2010–11 Ivy League men's basketball season

The 2010–11 Ivy League men's basketball season marks the continuation of the annual tradition of competitive basketball among Ivy League members that began when the league was formed during the 1956–57 season, continuing from the predecessor Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League, which was formed in 1902. Following the annual 14-game round robin home & home schedule, Harvard and Princeton tied as co-champion. Princeton earned the conference's automatic bid to the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament in a one-game playoff. Harvard was invited to the 2011 National Invitation Tournament. Both teams lost their first tournament games.

2010–11 Ivy League men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Duration	January 8 – March 8, 2011
Number of teams	8
Regular season
League co-champions	Harvard, Princeton
Season MVP	Keith Wright, Harvard
One-game playoff (March 12)
Champions	Princeton 63–62
Runners-up	Harvard

2010–11 Ivy League men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Princeton	12	–	2		.857			25	–	7		.781
Harvard	12	–	2		.857			23	–	7		.767
Yale	8	–	6		.571			15	–	13		.536
Penn	7	–	7		.500			13	–	15		.464
Columbia	6	–	8		.429			15	–	13		.536
Cornell	6	–	8		.429			10	–	18		.357
Brown	4	–	10		.286			11	–	17		.393
Dartmouth	1	–	13		.071			5	–	23		.179
As of March 17, 2011 Rankings from AP Poll

Preseason

Entering the 2010–11 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, four of the eight teams had coaches entering their first full season as head coach: Columbia's Kyle Smith, Cornell's Bill Courtney, Dartmouth's Paul Cormier and Penn's Jerome Allen (previously interim). Most preseason publications predicted Princeton would finish in first place and Harvard would finish in second place, although the Sporting News projected that Cornell would finish in first followed by Princeton and Harvard.^[1] Breaking a three-year streak by Cornell, the Ivy League media poll selected Princeton as the top team with twelve first place votes, Harvard second with four first place votes and Cornell third with one first place vote.^[1] It was the first Princeton team to be the preseason selection since the 2004–05 Princeton team.^[1]

Season

Non-conference play began on November 12, 2010.^[2] The first conference game took place on January 8, 2011.^[3] Although no Ivy League teams appeared in the 2010–11 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings, for a few weeks during the season Harvard received a vote in the AP Poll.^[4][5][6] When Harvard earned its 20th win on February 19, against Columbia,^[7] it marked the eighth time that two Ivy League teams totalled 20 wins.^[8] On March 7, Harvard received a vote in both the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll.^[9] Then, in the final regular season poll on March 13, Princeton received 3 points in the Coaches' Poll.^[10]

The conference had two players recognized as Academic All-Americans: Brown senior guard Garrett Leffelman and Cornell junior guard Chris Wroblewski.^[11]

Harvard's Oliver McNally concluded his season with a 100 for 108 (92.6%) Free throw percentage mark second to Chris Warren of the Ole Miss Rebels who led with a 168 for 181 (92.8%) mark.^[12]

On March 5, Harvard clinched a share of the league championship for the first time since the Ivy League was formed.^[13] On March 8, Princeton defeated Penn to force a one-game playoff at the Payne Whitney Gymnasium at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.^[14][15] The matchup was widely anticipated in the press.^[16][17][18]

Postseason

Prior to the game both teams received championship trophies.^[19] Princeton prevailed in the playoff with a final score of 63–62, on a last-second jump shot from Douglas Davis. This earned them the conference's automatic bid to the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament for being the regular season champion.^[19][20] The 2011 one-game playoff was the eighth in Ivy League history. Princeton appeared for the eighth time, and have won at least a share of twenty-six league titles.^[14][21]

Entering selection Sunday (March 13), Harvard ranked 35th in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) and Princeton ranked 40th.^[22] Princeton was a #13 Seed in the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, while Harvard was not selected, denying the Crimson its first tournament appearance since 1946.^[23] Harvard's wins against major-conference opponents Colorado and Boston College were not enough to secure it an at-large bid (both Colorado and Boston College were left out of the NCAA tournament and received one-seeds in the NIT tournament.)^[24] As a regular season champion not invited to the NCAA tournament, Harvard earned an at-large selection for the 2011 National Invitation Tournament, where it was seeded #6.^[25] On March 15, Harvard was defeated by Oklahoma State by a 71–54 margin in the first round.^[26] It was the school's first appearance in the National Invitation Tournament.^[27] Princeton lost its opening game against the fourth-seeded and eventual national semifinalist Kentucky Wildcats by a 59–57 margin on a last second layup.^[28][29]

Honors

In season

Each week the Ivy League selects a player of the week and a rookie of the week.^[30]

	Player of the Week					Rookie of the Week
	Name	School	Class	Position		Name	School	Position
November 15, 2010	Keith Wright	Harvard	Jr.	F		Miles Cartwright	Penn	G
November 22, 2010	Christian Webster	Harvard	So.	G		Sean McGonagill	Brown	G
	Austin Morgan	Yale	So.	G
November 29, 2010	Keith Wright	Harvard	Jr.	F		Miles Cartwright	Penn	G
December 6, 2010	Ian Hummer	Princeton	So.	F		Laurent Rivard	Harvard	G
December 13, 2010	Noruwa Agho	Columbia	Jr.	G		Steve Fankoski	Columbia	G
	Kareem Maddox	Princeton	Sr.	F
December 20, 2010	Kareem Maddox	Princeton	Sr.	F		Gediminas Bertasius	Dartmouth	F
December 27, 2010	Zack Rosen	Penn	Jr.	G		Miles Cartwright	Penn	G
January 3, 2011	Chris Wroblewski	Cornell	Jr.	G		Laurent Rivard	Harvard	G
January 10, 2011	Noruwa Agho	Columbia	Jr.	G		Dockery Walker	Brown	G
	Greg Mangano	Yale	Jr.	C
January 17, 2011	Noruwa Agho	Columbia	Jr.	G		Laurent Rivard	Harvard	G
	Greg Mangano	Yale	Jr.	C
January 24, 2011	Greg Mangano	Yale	Jr.	C		Jeremiah Kreisberg	Yale	F
January 31, 2011	Kyle Casey	Harvard	So.	F		Miles Cartwright	Penn	G
	Jack Eggleston	Penn	Sr.	F
February 7, 2011	Sean McGonagill	Brown	G			Sean McGonagill	Brown	G
February 14, 2011	Keith Wright	Harvard	Jr.	F		Sean McGonagill	Brown	G
	Greg Mangano	Yale	Jr.	C
February 21, 2011	Peter Sullivan	Brown	Sr.	F		Sean McGonagill	Brown	G
	Tyler Bernardini	Penn	Sr.	F
February 28, 2011	Kareem Maddox	Princeton	Sr.	F		Jeremiah Kreisberg	Yale	F
March 7, 2011	Brandyn Curry	Harvard	So.	G		Meiko Lyles	Columbia	G

Postseason honors

The league selected its postseason awards on March 9.^[31]
Player of the Year: Keith Wright, Harvard (Jr., F, Suffolk, VA)
Defensive Player of the Year: Kareem Maddox, Princeton (Sr., F, Oak Park, CA)
Rookie of the Year: Sean McGonagill, Brown (Fr., G, Brookfield, IL)
All-Ivy League (ALL CAPS: Unanimous)

First Team All-Ivy: Noruwa Agho, Columbia (Jr., G, New City, NY); KEITH WRIGHT, Harvard (Jr., F, Suffolk, VA); Zack Rosen, Penn (Jr., G, Colonia, NJ); KAREEM MADDOX, Princeton (Sr., F, Oak Park, CA); GREG MANGANO, Yale (Jr., C, Orange, CT)

Second Team All-Ivy: Chris Wroblewski, Cornell (Jr., G, Highland Park, IL); Kyle Casey, Harvard (So., F, Medway, MA); Brandyn Curry, Harvard (So., G, Huntersville, NC); Ian Hummer, Princeton (So., F, Vienna, VA); Dan Mavraides, Princeton (Sr., G, San Mateo, CA)

Honorable Mention: Tucker Halpern, Brown (So., F, Brookline, MA); Brian Barbour, Columbia (So., G, Alamo, CA); Christian Webster, Harvard (So., G, Washington, DC); Jack Eggleston, Penn (Sr., F, Noblesville, IN)

Notes

1. "Ivy League Men's Basketball Abound with Preseason Honors Entering the 2010-11 Season". IvyLeagueSports.com. October 15, 2010. Archived from the original on December 16, 2010. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
2. "55th Season of Ivy League Men's Basketball" (PDF). IvyLeagueSports.com. November 8, 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
3. "Week 9 * January 3, 2011" (PDF). IvyLeagueSports.com. January 3, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
4. "2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings - AP Top 25 Week 12 (Jan. 24)". ESPN. January 24, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
5. "2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings - AP Top 25 Week 13 (Jan. 31)". ESPN. January 31, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
6. "2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings - AP Top 25 Week 16 (Feb. 21)". ESPN. February 21, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
7. "Harvard alone atop Ivy standings following win". ESPN. February 19, 2011. Archived from the original on December 1, 2024. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
8. "2010-11 Highlights" (PDF). IvyLeagueSports.com. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 8, 2012. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
9. "2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings - Week 18 (Mar. 7)". ESPN. March 7, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
10. "Top 25: Ohio State finishes regular season at No. 1". USAToday. March 13, 2011. Archived from the original on January 19, 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2011.
11. "Brown's Leffelman, Cornell's Wroblewski Named Academic All-America in Men's Basketball". IvyLeagueSports.com. February 22, 2011. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
12. "NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Player Free-Throw Shooting Statistics - 2010-11". ESPN. March 9, 2011. Archived from the original on March 12, 2010.
13. "Harvard tops Princeton 79-67 to share Ivy title". ESPN. March 5, 2011. Archived from the original on August 17, 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
14. "Princeton tops Penn, sets up one-game playoff with Harvard". ESPN. March 8, 2011. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved March 9, 2011.
15. "Princeton Forces a Playoff for the Ivy's N.C.A.A. Bid". The New York Times. March 8, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
16. Friedman, Dick (March 11, 2011). "Harvard, Princeton meet in a winner-take-all game for Ivy title". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on March 15, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
17. Pennington, Bill (March 11, 2011). "Ivy Champions to Settle Score at Yale". The New York Times. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
18. Rhoden, William C. (March 9, 2011). "In the Shadow of the Big East, a Spotlight for the Ivy League". The New York Times. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
19. Pennington, Bill (March 12, 2011). "Princeton Pauses but Still Beats Buzzer on Way to N.C.A.A. Bid". The New York Times. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
20. "Princeton KO's Harvard on last-second jumper to earn NCAA bid". ESPN. March 12, 2011. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
21. "2011 Men's Basketball Playoff Information". IvyLeagueSports.com. March 11, 2011. Archived from the original on March 11, 2011. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
22. "Men's Basketball - Team RPIs (2010-2011)". RealTimeRPI.Com. March 13, 2011. Archived from the original on March 15, 2011. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
23. "2011 NCAA tournament selections". ESPN. March 13, 2011. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
24. "Playoff Defeat Sends Harvard to the N.I.T." The New York Times. March 13, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
25. "Colorado, Virginia Tech lead NIT field". ESPN. March 13, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
26. "Oklahoma State routs Harvard in NIT opener". ESPN. March 15, 2011. Archived from the original on February 1, 2019. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
27. "2010-11 Ivy League Men's Basketball Weekly release: Postseason • March 14, 2011" (PDF). Ivy League. March 14, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 8, 2012. Retrieved November 7, 2011.
28. "Brandon Knight's only basket lifts Kentucky past Princeton in final seconds". ESPN. March 17, 2011. Archived from the original on September 15, 2016. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
29. McMurphy, Brett (March 18, 2011). "Pushed by Princeton, Kentucky Wins in Final Seconds". The New York Times. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
30. "2010-11 Ivy League MEN'S BASKETBALL" (PDF). IvyLeagueSports.com. March 7, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
31. "Men's Basketball All-Ivy -- 2010-11". IvyLeagueSports.com. March 9, 2011. Archived from the original on March 13, 2011. Retrieved March 12, 2011.

External links

• Ivy League website
• Year in review from IvyLeagueSports.com
• Expanded Ivy Standings @ ESPN