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| Username | Post: Columbia II |
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mobrien Masters Student Posts 402 |
03-09-19 06:44 PM - Post#280199
I'm going to miss this one too, but it'd be nice if we could play a good game before the Ivy Tourney starts. It's been awhile since we have. Would be even nicer to see Bassey's minutes ramp up a little. We're going to need him to be himself next week. |
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84grad Junior Posts 277 |
03-09-19 08:59 PM - Post#280278
44 points for Columbia. 10-13 on 2 pt. We’re 11-18 on 2 pt. Columbia 6-12 from 3. We’re 2-7. Shooting has been the key. Both teams with 9 turnovers. Very sloppy. Bassey dressed, but hasn’t played. Sure could use his D. Harvard has 20 minutes to prove they deserve to share title. |
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mobrien Masters Student Posts 402 |
03-09-19 10:34 PM - Post#280347
Great to see the team play better, and even better to see them split the regular season championship. Just have to hope Aiken's injury at the end wasn't serious. As we saw tonight, he *is* our offense. Hopefully that OT gets Djuricic going for the Ivy Tourney. He's usually the offensive x-factor for us. When he gets double-digits, we're usually in good shape. Penn is a much, much tougher draw than a wounded Princeton team, but we did beat them twice. They've done a good job on Bryce — he was pretty quiet the first game until the final minute and then OT — particularly on his threes. I hope he looks to attack the basket early on against them to set up the threes later on. Slowing down Brodeur is obviously the key against them. Going to need big defensive games from Lewis and Forbes. |
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HARVARDDADGRAD Postdoc Posts 2691 |
03-10-19 01:47 AM - Post#280368
Another Harvard/Columbia classic. Amaker won this game when he focused on defense to close out regulation and the OT. Bassey and Haskett helped support Djuricic and Catchings. Yes, with Aiken running the show Harvard can manage a lineup of defenders. Limiting Stefanini and Adlesh to a combined 26 points on 29 shots is an accomplishment. Big steals at midcourt and resulting points by Lewis and Djuricic turned the tide. Biggest shot was a Juzang three after Bryce broke down the defense. Bryce was awesome with 36 points and 5 big assists. Met with him after the game and he seemed ok. Great to see the guys accept the Ivy League Championship trophy for the second year in a row. Seth Towns seemed to be the most excited teammate on the floor. Enjoy it for now. Sure there are items of concern. Preparation for the Tournament will start soon. |
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mobrien Masters Student Posts 402 |
03-10-19 09:41 AM - Post#280387
How healthy did Bassey look? We really limited his minutes, but then he finished the game for us. |
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whitakk Masters Student Posts 523 |
03-10-19 09:48 AM - Post#280389
Harvard won a championship while outscoring its opponents by a 32 points *total*. Insane. |
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palestra38 Professor Posts 32815 |
03-10-19 10:01 AM - Post#280392
Simple--you had the most clutch player in the League and at least against Penn, you shot the lights out from 3. You hit your 3s, you have a chance of winning every game despite getting generally outplayed. |
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digamma Masters Student Posts 468 |
03-10-19 10:46 AM - Post#280395
Bassey looked fine. |
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84grad Junior Posts 277 |
03-10-19 10:50 AM - Post#280396
Aiken’s 36 points led to beautiful passing in OT. 2 to Djuricic,1 to Juzang and 1 to Bassey (although he missed the shot). That’s one of the things that has been missing this year for the team, and Columbia’s aggressive efforts to double team Aiken as he tried to penetrate allowed Aiken to display his point guard credentials. |
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palestra38 Professor Posts 32815 |
03-10-19 11:39 AM - Post#280407
Yes. No question if I had a vote for "Best Player", I would vote for Aiken. Doesn't have the numbers for POY, but a clear first teamer. |
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mobrien Masters Student Posts 402 |
03-10-19 11:51 AM - Post#280410
In what universe does Aiken not have the numbers for POY? Among high-usage players — i.e., greater than 20% of his team's shots — only Copeland barely edged out Aiken with a 110.9 vs 110.6 ORT. So basically a wash. And Aiken was able to do this despite taking 33% of his team's shots vs 24% for Copeland. The same efficiency on higher usage is a better season. |
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palestra38 Professor Posts 32815 |
03-10-19 12:02 PM - Post#280416
No arguing he isn't a great player, which is what the efficiency numbers show. But he is purely a shooter--turnovers > assists and his 2 point shooting percentage is not very good. If you want to compare all the numbers where Aiken was good, Matt Morgan was better. You can't give Aiken POY because the rest of the team was much better than Morgan's--you make an argument for Morgan as POY. Can't believe how clutch Aiken is, but I don't think he has the numbers overall to match Brodeur's, who is in the top 10 in almost all categories except 3 point shooting. |
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HARVARDDADGRAD Postdoc Posts 2691 |
03-10-19 01:00 PM - Post#280431
Without Aiken Harvard is fighting to get into the Tournament, not winning the Championship. Game he missed vs Dartmouth was a loss so team was 10-3 without him. That's a POY. League's leading scorer. Low 2pt % is because he's doubled and drives the lane far more than anyone else. Took and made more FT's than anyone else, making 84.2%, second highest in the league. Top 10 in assists. Underrated defender as well. Obviously Morgan, Brodeur and Oni are first teamers, but Aiken had more of an impact on his team's outcomes than any other player - and his team won the championship - because of him. Seems to be a no brainer. |
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palestra38 Professor Posts 32815 |
03-10-19 01:07 PM - Post#280432
If it is MVP, Aiken is it. But it is POY, and Brodeur was much more dominant in a variety of statistical categories. And Harvard got the POY last year with Towns (which I agreed with). We'll see, but I can't see how you can say it is a "no brainer" for Aiken. |
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HARVARDDADGRAD Postdoc Posts 2691 |
03-10-19 01:11 PM - Post#280434
Uh, you already attributed 2 wins vs Penn to him and the 2 wins vs Columbia (44 and 36 points) were certainly attributable to him. That's 4 WAR, and likely more. He led the league in scoring and is responsible for not only Harvard's making the tournament but also the Championship. No one was more impactful, although certainly Penn is screwed without Brodeur. Incredible you're back on our board to diminish Bryce this time. Stay at home please. |
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mobrien Masters Student Posts 402 |
03-10-19 01:12 PM - Post#280435
Brodeur was less efficient using fewer possessions for a team that came in fourth. I was only looking at the top teams and totally forgot about Morgan, which was silly of me. He has a slightly better ORT than Aiken on slightly lower usage. If he got it as a kind of lifetime achievement award, that'd make a certain amount of sense. If team success counts for anything, it should be Aiken no doubt. He has a strong statistical argument without even getting into his ridiculous clutchness. |
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HARVARDDADGRAD Postdoc Posts 2691 |
03-10-19 01:51 PM - Post#280445
Watching replay. From my vantage point I (and others) couldn't understand foul call on Catchings as he surrounded loose ball in backcourt with 9:29 left. Replay confirms that this was a bad call. Columbia's announcers were stupefied, explaining that as Catchings grabbed the ball Ellis came running at full speed into him, sending Catchings sprawling. No harm, but a foul. |
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palestra38 Professor Posts 32815 |
03-10-19 02:01 PM - Post#280449
You obviously just don't want debate. And you falsify what I said---I said Aiken was a great player and you claim that I demean him? What is wrong with you? |
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Mike Porter Postdoc Posts 3618 
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03-10-19 02:09 PM - Post#280456
Penn fan here. As a fan, LOVE AJ, and think he is definitely in the conversation for POY, but if I’m a coach, I’m voting for Bryce Aiken. Kid literally won you guys a few games single handedly, you guys are co-champions, and he has dropped like 30-40 points on teams. Hard to argue that, honestly. Their both uninanimous first team all Ivy, that’s for sure. |
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mrjames Professor Posts 6062 |
03-10-19 02:21 PM - Post#280460
I mean, if Morgan dragged Cornell into the tourney, I think there’d have been a discussion to be had there. I still don’t think it would have been close. This award is about impression more than anything. Aiken had myriad “moments†this season that made SportsCenter or otherwise made impressions on the coaches. I think it’s a pretty easy decision to make him POY. |
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HARVARDDADGRAD Postdoc Posts 2691 |
03-10-19 02:52 PM - Post#280478
Moving back to the Columbia game, just watched the second half ESPN+ replay. Really impressive how smart Bryce played. Columbia started doubling Bryce as soon as he touched the ball, even 25+ feet from the basket. Over the last 7.5 minutes, he only shot when he had to (end of 30 seconds, from 80 feet with 1.1 seconds left in regulation). Instead, he drew the defense and found the open guy, registering 4 assists. He'd have had more if we could shoot - but other than Bryce (6-11) Crimson were 1-14 on 3's last night and both Djuricic and Lewis failed to convert on late game Bryce feeds. Very impressive leadership. For the Tournament, I feel that Justin Bassey is key. He played only sparingly last night until the final few minutes of regulation and OT. Even then, he really only played defense. Since his injury early at Brown, Justin has only played 22 minutes over 5+ games and has not made a shot. In comparison, Justin scored 19 against Penn on 6-10 shooting the game before the injury. He was also Harvard's leading rebounder and has only 3 rebounds in total vs Cornell and Columbia. Hopefully, a little more rest this week combined with the metered court time this weekend will help. Catchings and Djuricic are playing well, but a healthy Bassey is different. A couple of more thing on Aiken. He is 15th in the league on steals. His midcourt strip and bucket on Llewellyn vs Princeton was key. As for shooting, the fact that a smallish point guard who is the focus of all defenses and shoots high volume and 3's is among league shooting leaders by % made is remarkable. Completely different to start 30 feet at 6'0" or so than to take a feed in the post at 6'8" or 6'9". Both Morgan and Aiken also need to be recognized for 40%+ 3 point shooting as they are not catch and shoot guys. |
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HARVARDDADGRAD Postdoc Posts 2691 |
03-10-19 02:57 PM - Post#280479
Here's my point. Penn has its own thread on POY. The virtues of Brodeur are rightfully touted there. Yes, I see an outside fan posted one sentence, was rebuffed and appropriately went away. Here, on a Harvard thread about Columbia II, you started by posting 4 times, lobbying for your player. This isn't an Ivy League thread nor the Penn thread. No one here wants to debate you. The mere fact that you think this thread is about debating with a Penn fan speaks volumes. You've expressed your opinion not once, but 4 times before being asked politely to return to Penn's thread on POY. There's even an Ivy League thread now. Maybe that's where you can go if you want to debate. Of course, that hasn't registered or stopped you. |
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HARVARDDADGRAD Postdoc Posts 2691 |
03-10-19 04:00 PM - Post#280493
Crimson's Henry Zhu captured a stat I had overlooked. Crimson shot 26-18 on FT's! As I pointed out when Bryce returned, Crimson really are a very stood FT shooting team. Throwing out the first Dartmouth game when Bryce did not play, Crimson are shooting 75% in conference, which would lead the conference (Princeton at 74.7%). Season FT stats for Bassey, Djuricic and Kirkwood are deceptive. Key, of course, is to get the ball in Bryce's hands when the opponent needs to foul. (Note: didn't work out with 2.7 seconds left yesterday when Bryce heroically limped off the bench for that purpose but fumbled the inbounds pass) |
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Don not trump Freshman Posts 7 |
03-10-19 06:59 PM - Post#280519
Sorry, but Aiken is a no brainer. Best player in IL. |
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palestra38 Professor Posts 32815 |
03-10-19 07:36 PM - Post#280528
Did you even go to Harvard? BTW, others with not as much hubris as you are willing to debate it--indeed, that's what this site is all about. It's like a bunch of guys sitting around the bar arguing about sports. You are the one who doesn't understand this. You just like reading your own prolix posts. By the way, the handy search function shows that you have posted in the Penn board 30 times in the past year. So what on earth is your point? One other thing, I heard the POY is indeed for the entire season performance, not just the Ivies. So your assumption may well be wrong. |
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HARVARDDADGRAD Postdoc Posts 2691 |
03-10-19 08:01 PM - Post#280534
There is a thread on the IVY LEAGUE board entitled "Individual Awards." If you want to stump for Brodeur that is perfect for you as this thread is entitled "Columbia II." There is even a Penn thread where the participants are extensively discussing this issue and have thus far concluded that Aiken will be the POY. Who knows if they are right, but please go to .... either of those places. With all deliberate haste. As for whether OOC play is considered is something I asked generally of this site's participants just last week. The answer that was provided by respondent(s) was that it is only for conference play. Maybe look back to find out who gave that opinion and converse with him/her/them. Hey, you missed Mr. James picking Tommy Amaker for Coach of the Year. You can go blow a gasket on that one over at the Ivy League 'individual awards' link as well. Go knock yourself out. |
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palestra38 Professor Posts 32815 |
03-10-19 08:24 PM - Post#280544
Please inform me of anything I said here critical of Aiken or any other Harvard player. Or Amaker, for that matter. You invent things I supposedly said and then react to yourself reacting. I was very complementary of Aiken --- you simply are a hypocrite---you post all the time on the Penn board and unlike my posts, are not always that complementary. You simply (and wrongly) are trying to claim an ownership interest in the Harvard board, and I don't even think you attended Harvard. Come on--where did you go to college? |
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HARVARDDADGRAD Postdoc Posts 2691 |
03-10-19 08:43 PM - Post#280547
Yes, I'm a Harvard college graduate. What are you pulling here, some revised birther BS? Disgusting garbage that again, reflects negatively on you. We are here celebrating Harvard outlasting a game Columbia squad and winning its second consecutive Ivy Championship. Aiken was clearly incredible and, some expressed that he was so important to the Crimson's success that he deserves the POY. You came over for the second week in a row to muckrake. We understand you worship Brodeur. Go to the Ivy League link on individual awards and let everyone know why you think he is more worthy. We weren't debating anything and certainly no one has been goaded by you into a childish "debate' (your words) of whether our guy is better than your guy. I guess one thing is evident. You certainly didn't go to Harvard. |
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palestra38 Professor Posts 32815 |
03-10-19 08:47 PM - Post#280550
Yes, just Penn and Columbia. But it's good to see your arrogance come through in full. Again, I complemented Aiken--you are just making up everything. As they often say, the hardest thing about Harvard is getting in. You are a poster child for that. |
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HARVARDDADGRAD Postdoc Posts 2691 |
03-10-19 08:52 PM - Post#280552
Here we go with the childish collegiate rants. Have you devolved into that now? My family members have much of the Ivy league covered as well. Yes, even Penn. Appears you have some sort of complex. I have never asked or cared about your connections. That's not supposed to be what this is about. Your sophomoric attempt to make this ad hominem should be duly noted. |
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palestra38 Professor Posts 32815 |
03-10-19 08:57 PM - Post#280553
Do you ever read the trash you post? You hit me with insults just for coming to this board to complement Aiken and make the point that Brodeur's stats are better and you then go nuclear. Your rants are so Trump-like that I just had to question that you are what you say you are. But the attacks were all yours. And you should just shut up and post for your team rather than attack someone just for doing what you do 50 times a day in other boards. What a nut. |
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H78 PhD Student Posts 1458 
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03-11-19 05:15 AM - Post#280583
Gentlemen. PEACE. You've both made valid points, and have a right to your respective opinions and beliefs. Let's remember that in one week or so, we may be rooting for perhaps each other's team, as our league's entry into the NCAA's. And palestra, I know you're a good guy, but unlike the Penn board, where as Yalie Cole Porter might say, "Anything Goes," here we're just a bit more soft-elbowed. Neither is better, nor worse. Just a question of who prefers chocolate, or strawberry, or other. With respect for both of you, all of us, and hopes for peace and renewed mutual respect. MCL |
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