David Bridges
We continue our conference previews with the Ivy League. Every week on Twitter, we preview two conferences streaming live from the Mid-Major Madness account (@mid_madness), speaking with media members and coaches throughout the selected league.
For the full Twitter Space, hit the link below:
To open the conversation, Mid-Major Madness writers Nick Lorensen and Sam Federman recapped what happened in the Ivy League last season and so far this offseason.
Although Princeton won the regular season title, Yale clinched its second consecutive NCAA Tournament bid. The Bulldogs fell to Purdue by a score of 78-56, but return a good core group this season.
Also returning in the league are two of the best players in Jordan Dingle (Penn) and Tosan Evbuomwan (Princeton). Outside of them though, a lot of kids graduated or transferred out, meaning there are a lot of incoming freshmen.
To open the conversations with coaches, Penn head coach Steve Donahue (14:00) came on to talk about his program. The Quakers once again have a hard non-conference schedule, playing five projected NCAA Tournament teams before taking on their Big Five rivals, beginning Nov. 30.
“This is what Penn basketball has always done,” Donahue said. “This is what’s expected of us. This is the standard at Penn. I think we all think it’s going to help us, one, get better, but two, I wanna make sure we challenge our guys and they have great college basketball experiences.”
Penn opens its season on Nov. 7 against Iona before visiting Missouri on Nov. 11.
Nick and Sam then continue the conversation by previewing every team in the league. To hear about your team, advance the recording to each time stamp.
33:15 Brown
35:10 Columbia
37:35 Cornell
45:30 Dartmouth
40:20 Harvard
47:00 Princeton
51:40 Yale
55:30 POTY & Title Predictions
Along with the Twitter Space, Nick talked to Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson ahead of his 11th season at the helm of his alma mater.
Last season, the Tigers won the Ivy League regular season title and this season they return Evbuomwan – the 2022 Ivy League Player of the Year.
“He’s all about the team,” Henderson said of Evbuomwan. “As he’s put time into it, and he’s always down here [in the gym], always. Yesterday, in fact, he was down here almost three different times to work on different things. So he’s fallen in love with the little things and working on his game. So that’s a great example and a really nice thing when your best player is down at the gym all the time.”
Listen to the complete interview with Henderson.
Along with the Ivy League, a preview article for the NEC will also come out this week. Stay tuned for the Twitter Space previews on the CAA and Missouri Valley.
Mason Thompson
Clara Hastings
