Dick Weiss on College Basketball
PITTSBURGH– Will someone please give the Ivy League some love.
Princeton got to the Sweet 16 last year, defeating Arizona in the second round. Now, Yale has knocked off SEC tournament champion and four seed Auburn 78-76 in
the first round Friday in Spokane.
This is an undervalued league getting better with very good coaches and resourceful recruiting of players who usually stay four years, then transfer to a larger program if they want to play a fifth season. The Ivies do not give scholarships and do not give out NIL money. But they compete.
“I don’t know if this was the best win in Yale history,” Yale coach James Jones said. “But I do know this was the best team we beat in Yale history.”
Yale was lucky to be here. The Bulldogs were down six points with just 27 seconds left before rallying for victory in the Ivy League tournament final.
It was unlikely the league would get two bids, even though both Princeton and Cornell also had special seasons.
Forward John Poulakidas, a 6-6 junior from Naperville, Ill., scored a career high 28 points and 6-10 freshman Samson Aletan made a key block during a wild scramble in the final seconds as Yale rallied from a 10-point deficit in the final five minutes to stun the Tigers and ruin the party Charles Barkley, who played there, had planned on the TBS set.
Barkley made it quite clear leading up to the game that his team had a great first round draw and would advance to the Sweet 16.
“We going to play UConn,” he said. “We’re going to beat Yale. We’re going to beat the smart kids. Then we’re probably going to beat San Diego State.”
He even leaned back with a cigar in his mouth when Auburn had a seven-point lead.
Afterwards, he gave Yale its props. “Shout out to the Bulldogs,” he said. “I never thought a Bulldog would beat a Tiger, but they did. Congratulations to Yale.
Auburn had plenty of chances. They did not play well. But Yale played better. They deserved to win the game. My Tigers, man. this kind of ruins a really good season,
winning the SEC Tournament. To lose in the first round, very disappointed and frustrated.”
this was poetic justice in some respect, given the fact SEC commissioner opined that the NCAA tournament selection committee should do away with automatic bids to all mid-major and low major conferences.
“Every year, we see Cinderella stories where the underdog wins the big game,” said senior guard August Mahoney, who finished with 14. “That’s why you come to Yale. Princeton made the Sweet 16 last year, they beat us in the championship, and each and every one of the guys in the locker room were just itching to get our opportunity. Our opportunity presented itself. We know how good we are, so we believed.”
Poulakidas made believers of us all, scoring 16 of his points in the second half and making big shot after big shot. His step back three with 2:10 remaining gave the Bulldogs never trailed again, despite a chaotic stretch that included Auburn getting off two shots in the final seconds following a missed free throw, one of which was rejected by Aletan .Auburn;s KD Johnson had a contested look for the winning three pointer at the buzzer that was offline.
“It’s a great opportunity to be here,” Poulakidas said. “I think after I hit my first couple shots, the flood gates opened.”
Johni Broome, Auburn’s All- America center, led the Tigers (27-8) with 24 points and 13 rebounds, but he crumpled to the floor after the loss.It looked like he might
have injured his right knee in the final scramble.
The Tigers never expected this when they flew to the West Coast. But Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, who once coached UW Milwaukee to a Sweet 16, knew anything could happen. “It shows u what a great tournament this is,” he said: “I know. I was on the other side as a 12, 13 seeded mid-major”
