Ivy

NYC Metro Ranking & Report: Jason Thompson Leads Rider

Raphielle Johnson — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 07:59:25 -0800

I’d be a fool not to mention the New York Giants’ 17-14 victory in Super Bowl XLII. Congratulations to the organization and all you Giants who helped this team achieve their 3-5 home record. Just kidding, enjoy the moment and the fact that just when everyone said this team couldn’t win, they went ahead and did it. Now, let’s move on to the week that was in the metropolitan area on the hardwood.

Team of the Week:
Rider
Results:
W 79-65 @ Marist, W 89-75 @ Siena

Back to back fourteen-point road wins last week put the Rider Broncs in the driver’s seat for the MAAC regular season title. And their current nine-game win streak makes them one of the nation’s hottest teams as well. In the Wednesday night showdown in Poughkeepsie, Rider won the battle on the boards 38-27 and shot fifty percent (8-16) from behind the arc in avenging their January 4^th home loss to the Red Foxes. Senior center Jason Thompson led four Broncs in double figures with twenty points, and also tallied nine boards, four blocks and four assists.

The win at Siena on Saturday featured one of the more impressive offensive displays put up in college basketball all season long, with Rider scoring fifty-nine points to take a twenty-five point lead into the locker room. While they didn’t perform as well in the second half, looking somewhat tentative on the offensive end of the floor, Rider had essentially put the game away in the first twenty minutes. Jason Thompson played all forty minutes and put up twenty-three points and twenty-one rebounds, and all five starters reached double figures. Be it Jason on the block, Ryan in between, or sharpshooter Harris Mansell from deep, Tommy Dempsey’s Broncs have a number of scoring options from which to choose.

No disrespect to the fans who decided to spark the “We Own Jersey” chant at the end of the Seton Hall/ Rutgers game Thursday night, but this may be the Garden State’s best team right now.

Honorable Mention: Iona (wins over Manhattan and St. Peter’s to move to 5-7 in the MAAC); Sacred Heart (wins at FDU and St. Francis-NY to move into first in the NEC)

Player of the Week:
Jason Thompson (Rider)
Numbers for the Week:
20 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks @ Marist; 23 points, 21 rebounds, 5 assists @ Siena

For those who saw the midseason 30 list for the Wooden Award and thought “Who is Jason Thompson?” last week, the senior big man gave quite the answer in his two appearances. For the season, Thompson now averages twenty points and more than eleven (11.5 to be exact) rebounds per contest. But this shouldn’t be a surprise, given the fact that of the three players in college basketball to average twenty and ten last season, he’s the only one who returned to school. So while the experts focus on the big men in conferences with a higher profile, Jason continues to do what he does best, helping lead the Broncs to wins along the way. If this keeps up, one of those higher profile teams will find out quite a bit about Thompson and his mates in March.

Honorable Mention: John Baumann (Columbia): 19 and 7 @ Yale, 23 and 13 vs. Cornell; Brian Laing (Seton Hall): 23 and 6 @ Rutgers, 24 and 6 @ Georgetown; Drew Shubik (Sacred Heart): 16, 14 and 9 assists @ FDU, 9, 6 and 6 assists @ St. Francis-NY.

Turnaround of the Week:
Fairfield winning at Niagara, 76-72, two days after getting blown out 88-60 at Canisius.

Now, the Stags winning at Niagara isn’t an upset along the lines of the Super Bowl that we all just watched. But when you’re coming off of a twenty-eight point loss to a team with one conference win (and three wins total) going into said meeting, not too many people are expecting you to win the game. Fairfield, thanks in large part to the durable Jonathan Han at point, was able to get a split of the trip to Western New York.

Han, a junior from Brooklyn, hasn’t played fewer than thirty-five minutes in a game since logging thirty-two in a game against Holy Cross on November 13^th. The floor general has helped keep this team afloat in the MAAC when it looked as if they were earmarked for a finish at or near the bottom of the conference. Five Stags reached double figures, and they also limited the Purple Eagles to 4-22 from behind the arc to move to 6-6 in league play.

Other Observations of the last week

-- St. John’s recovered from an embarrassing effort on Wednesday in beating South Florida on Saturday.

As if last week’s loss to Pittsburgh was bad enough, the Red Storm found a way to fall further on Wednesday, suffering their worst defeat ever in Big East play against Georgetown. In a game where the largest deficit was thirty-nine, St. John’s didn’t score their first field goal of the game until about five minutes remaining in the first half. Fans were even more upset with the team and head coach Norm Roberts, and that game was the type of effort that can implode a season. But give these guys credit, they didn’t allow it to do so.

Yes, the end of their six-game losing streak came at South Florida, a team battling its own issues right now. But to make the big plays down the stretch without the services of one of your best players (Anthony Mason Jr. went down with a sprained ankle late in the first half) shows that this group does indeed have some mental toughness. Next up for the Red Storm is Rutgers at the RAC, another young team that has struggled at times this season and is coming off of a bad loss at Louisville.

-- Even though they’re only 3-4 in the Patriot League, Army owns road wins over both Holy Cross and Bucknell.

The above statement shows two things: just how wide open the Patriot League actually is this season, and the fact that the Black Knights do indeed have a chance to make some noise in the coming month. Army, thanks to Jarell Brown’s twenty-one point effort, left Sojka Pavillion on Sunday with an impressive 68-52 win. Bucknell head coach Pat Flannery missed the game today due to illness, but that should not take away from the fact that Jim Crews’ squad forced twenty-three Bison turnovers in this one.

The issue for Army is to consistently put up efforts like this, as the execution was lacking in their 83-58 loss at Lafayette Wednesday night. If they can, then there is a chance to make a move up the Patriot standings, as they still get Bucknell, Holy Cross and Lafayette at home.

-- In their last two games, Manhattan has forced a combined 43 turnovers. But they lost both games.

Usually, forcing a high number of turnovers will get your team into the win column. But this hasn’t been the case for the Jaspers of late, and the reason is quite simple: they’re not defending well enough when they don’t force a turnover. In the two-point loss to Iona Wednesday night, the Gaels shot 50% from the field despite twenty-one miscues. On Sunday, St. Peter’s wins by ten, shooting 52.1% from the field while committing twenty-two turnovers.

So even though they shoot a respectable 42% from the field themselves, they rank dead last in the MAAC in field goal percentage defense (46.7%). Four of the five best teams in the league in this category are also four of the top five teams in the standings, a good indicator of what the Jaspers need to improve upon if they want to end their current seven-game skid.

-- Thought to be a team that had a chance to compete in the Atlantic 10, Fordham is struggling to keep their head above water right now.

It’s been a good year for the Atlantic 10, but unfortunately for the Fordham Rams they haven’t been part of the renaissance. A team that brings back five senior starters going into the season now finds itself fighting to simply qualify for the conference tournament with a 2-5 league record. Similar to Manhattan, the Rams are last in their conference in field goal percentage defense, an issue all the more glaring when you take into consideration the fact that this is one of the A-10’s poorer offensive teams (11^th in field goal percentage) as well.

No one’s expecting the Rams to run up and down the floor, putting up a lot of points in the process. This isn’t that kind of team, but if they don’t get stingier on the other end of the floor they may not be headed to Atlantic City next month. And that would be a bitter pill to swallow for this senior class.

　

Games to keep an eye on

Marist @ Siena (Monday, 7 PM)

Two rivals get together in Albany in a game that will go a long way in deciding who ends up winning the MAAC regular season title. Part of a three-way tie for second, both are just a game back of Rider in the loss column, a team both have lost to in the past week.

Notre Dame @ Seton Hall (Wednesday, 7:30 PM)

This game should feature a lot of points, as well as a lot of three pointers. The question for Seton Hall will be how they go about slowing down Luke Harangody inside. All three Pirate big men fouled out of the overtime win against Rutgers, but they can’t get away with that in this one.

Wagner @ Mount St. Mary’s (Thursday, 7 PM)

In order for the Seahawks to keep within striking distance of Sacred Heart, they need to get a few road wins. Both of their conference losses came on the road, in blowout fashion at that. The Mountaineers, led by guards Chris Vann and Jeremy Goode, are more than capable of knocking Wagner off.

Niagara @ Rider (Friday, 7 PM)

No television for this one, but this game offers the opportunity to check out two of the MAAC’s best players, Charron Fisher (Niagara) and the aforementioned Jason Thompson. But to focus on just those two would be unfair to the likes of Tyrone Lewis and Ryan Thompson. There’s a lot of offensive talent that will be on display in this one, a game that could be a preview of things to come next month when the MAAC Tournament takes place in Albany.

Providence @ St. John’s (Saturday, Noon)

Two teams who will be in desperate need of a Big East win if they want to qualify for the Big East Tournament. While many expected growing pains for the Red Storm, not too many expected the Friars to scuffle the way that they have for stretches this season. Losing Sharaud Curry hurts, but there’s still some talent on this roster, enough to say that they shouldn’t be 12-9. The winner breathes a temporary sigh of relief while the loser falls deeper into the hole.

Rhode Island @ Fordham (Sunday, Noon)

The battle of the Rams takes place in the Bronx, and this is a game that Fordham must have at this point in the season. And given their defensive troubles of late, welcoming a team with two of the conference’s better scorers (Will Daniels and Jimmy Baron) isn’t the best way to get out of their funk. But no one said this would be easy for Fordham either.

Updated Rankings (last week’s in parentheses)

1. Rider (3)

2. Seton Hall (1)

3. Sacred Heart (5)

4. Marist (2)

5. Wagner (4)

6. Army (8)

7. Yale (6)

8. Iona (13)

9. Rutgers (7)

10. Fordham (9)

11. Columbia (12)

12. St. John’s (10)

13. Long Island (11)

14. Fairleigh Dickinson (14)

15. Fairfield (15)

16. Hofstra (16)

17. Monmouth (17)

18. Princeton (21)

19. St. Francis-NY (18)

20. St. Peter’s (22)

21. Manhattan (19)

22. Stony Brook (20)

23. NJIT (23)

Daily Poll: Who Will Win the Ivy?

Shawn Siegel — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 18:02:09 -0700

MAAC title on the line this morning

Raphielle Johnson — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 07:16:13 -0800

In a game that can be seen on ESPN2 at 11 am EST, Siena will visit Marist in hopes of winning a share of the MAAC regular season title. A Siena win today would also give surprising Niagara a shot at the title, so long as the Purple Eagles, winners of their last seven, take care of Rider on Sunday. Siena's Kenny Hasbrouck and Marist's Jared Jordan make up one of the better guard matchups in a game this season, but whichever team can get something from their bench today will win this one. Of the two teams, Marist (12-0 when their bench outscores the opponent's reserves) gets a little more on the average from their reserves, such as Wilfred "Spongy" Benjamin and Shae McNamara. Foul trouble, especially to the big men on both teams, could force both coaches to go past their comfort levels when it comes to how to use their bench. Due to the home court advantage, I like the Red Foxes to claim their first outright MAAC title ever. And if you're a Red Fox fan going to the game, be sure to wear white. The Ivy League race, if games go as expected today, will come down to Yale at Penn next Friday night. I, like many, expected the Quakers to simply run away with the league's automatic bid without much of a challenge (especially with the way that Princeton has played at times this year). But this could be a sign that the Ivy won't be "Penn, Princeton and the other guys" from now on. Yale head coach James Jones has to be up for consideration when voting for league coach of the year, and the duo of Casey Hughes and Eric Flato has played good basketball all season. All that's needed now is a Senior Night win over Columbia to set the stage for next Friday. In the NEC, Sacred Heart got themselves a huge win at Monmouth last night, led by a 16-0 second half run sparked by guards Chauncey Hardy and Drew Shubik. The Pioneers will play Quinnipiac in a battle for the two seed in the NEC Tournament, important due to the fact that the two position guarantees two home games (so long as you win of course). Who can challenge Central Connecticut State for the league's automatic bid? I'd probably look at the three right below them in the standings (SHU, Quinnipiac and FDU). While a Mount St. Mary's or Robert Morris is capable of pulling an upset, and Monmouth is the defending tournament champ, I don't see those three providing much of a challenge to the Blue Devils. As a matter of fact, Monmouth needs either a win or an LIU loss to make sure that they qualify for the tournament. A loss combined with an LIU win puts the Blackbirds into the NEC Tournament, thanks to their 82-78 win over the Hawks back on February 20th.

I owe Yale an apology

Raphielle Johnson — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 22:11:30 -0800

I begin this blog with a quote from my last post: "Although you normally want to wait until a team plays more than two games to state that they are the clear favorite to win their conference, can anybody truly challenge Penn at the top of the Ivy League? Preseason prognosticators tabbed Princeton to finish second, but they're sitting in last place right now. Maybe Cornell or Yale? Who knows, but I'll take the Quakers over the field." (January 29th) Whoops. After this weekend's games (a sweep of Princeton and Penn), James Jones' Yale Bulldogs are atop the Ivy League with a 5-1 conference record. Yale is led by the tandem of guard Eric Flato and guard/forward Casey Hughes. This is an experienced ballclub that should hang around for the duration of the season and challenge for the league's automatic bid. They've played two more games than Penn, which explains the two-game lead in the win column (they're tied in the loss category), and they've got the Columbia/Cornell road swing this coming weekend. If they can get through that with at least a split, if not a sweep, the Bulldogs have their next four games at home. The season ends with games at Penn and Princeton, and those games could indeed decide who represents the Ivy in the NCAA Tournament. In the MAAC, preseason favorite Marist has gotten themselves into quite a jam in the standings. They're only one game behind Loyola (MD) thanks to their win over the Greyhounds on Saturday, but they're 2-3 record in the last five games has put them into a tougher spot when it comes to seeding for the MAAC Tournament. 2 1/2 games separate second place from eighth in the standings, and seeds 7-10 get to play on the first day of the tournament. With the improvement of teams like Niagara and Fairfield since the beginning of the year, the last weeks of the regular season will be a sight to behold. The only given at this point is that St. Peter's and Iona will occupy the bottom two spots in the standings. Also, congrats to the Iona Gaels, who got their first win of the season on Saturday in a 79-67 win over Rider. Given the mentality of head coach Jeff Ruland, the celebration on the court was probably short-lived, and look out for this team in Bridgeport. One and done scenario, a team that many won't expect much from...a recipe of an upset or two. Or maybe even a run to the tournament crown. The Duquesne story just gets better by the week. Given the offseason turmoil experienced by the Dukes in the first year of the Ron Everhart era, another year of futility was expected. But after wins over Xavier and St. Bonaventure, the Dukes are sitting in the middle of the Atlantic 10 standings at 5-4 in the league. Although they're only two games out of first place, a championship would be too much to ask. But as this program grows and they get players healthy, look out. Speaking of the A-10, Rhode Island head coach Jim Baron may be well on his way to claiming the league's Coach of the Year award. It's one thing to improve your conference win total from one year to the next. But to do it with a completely different style of play? URI under Baron had always preferred a half-court style of play, but this year they're getting it done with an up-tempo style. Jimmy Baron (yes, he's the coach's son), Will Daniels and Kaheim Seawright are the main offensive threats. But I have no way of explaining the 45-44 win at Fordham on Saturday. Let's just give them credit for finding a way to win in spite of shooting 28% from the field. Two games in the next week will go a long way in deciding the Patriot and America East: Holy Cross at Bucknell (2/9) and Vermont at Albany (2/11). In both matchups, so long as all teams involved take care of business, the first place team will visit the team right behind them in the standings. In the NEC, two games separate second place from eighth, but the actual story may be that eighth place (Wagner) has 2.5 games between themselves and ninth place. Keep in mind that only the top eight teams in the standings qualify for the conference tournament. In order for LIU to pass Wagner, they would need to finish a full game ahead of the Seahawks given Wagner's season sweep of the Blackbirds.

Ivy League: First Month Awards

Jon Teitel — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 10:21:45 -0800

Ivy League awards after the first month are dominated by Penn and Harvard..

NOVEMBER ALL-IVY

SR PG Ibby Jaaber (Penn): 13.7 PPG, 5.9 APG, 2.7 SPG, 58.2 FG%
The improved play of Zoller and Grandieri has allowed Jaaber, the defending Ivy Player of the Year, to focus on his distribution skills from the point.

SR SG Jim Goffredo (Harvard): 15.6 PPG, 88.9 FT%, 3 3-PT/GAME
The senior leadership of Goffredo, plus his skill from behind the arc, and Cusworth should allow the Crimson to remain competitive throughout the rest of December.

JR SF Brian Grandieri (Penn): 14 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 4.1 APG, 2.4 SPG, 53.6 FG%
Expected to play 3rd-fiddle to Zoller and Jaaber this year, Grandieri is already putting up Jaaber-like numbers, and should explode next year when he is the focus of the offense.

SR PF Mark Zoller (Penn): 22.9 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 2 SPG, 62.5 FG%, 82.2 FT%
The early favorite for Ivy Player of the Year, Zoller led the conference in scoring in November, and is picking up where he left off in December after netting a career-high 33 against Villanova.

SR C Brian Cusworth (Harvard): 18 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 1.7 BPG, 61.2 FG%
Despite the fact that his eligibility will expire at the end of the semester, Cusworth is going out with a bang, as well with the conference lead in rebounding.

NOVEMBER ALL-IVY FRESHMEN

FR G Louis Dale (Cornell): 13.1 PPG, 50.8 FG%, 1.4 3-PT/GAME
With the season-ending injury to teammate Adam Gore, Dale and Wittman will be a lethal 1-2 scoring punch for Cornell through the end of the decade.

FR G Nico Scott (Columbia): 8.9 PPG, 52.4 FG%, 1.9 3-PT/GAME
The Lions have plenty of scoring and rebounding up front with John Baumann and Ben Nwachukwu, and now they have some three-point shooting from Scott to balance it out.

FR G Patrick Foley (Columbia): 8.4 PPG, 50 FG%, 83.3 FT%
With his fellow backcourt mate Scott, the future backcourt of Columbia is now.

FR G Lincoln Gunn (Princeton): 6.1 PPG, 1 SPG, 1.1 3-PT/GAME
The early favorite for Ivy Name of the Year, Gunn’s all-around skills will give him more minutes as the year progresses.

FR F Ryan Wittman (Cornell): 16.8 PPG, 1.4 SPG, 94.7 FT%, 3.8 3-PT/GAME
The early favorite for Ivy Freshman of the Year, Wittman leads all Ivy freshmen in scoring and is virtually automatic from the free-throw line.

NOVEMBER INJURED PLAYER OF THE MONTH

SO SG Adam Gore (Cornell): 20 PPG, 4 APG, 100 FT%, 5 3-PT/GAME
After being named Ivy Freshman of the Year last year, Gore tore his right ACL in the final minute of an outstanding performance in the Big Red’s season-opener last month. As a result, Gore will have to sit out the rest of this year.

The first three weeks have brought some interesting developments

Raphielle Johnson — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 22:51:00 -0800

Has there been a more unpredictable start to the season in recent memory? A Preseason NIT final of Butler and Gonzaga...how many people picked that one? Butler, in wins over Indiana and Tennessee, has played stifling defense and got some timely baskets when needed. Their best offense of the three-game run to the final was in their overtime win against Notre Dame, a game in which the Fighting Irish shot 48% from the field themselves. Maybe being able to see that they can beat solid competition with offense and defense can be seen as a positive for the Bulldogs. As for the Bulldogs from Spokane, is Josh Heytvelt something else or what? He missed a lot of games the past two seasons due to injuries, so many people don't know of his actual skill set. Yes, a lot has been mentioned about him (especially early last season), but the average fan probably lost sight of him after he hurt himself in the Maui Invitational final against UConn. Well, he's back and healthy. Brandan Wright was able to do some things for UNC in the semifinal Wednesday night, but the Heels play as well as Tyler Hansbrough does, and Heytvelt did an excellent job of containing the preseason National Player of the Year candidate. As for the Northeast, what on earth is going on? You have a lot of teams that one night look like they can't beat your local rec league team and the next night they look like they can play in the Final Four. How do you explain Providence losing to city rival Brown 51-41 (41 points??? Four nights after dropping 96 on Fairleigh Dickinson??? Amazing), then coming back to beat Boston College? Boston College, picked to finish 3rd in the ACC, has already lost to Vermont as well as the Friars. Manhattan, in a rebuilding year to tell you the truth, found a way to lose to New Jersey Tech, a program in its first year at the Division 1 level, yet they beat Hofstra. FDU knocked off Seton Hall for the first time in almost 40 years, and Rutgers shoots 19% AT HOME in losing to Kansas State. Looking back on my preseason ranking of the teams in the NYC area, the one issue for the top two teams reared its ugly head in their defeats. Neither Hofstra or Marist would be considered outstanding on the glass, but at this point I would say that the Red Foxes have a better chance at improving on the interior as the season progresses. Ryan Stilphen and James Smith are two guys with size that have the ability to hold their own in the paint, but foul trouble could make things difficult for Matt Brady's bunch since there isn't much size off the bench. Miles Orman is an active body off the bench, but who's that fourth man that can provide a couple quality inside minutes from time to time? Despite Stilphen's foul trouble today, Marist was able to knock off Minnesota in the Old Spice Classic due in part to the 16 and 13 put up by Smith. It'll be interesting to see how the frontline performs against a much bigger Arkansas club Friday morning. Hofstra desperately needs to find some inside help for Mike Davis-Sabb. After his 10.0 boards per game, no player for the Pride averages more than four per contest, and that number is shared by guards Loren Stokes and Antoine Agudio. Villanova made the perimeter-heavy lineup sexy last year, but don't forget that besides Will Sheridan Jay Wright could also count on the likes of Jason Fraser and Dante Cunningham for something inside. One post player alone can't hold up a team on the boards for the long haul. But don't jump off the Pride bandwagon just yet. This is a tough part of the schedule for Hofstra, with the game at Charlotte and the Great Alaska Shooutout appearance, where they lost to Hawaii Thanksgiving night. Tom Pecora is an excellent coach who should be able to find a way to offset their current frontcourt deficiencies. After their season-opening loss at Duke, Columbia has won four straight heading into their home tilt with Stony Brook Saturday afternoon. Keep an eye on this one, given the fact that the Lions are playing well and Stony Brook has won on the road at Penn State and Colgate so far this year. Of course, the Seawolves lost their home opener to Navy, giving up 87 points to the Middies, but they should improve on last season's 4-24 record. Also, it's possible that Iona could start out the year 0-5, with games at Rhode Island and Fordham coming up for the Gaels. But when you have to replace as much scoring at Jeff Ruland lost to graduation after last season, a slow start is to be expected. Lastly, I will admit that I was looking to the two games in the Preseason NIT for Fordham as a chance for the Rams to show that this isn't the "same old Fordham", that they're ready to consistently compete at or near the top of the Atlantic 10. The loss to Tennessee wasn't bad (78-71), and they weren't exactly expected to win that game either. But scoring 49 in their loss the following night to Belmont showed that the Rams have some work to do. But hey, it's early, and there's plenty of time for all of these teams to work out the kinks and play consistent basketball. I guess I'd become accustomed to seeing the "haves" whip the "Have-not" on a nightly basis this time of the year. Well, like George Mason last March, we're getting the message that things are a little different these days. And in the score of the week, South Virginia outscored VMI 92-90 in the second half of their game November 20th. Unfortunately for them, they lost the game 144-127.

Ivy League Preview

CHN — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 10:13:54 -0800

Conference Previews | Top 144 | 06-07 Preview Home

Ivy League Preview

Conference Rank: 23rd

Conference Page

All-Conference

Player of the Year - Ibrahim Jaaber, Penn, G

Keenan Jeppesen, Brown, G/F

Mark Zoller, Penn, F

John Baumann, Columbia, F

Brian Cusworth, Harvard, C

Nat'l	Team (Click for Preview)	Conf	Tourney
82	Penn	1	NCAA
154	Princeton	2
181	Brown	3
199	Yale	4
223	Columbia	5
255	Cornell	6
278	Harvard	7
313	Dartmouth	8

Ivy league Head Coach Q&A's:

Craig Robinson - Brown

Frank Sullivan - Harvard

Joe Scott - Princeton

Steve Donahue - Cornell

The time is here!

Raphielle Johnson — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 16:17:23 -0700

Well, the 2006-07 season officially began Friday night, when schools across the nation put held their first practice of the season. This probably shouldn't even be called a practice, since it primarily consists of player intros, contests, and a scrimmage run at the pace of a glorified jog. The primary goals of the players and coaches are to avoid injuries and put last year behind them. This is what I saw in watching Florida's event the other night. Dropping the replica Sears Trophy after raising their national title banner was the perfect way to say that last year is over, and there are new things to accomplish. The must see TV takes place the following morning, when the coaches get to do their thing...and run their players into the ground. But this will never be on TV, so the Friday night style will have to suffice. The worst news of the opening weekend of practice came from Durham, where Duke announced today that starting point guard Greg Paulus broke a bone in his foot. It's a similar injury to the one that Carlos Boozer suffered in 2001, but don't expect to see Paulus until he's 100%. Boozer broke his foot in the middle of conference play, making it imperative that the Devils get him back for the NCAA Tournament. He took a few games to get back into game shape, but he was there to help Duke win a national title. That's the goal of a school such as Duke, similar to that of the New York Yankees, so who knows when Paulus will be back on the court. This most likely puts the ball in the hands of a committee, including freshmen Jon Scheyer and Gerald Henderson, and I'm interedted to see how they handle the role change. With this being a Northeast-dominated blog, there are some things in those leagues that I am looking forward to this year. Can anyone challenge Penn and Princeton in the Ivy League this year? I see Penn as the solid favorite, and Ibby Jabber should make first year head coach Glen Miller's transition that much easier. Is Vermont on the way back in America East? Yes, but they'll have their hands full with Albany, Maine, and Binghamton. Stony Brook should win more than four games this season as well. Iona and Manhattan have to reload after heavy losses, so look for Marist (led by Jared Jordan) to win the MAAC. How Lindy's rated Jordan the 17th best point guard in America is beyond me, but they'll find out how wrong they were when the Old Spice Classic tips off next month in Florida (I'm saying that he'll prove himself to be one of the nation's best). And the NEC looks to be pretty wide open, with Robert Morris leading the way. Will Wagner believe the hype as they did last year, failing to qualify for the conference tournament? Or will they come out "humble and hungry", to borrow a phrase from Joakim Noah? They've got the talent to challenge for the title, but the intangibles remain to be seen. I'm calling this upset right now: Fordham over Tennessee in the first round of the Preseason NIT. But don't expect Sacred Heart to beat North Carolina. And I like the new "common site" format, along with guaranteeing each team at least two games. In the past, losing early in the NIT could leave quite a gap in a team's schedule, or congest a schedule for a team not expecting to get to MSG. This should help with those issues. And with this being the 50th anniversary of the Ivy League, I leave you with this interesting fact. Only seven times in the history of the league has there been a champion (outright or co-) not named Penn or Princeton. I find this to be amazing.