bradley
PhD Student
Posts: 1842
Age: 74
Reg: 01-15-16
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Re: 2017-18 Ivy Performance 12-11-17 10:18 AM - Post#239957
In response to mrjames
Yale's performance has been surprising especially in light of the two major injuries. Without the injuries to two very good BB players, Yale may have walked away with the IL regular season crown and be a credible team in the Tournament.
As the broadcasters stated this weekend, Yale does a very good job of passing the ball and moving without the ball. Although they have three main offensive players, they are less dependent than the big three at Harvard and especially Princeton to shoot and score. As a result, shooters are getting more open looks than H or Prin. Penn also shares the ball better than H and Prin.
H and P continue to play the same way with similar results. It may be simply some "bad" luck but their play is painful to watch at times. Yale keeps moving the ball trying to get a clean look at the basket. Yale commits turnovers with the estra pass but they also seem to get better looks at the basket than H or Prin. Yale also seems to work hard at protecting the rim even with the lack of height.
Maybe all things even out as you suggest regarding H and Pr or maybe Amaker and Henderson make needed adjustments. Yale and Penn may indeed challenge for the IL Crown.
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rbg
Postdoc
Posts: 3066
Reg: 10-20-14
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12-14-17 02:04 PM - Post#240196
In response to bradley
Busting Brackets checks in to the IL one month into the season -
https://bustingbrackets.com/2017/12/13/ivy-league -...
1. Yale 2. Penn 3. Harvard 4. Harvard 5. Cornell 6.> Dartmouth 7. Brown 8. Columbia
NYC Buckets has its weekly post with rankings -
http://www.nycbuckets.com/2017/12/ivy-league-we ekl...
1. Harvard 2. Yale 3. Penn 4. Princeton 5. Columbia 6. Cornell 7. Brown 8. Dartmouth
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palestra38
Professor
Posts: 32877
Reg: 11-21-04
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12-14-17 02:43 PM - Post#240203
In response to rbg
Princeton moved to Cambridge for this season in your first poll?
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SRP
Postdoc
Posts: 4919
Reg: 02-04-06
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12-14-17 02:45 PM - Post#240204
In response to palestra38
Amaker is such a good recruiter that he gets two spots.
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palestra38
Professor
Posts: 32877
Reg: 11-21-04
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12-14-17 02:50 PM - Post#240205
In response to SRP
Convinced the entire Princeton team to transfer in the Shop Rite
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bradley
PhD Student
Posts: 1842
Age: 74
Reg: 01-15-16
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12-15-17 09:46 AM - Post#240257
In response to SRP
If true, Tommy would probably not accept the vast majority of Tiger players as they do not have enough stars from their high school ratings.
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Silver Maple
Postdoc
Posts: 3781
Loc: Westfield, New Jersey
Reg: 11-23-04
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12-15-17 10:31 AM - Post#240258
In response to bradley
That does bring up something I've been wondering about: is Harvard overly focused on recruiting extremely highly rated players, and paying insufficient attention to the factors that make a player right for their program? It's way too early to answer that question, but Harvard's performance so far this season makes one wonder. Of course, they could straighten themselves out in the next couple of weeks and blow the rest of the conference away for the foreseeable future. But, if that doesn't happen, this question will become increasingly important.
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bradley
PhD Student
Posts: 1842
Age: 74
Reg: 01-15-16
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12-15-17 11:11 AM - Post#240260
In response to Silver Maple
I was only having some fun regarding high school ratings and Amaker. Always good to get highly skilled H.S. players and develop them but there are simply no guarantees.
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sparman
PhD Student
Posts: 1348
Reg: 12-08-04
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12-15-17 11:22 AM - Post#240261
In response to rbg
Harvard, so good it enters two teams.
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mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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12-15-17 11:22 AM - Post#240262
In response to Silver Maple
Nothing has really changed here.
For a variety of reasons, Harvard struck out in its 2013, 2014 and 2015 classes. 2013 it couldn't go big after two sizeable classes (that pulled in a lot of starter/rotation level talent). Zena was legit, but there were issues there. Hunter Myers just couldn't ever overcome injuries. And Noah Allen didn't end up matriculating. In 2014, Harvard lost out on a couple surprising ones - Justin Gray and Jeff Roberson - and Egi, who coaches seemed to think was the best player in that incoming class, never developed. Meanwhile, there was a ton of assistant coaching turmoil.
In 2015, Harvard went BIG because it new it had a ton of slots after two small classes. Chimezie Metu, AJ Turner, Aaron Falzon were the biggest names in a long line of big names that Harvard came close to but whiffed. It did a nice job of recovering (because after 2013 and 2014 if HAD to) with a solid mid-major class, but really only Corey Johnson had any higher-level offers.
To a great extent, it was Harvard's inability to land extremely highly rated players in those classes that has left it where it is today. This season, Harvard's highly touted 2016 class has combined for 3.3 win shares. The 2017 class has 0.4 (all Djuricic). The 2014 and 2015 classes combined have 0.5 win shares (all Corey Johnson). Without the 2016 class, Harvard would not be an Ivy Tourney team.
The 2013, 2014 and 2015 classes all *seemed* elite because there was a high-major player in each (Zena, Egi and Corey). But dig any deeper than that and you could tell that these weren't comparable to the 2009 class that launched the program or the 2011 and 2012 classes that took it to new heights. The 2016 class was better than all of those, but it's still relatively alone. 2018 will change all that - Kirkwood and Freedman could be playing big minutes for Harvard right now and Mason Forbes and Kale Catchings are better than any depth from those 2013-2015 classes.
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rbg
Postdoc
Posts: 3066
Reg: 10-20-14
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12-15-17 01:52 PM - Post#240273
In response to sparman
Sorry for the error.
It was 4. Princeton (or would it be too much to make it Harvard - Central Jersey)
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