HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2685
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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02-26-20 10:36 PM - Post#301880
Big game for Crimson on Friday night. What an amazing and important game this could have been if Tape, Stefanini, Towns and Aiken were playing.
Plan for a long evening? Six OT's in the last 3 meetings so 50 minutes of basketball. How about the OT at Columbia in 2011 or the 2 OT's in 2013? Crimson have won 4 of last 7 at Levien.
Crimson need to come to play on both nights. After this weekend, Crimson guaranteed their final game will be at Lavietes.
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mobrien
Senior
Posts: 389
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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02-26-20 11:02 PM - Post#301881
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
I expect both games to be battles this weekend. I'm only half-joking when I say that our game with Columbia seems destined to go to (at least one) overtime, and Cornell has been pretty tough at home, beating Brown and Princeton and taking Yale to 2OT.
All of which is to say that I think Friday's game will be a lot closer than the 7 points Kenpom has us favored by. I expect Engles to play us the same way he usually does, which is sagging off guys on the perimeter to try to take away post-up opportunities and driving lanes. They might resort to an even more exaggerated version of this if Nweke is out again like he was last week. In any case, we responded to this strategy last time by jacking up threes at an unconscionable rate; hopefully this time we'll be a little more patient and be willing to attack some closeouts instead.
Defense, obviously, is all about slowing Mike Smith down. He is their offense.
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Noah Friedman
Freshman
Posts: 34
Age: 25
Reg: 01-19-20
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02-27-20 08:57 AM - Post#301902
In response to mobrien
Any news on aikien or Spencer freedman?
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digamma
Masters Student
Posts: 466
Loc: Minneapolis
Reg: 11-27-11
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02-27-20 11:14 AM - Post#301930
In response to Noah Friedman
Can we just start the Columbia game in the first OT?
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digamma
Masters Student
Posts: 466
Loc: Minneapolis
Reg: 11-27-11
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02-28-20 10:01 PM - Post#302198
In response to digamma
Solid effort particularly on the defensive end.
Hopefully the Juzang injury is just a sprain that heals by the tournament. Brutal.
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digamma
Masters Student
Posts: 466
Loc: Minneapolis
Reg: 11-27-11
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02-28-20 10:05 PM - Post#302203
In response to digamma
I don't like going into other team's threads, but watched the Yale game on a second tv and man did they get some breaks in the last 90 seconds.
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mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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02-28-20 10:14 PM - Post#302212
In response to digamma
It’s shooting fish in a barrel to pick at Ivy refs, but my goodness. They didn’t just give that game to Yale; they manufactured giving that game to Yale.
Not like Penn’s eliminated because of it, and the stakes at Brown are just the same. Could have given it a cushion for the final weekend, though.
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mobrien
Senior
Posts: 389
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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02-29-20 12:27 AM - Post#302269
In response to mrjames
If you told me that Smith would have 34, Juzang would get hurt, Kirkwood would only score 6, and Lewis would only *attempt* three shots from the field, I would have assumed it was going to be another long night at Levien. But Haskett and Ledlum carried us in that second half. Haskett's three point shot came out of hibernation at exactly the right time, and he was able to use his athleticism to get to the rim over and over again. Ledlum also had a big physical advantage, but that's been true a lot of times the past 6 weeks and he hasn't taken advantage; tonight he had his mid-range jumper working and was able to finish when he got in close.
Oh, and we also made our free throws; 17 of 21 for the night. I'd almost forgotten that was allowed. Was nice to not have to sweat the final moments out.
We just have to hope that Juzang is able to get back before the tournament. He looked to be in a lot of pain — it was definitely his ankle — and was on crutches after the game. There's a reason he's been playing the most minutes for us...
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Noah Friedman
Freshman
Posts: 34
Age: 25
Reg: 01-19-20
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02-29-20 01:12 AM - Post#302274
In response to mobrien
Any news on aikien? Are they holding g out hope he returns for the tournament? Also rio haskett gave us a sneak preview for next year. He could be very good next year to lead this team
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mobrien
Senior
Posts: 389
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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02-29-20 01:21 AM - Post#302275
In response to Noah Friedman
Aiken's out for the season. They confirmed that to CBS reporter Jon Rothstein tonight.
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Noah Friedman
Freshman
Posts: 34
Age: 25
Reg: 01-19-20
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02-29-20 01:26 AM - Post#302279
In response to mobrien
Why didn’t Harvard release anything? Also what is going on with Spencer freedman? Why has he barely played this year?
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whitakk
Masters Student
Posts: 523
Age: 32
Reg: 11-11-14
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02-29-20 01:28 AM - Post#302280
In response to mobrien
Yeah that really didn't look good for Juzang.
The PG-less offense had a stretch of four straight turnovers but overall was 1.36 PPP in the second half (of course that was with Good Rio and some intentional fouling).
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mobrien
Senior
Posts: 389
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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02-29-20 01:43 AM - Post#302283
In response to whitakk
Yep, there was that one brutal stretch. A few of them were bad entry passes where the guy didn't really have position and we tried to force it in anyway. Then we got hot after that. The second half shooting was pretty absurd for both teams; Smith kept making one contested circus shot after another.
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rbg
Postdoc
Posts: 3044
Reg: 10-20-14
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02-29-20 01:47 AM - Post#302284
In response to mobrien
Yale and Princeton have clinched spots in the Ivy Tournament. Harvard's site does not mention anything about clinching a spot, but it does seem that they can do no worse than 4th at this point.
Have they actually earned the trip back home?
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mobrien
Senior
Posts: 389
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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Columbia II 02-29-20 01:48 AM - Post#302285
In response to Noah Friedman
Maybe they were hoping Aiken would get healthy and didn't want to prematurely rule things out. But the fact that he hasn't been practicing and hasn't been healthy enough to even travel with the team on road trips have been pretty big red flags. It's been fairly clear since the Penn/Princeton trip that it was very unlikely he was coming back.
No idea what's going on with Freedman. He's been in a suit (the wrong kind) this year. Not sure if he's been hurt too or just isn't in the top 15 who dress.
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Noah Friedman
Freshman
Posts: 34
Age: 25
Reg: 01-19-20
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02-29-20 01:57 AM - Post#302288
In response to mobrien
Interesting. How about playing sakota more? What is your prediction for what happens? Does Harvard get into the ncaa tournament and if so how far? Their defense can compete with the top teams
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2685
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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02-29-20 02:05 AM - Post#302289
In response to Noah Friedman
This will be uncharted territory without Juzang or Aiken. Harvard played without a PG for most of the second half, but Haskett was great when he did play.
Strange that neither Tretout or Sakota saw any time tonight. Tretout had jumped ahead of Sakota on the depth chart. Columbia went small but guys like Bassey, Kirkwood and Ledlum played tough.
Have to assume that Tretout and Sakota see some playing time tonight.
Again, considering we've lost 3 key seniors, including both PG's, the future will be interesting, but limited.
"Bully Ball!
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2685
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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02-29-20 02:12 AM - Post#302291
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Oh, and if anyone was concerned about next year, of the top five in minutes tonight only one is a senior and underclassmen scored 52 of 77 points.
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Noah Friedman
Freshman
Posts: 34
Age: 25
Reg: 01-19-20
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02-29-20 02:15 AM - Post#302292
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Is it possible next years tram can be even better?
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Noah Friedman
Freshman
Posts: 34
Age: 25
Reg: 01-19-20
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02-29-20 02:16 AM - Post#302293
In response to Noah Friedman
Team I meant
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