KIRBY'S DREAMLAND: Tourney Shows Ivies the Future

Before Frank Sullivan was booted out of his job of head coach of the Harvard men’s basketball program, the big story surrounding the league was the talk of a conference tournament.

Last Saturday, I got to attend the quarterfinals of a college basketball conference tournament in Boston. I got to see teams that I had seen and written about during the year, teams from the north-eastern part of the country, battle it out with the hopes of keeping their season alive and advancing to the promised land, the NCAA Tournament.

So which Ivy League schools survived the day and extended their seasons? Penn? Princeton? Harvard?

Alas, none of those teams, nor any other teams in the Ivy League won any of these games, mainly because none of them played. What I saw was the America East Championship, held at Boston University’s Agganis Arena. The America East Championship is one of thirty conference tournaments that help decide the thirty-one automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament. The one league that does not have a conference tournament is, of course, the Ivy League.

Yet there is a chance that league will move away from its outdated stance and adopt a conference tournament. It has taken a preliminary step of forming a sub-committee consisting of four athletic directors from around the league who will look at the idea.

This is great news, but still left the league without a tournament this year. So I rode the T to Agannis to see just how great a tournament could be.

The America East not only held the first few rounds of its tournament in Boston, it is very comparable to the Ivy League. Harvard played five teams in the America East, beating Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont in its best win of the year, while losing to BU and Albany. The America East went 11-6 against Ivy League opponents this past season, while the Ivy League winner has generally received a slightly higher seed in the past five NCAA Tournaments. So I settled down on press row to see how entertaining a conference tournament is.

The answer: very entertaining. The Tournament brought out the best in the teams and programs. Aside from the possible NCAA or NIT bid, the Tournament represents the zenith for the eight teams that played Saturday: BU, Vermont, UNH, Albany, Maine, Hartford, Maryland-Baltimore County, and Binghamton.

The first game of the day, between top-seeded Vermont and Hartford, quickly showed how much the tournament meant to each team. The Catamounts jumped out to a twenty-point lead late in the first half, but that couldn’t calm the nerves of coach Mike Lonergan, who jumped in frustration when his players tossed the ball into the stands before halftime. Trailing by 17 early on in the second half, the Hawks then went to a full-court press that helped narrow the lead to nine once and ten twice.

In a game of such importance, both teams wanted to win desperately and made plays accordingly. Hawk star senior Bo Taylor went in for a fast-break dunk and a foul, firing up himself, his teammates, and the Hartford supporters in the building. His free throw narrowed the lead back to 10 at 56-46.

But UVM forward Colin McIntosh answered with a three-point, increasing the noise from the Catamounts fans—“I looked around and the whole place was yellow,” Lonergan said afterwards—and the favorites pulled away from there. The fight in the Hawks stayed for the entire game, personified by Taylor, who had 22 points, six steals and five rebounds the night after his buzzer-beater had given Hartford a 49-47 win over Stony Brook in the first round. He fouled out with 1:37 left and walked off the court in a Hawk uniform for the last time to a standing ovation from the entire crowd and proceeded to hug coach Dan Leibovitz and the rest of his team.

“I won’t quit at all for nothing,” Taylor said afterwards. “Don’t care if I had five fouls, I still would have played.”

As great as the first game was, there were still three action-packed games to follow, as the fans who had passes to all the games surely got their money worth. The next game saw UMBC guard Jay Greene play his heart out, as he scored a career-high 22 points, including the game winning three-point play with 1:03 left on the clock, giving his team a 64-61 lead over Maine. The fifth-seeded Retrievers would win 70-61, prompting hearty high-fives from Greene and Mike Housman when the buzzer sounded and a very large smile on the face of UMBC coach Randy Monroe when he entered the press room.

The next game saw second-seed and defending champion Albany jump to an early lead against UNH in front a large crowd of Great Dane supporters clad in purple. But despite falling down by 18 early in the second half, the Wildcats didn’t quit. UNH gradually cut the lead down before capping there run with a three by Radar Onguetou made the score 49-42, firing up his team, supporters, and the neutral fans rooting for the underdog. Yet it wouldn’t be enough, as Albany showed its championship poise down the stretch, winning 64-47.

The final game saw third-seeded BU pull out a 62-58 come-from-behind thriller over Binghamton in front of many vociferous Terrier students. Players continued to step up, like Bearcat guard Steve Proctor, who had a game-high 22 points in his final collegiate game, and BU guard Corey Lowe, whose driving bankshot with 52 seconds left broke a 58-58 tie. The tournament hosts hung on, as head coach Dennis Wolff gave an emphatic fist pump at the buzzer.

The energy created on the court was equaled in the stands. Every school had at least a decent following in the building, such as the Hartford fans who screamed along with their team’s cheerleaders the whole game, the four UMBC students who painted “U-M-B-C” across their chests, and the pack of Binghamton students wearing identical green jerseys who stood and cheered the entire game.

Schools pulled out all the stops to provide support for their teams, as seven teams had at least its band and cheerleaders. Most brought mascots and a dance team as well. The only school that brought none of these was fourth-seeded Maine, which was also the only higher-ranked team to lose. Are you listening, Harvard?

After watching four straight quality games in a quality atmosphere, I really hope the Ivy League adopts a tournament. The Ivy League should strive to be like America East and hold a similar tournament. Players love conference tournaments because of the chance to get to the NCAA Tournament and fans enjoy watching their team strive for that goal, while getting to watch other quality games as well. Basketball is a game meant for those two groups.

—Staff writer Ted Kirby can be reached at tjkirby@fas.harvard.edu.