bill parcells said, rather famously, “you are what your record says you are.” after twenty seven games, allgame can conclude that the 2023 – 24 columbia lions men’s basketball team is mediocre. a 13 -14 overall mark looks a bit better than their 4 -10 ivy league record but neither number matches our once high expectations of this unit. in their final dismal outing, saturday last, cornell routed them, 98 – 76. that was their worst loss of the year. but it was more remarkable as an emblem of their usual woes. they trailed by just 6 at the half. similarly, and regrettably, they had trailed the big red by just 4 at the break on january 9th before falling by twelve. entering their locker room, they trailed yale by a single bucket on january 15th before losing by nineteen. they improved in the rematch with yale, having trailed by two at the half they only lost by eight. the two losses to harvard were the most nauseating – up by eight at the break (and having led by twenty) in cambridge back on february 2, they managed to lose 68 – 65. two weeks later, they led at levien by a point at halftime but failed 80 -75. those losses, unforgivable at the time and still indigestible, perfectly illustrated the leading cause of the team’s second half woes. the crimson big men, chisom okpara and justice ajogbor repeatedly overpowered the lion centers in the paint on their way to easy buckets or crucial rebounds. at the other end of the court they forced the light blue to rely too often on their three point shooting to score. now one aspect of the team’s performance that can’t be criticized is their performance from the outside stripe. indeed they are one of the best in the country at that – 19th overall. but they are only 322nd in points scored. that is because they cannot convert the easy two inside so often as they should. allgame will leave the monday morning point guarding at that and pivot to a preview of this weekend’s ivy league tourney by saying three of the four teams playing feature solid athletes in the paint.
yale, seeded second, gets first billing because of their 7 foot tall spohomore center, danny wolf. the kid scores 15 nightly and grabs 10 boards. his inside game includes the occasional, but usually accurate, three point shot. next stop, nba. wolf is abetted by 6’6″ forward matt knowling. knowling is the latest in the line of bruising small forwards that coach jim jones routinely brings to new haven. matthue cotton, isaiah kelly, miye oni and brandon sherrod were all cut from the same cloth as knowling who mucks on the boards, dares you to drive on him and can back down or shoot over defenders. the elis lead the ivies in rebounding and these two fellows are why. this inside power is balanced by the terrific outside shooting of august mahoney and john poulikidas, probably the best three point shooter in the tourney. just behind yale in the ivy rebounding stats is brown, the tournament’s fourth and final seed. the bruins got hot three weeks ago and have won six straight. they own victories over both cornell and yale. the beef in their paint is supplied by two 6′ 8″ forwards, nana owusu-anane who grabs 9 rebounds nightly and kalu anya who snags 8 boards. they are space eaters who will make offensive rebounds and points inside against the rhode islanders hard to come by. brown’s difficulty is scoring the ball and junior guard kino lilly will have to exceed his 18 ppg average if his crew hopes to get by princeton in their saturday clash. princeton is the least efficient rebounding team in the league but the stripers still finished first and succeed with terrific team defense and good shooting, particularly from sophomore guard, xaivian lee and his classmate, 6′ 7″ forward caden pierce. pierce is allgame’s favorite ivy player, a ferocious defender and a battler on the boards. he plays with an intensity that allows princeton to compete with bigger front courts. additionally, the tigers are the league’s best free throw shooting team and in games that are likely to be physical, getting to the line will be crucial late. and, though brown is on a six game streak, the hottest team in the ivies as regular season play ended was princeton which has won nine in a row. finally, we come to cornell. the three seed in the tourney, brian earl’s crew epitomizes team play. for much of the season, the big red has started four guards – chris manon, nazir williams, noard cooper and isaiah gray – and center sean hansen. any one of these starters might be replaced on any given game day. be ready if you’re on the bench, though, because eight or nine minutes into play, earl will substitute the entire squad. guy ragland, ak okereke, jacob beccles, jake fiegen and keller boothby generally enter en masse. whoever is on the floor will likely be hitting the boards, diving for loose balls, or driving the lane. though nazir williams and sean hansen seem the most frequent offensive options – open man, no matter who, takes the shot. every one has a green light on this team which makes defending them very tough. although they have split their season series with the other three squads in this tourney, their two point losses to princeton (at princeton) a week ago and to yale (at yale) on february 10 make me think cornell the toughest road team in the mix this weekend. not yale, nor princeton, nor brown goes ten men deep, either. we like the boys from ithaca to prevail and grab the ivy bid for the big dance.
ci vediamo presto,
paulie b