY - DECLINING (SLOWLY)

This is one of the few low-major leagues to have finished above 15th in overall RPI (ie, the top half) in the last two decades. The league isn't quite as strong as it was just a few years back though, as the subtle switch of losing Northridge to the Big West, in place of horrid Northern Colorado has hurt. For the first half of the decade, it seemed like one Big Sky team always was a serious mid-major contender, highlighted by Montana's 2006 Tournament win (and Weber's big upset back in 99). But such an upset seems highly unlikely right now.

IVY - DECLINING

The Ivy has had better success over the last decade than any low-major league, and its arguable that they should really count in the "mid-major" category. Regardless, the glory days of Penn/Princeton dominance has come to an end, and now the conference isn't really any better than geographical rivals like the Patriot or America East. Cornell is the league's main hope in the present (perhaps to be joined by Amaker's Harvard?) as Penn and Princeton try to resurrect past glory. A repeat of the Ivy's 2002 RPI finish of 13th won't come around for awhile.

MEAC - RISING (SLOWLY)

It wasn't always a given that the SWAC and the MEAC would finish dead last in the RPI. While never good, they were just one of a handful of low-level leagues like the Big South and Southland conferences. But over the last handful of years, its become a certainty that either the MEAC and SWAC will be the bottom of the barrel. Despite being 30th out of 31 conferences last year, it was actually the MEAC's most successful season of the century. Todd Bozeman has turned a dismal Morgan State program (4-26 in 2006) into a winner (over 20 wins last year) while Hampton knocked off legit programs like Tulsa and VCU. Due to these wins, the league's non-conference RPI of 28 tied their high-water mark of the last decade.

NORTHEAST - STATUS QUO

The league is slightly better than it was a handful of years back, but a repeat of last year's success is unlikely. With an RPI of 20th, it was one of the NEC's better performances due to quality seasons from Robert Morris and Wagner. But the win totals put up by those schools and others was really more due to smoke and mirrors, as the NEC's non-conference SOS was one of the worst in the nation. A usual finish around 26th in the RPI should be expected this time around.

OHIO VALLEY - DECLINING (SLOWLY)

Last year's RPI of 28th and .227 non-conference winning %, were some of the worst in league history. Though a small bounce back should be expected in 08-09, the OVC has been in a steady downwards trend. Not to long ago, it seemed like two teams in the league (usually Murray State or APSU) were legitimate Top 100-120 programs that could compete with the big boys. While APSU is still decent, Murray has lost the luster of a few seasons back due to coaching changes.

PATRIOT - RISING (SLOWLY)

The Patriot is coming off of two of their best seasons in recent history, with RPI finishes of 16th and 17th. The great non-conference winning % is a bit misleading though, because they played the worst schedule of anybody in the country (even the independents somehow managed to find better competition.) Thus while American's win over Maryland was cute, and Navy's continual improvement is nice to see, there's still serious room for (more legitimate) improvement.

SOUTHLAND - RISING

Last year was the SLC's best season in recent memory.. and two of its best RPI seasons in the last decade have come in the past three years. SFA knocked off Oklahoma and NCAA Tournament team San Diego. Sam Houston beat higher-level programs like Texas Tech, Saint Louis, and Fresno. And those teams didn't even win the conference, as Texas-Arlington took the honors. While an overall conference RPI of 19 might not seem amazing, it represents a major improvement for a league that has barely outperformed the independents in the past ten years.

SUMMIT - STATUS QUO

Despite the new name, the Summit is no better than it was as the Mid-Con. Never the worst conference out there, it also never seems to have a break out year and hasn't finished above 20th in the RPI in quite some time. Oral Roberts has obviously been the leader in recent years, while Oakland and IUPUI have shown some positive momentum. But there's too many duds in the league membership (Centenary, WIU, etc) to expect a serious break from form any time soon.

SWAC - STATUS QUO

The SWAC's .085 winning percentage against non-conference teams is the worst of any team in the twelve seasons that I have stats for. In fact, previous marks of futility set by the SWAC are the only near competitors (.096 in 2000 for example.) But futility is nothing new for the SWAC, which has been the lowest ranked conference the last four years (by a large margin).. thus it deserves the Status Quo.

- Note that league power isn't quite as fluid as team power, so seemingly small baby steps end up counting more..

- Up Next: Mid-Majors

BCS

ACC

Big 12

Big East

Big Ten

Pac-10

SEC

High-Major

Atlantic 10

Conference USA

MVC

MWC

WAC

Mid-Major

Big West

Colonial

Horizon

MAC

MAAC

Southern

Sun Belt

WCC

NYC Metro Ranking & Report: Jason Thompson Leads Rider

Raphielle Johnson — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 10:59:25 -0500

I’d be a fool not to mention the New York Giants’ 17-14 victory in Super Bowl XLII. Congratulations to the organization and all you Giants who helped this team achieve their 3-5 home record. Just kidding, enjoy the moment and the fact that just when everyone said this team couldn’t win, they went ahead and did it. Now, let’s move on to the week that was in the metropolitan area on the hardwood.

Team of the Week:
Rider
Results:
W 79-65 @ Marist, W 89-75 @ Siena

Back to back fourteen-point road wins last week put the Rider Broncs in the driver’s seat for the MAAC regular season title. And their current nine-game win streak makes them one of the nation’s hottest teams as well. In the Wednesday night showdown in Poughkeepsie, Rider won the battle on the boards 38-27 and shot fifty percent (8-16) from behind the arc in avenging their January 4^th home loss to the Red Foxes. Senior center Jason Thompson led four Broncs in double figures with twenty points, and also tallied nine boards, four blocks and four assists.

The win at Siena on Saturday featured one of the more impressive offensive displays put up in college basketball all season long, with Rider scoring fifty-nine points to take a twenty-five point lead into the locker room. While they didn’t perform as well in the second half, looking somewhat tentative on the offensive end of the floor, Rider had essentially put the game away in the first twenty minutes. Jason Thompson played all forty minutes and put up twenty-three points and twenty-one rebounds, and all five starters reached double figures. Be it Jason on the block, Ryan in between, or sharpshooter Harris Mansell from deep, Tommy Dempsey’s Broncs have a number of scoring options from which to choose.

No disrespect to the fans who decided to spark the “We Own Jersey” chant at the end of the Seton Hall/ Rutgers game Thursday night, but this may be the Garden State’s best team right now.

Honorable Mention: Iona (wins over Manhattan and St. Peter’s to move to 5-7 in the MAAC); Sacred Heart (wins at FDU and St. Francis-NY to move into first in the NEC)

Player of the Week:
Jason Thompson (Rider)
Numbers for the Week:
20 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks @ Marist; 23 points, 21 rebounds, 5 assists @ Siena

For those who saw the midseason 30 list for the Wooden Award and thought “Who is Jason Thompson?” last week, the senior big man gave quite the answer in his two appearances. For the season, Thompson now averages twenty points and more than eleven (11.5 to be exact) rebounds per contest. But this shouldn’t be a surprise, given the fact that of the three players in college basketball to average twenty and ten last season, he’s the only one who returned to school. So while the experts focus on the big men in conferences with a higher profile, Jason continues to do what he does best, helping lead the Broncs to wins along the way. If this keeps up, one of those higher profile teams will find out quite a bit about Thompson and his mates in March.

Honorable Mention: John Baumann (Columbia): 19 and 7 @ Yale, 23 and 13 vs. Cornell; Brian Laing (Seton Hall): 23 and 6 @ Rutgers, 24 and 6 @ Georgetown; Drew Shubik (Sacred Heart): 16, 14 and 9 assists @ FDU, 9, 6 and 6 assists @ St. Francis-NY.

Turnaround of the Week:
Fairfield winning at Niagara, 76-72, two days after getting blown out 88-60 at Canisius.

Now, the Stags winning at Niagara isn’t an upset along the lines of the Super Bowl that we all just watched. But when you’re coming off of a twenty-eight point loss to a team with one conference win (and three wins total) going into said meeting, not too many people are expecting you to win the game. Fairfield, thanks in large part to the durable Jonathan Han at point, was able to get a split of the trip to Western New York.

Han, a junior from Brooklyn, hasn’t played fewer than thirty-five minutes in a game since logging thirty-two in a game against Holy Cross on November 13^th. The floor general has helped keep this team afloat in the MAAC when it looked as if they were earmarked for a finish at or near the bottom of the conference. Five Stags reached double figures, and they also limited the Purple Eagles to 4-22 from behind the arc to move to 6-6 in league play.

Other Observations of the last week

-- St. John’s recovered from an embarrassing effort on Wednesday in beating South Florida on Saturday.

As if last week’s loss to Pittsburgh was bad enough, the Red Storm found a way to fall further on Wednesday, suffering their worst defeat ever in Big East play against Georgetown. In a game where the largest deficit was thirty-nine, St. John’s didn’t score their first field goal of the game until about five minutes remaining in the first half. Fans were even more upset with the team and head coach Norm Roberts, and that game was the type of effort that can implode a season. But give these guys credit, they didn’t allow it to do so.

Yes, the end of their six-game losing streak came at South Florida, a team battling its own issues right now. But to make the big plays down the stretch without the services of one of your best players (Anthony Mason Jr. went down with a sprained ankle late in the first half) shows that this group does indeed have some mental toughness. Next up for the Red Storm is Rutgers at the RAC, another young team that has struggled at times this season and is coming off of a bad loss at Louisville.

-- Even though they’re only 3-4 in the Patriot League, Army owns road wins over both Holy Cross and Bucknell.

The above statement shows two things: just how wide open the Patriot League actually is this season, and the fact that the Black Knights do indeed have a chance to make some noise in the coming month. Army, thanks to Jarell Brown’s twenty-one point effort, left Sojka Pavillion on Sunday with an impressive 68-52 win. Bucknell head coach Pat Flannery missed the game today due to illness, but that should not take away from the fact that Jim Crews’ squad forced twenty-three Bison turnovers in this one.

The issue for Army is to consistently put up efforts like this, as the execution was lacking in their 83-58 loss at Lafayette Wednesday night. If they can, then there is a chance to make a move up the Patriot standings, as they still get Bucknell, Holy Cross and Lafayette at home.

-- In their last two games, Manhattan has forced a combined 43 turnovers. But they lost both games.

Usually, forcing a high number of turnovers will get your team into the win column. But this hasn’t been the case for the Jaspers of late, and the reason is quite simple: they’re not defending well enough when they don’t force a turnover. In the two-point loss to Iona Wednesday night, the Gaels shot 50% from the field despite twenty-one miscues. On Sunday, St. Peter’s wins by ten, shooting 52.1% from the field while committing twenty-two turnovers.

So even though they shoot a respectable 42% from the field themselves, they rank dead last in the MAAC in field goal percentage defense (46.7%). Four of the five best teams in the league in this category are also four of the top five teams in the standings, a good indicator of what the Jaspers need to improve upon if they want to end their current seven-game skid.

-- Thought to be a team that had a chance to compete in the Atlantic 10, Fordham is struggling to keep their head above water right now.

It’s been a good year for the Atlantic 10, but unfortunately for the Fordham Rams they haven’t been part of the renaissance. A team that brings back five senior starters going into the season now finds itself fighting to simply qualify for the conference tournament with a 2-5 league record. Similar to Manhattan, the Rams are last in their conference in field goal percentage defense, an issue all the more glaring when you take into consideration the fact that this is one of the A-10’s poorer offensive teams (11^th in field goal percentage) as well.

No one’s expecting the Rams to run up and down the floor, putting up a lot of points in the process. This isn’t that kind of team, but if they don’t get stingier on the other end of the floor they may not be headed to Atlantic City next month. And that would be a bitter pill to swallow for this senior class.

　

Games to keep an eye on

Marist @ Siena (Monday, 7 PM)

Two rivals get together in Albany in a game that will go a long way in deciding who ends up winning the MAAC regular season title. Part of a three-way tie for second, both are just a game back of Rider in the loss column, a team both have lost to in the past week.

Notre Dame @ Seton Hall (Wednesday, 7:30 PM)

This game should feature a lot of points, as well as a lot of three pointers. The question for Seton Hall will be how they go about slowing down Luke Harangody inside. All three Pirate big men fouled out of the overtime win against Rutgers, but they can’t get away with that in this one.

Wagner @ Mount St. Mary’s (Thursday, 7 PM)

In order for the Seahawks to keep within striking distance of Sacred Heart, they need to get a few road wins. Both of their conference losses came on the road, in blowout fashion at that. The Mountaineers, led by guards Chris Vann and Jeremy Goode, are more than capable of knocking Wagner off.

Niagara @ Rider (Friday, 7 PM)

No television for this one, but this game offers the opportunity to check out two of the MAAC’s best players, Charron Fisher (Niagara) and the aforementioned Jason Thompson. But to focus on just those two would be unfair to the likes of Tyrone Lewis and Ryan Thompson. There’s a lot of offensive talent that will be on display in this one, a game that could be a preview of things to come next month when the MAAC Tournament takes place in Albany.

Providence @ St. John’s (Saturday, Noon)

Two teams who will be in desperate need of a Big East win if they want to qualify for the Big East Tournament. While many expected growing pains for the Red Storm, not too many expected the Friars to scuffle the way that they have for stretches this season. Losing Sharaud Curry hurts, but there’s still some talent on this roster, enough to say that they shouldn’t be 12-9. The winner breathes a temporary sigh of relief while the loser falls deeper into the hole.

Rhode Island @ Fordham (Sunday, Noon)

The battle of the Rams takes place in the Bronx, and this is a game that Fordham must have at this point in the season. And given their defensive troubles of late, welcoming a team with two of the conference’s better scorers (Will Daniels and Jimmy Baron) isn’t the best way to get out of their funk. But no one said this would be easy for Fordham either.

Updated Rankings (last week’s in parentheses)

1. Rider (3)

2. Seton Hall (1)

3. Sacred Heart (5)

4. Marist (2)

5. Wagner (4)

6. Army (8)

7. Yale (6)

8. Iona (13)

9. Rutgers (7)

10. Fordham (9)

11. Columbia (12)

12. St. John’s (10)

13. Long Island (11)

14. Fairleigh Dickinson (14)

15. Fairfield (15)

16. Hofstra (16)

17. Monmouth (17)

18. Princeton (21)

19. St. Francis-NY (18)

20. St. Peter’s (22)

21. Manhattan (19)

22. Stony Brook (20)

23. NJIT (23)

Daily Poll: Who Will Win the Ivy?

Shawn Siegel — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 21:02:09 -0400

MAAC title on the line this morning

Raphielle Johnson — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 10:16:13 -0500

In a game that can be seen on ESPN2 at 11 am EST, Siena will visit Marist in hopes of winning a share of the MAAC regular season title. A Siena win today would also give surprising Niagara a shot at the title, so long as the Purple Eagles, winners of their last seven, take care of Rider on Sunday. Siena's Kenny Hasbrouck and Marist's Jared Jordan make up one of the better guard matchups in a game this season, but whichever team can get something from their bench today will win this one. Of the two teams, Marist (12-0 when their bench outscores the opponent's reserves) gets a little more on the average from their reserves, such as Wilfred "Spongy" Benjamin and Shae McNamara. Foul trouble, especially to the big men on both teams, could force both coaches to go past their comfort levels when it comes to how to use their bench. Due to the home court advantage, I like the Red Foxes to claim their first outright MAAC title ever. And if you're a Red Fox fan going to the game, be sure to wear white. The Ivy League race, if games go as expected today, will come down to Yale at Penn next Friday night. I, like many, expected the Quakers to simply run away with the league's automatic bid without much of a challenge (especially with the way that Princeton has played at times this year). But this could be a sign that the Ivy won't be "Penn, Princeton and the other guys" from now on. Yale head coach James Jones has to be up for consideration when voting for league coach of the year, and the duo of Casey Hughes and Eric Flato has played good basketball all season. All that's needed now is a Senior Night win over Columbia to set the stage for next Friday. In the NEC, Sacred Heart got themselves a huge win at Monmouth last night, led by a 16-0 second half run sparked by guards Chauncey Hardy and Drew Shubik. The Pioneers will play Quinnipiac in a battle for the two seed in the NEC Tournament, important due to the fact that the two position guarantees two home games (so long as you win of course). Who can challenge Central Connecticut State for the league's automatic bid? I'd probably look at the three right below them in the standings (SHU, Quinnipiac and FDU). While a Mount St. Mary's or Robert Morris is capable of pulling an upset, and Monmouth is the defending tournament champ, I don't see those three providing much of a challenge to the Blue Devils. As a matter of fact, Monmouth needs either a win or an LIU loss to make sure that they qualify for the tournament. A loss combined with an LIU win puts the Blackbirds into the NEC Tournament, thanks to their 82-78 win over the Hawks back on February 20th.

I owe Yale an apology

Raphielle Johnson — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 01:11:30 -0500

I begin this blog with a quote from my last post: "Although you normally want to wait until a team plays more than two games to state that they are the clear favorite to win their conference, can anybody truly challenge Penn at the top of the Ivy League? Preseason prognosticators tabbed Princeton to finish second, but they're sitting in last place right now. Maybe Cornell or Yale? Who knows, but I'll take the Quakers over the field." (January 29th) Whoops. After this weekend's games (a sweep of Princeton and Penn), James Jones' Yale Bulldogs are atop the Ivy League with a 5-1 conference record. Yale is led by the tandem of guard Eric Flato and guard/forward Casey Hughes. This is an experienced ballclub that should hang around for the duration of the season and challenge for the league's automatic bid. They've played two more games than Penn, which explains the two-game lead in the win column (they're tied in the loss category), and they've got the Columbia/Cornell road swing this coming weekend. If they can get through that with at least a split, if not a sweep, the Bulldogs have their next four games at home. The season ends with games at Penn and Princeton, and those games could indeed decide who represents the Ivy in the NCAA Tournament. In the MAAC, preseason favorite Marist has gotten themselves into quite a jam in the standings. They're only one game behind Loyola (MD) thanks to their win over the Greyhounds on Saturday, but they're 2-3 record in the last five games has put them into a tougher spot when it comes to seeding for the MAAC Tournament. 2 1/2 games separate second place from eighth in the standings, and seeds 7-10 get to play on the first day of the tournament. With the improvement of teams like Niagara and Fairfield since the beginning of the year, the last weeks of the regular season will be a sight to behold. The only given at this point is that St. Peter's and Iona will occupy the bottom two spots in the standings. Also, congrats to the Iona Gaels, who got their first win of the season on Saturday in a 79-67 win over Rider. Given the mentality of head coach Jeff Ruland, the celebration on the court was probably short-lived, and look out for this team in Bridgeport. One and done scenario, a team that many won't expect much from...a recipe of an upset or two. Or maybe even a run to the tournament crown. The Duquesne story just gets better by the week. Given the offseason turmoil experienced by the Dukes in the first year of the Ron Everhart era, another year of futility was expected. But after wins over Xavier and St. Bonaventure, the Dukes are sitting in the middle of the Atlantic 10 standings at 5-4 in the league. Although they're only two games out of first place, a championship would be too much to ask. But as this program grows and they get players healthy, look out. Speaking of the A-10, Rhode Island head coach Jim Baron may be well on his way to claiming the league's Coach of the Year award. It's one thing to improve your conference win total from one year to the next. But to do it with a completely different style of play? URI under Baron had always preferred a half-court style of play, but this year they're getting it done with an up-tempo style. Jimmy Baron (yes, he's the coach's son), Will Daniels and Kaheim Seawright are the main offensive threats. But I have no way of explaining the 45-44 win at Fordham on Saturday. Let's just give them credit for finding a way to win in spite of shooting 28% from the field. Two games in the next week will go a long way in deciding the Patriot and America East: Holy Cross at Bucknell (2/9) and Vermont at Albany (2/11). In both matchups, so long as all teams involved take care of business, the first place team will visit the team right behind them in the standings. In the NEC, two games separate second place from eighth, but the actual story may be that eighth place (Wagner) has 2.5 games between themselves and ninth place. Keep in mind that only the top eight teams in the standings qualify for the conference tournament. In order for LIU to pass Wagner, they would need to finish a full game ahead of the Seahawks given Wagner's season sweep of the Blackbirds.

Ivy League: First Month Awards

Jon Teitel — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:21:45 -0500

Ivy League awards after the first month are dominated by Penn and Harvard..

NOVEMBER ALL-IVY

SR PG Ibby Jaaber (Penn): 13.7 PPG, 5.9 APG, 2.7 SPG, 58.2 FG%
The improved play of Zoller and Grandieri has allowed Jaaber, the defending Ivy Player of the Year, to focus on his distribution skills from the point.

SR SG Jim Goffredo (Harvard): 15.6 PPG, 88.9 FT%, 3 3-PT/GAME
The senior leadership of Goffredo, plus his skill from behind the arc, and Cusworth should allow the Crimson to remain competitive throughout the rest of December.

JR SF Brian Grandieri (Penn): 14 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 4.1 APG, 2.4 SPG, 53.6 FG%
Expected to play 3rd-fiddle to Zoller and Jaaber this year, Grandieri is already putting up Jaaber-like numbers, and should explode next year when he is the focus of the offense.

SR PF Mark Zoller (Penn): 22.9 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 2 SPG, 62.5 FG%, 82.2 FT%
The early favorite for Ivy Player of the Year, Zoller led the conference in scoring in November, and is picking up where he left off in December after netting a career-high 33 against Villanova.

SR C Brian Cusworth (Harvard): 18 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 1.7 BPG, 61.2 FG%
Despite the fact that his eligibility will expire at the end of the semester, Cusworth is going out with a bang, as well with the conference lead in rebounding.

NOVEMBER ALL-IVY FRESHMEN

FR G Louis Dale (Cornell): 13.1 PPG, 50.8 FG%, 1.4 3-PT/GAME
With the season-ending injury to teammate Adam Gore, Dale and Wittman will be a lethal 1-2 scoring punch for Cornell through the end of the decade.

FR G Nico Scott (Columbia): 8.9 PPG, 52.4 FG%, 1.9 3-PT/GAME
The Lions have plenty of scoring and rebounding up front with John Baumann and Ben Nwachukwu, and now they have some three-point shooting from Scott to balance it out.

FR G Patrick Foley (Columbia): 8.4 PPG, 50 FG%, 83.3 FT%
With his fellow backcourt mate Scott, the future backcourt of Columbia is now.

FR G Lincoln Gunn (Princeton): 6.1 PPG, 1 SPG, 1.1 3-PT/GAME
The early favorite for Ivy Name of the Year, Gunn’s all-around skills will give him more minutes as the year progresses.

FR F Ryan Wittman (Cornell): 16.8 PPG, 1.4 SPG, 94.7 FT%, 3.8 3-PT/GAME
The early favorite for Ivy Freshman of the Year, Wittman leads all Ivy freshmen in scoring and is virtually automatic from the free-throw line.

NOVEMBER INJURED PLAYER OF THE MONTH

SO SG Adam Gore (Cornell): 20 PPG, 4 APG, 100 FT%, 5 3-PT/GAME
After being named Ivy Freshman of the Year last year, Gore tore his right ACL in the final minute of an outstanding performance in the Big Red’s season-opener last month. As a result, Gore will have to sit out the rest of this year.

The first three weeks have brought some interesting developments

Raphielle Johnson — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 01:51:00 -0500

Has there been a more unpredictable start to the season in recent memory? A Preseason NIT final of Butler and Gonzaga...how many people picked that one? Butler, in wins over Indiana and Tennessee, has played stifling defense and got some timely baskets when needed. Their best offense of the three-game run to the final was in their overtime win against Notre Dame, a game in which the Fighting Irish shot 48% from the field themselves. Maybe being able to see that they can beat solid competition with offense and defense can be seen as a positive for the Bulldogs. As for the Bulldogs from Spokane, is Josh Heytvelt something else or what? He missed a lot of games the past two seasons due to injuries, so many people don't know of his actual skill set. Yes, a lot has been mentioned about him (especially early last season), but the average fan probably lost sight of him after he hurt himself in the Maui Invitational final against UConn. Well, he's back and healthy. Brandan Wright was able to do some things for UNC in the semifinal Wednesday night, but the Heels play as well as Tyler Hansbrough does, and Heytvelt did an excellent job of containing the preseason National Player of the Year candidate. As for the Northeast, what on earth is going on? You have a lot of teams that one night look like they can't beat your local rec league team and the next night they look like they can play in the Final Four. How do you explain Providence losing to city rival Brown 51-41 (41 points??? Four nights after dropping 96 on Fairleigh Dickinson??? Amazing), then coming back to beat Boston College? Boston College, picked to finish 3rd in the ACC, has already lost to Vermont as well as the Friars. Manhattan, in a rebuilding year to tell you the truth, found a way to lose to New Jersey Tech, a program in its first year at the Division 1 level, yet they beat Hofstra. FDU knocked off Seton Hall for the first time in almost 40 years, and Rutgers shoots 19% AT HOME in losing to Kansas State. Looking back on my preseason ranking of the teams in the NYC area, the one issue for the top two teams reared its ugly head in their defeats. Neither Hofstra or Marist would be considered outstanding on the glass, but at this point I would say that the Red Foxes have a better chance at improving on the interior as the season progresses. Ryan Stilphen and James Smith are two guys with size that have the ability to hold their own in the paint, but foul trouble could make things difficult for Matt Brady's bunch since there isn't much size off the bench. Miles Orman is an active body off the bench, but who's that fourth man that can provide a couple quality inside minutes from time to time? Despite Stilphen's foul trouble today, Marist was able to knock off Minnesota in the Old Spice Classic due in part to the 16 and 13 put up by Smith. It'll be interesting to see how the frontline performs against a much bigger Arkansas club Friday morning. Hofstra desperately needs to find some inside help for Mike Davis-Sabb. After his 10.0 boards per game, no player for the Pride averages more than four per contest, and that number is shared by guards Loren Stokes and Antoine Agudio. Villanova made the perimeter-heavy lineup sexy last year, but don't forget that besides Will Sheridan Jay Wright could also count on the likes of Jason Fraser and Dante Cunningham for something inside. One post player alone can't hold up a team on the boards for the long haul. But don't jump off the Pride bandwagon just yet. This is a tough part of the schedule for Hofstra, with the game at Charlotte and the Great Alaska Shooutout appearance, where they lost to Hawaii Thanksgiving night. Tom Pecora is an excellent coach who should be able to find a way to offset their current frontcourt deficiencies. After their season-opening loss at Duke, Columbia has won four straight heading into their home tilt with Stony Brook Saturday afternoon. Keep an eye on this one, given the fact that the Lions are playing well and Stony Brook has won on the road at Penn State and Colgate so far this year. Of course, the Seawolves lost their home opener to Navy, giving up 87 points to the Middies, but they should improve on last season's 4-24 record. Also, it's possible that Iona could start out the year 0-5, with games at Rhode Island and Fordham coming up for the Gaels. But when you have to replace as much scoring at Jeff Ruland lost to graduation after last season, a slow start is to be expected. Lastly, I will admit that I was looking to the two games in the Preseason NIT for Fordham as a chance for the Rams to show that this isn't the "same old Fordham", that they're ready to consistently compete at or near the top of the Atlantic 10. The loss to Tennessee wasn't bad (78-71), and they weren't exactly expected to win that game either. But scoring 49 in their loss the following night to Belmont showed that the Rams have some work to do. But hey, it's early, and there's plenty of time for all of these teams to work out the kinks and play consistent basketball. I guess I'd become accustomed to seeing the "haves" whip the "Have-not" on a nightly basis this time of the year. Well, like George Mason last March, we're getting the message that things are a little different these days. And in the score of the week, South Virginia outscored VMI 92-90 in the second half of their game November 20th. Unfortunately for them, they lost the game 144-127.