PRINCETON, N.J. – the 2017-18 Ivy League Basketball season opens this weekend, with all eight teams in action.
Five Things You Need to Know:
- The Ancient Eight will challenge itself in the nonconference slate, with teams playing 19 games against 2017 NCAA Tournament teams. This weekend, Columbia visits No. 6 Villanova, Princeton travels to Butler and Yale takes on Creighton and Wisconsin.
- Seven of the league’s top 10 scorers return to the hardwood. Cornell junior Matt Morgan has led the league in scoring in each of his first two seasons, averaging 18.1 points per game a year ago followed by Dartmouth’s Evan Boudreaux who turned in 17.5 points per outing and pulled down a league-best 9.5 rebounds per game.
- 73.3 percent of league’s top 15 scorers were underclassmen in 2016-17. Five of the 11 players were freshmen, led by Harvar'ds Bryce Aiken, the 2017 Rookie of the Year. Aiken averaged 14.5 points per game.
- Harvard, the Ivy League preseason favorite, received a vote in the preseason AP Poll, marking the second consecutive season the Crimson have received votes in the preseason poll. Harvard begun the 2014-15 campaign ranked No. 25.
- The top four teams in the Ivy League standings advance to the Ivy League Tournament, March 10-11 at The Palestra. A variety of ticket offerings—including multi-session passes ranging from $30 - $295 and single-session tickets ranging from $20 - $160—are on sale online at IvyMadness.com/Tickets or by calling the Ivy League Box Office at (215) 703-3231.
BROWN
2016-17 Record: 13-17, 4-10
Season Opener: vs. Johnson & Wales (RI), November 11, 3 p.m.
Brown begins the 2017-18 season on Saturday, Nov. 11, hosting Johnson & Wales at the Pizzitola Sports Center. The Bears posted a 13-17 record last season and return three of its five starters from a year ago. Brown lost
Steven Spieth, the fifth all-time leading scorer in program history,
Tavon Blackmon, the 18th on the all-time scorer in program history, and
JR Hobbie, the all-time three-point leader, to graduation.
Brown will be led by junior forward
Obi Okolie, who has started 29-of-30 games for the Bears last season and scored in double figures in 16 outings. Okolie is Brown's top returning scorer with 9.1 points per game, while averaging 4.0 rebounds per game. Sophomore forward
Joshua Howard led Brown in field goal percentage, shooting 51.8 from the floor as a rookie. He turned in 8.7 points per game and scored in double figures 11 times. Brown will play its next five of its next six games on the road, visiting Quinnipiac (Nov. 13), St. Francis Brooklyn (Nov. 19) and Stony Brook (Nov. 22) before returning home to host LIU Brooklyn (Nov. 25). The Bears will make the quick trip to Bryant (Nov. 26) and Rhode Island (Nov. 28) to close out the month.
COLUMBIA
2016-17 Record: 11-16, 5-9
Season Opener: at Villanova, November 10, 8:30 p.m.
Columbia will open the 2017-18 season with a trip to No. 6 Villanova. The Lions finished the 2016-17 campaign with an 11-16 overall record and were 5-9 in Ivy League play, narrowly missing out on the fourth and final spot at the inaugural Ivy League Tournament. The Lions, who will play their first seven games on the road, will be looking for its first win over a ranked foe since 1994.
After a summer training with NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler, sophomore point guard
Mike Smith will look to build on a stellar rookie season where he scored 368 points, a Columbia record for a first-year. Smith started every game in 2016-17 and scored in double-figures in 19 of 27 games on his way to averaging 13.6 points per contest.
After missing all of the 2016-17 campaign due to a toe injury, guard
Kyle Castlin is back in the fold for his senior season. Castlin averaged 10.3 points per game in 2014-15.
CORNELL
2016-17 Record: 8-21, 4-10
Season Opener: at Syracuse, November 10, 7 p.m.
Cornell will open the 2017-18 season with a short trip to Syracuse. The Big Red, picked to finish sixth in the preseason Ivy League media poll, returns 72 percent of its scoring, 74 percent of its rebounding and 71 percent of its assists from last season — one of just 16 Division I teams nationwide to bring back 70 percent of its scoring, rebounding and assists from a year ago.
Cornell returns two-time All-Ivy League selection
Matt Morgan, the conference's leading scorer in each of his first two seasons en route to becoming the first Big Red basketball player to reach 1,000 points in two seasons. Morgan led the Ivy Leauge in scoring for the second straight year, posting a circuit-high 18.1 points to go along with 4.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 0.8 steals per game. Legendary Syracuse coach and Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member Jim Boeheim will be coaching against his son, Jimmy, who will be making his collegiate varsity debut in the Carrier Dome for the Big Red.
DARTMOUTH
2016-17 Record: 7-20, 4-10
Season Opener: at Quinnipiac, November 11, 2 p.m.
Dartmouth’s 2017-18 season beings at Quinnipiac on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 2 p.m., with their home opener taking place three days later at Leede Arena against Emerson College on Nov. 14. The Big Green finished last season 7-20 overall and 4-10 in Ancient Eight play. Dartmouth entered the final game of the season with an opportunity to claim the fourth and final berth but fell to Princeton.
Dartmouth features a pair of former Ivy League Rookies of the Year in junior forward Evan Boudreaux (17.5 ppg, 9.5 rpg) an senior Miles Wright (9.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg), the former of which led the Ancient Eight in rebounding and ranked second in scoring. Junior Guilien Smith (12.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg) emerged as a capable scorer last year along with sophomore Brendan Barry (5.6 ppg) who shot 45.5 from beyond the arc.
HARVARD
2016 Record: 18-10, 10-4
Season Opener: vs MIT, November 10, 7 p.m.
Playing in a newly-renovated Lavietes Pavilion, Harvard men's basketball's return to the hardwood begins this weekend when the Crimson hosts MIT on Friday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. and Massachusetts on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. Despite freshman
Bryce Aiken's career best 28 points, Harvard fell to Yale 73-71 in the semifinals of the inaugural Ivy League Tournament. With the loss, Harvard finished 18-10 on the season, and second in the Ivy League standings with a 10-4 conference record.
The Crimson will look to fill the void left by graduating senior guard
Siyani Chambers, who averaged 32.2 MPG, 9.9 PPG, and 5.9 APG a season ago. After being ranked the 10th-youngest team in the NCAA according to KenPom rankings, Harvard returns a core group to the court in 2017-18. Sophomore
Bryce Aiken and
Seth Towns paced the Crimson offense with 14.5 and 12.3 points per game, respectively, while classmates
Chris Lewis and
Justin Bassey started 20-plus games last season as freshmen.
PENN
2016-17 Record: 13-15, 6-8
Season Opener: at Fairfield, November 11, 1 p.m.
Penn opens the 2017-18 season with a trip to Bridgeport, Conn., to take on Fairfield on Saturday, Nov. 11 before returning to the Palestra for its home opener against La Salle on Monday, Nov. 13.
After getting off to a slow start in conference play, Penn took six of its last eight games to earn the fourth spot in the inaugural four-team Ivy League tournament. The Quakers nearly staged an upset over top-seeded Princeton in the first semifinal game of Ivy Madness, but fell 72-64 in overtime. Penn, which returns 12 letterwinners—including four of its five starters from last season—will rely on a pair of sophomores in
AJ Brodeur and
Ryan Betley. Brodeur, a Second-Team All-Ivy selection, turned in multiple 30-point performances and finished his rookie campaign averaging team-bests in points (13.8) and rebounds (6.9). Betley contributed 11.9 points and 4.6 points per game.
PRINCETON
2016 Record: 23-7, 14-0
Season Opener: at Butler, November 12, 6 p.m.
Princeton will begin its Ivy League title defense with a trip to historic Hinkle Fieldhouse where the Tigers will take on Butler. Princeton is coming off a 14-0 Ivy League season, the sixth in program history and first since 1998, and the 14th in Ivy League history and first since 2008 (Cornell). That earned the Tigers their 27th Ivy League championship and the top seed in the inaugural Ivy League Tournament, which Princeton won to advance to its 25th NCAA Tournament.
The Tigers return two starters in junior
Devin Cannady, an honorable-mention All-Ivy Leaguer, and classmate
Myles Stephens, the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, a first-team All-Ivy Leaguer, and the Ivy League Tournament MVP. Princeton also returns senior
Amir Bell, who has started 64 games in his career, including five games last year.
YALE
2016 Record: 18-11, 9-5
Season Opener: at Creighton, November 10, 9 p.m.
Yale will open the 2017-18 seaon with a trip to BIG EAST power Creighton on Friday, Nov. 10. The Bulldogs are coming off another highly successful 2016-17 season where the squad won 18 games and advanced to the championship game of the first Ivy League Tournament before falling to Princeton. Over the last four years, the Bulldogs have 82 victories, captured two Ivy League titles and won the first NCAA Tournament game in school history – over Baylor in 2016.
The Bulldogs led the Ivy League in rebounding margin for the sixth straight year last year, held opponents to 42.9 percent from the field, including 32.9 percent from three-point range, and averaged an Ivy League best 15.7 assists per game. Three of last year's top four scorers return, including junior
Alex Copeland and sophomore
Miye Oni who shared the team lead at 12.9 ppg. Yale also will be bolstered by the return of senior
Makai Mason, who is working his way back after missing all of last season with a foot injury. Mason scored 31 points in the NCAA Tournament victory over Baylor in 2016 and was a first team All-Ivy selection.