City of Basketball Love

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
--

(Ed. Note: This article is part of CoBL's 2015-16 College Season Preview, which will run from October 2-November 13, the first day of games. For the complete rundown, click here)
~~~

The Ancient Eight is always a curious league to follow, with its Friday/Saturday league schedule and the fact that the NCAA Tournament representative is (usually) the league’s regular-season champion.

This season is especially shaping up to be a fun one, with three teams at the top that evenly split the first-place votes in the league’s preseason poll--and none of them are Harvard, who won it all the last four years.

Here’s a look at the 2015-16 Ivy League:

2015-16 CoBL Preseason All-Ivy League First Team
Hans Brase (11.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg)--Sr., Princeton
Cedric Kuakumensah (11.2 ppg, 7.4 rpg)--Sr., Brown
#Maodo Lo (18.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg)--Sr., Columbia
Justin Sears (14.3 ppg, 7.5 rpg)--Sr., Yale
Spencer Weisz (11.6 ppg, 4.9 rpg)--Jr., Princeton

# = Player of the Year
* = 2013-14 stats

1. Princeton Tigers
Coach: Mitch Henderson, 5th season (74-46, .617)
Last Year: 16-14 (9-5 Ivy League)
Key Departures: Clay Wilson (6.7 ppg)
Key Returnees: Spencer Weisz (11.6 ppg, 4.9 rpg), Hans Brase (11.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg), Steven Cook (10.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg)
Key Newcomers: Noah Bramlage (Freshman), Devin Cannady (Freshman), Myles Stephens (Freshman)

Outlook: It’s been five years since the Tigers last made it to the NCAA Tournament, and this could be the group to bring them back, with six of the top seven returning. It all starts with Weisz, a 6-4 wing guard who can play four different positions in Princeton’s offense but is ultimately the Tigers’ best point guard. Brase, a 6-8 senior, should have some more help up front from 6-11 sophomore Alec Brennan, a stretch forward, but it’s the backcourt that will really shine with Weisz, Cook, sophomore Amir Bell (8.8 ppg, 2.6 apg) and Stephens, who might not have the impact Bell had last year after missing his senior year with a torn ACL but has the talent to be an All-Ivy player.

2. Columbia Lions
Coach: Kyle Smith, 6th season (76-72, .514)
Last Year: 13-15 (5-9 Ivy League)
Key Departures: Steve Frankoski (7.7 ppg), Cory Osetkowski (7.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg)
Key Returnees: Maodo Lo (18.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg), Alex Rosenberg (16.0 ppg, 3.7 rpg*), Kyle Castlin (10.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg)
Key Newcomers: Shane Eberle (Freshman), Peter Barba (Freshman), Rodney Hunter (Freshman)

Outlook: Speaking of NCAA Tournament dry spells, Columbia hasn’t been dancing since 1968, though this could very well be the group to get them there. It helps having the best 1-2 combo in the league in Lo and Rosenberg, but they’ll have to rediscover some chemistry after Rosenberg missed last season with a foot injury that forced him to withdraw from school to save his eligibility. The 6-7 forward made 43.2 percent of his 3-point attempts as a junior, almost the exact same percentage as Lo (43.1), and could be the top two scorers in the league in their final year of eligibility. Need to improve defensively, specifically in the turnover department, to win the league.

3. Yale Bulldogs
Coach: James Jones, 17th season (231-232 (.499)
Last Year: 22-10 (11-3 Ivy league), lost Ivy League title (Harvard, 53-51)
Key Departures: Javier Duren (14.0 ppg, 3.9 apg), Matt Townsend (7.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg), Armani Cotton (6.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg)
Key Returnees: Justin Sears (14.3 ppg, 7.5 rpg), Jack Montague (8.3 ppg, 2.0 apg)
Key Newcomers: Trey Phills (Freshman), Eli Lininger (Freshman)

Outlook: As acknowledged above, the top three in the Ivy League is almost a coin toss at this point. We’re putting Yale in the third slot because they have more to replace than the two teams above them with the graduations of starting point guard Duren and forwards Townsend and Cotton. It certainly helps returning the defending league MVP in Sears, an athletic 6-8 forward who’s a terrific presence on both ends of the court, and they’ll get forward Brandon Sherrod back for a senior season after Sherrod spent the last season touring the country with the Whiffenpoofs, Yale’s famous a capella troupe.

4. Harvard Crimson
Coach: Tommy Amaker, 9th season (161-79, .671)
Last Year: 22-8 (11-3 Ivy League), won Ivy League title (53-51 over Yale), lost in NCAA Tournament second round (North Carolina, 67-65)
Key Departures: Wesley Saunders (16.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg), Steve Moundou-Missi (9.6 ppg, 7.3 rpg)
Key Returnees: Corbin Miller (8.2 ppg)
Key Newcomers: Corey Johnson (Freshman), Weisner Perez (Freshman), Tommy McCarthy (Freshman), Balsa Dragovic (Freshman)

Outlook: The class of the Ivy League for the last few years, Harvard is in for a rebuilding process after the graduations of Saunders and Moundou-Missi were compounded by the loss of point guard Siyani Chambers (9.9 ppg, 4.3 apg) to a torn ACL in early September. So Miller is the only returning player from Harvard’s top six scorers, though Amaker’s recruiting classes have been far from bare thanks to NCAA trips in each of the last four seasons. A fifth straight March Madness appearance would be a longshot given the Crimson’s lack of experience, but expect them to get stronger as the year goes on.

5. Dartmouth Big Green
Coach: Paul Cormier, 6th season (45-98, .314)
Last Year: 14-15 (7-7 Ivy League), lost in CIT first round (Canisius, 87-72)
Key Departures: Alex Mitola (12.4 ppg, 2.7 apg), Gabas Maldunas (11.2 ppg, 6.8 rpg)
Key Returnees: Connor Boehm (9.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg), Miles Wright (7.7 ppg), Malik Gill (6.0 ppg, 3.2 apg)
Key Newcomers: Evan Boudreaux (Freshman), Michael Stones (Freshman),

Outlook: Long the punching bag of the Ivy League, with many more single-win seasons than not over the last 20 years, the Big Green has risen to respectability under Cormier, coming one game away from its first .500 season since 1998-99 (14-12). The graduating of Maldunas, a 6-9 forward, was known, but then Mitola took the grad transfer route to George Washington, leaving Dartmouth without its two leading scorers from each of the last three seasons. This should mean big minutes for Gill, a 5-9 senior guard who had the best assist rate of the team (37.1 percent), as well as Wright, a 6-4 sophomore.

6. Penn Quakers
Coach: Steve Donahue, 1st season (0-0, .---)
Last Year: 9-19 (4-10 Ivy League)
Key Departures: Greg Louis (4.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg)
Key Returnees: Tony Hicks (13.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg), Darien Nelson-Henry (8.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg), Antonio Woods (8.4 ppg, 3.8 apg)
Key Newcomers: Jake Silpe (Freshman), Max Rothschild (Freshman), Jackson Donahue (Freshman)

Outlook: After spending three seasons down near the bottom of the league, hopes are starting to rise for Penn thanks to a new head coach in Donahue and a promising freshmen class. Getting Silpe, a 6-2 point guard from Cherry HIll East who was pursued by the entire league, was a coup for the Quakers, and he and the 6-8 Rothschild look like they’ll play big minutes right away. This could be the start of Penn’s return to its place as one of the two traditionally strong programs in the league, but that doesn’t mean they’ll finish higher than fifth or sixth right away. Donahue took Cornell to the Sweet 16 in 2012, but he’s the first to admit it’s a much different Ivy League than the one he left.

7. Brown Bears
Coach: Mike Martin, 4th season (41-47, .466)
Last Year: 13-18 (4-10 Ivy League)
Key Departures: Leland King (14.6 ppg, 7.8 rpg), Rafael Maia (9.9 ppg, 8.7 rpg)
Key Returnees:  Cedric Kuakumensah (11.2 ppg, 7.4 rpg), Tavon Blackmon (10.4 ppg, 3.9 apg), Steven Spieth (9.9 ppg, 4.7 rpg)
Key Newcomers: Travis Fuller (Freshman), Corey Daugherty (Freshman)

Outlook: Brown had a real chance to take a step forward in the Ivy League this season, but King and Maia both transferred; King to Nevada, where he’ll sit this year out and play the following two, and Maia to Pitt, where he’ll play his final year of eligibility as a grad transfer after leading the Ivy in rebounding the last three seasons. Martin still has a good core in Kuakumensah, a 6-9 forward whose 2.5 blocks per game led the league, plus a junior point guard in Blackmon and 6-6 junior in Spieth who will be around the next two years. They’ll steal some games, but it’s tough to see them getting to .500 in league play.

8. Cornell Big Red
Coach: Bill Courtney, 6th season (50-95, .345)
Last Year: 13-17 (5-9 Ivy League)
Key Departures: Shonn Miller (16.8 ppg, 8.5 rpg), Devin Cherry (10.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg), Galal Cancer (9.6 ppg, 3.4 rpg)
Key Returnees: Robert Hatter (11.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg), David Onuorah (2.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg)
Key Newcomers: Matt Morgan (Freshman), Troy Whiteside (Freshman), Joel Davis (Freshman)

Outlook: After its top four of Miller, Cherry, Hatter and Cancer, nobody on Cornell’s roster averaged more than 3.2 ppg or 25 mpg a year ago, though nine different players averaged between 5-18 minutes and chipped in between 1.3 and 3.2 points per contest. So Hatter, a 6-2 junior guard, will be tasked to lead a team that has four sophomores and eight freshmen on the roster, plus six other upperclassmen who have yet to be featured players in their college career. Despite his numbers, Onuorah started 29 games a year ago and is the team’s leading returning rebounder and shot-blocker (1.5/game).