SteveDanley
Sophomore
Posts: 102
Age: 39
Reg: 02-25-12
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03-13-17 08:37 AM - Post#226701
In response to SomeGuy
I was a bit of a skeptic of the tournament (for arguments plenty of folks have discussed -- high stakes of regular season games, some benefits of being "different", sending best team, and most obviously, the system treated me really well).
But I think this year turned me around a bit. Don't think folks realize how miserable the Ivy Season can be for those essentially eliminated. The one year we were mostly out of it (03-04) we ran more than the other four combined. And it's a lot tougher to stand the bus ride to or from Dartmouth if the season is essentially over.
The fact that almost every team was in it on the last weekend, that guys like Matt Howard (a better player than I ever was) got a chance to play meaningful games at the end of his career, in a packed Palestra (or that Dartmouth seniors felt like they had a chance to sneak in and were hyped for the last weekend) seems very important to me.
The saddest thing about the last 10 years has been how few of our guys have had the same experiences I did when I played. If the Ivy Tournament improves that for many of the current players, I can get on board. Even if I don't think we should hang the banners from the tie years, or my standard for program success is still winning the league and the NCAA tourney bid. The biggest plays of Matt Howard's career (Harvard blocks, end of Princeton w/ both the make to go up two, and the missed free throw) happened as a result of the Ivy Tourney.
Maybe more importantly, guys like Wood/Jones/Silpe who fell out of the rotation got some joy out of the end of the year. People don't realize how demoralizing playing D1 can be -- everyone at home doesn't understand why you're not a star, and if you're not winning it's even worse. I think (after year 1) that the tourney gives more student athletes something positive to mix in with the struggles. And on any D1 team at any time, about half the guys are definitely struggling (outside the rotation) and another half are close (playing but not well, in the doghouse, missed key plays in a loss).
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