Ivy League Playoff Wrap-Up
Not So Much “Penn Wins” as “Yale Loses”
Yale tried to become the first team other than Princeton and Penn since 1988 to play their way into the tourney. It didn’t happen. On March 9th, in an Ivy playoff game hosted by Lafayette, Yale had their hopes spoiled by Penn, 77-58. The Ivy, which traditionally does not host a postseason tournament, was forced to by way of Princeton, Yale and Penn posting identical 11-3 records this season. Yale earned a place in the title game by shocking Princeton in Philly on Thursday night.
Penn forward Ugonna Onyekwe scored 10 of his teams first 13 points in a 23-8 run to open the game. The power forward from London finished with 16 on the night, and guard Koko Archibong tallied 21 points to go along with an Ivy season-high 16 boards.
Josh Hill came off the bench to lead the losing Bulldogs with 14 points.
The Quakers had to win 10 straight games to achieve their goal, and the 2002 Tournament will be Fran Dunphy’s sixth at the Philly school.
NIT-Bound?
Not only would last night’s win given Yale a chance to dance, it would have also given James Jones’ team a 20-win season. So will 19 wins be enough for an NIT bid? It sounds a little ridiculous but consider the Bulldogs a bubble team for the NIT. (Hey, dreams are relative.) If Yale does get an invite to the expanded NIT field, it would be the first in the school’s history, as well as their first postseason trip since 1962.
Well, At Least We Have The Best Rookie…And My Dad’s Smarter Than Your Dad (Nyah Nyah)
Yale can take some solace in knowing that one of their best players will be returning next season. Rookie of the year Alex Gamboa of Reno Nevada, a freshman guard averaged 11.1 ppg, 2.8 rpg, and 3.3 apg. Gamboa also received an all-Ivy honorable mention. And local ice cream parlor has promised him a free waffle cone. (No purchase necessary.)
