mobrien
Masters Student
Posts: 402
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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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
Age: 64
Reg: 11-09-17
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03-09-19 08:59 PM - Post#280278
In response to mobrien
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
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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Columbia II
03-09-19 10:34 PM - Post#280347
In response to 84grad
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.
Edited by mobrien on 03-09-19 10:52 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2691
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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03-10-19 01:47 AM - Post#280368
In response to mobrien
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
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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03-10-19 09:41 AM - Post#280387
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
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
Age: 32
Reg: 11-11-14
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03-10-19 09:48 AM - Post#280389
In response to mobrien
Harvard won a championship while outscoring its opponents by a 32 points *total*. Insane.
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palestra38
Professor
Posts: 32803
Reg: 11-21-04
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03-10-19 10:01 AM - Post#280392
In response to whitakk
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
Loc: Minneapolis
Reg: 11-27-11
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03-10-19 10:46 AM - Post#280395
In response to palestra38
Bassey looked fine.
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84grad
Junior
Posts: 277
Age: 64
Reg: 11-09-17
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03-10-19 10:50 AM - Post#280396
In response to palestra38
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: 32803
Reg: 11-21-04
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03-10-19 11:39 AM - Post#280407
In response to 84grad
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
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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03-10-19 11:51 AM - Post#280410
In response to palestra38
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: 32803
Reg: 11-21-04
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Columbia II
03-10-19 12:02 PM - Post#280416
In response to mobrien
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
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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03-10-19 01:00 PM - Post#280431
In response to palestra38
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: 32803
Reg: 11-21-04
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03-10-19 01:07 PM - Post#280432
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
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
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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03-10-19 01:11 PM - Post#280434
In response to palestra38
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
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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Columbia II
03-10-19 01:12 PM - Post#280435
In response to palestra38
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.
Edited by mobrien on 03-10-19 01:13 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2691
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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03-10-19 01:51 PM - Post#280445
In response to mobrien
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: 32803
Reg: 11-21-04
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03-10-19 02:01 PM - Post#280449
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
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
Loc: Los Angeles, CA
Reg: 11-21-04
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03-10-19 02:09 PM - Post#280456
In response to palestra38
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
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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03-10-19 02:21 PM - Post#280460
In response to Mike Porter
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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