HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
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11-20-18 11:42 AM - Post#266622
Harvard plays at San Francisco Wednesday night and at St. Mary's Saturday evening. Looks like these games can be viewed on THEW.TV, the WCC's official site. Appears to be free, but not sure.
#80 KP SF is 4-0, but due in part to very easy schedule (#333 SOS). SF head coach is former Columbia coach Kyle Smith who has also scheduled Dartmouth for this Friday.
Saint Marys is 3-1, with KP#61 but a #207 SOS. Loss was to KP #94 Utah St., a squad ranked similarly to #97 Harvard. For what it's worth, Harvard's SOS is the Ivy League's toughest at #80 and the schedule gets tougher. KP has Yale (#93 SOS) and Princeton (#78 SOS) as other Ivies having played comparably difficult schedules.
Edited by HARVARDDADGRAD on 11-20-18 11:50 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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palestra38
Professor
Posts: 32810
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: West Coast Trip
11-20-18 12:25 PM - Post#266630
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
That's because K-State and Oregon State are not on Penn's official schedule. With them, Miami and the Big 5, Penn's schedule matches anyone's
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PennFan10
Postdoc
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Re: West Coast Trip
11-20-18 12:38 PM - Post#266634
In response to palestra38
Yep. Bingo
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
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Loc: New Jersey
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11-20-18 12:41 PM - Post#266635
In response to palestra38
That's not how it works. KP includes those games and has Penn with 5th ranked Ivy SOS at #162, behind HYP and Dartmouth (SOS #134).
Penn absolutely played a very highly rated K-State squad (KP #14) and a reasonably strong Oregon St team (#75), and they are included in the KP SOS. Penn's other 4 opponents (Penn's victories) have dragged down Penn's SOS:
George Mason #155
Rice #276
Lafayette #308
Northern Iowa #148
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mrjames
Professor
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Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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11-20-18 12:51 PM - Post#266638
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Objectively, Harvard's schedule is tougher than Penn's though they're both projected to be Top 100 schedules, so kudos to both for challenging themselves.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
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Loc: New Jersey
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11-20-18 12:58 PM - Post#266641
In response to mrjames
Absolutely. League is doing well in that regard.
All I was doing was noting SOS to date, which is what KP reports. Seems the trick is to not schedule Division 1 patsies. Assume that was the RPI goal as well in prior years for the very reason that those games offset (for KP and RPI purposes) legitimate attempts to schedule up.
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palestra38
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West Coast Trip
11-20-18 01:07 PM - Post#266643
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
That cannot be the case. Here are Penn's out of conference opponents this year: George Mason, Rice, Lafayette, Northern Iowa, Kansas State, Oregon State, Stockton, Del. State, Miami (Fla), LaSalle, Villanova, New Mexico, Toledo, Monmouth,Temple,St Josephs
Here are Harvard's: MIT, Northeastern, U Mass, URI, SF, St. Mary's, Holy Cross, Siena, Vermont, GW, Mercer, North Carolina, MCGill,
Penn's schedule is objectively much tougher. Perhaps because it plays Del State and Lafayette, there is skewing, but there is no question that Penn plays more tough teams than Harvard, which plays only one Power Conference game and Penn plays 10 games with teams in higher rated conferences than the Ivies. Can you seriously look at that comparison and say Harvard has a tougher out of conference schedule?
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
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Loc: New Jersey
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11-20-18 01:38 PM - Post#266652
In response to palestra38
Not what I wrote. I described the CURRENT KenPom SOS rankings.
I do agree with you that Penn's schedule is a big upgrade over last year. Recent tournament provides with a big bump. Without tournament Penn's current SOS would be around 250th. Ivy rules meant Harvard could not play in such a tournament this year, but will participate in Advocare Invitational in Orlando next year.
Again, let's hope that all Ivy be healthy and that Betley recovers well. Will make these two years very competitive.
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palestra38
Professor
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11-20-18 02:09 PM - Post#266655
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Well, if they can coax an extra year out of Betley, that should be very interesting with the recruiting class Donahue has coming in.
But one year at a time. And with Betley's injury, Harvard has the advantage (assuming their guys come back, which Betley will not)
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mrjames
Professor
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Re: West Coast Trip
11-20-18 02:58 PM - Post#266663
In response to palestra38
Expected elite loss rate for Harvard's schedule: 21% (59th)
For Penn's: 19% (98th)
Very close, but Harvard's is objectively tougher.
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palestra38
Professor
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Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: West Coast Trip
11-20-18 03:55 PM - Post#266667
In response to mrjames
OK, it doesn't look that way to me, however. I'll give you that I don't know too much about the West Coast schools Harvard is playing, but I don't put all that much stock in Mass and URI and GW (especially this year).
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mrjames
Professor
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Loc: Montclair, NJ
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Re: West Coast Trip
11-20-18 04:31 PM - Post#266669
In response to palestra38
I think a lot of it is wrapped up in home/road. Harvard has 3 Tier I road games at present (USF, St. Mary’s, UNC). Penn’s toughest road game is at Temple. The home dates against Miami and Villanova end up being barely tougher than Temple on the road. So, all you’re left with is N-Kansas St.
It pencils out but could obviously change as the season moves forward (say if USF and St. Mary’s fall off the Tier I line) that’s why the expected loss percentages are so close. Both schedules are strong for what our league usually does.
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palestra38
Professor
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Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: West Coast Trip
11-20-18 04:43 PM - Post#266671
In response to mrjames
I suppose---I just don't remember a season we play this many top 100 teams.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2691
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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11-21-18 11:50 PM - Post#266766
In response to palestra38
Rough first half at San Francisco. Down 32-21. Sloppy, outrebounded, no offense except for Lewis down low and Danilo's 3's.
Kyle Smith has a nice team in San Francisco.
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digamma
Masters Student
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Loc: Minneapolis
Reg: 11-27-11
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11-22-18 12:57 AM - Post#266769
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Appreciate the fight in this team, but it's a frustrating watch right now.
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internetter
Postdoc
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Loc: Los Angeles
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11-22-18 12:58 AM - Post#266770
In response to digamma
Dons won
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
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11-22-18 01:01 AM - Post#266771
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Defense kept Harvard in what was an otherwise ugly game. Too many TO's and little offense until Lewis, Djuricic and Kirkwood powered inside for high percentage shots, eventually putting Harvard in the lead. Not enough to beat a good SF team though as SF wins by 5 (61-57). Impressed that this squad battled back with no offense from Juzang and only a few late buckets from Bassey. Freedman played final minutes at PG.
Again, nice effort, but not what we'll need to win this league.
For what it's worth, announcers stated that Towns will be back "shortly" and that Aiken will be back "in a few games."
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
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11-22-18 02:40 AM - Post#266774
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
oh, and 4-21 from 3
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digamma
Masters Student
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Loc: Minneapolis
Reg: 11-27-11
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11-22-18 09:09 AM - Post#266779
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
There was a little traffic on Twitter about a call late in the game (59-57 Dons, Harvard had the ball with no shot clock).
Freedman missed a floater to tie from the right side and the ball was tapped out. Bassey grabbed possession right over the half court stripe. The referee blew the whistle and signaled a backcourt violation.
This didn't seem to make sense because you can't be called for a backcourt violation on a rebound.
As best I can tell one of two things happened for the backcourt violation to happen.
1. Freedman's shot was an air ball. I don't *think* this was the case, but I didn't go back and watch the replay of the shot.
2. The ref ruled that Bassey established possession in the front court and then stepped into the backcourt, creating the backcourt violation. I think this is the more likely of the two calls, and if so, man what a bang bang play and tough call in the last ten seconds of a game.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
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Loc: New Jersey
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West Coast Trip
11-22-18 09:46 AM - Post#266783
In response to digamma
Chris Lewis Watch vs SF
Chris played 26 minutes and stayed out of foul trouble. SF had a 7'0" center and Chris game out active and aggressive, but missed 3 of first 4 shots. Chris quickly got that center in foul trouble and went on to make 6 of next 8, so 7-12 overall for 16 pts.
with Chris: Harvard 40 - SF 36
without: 17-25
Season Totals:
with Chris: +5
without Chris: -11
Harvard was outplayed at the guard position. Harvard starting guards (Juzang, Bassey and Haskett) scored a grand total of 2 points in the first half, and only 9 for the game. Christian Juzang has been 'out-quicked' the last few games, Rio Haskett is playing limited minutes, and the freshmen Kirkwood and Freedman are seeing more playing time, but making freshmen mistakes.
Must give credit to the coaches. It appeared that coach Smith took advantage of Harvard's guards early with breakouts and penetration. SF overplayed the guards knowing their 7'0" center and large forward(s) would help on Harvard's penetration. For the game, this pressure contributed to Harvard's guards shooting 2-16 on 3's. This is where Bryce and Seth are sorely missed. Corey is invisible.
Coach Amaker made key adjustments that almost won Harvard the game. In the second half, Harvard penetrated more and with opposing center in foul trouble Djuricic, Kirkwood and Lewis got aggressive near the basket. Harvard took the lead but couldn't close it out.
Very interesting coaching matchup. Kyle Smith knew what Harvard likes to do and also recognized the Crimson's weaknesses. Amaker adjusted and Harvard almost won a game on the road despite playing poorly. If Juzang and Bassey don't contribute on offense, this abbreviated squad likely doesn't have the scoring weapons to win games like this. 19% shooting from 3 won't cut it.
Edited by HARVARDDADGRAD on 11-22-18 09:49 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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