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Username Post: Non-Conference Predictions        (Topic#26593)
iogyhufi 
Masters Student
Posts: 679

Age: 27
Reg: 10-10-17
11-01-22 03:30 PM - Post#345689    

Since we're less than a week away from the first game of the season, it seems a fine time to talk about what we expect to see from our teams in the non-con.

What do you think your team's biggest strength will be?
Biggest area of need?
What do you hope to see from your team in the noncon?
What do you expect results-wise?

For Yale, I expect that the biggest strengths will be the old Coach Jones standbys: defense and rebounding. Yale is going to have a lot of size in its starting five, especially in the backcourt, and so long as everyone stays healthy, I'd expect the Bulldogs to be strong here.

The biggest weakness is going to be scoring. Losing Swain and Gabbidon means losing a lot of production, and the Bulldogs were particularly weak last year at manufacturing offense (as opposed to winning ISO matchups).

I want to see team solidify its identity in the noncon. Smart defense, tough rebounding, good ball movement. There's enough talent on the roster that everything else will come if the fundamentals are good, I think.

I expect between 8 and 9 wins in the noncon. Yale's schedule outside of its three buy games is not exceptionally strong, but there are some tricky games in there (@Hawaii, Vermont) and opening the season with a three-game tournament in Hawaii will be tough. I think that they'll give at least one Power 6 coach an ulcer.

 
palestra38 
Professor
Posts: 32687

Reg: 11-21-04
Re: Non-Conference Predictions
11-01-22 03:39 PM - Post#345692    
    In response to iogyhufi

As usual, Penn scheduled a ballbuster out of conference schedule. @ Iona, @ Missouri, Towson, @ WVU, @ Drexel, the home tournament with Hartford, Colgate and Delaware and then the Big Five St. Joseph, LaSalle, @ Villanova and Temple before a Christmas week Div 3 game (Wilkes). I'm hoping for 7 out of that, but am not confident that this team will come together fast enough for that, especially with Dingle in a boot as of last Saturday.

 
Old Bear 
Postdoc
Posts: 3988

Reg: 11-23-04
11-01-22 07:26 PM - Post#345727    
    In response to palestra38

I expect Brown to finish higher than sixth. I do recognize that I’m not particularly objective.

 
SomeGuy 
Professor
Posts: 6391

Reg: 11-22-04
Re: Non-Conference Predictions
11-01-22 11:38 PM - Post#345742    
    In response to iogyhufi

Maybe this isn’t the right thread, but I’m curious who Yale’s starters will be in the backcourt. I guess I was assuming Mbeng, Mahoney, and Poulakidas, which doesn’t necessarily look that big to me (particularly losing what Gabbidon could do as a big guard).

 
iogyhufi 
Masters Student
Posts: 679

Age: 27
Reg: 10-10-17
Re: Non-Conference Predictions
11-02-22 11:04 AM - Post#345771    
    In response to SomeGuy

I can't say that this'll happen for certain, but I was operating under the assumption that Knowling would start at the 3 and Poulakidas would be the sixth man. I think that puts Knowling in a more natural position for him and shifts away from the undersized look Yale had last year.

 
Ever True 
Junior
Posts: 252

Age: 28
Reg: 02-02-15
11-04-22 09:54 AM - Post#345815    
    In response to iogyhufi

For Brown, I think our biggest strength will be our backcourt. I'm looking forward to year 2 of the Kino Lilly, Jr. experience and think that Friday and Wojcik should improve as well.

Our biggest area of need is depth in the front court. In an exhibition game against New Haven on Wednesday, Nana Owusu-Anane played 35 minutes. I don't think that's sustainable over the course of a season, especially when you consider foul trouble, injuries, etc. My hope is that either Malachi Ndur or Landon Lewis will earn more minutes over the course of the season, but we will have to wait and see.

For non-con, I would be happy with a record of 7-6 or better. Such a record would mean that we beat the teams like Central Connecticut State, Maine, and New Hampshire, while stealing one or two games against better teams - say, Colgate or UMass Lowell, both of whom we play at home. Anything above 8 wins means we would have beat one of URI, Michigan State or Northwestern, which would raise my expectations for league play. 7 wins would also give Mike a realistic chance of setting the all-time wins record for Brown basketball this season - he's 13 away, I believe.

As for the league, I agree with Old Bear that I think this team will perform better than the pollsters think they will, but only slightly better. I think Bruno will flirt with a spot in Ivy Madness before falling just short. More importantly, I'd like to see Cooley, Owusu-Anane and Lilly, Jr. continue to grow, because I think that core could lead the Bears to bigger and better things in the next two seasons.

 
SomeGuy 
Professor
Posts: 6391

Reg: 11-22-04
11-04-22 03:33 PM - Post#345825    
    In response to Ever True

One of these years, Brown is going to catch the breaks and get in, perhaps even when they shouldn’t. They’ve been too close too many times where things just didn’t go their way.

Agreed this may not be the year, with so many key departures up front. But you never know. If things bunch around the middle for the last spot, a couple of bounces can get you in.

 
Old Bear 
Postdoc
Posts: 3988

Reg: 11-23-04
11-04-22 05:12 PM - Post#345827    
    In response to SomeGuy

Ndur didn't play against NH but will be availableto spell Nana, Anya and Cooley my surprise in the front court.

 
james 
Masters Student
Posts: 779

Age: 48
Reg: 03-18-19
Re: Non-Conference Predictions
11-04-22 10:35 PM - Post#345836    
    In response to iogyhufi

cotton is a loss for yale on the size and shooting front
Really a shame

But poulakidas mahoney and maybe feinberg have range.

not sure what they change in front court. I wish they would go bigger in non comf but doubt they will

knowling is too effective in league in the post.
But there are options if healthy.

I hope molloy and wolf and possibly basa ama get some burn.
As for wolf having a 7 footer with ball skills is just rare if healthy.





 
SomeGuy 
Professor
Posts: 6391

Reg: 11-22-04
Re: Non-Conference Predictions
11-04-22 10:58 PM - Post#345839    
    In response to james

Yes, I think Knowling is a 4 for Yale on offense. He’s also a potential first team all-Ivy player, as early as this year.

 
james 
Masters Student
Posts: 779

Age: 48
Reg: 03-18-19
11-05-22 11:21 AM - Post#345844    
    In response to SomeGuy

Yea the southpaw is just crafty with long arms and great touch so I could see it.
if he develops reliable range in next two years he could be a poy candidate next year
would make him unguardable in the 4 out ball screen scheme with created space and mismatch’s

Upon further review it’s also why they could go smaller again
Just curious how they tie in jarvis/Kelly
It’s weird jarvis is a beast and can do more down low than last year
But Kelly is such a Swiss Army knife player on defense and rebounding and cuts but so far without reliable range or a hard post up game

His jumper hasn’t improved since high school when he had a reliable midrange and played Robin to Batman or Wendell carter jr

But he was once viewed as a high major recruit in that role

 
iogyhufi 
Masters Student
Posts: 679

Age: 27
Reg: 10-10-17
11-06-22 10:53 PM - Post#345903    
    In response to james

I can't disagree that Knowling's strength on offense is in the post, but I'm a bit worried about playing him at the 4 on defense, just because he's a bit undersized. I would wager that the coaching staff will experiment (or already has experimented) with Knowling at the 3 just to see how it works. I wouldn't be shocked if the starting 5 is Mbeng/Mahoney/Poulakidas/ Knowling/Jarvis or Kelly come Ivy play, though.

 
PennFan10 
Postdoc
Posts: 3580

Reg: 02-15-15
11-06-22 10:59 PM - Post#345904    
    In response to iogyhufi

I think Harvard will be in the top 3 this year. I think Ledlum returns to form and Louis Lesmond becomes an all Ivy player alongside him with a breakout year. Harvard probably has the most talent in the league. They also have the most unknowns because of injuries.



 
palestra38 
Professor
Posts: 32687

Reg: 11-21-04
11-07-22 11:21 AM - Post#345922    
    In response to PennFan10

Well, this is a surprising take--Luke Benz loves Princeton and picks Penn for a weak 7th place, ranking the Quakers 255th!

https://lbenz730.shinyapps.io/recspecs_basketball_...

I hope he is very wrong.

 
palestra38 
Professor
Posts: 32687

Reg: 11-21-04
11-07-22 11:48 AM - Post#345923    
    In response to palestra38

While WaPo bracketology has Penn winning the Ivies and a 14 seed in the Western Region:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/07/n...

 
SomeGuy 
Professor
Posts: 6391

Reg: 11-22-04
11-07-22 01:59 PM - Post#345935    
    In response to palestra38

Yes, I’m curious how that works. Didn’t he have Penn much higher than Pomeroy last year? Not sure what drives the massive drop. Too many returning minutes?

 
james 
Masters Student
Posts: 779

Age: 48
Reg: 03-18-19
11-07-22 02:38 PM - Post#345938    
    In response to PennFan10

i agree. i like the harvard teams talent a lot.

and they are being slept on bc of the injury travails of last year, etc.



 
james 
Masters Student
Posts: 779

Age: 48
Reg: 03-18-19
11-07-22 02:42 PM - Post#345940    
    In response to iogyhufi

i also wish they would experiment and push knowling down. it might work with kelly and jarvis. certainly this would help against a kentucky on defense!

but you lose poulakidas or mahoney.

they should be lights out shooters and that creates a spacing problem.

poulakidas is going to be hard to keep on the bench imho. so is knowling so you likely squeezing out the post minutes to accomodate assuming knowling didnt develop range

 
HARVARDDADGRAD 
Postdoc
Posts: 2685

Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
11-07-22 03:24 PM - Post#345943    
    In response to james

With the injuries in 2021-22 and the off year in 2020-21 even Harvard fans have no idea what's coming.

Strength is depth at the guard position and some shooters there, but no stoppers on defense. No idea about bigs, as none of the candidates have really ever played healthy for us. Ledlum is apparently back, but is he the centerpiece (which would stunt ball movement) or a weapon?

Hopefully we're not going in with high expectations likely to be dashed by injury - again.

No way am I going to project OOC, other than to rest assured that our December hosting of Tufts will likely not resemble our game shortly afterwards at Kansas.

 
Chip Bayers 
Professor
Posts: 6997
Chip Bayers
Loc: New York
Reg: 11-21-04
Non-Conference Predictions
11-12-22 11:26 AM - Post#346410    
    In response to HARVARDDADGRAD

Hey look! This terrible-so-far league finally got its first D-I win last night when Yale beat E. Washington in Hawai’i. Now a stellar 1-12 in week one.


Edited by Chip Bayers on 11-12-22 11:29 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

 
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