Under the Radar Game of the Day: Columbia at Princeton, 6:00 PM Eastern, ASN
-For our latest Bracket Rundown Video Podcast, featuring David Griggs being completely wrong about Hawai’i just hours before they suffer a bad home loss to UC-Riverside, CLICK HERE.
-The Atlantic Sun regular season is done and the conference tournament bracket is out. CLICK HERE for all your conference tournament information.
A one game playoff to determine the Ivy League championship and automatic bid winner will be played, if necessary, on Saturday, March 12 at 5:00 PM Eastern. Princeton and Yale both currently have only one conference loss, at each other’s home courts, and if they both win their remaining regular season games, the playoff will take place. Before such a game happens, there is one team that still wants to crash the party, and could even potentially force a rare three-way tie (requiring an additional “semifinal” game on Friday, March 11). That team is the Columbia Lions, who sit at 8-2 in conference pay, having only lost at home to Princeton and on the road to Yale. Tonight, Columbia will take their first shot at the conference title when they travel to Princeton for our Under the Radar Game of the Day.
Princeton enters play tonight at 8-1 in Ivy league play and 18-5 overall. The Tigers are technically half a game behind Yale, due to having only played one of their two rivalry/travel partner games against Penn so far. Princeton has only lost once since the start of 2016, and with a win tonight will not only push Columbia towards elimination from the conference race, but will also turn the pressure up on Yale, which still has to play at Columbia next weekend. The Tigers continue to be led by Henry Caruso, who had 14 points and 7 rebounds in the win over Yale last weekend, though three others players including Spencer Weisz and Devin Cannady were in double-digits as well. On the court, Princeton has looked like the best team in the Ivy League for the past two months, and while they still have four conference games left after tonight, the Tigers will have their toughest games behind them if they get this win.
Columbia currently sits at 8-2 in conference and 19-8 overall, still in control of their own destiny if they can win their last four regular season games. To do that, they need to not only win tonight but also avoid a let-down tomorrow night when they travel to the other “P”, Penn. The Lions are led by Alex Rosenberg, Maodo Lo and Grant Mullins. All three players were in double-digits in the team’s earlier home overtime loss to Princeton, and Mullins picked up a double-double. Rosenberg, Lo and Mullins will need to be on their games tonight if the Lions want to score the huge road win.
SURVIVAL BOARD UPDATE
After Western Illinois and Jacksonville State were eliminated last night, only 327* teams remain. Penn could be eliminated tonight with a home loss to Cornell or a home win by Yale over Harvard. CLICK HERE to see the Board.
*This number includes Grand Canyon, as our fight for the #LopesWaiver to allow them a shot at the WAC automatic bid is not yet done!
OTHER GAMES OF NOTE TODAY
-VALPARAISO AT MILWAUKEE (Horizon) – The door isn’t completely shut on Valpo’s at-large tournament hopes; Valpo begins their final true road trip of the year in Wisconsin that is a must-win for NCAA hopes (but not for Horizon Tournament seeding).
-IONA AT MANHATTAN (Metro Atlantic) – We highlight this game because of the rivalry aspect; this game still has heat from last year’s tournament where Manhattan won the MAAC Championship.
-HARVARD AT YALE (Ivy) – This will be the first game for the Bulldogs without former captain Jack Montague (who left the team and withdrew from school for personal reasons); this is also the beginning of Yale’s final homestand of the season.
-RIDER AT MONMOUTH (Metro Atlantic) – The final homestand of the year begins for the Hawk’s Nest; Rider will be looking for revenge after blowing a 14-point lead in the final 4 minutes of their first matchup this season.
-CORNELL AT PENNSYLVANIA (Ivy, Survival Board) – The Quakers need a win tonight and losses from Yale and (preferably) Columbia to stay mathematically alive in the Ivy League. A loss or Yale win eliminates Penn.
-DARTMOUTH AT BROWN (Ivy) – A special game tailor made for Lee Delvecchio; this is the first game this year played between 2 teams already taken off of the Survival Board. Sadly, neither team can qualify for the CIT/CBI/Vegas 16. Worse, Keggy the Keg will not be in the house!
Throwback Thursday: The 1987-88 UConn Huskies
Click here for David Griggs’ daily News and Notes that includes tonight’s matchups
Click here for Chad Sherwood’s Under The Radar Game of the Day between Jacksonville and North Florida (River City Rumble)
Finally, click here for the season finale of the Under The Radar Podcast – we are also 4 days away from the season premiere of Championship Week notebooks!
It’s not often that we focus on a team in the modern NCAA era that won the NIT, but this UConn team definitely fits the bill of a team and program that evolved from such a championship. It’s even stranger to focus on a team that finished dead last in its conference, but that is a testament to just how strong the original incarnation of the Big East was back then – this was a league that included Georgetown, Villanova, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Providence and Boston College.
And it’s not like UConn had been a completely hopeless program – they were kings of the old Yankee Conference that included the likes of UMass, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. They actually made it to the NCAA Tournament a whopping 13 times before the formation of the Big East. They were simply a team that was not able to overcome programs like Georgetown, Villanova, Syracuse and St. John’s in their zenith. After the 1985-86 season, they hired Jim Calhoun from nearby Northeastern University as head coach for UConn.
After a rough debut that included a 9-19 record in his first season at UConn, Calhoun’s team managed to improve by 5 wins in the regular season and even managed a win in the Big East tournament against Providence before losing in the semifinals to Pittsburgh. UConn’s star players on this team were Cliff Robinson, Phil Gamble and Tate George, and even included current Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell on the roster. While the Huskies only went 4-12 in Big East play, 9 of their 12 losses were by less than 10 points – this was a team still in its infancy. 2 of their 4 wins in the Big East came against Top 25 teams – one was at #9 Syracuse; one was at home against #14 Georgetown. They also had some notable wins away from home against Princeton and Pepperdine.
When the NIT did come calling, UConn didn’t waste any time advancing – they won their opener in overtime against West Virginia 62-57. After a win against Louisiana Tech at home, the Huskies hit the road to play VCU – they would defeat the Rams 72-61 to earn a trip to the NIT Final Four at Madison Square Garden. They would win the rubber match against Boston College 73-67 (as the two teams split during the regular season) and then defeat Ohio State 72-67 the following night to clinch the program’s first postseason title in its history.
This was a preview of great things to come for UConn – only 2 years later did UConn take the jump from NIT all the way to a Big East tournament championship AND a #1 seed in the East Regional for the first time in program history. What happened in East Rutherford can simply be described as the best of times and the worst of times; you can click here to see UConn’s thrilling comeback against Clemson in the Sweet 16. There was also heartbreak in the form of the Duke Blue Devils – click here to see Christian Laettner’s “other” miracle shot that vaulted Duke into the Final 4 that season. But the final foundation for UConn’s program had been laid – they would go on to win 4 national championships beginning in 1999 and 6 more Big East tournament championships.