mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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02-24-20 09:10 AM - Post#301610
In response to whitakk
Before we get too far down the road of the narrative that Harvard is barely surviving in Ivy games, I think the issue of final score and "control" are different.
For instance, here were some of the leads Harvard has held in Ivy play (we could expand this to some of the games just prior to Ivy play as well):
vs. Dartmouth +12 with 2 to play
at Dartmouth +13 with 1 to play
at Yale +13 with 5 to play
vs. Columbia +6 with 3 to play
vs. Princeton +4 with 2 to play
vs. Penn +8 with 2:30 to play
Harvard never trailed in the final five minutes of any of its Ivy wins (NOTE: it did trail Columbia at times in OT).
Its free throw percentage in Ivy play has been appalling, or else some of those games that ended up close might not have. Everyone kind of joked hyperbolically about where Harvard would miss Bryce the most as "being the closer," but I'd argue it's been worse than anyone could have feared.
And I don't think that's going to change much down the stretch. Harvard might not be a double-digit favorite the rest of the way, so if it can get the wins necessary to make the Ivy Tourney, I'd expect they'll continue to be close.
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Noah Friedman
Freshman
Posts: 34
Age: 25
Reg: 01-19-20
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02-24-20 01:49 PM - Post#301631
In response to mrjames
Does anybody know if aikien has a chance to come back this year or what is going on with Spencer freedman. Aikien could be the key going forwards and could be the difference of going on a run in the ncaa tournament
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mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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02-24-20 02:26 PM - Post#301635
In response to Noah Friedman
My guess is the next time we see Aiken it’ll be in a suit on Senior Night.
No question he’s an insane fit for what Harvard is lacking right now, more than even Towns would be, but I don’t see it. If he was coming back this year, it would have been for that Dartmouth game where he was expected back but wasn’t cleared morning of. When that happened, it was pretty clear it was over.
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PennFan10
Postdoc
Posts: 3590
Reg: 02-15-15
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02-24-20 03:00 PM - Post#301646
In response to mrjames
Another bizarre, mystery injury for Harvard. If you are supposed to be cleared for a game, and subsequently are not, that usually means you aren't quite ready and then come back a week later. So either he re-injured it (or worse) in shoot around, which shut him down, or the original info was inaccurate. Either way, its in the Harvard blackhole now where all reasonable communications go to die.
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84grad
Junior
Posts: 277
Age: 64
Reg: 11-09-17
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02-24-20 03:08 PM - Post#301649
In response to PennFan10
Aiken will NOT be playing this year.
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welcometothejungle
Masters Student
Posts: 788
Age: 27
Reg: 07-31-19
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Penn II 02-24-20 03:36 PM - Post#301655
In response to PennFan10
Either way, its in the Harvard blackhole now where all reasonable communications go to die.
I’m not really sure this is unique to Harvard. Wasn’t Stefanini supposed to be back by now? Has Engles said anything on his status? Will Gladson hasn’t suited up for Princeton for a year and a half, and there hasn’t been anything on him. Injury news around the league is pretty tough to find. If anything at least Aiken and Towns have had tweets from Jon Rothstein when they’re out which is more info than most players in the league get
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mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Penn II 02-24-20 03:43 PM - Post#301658
In response to welcometothejungle
That doesn't advance the narrative that Harvard is being secretive which benefits it in some way no one has identified yet.
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PennFan10
Postdoc
Posts: 3590
Reg: 02-15-15
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02-24-20 04:31 PM - Post#301659
In response to mrjames
It was public within a day that Stefanini had a season ending lisfranc foot injury and subsequently had surgery.
Gladson's situation was documented 2 years ago if I recall but he wasn't a significant enough contributor for anyone to care.
It doesn't benefit Harvard at all, which is why it's strange they don't release any information. Mike, your post makes the assumption that what Harvard does is normal. I don't think it is. People aren't targeting the Crimson's communication strategy, most are simply noting it is strange relative to most others. You guys don't think so. So be it.
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welcometothejungle
Masters Student
Posts: 788
Age: 27
Reg: 07-31-19
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Penn II 02-24-20 04:45 PM - Post#301661
In response to PennFan10
http://ivyhoopsonline.com/2019/11/14/columbia-n abs...
An IHO article dated November 14 quotes Jim Engles as being optimistic Stefanini would return in January. We are now in the last week of February so most people have now just assumed he’s done for the year, but that’s the last public statement on his status and the timeline was never a season ending injury. My point is more that concrete injury news is severely lacking in the Ivy League. Gladson’s had a knee injury, but we have no idea what injury/what surgeries he’s had in the time he’s missed. Aiken is out with a foot injury and Towns was out with a knee injury that we now know more about thanks to the long article about his status recently. In general I don’t think that’s far off from what we know about injuries around the league
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PennFan10
Postdoc
Posts: 3590
Reg: 02-15-15
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02-24-20 05:07 PM - Post#301664
In response to welcometothejungle
Stefanini had lisfranc surgery. It's 3-5 months to get the hardware removed (usually a plate has to be inserted). That's not a return to D1 Basketball timerframe.
Every Lisfranc inury I have seen is season ending.
There is a big difference between return to play information and actual injury information. Harvard gives neither. Contrast that with Penn and Donahue talks openly about injuries in the press. Very different philosophies. Until the article on Towns, no one publicly knew anything about the injury. Jelani Williams, Betley 2x, Bryce Washington, etc, are all known almost since inception.
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digamma
Masters Student
Posts: 468
Loc: Minneapolis
Reg: 11-27-11
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02-24-20 05:18 PM - Post#301668
In response to mrjames
Its free throw percentage in Ivy play has been appalling, or else some of those games that ended up close might not have. Everyone kind of joked hyperbolically about where Harvard would miss Bryce the most as "being the closer," but I'd argue it's been worse than anyone could have feared.
The appalling FT percentage plus the fact that we're still -29 on FTA for the conference season is quite a hole in the freebie department. We're basically -4 points a game when you factor in FT percentage as well, which is really something when we've played so many tight ones.
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Naismith
Sophomore
Posts: 150
Loc: RI
Reg: 11-11-18
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02-24-20 05:20 PM - Post#301669
In response to PennFan10
I may be wrong, but I believe in this brave new world that all college students have the right to approve or block any medical information from being released by the college. Yes, it's frustrating (especially to gamblers!) but may simply be out of any college's control.
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SomeGuy
Professor
Posts: 6418
Reg: 11-22-04
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02-24-20 11:15 PM - Post#301697
In response to Naismith
I apologize if we’ve gone around this circle before, but if I were a coach, I wouldn’t say a word about injuries unless a rule said I had to (like the NFL). I don’t really understand why fans feel they are entitled to know. And I find that personally I don’t care. Ryan Betley will be my guy if he comes back this year. But right now, my guys are Simmons, Martz, Scott, and Monroe.
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Noah Friedman
Freshman
Posts: 34
Age: 25
Reg: 01-19-20
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02-25-20 12:16 AM - Post#301700
In response to SomeGuy
How far do you think Harvard can go if they make the ncaa tournament? Also what is going on with Spencer freedman and why not play Sakota more he can shoot
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