Kyle Smith is almost there...
It was a gratifying weekend for Columbia men’s basketball
with a weekend sweep of Brown and Yale, two teams that were ahead of the Lions
in the Ivy standings when Friday began.
At 6-4 in league play, Columbia is very close to achieving
my first wish list item for this year which is a winning Ivy record for the
first time in 21 years.
But what else is still in reach for this team?
At 17-10 overall, Columbia still has a decent shot at a
20-win season. The Lions should at least be favored to win three of the last
four, with only the road game at Harvard likely to be slotting CU as underdogs.
Trailing those same Crimson by three games with four games
to go, it doesn’t look good for Columbia’s chances to grab an Ivy title even if
they run the table and go 10-4 in the league.
But if the Lions win 20 or 21 games, will they get a shot at
the NIT?
There’s no doubt in my mind that CU would deserve to get
into the NIT, but I have a bad feeling about the selection committee’s opinions
of Ivy teams. I hope I’m wrong, but it looks like the CBI postseason tournament
may be Columbia’s best shot.
Nevertheless, that shouldn’t put a damper on what I’m sure
every serious CU basketball fan is thinking already: “Next Season.”
For Columbia athletics, it always seems to be about next
season. But with no graduating seniors on this team and several players improving
as they get older, there is a very strong reason to think that next year will
be a year when CU men’s basketball could win a title.
Until then, I am impressed with the improvement we’ve seen
from this team so far and I’m holding out hope for that 20-win season and an
NIT berth.
And while I think it’s taken until this season for Head
Coach Kyle Smith to find the handle on winning tight games down the stretch, it
should be noted how he’s been able to get to this point without having to blow
up the team first or trash the previous coach’s recruits.
I may not be ready to coronate Kyle Smith, but he’s already
shown himself to be head and shoulders better than football’s Pete Mangurian in
every way.
Football is a many years away from being competitive for an
Ivy title, basketball is just about there.
14 comments:
Agreed, Jake. But per my earlier comment on this, it would still be almost 1/2 century since a BB title, IF that happens. And as you remark, 21 years since we even went better than .500.
So, while not looking a gift horse in the mouth and while respecting a great effort on the part of the team and the coach, we must still question why this accomplishment is such a freak of nature for CU sports. Not just BB, not just football, but everything. This year may yield a couple more minor titles than usual, but we will still be mediocre or worse. When does it end? When do we insist upon and demand competitiveness and parity?
When will CU administration understand that we expect parity (not necessarily total dominance) and respect? As far as I'm concerned, it has been over 50 years of malfeasance.
That's exactly right.
A little bit of an apples and oranges comparison of coaching success between basketball and football.
Football you are managing 100 guys and much larger staff, practices, recruiting, etc. Basketball has its own set of recruiting challenges but you are just managing a few athletes.
If we are just talking game planning, being innovative, getting his players to guy into a system and execute the system to design, no question bball wins this year. Though it's an entirely different set of dynamics with competition.
NIT is not out of the question at all.
Will they be able to keep this coach if he has another 20 win season is the question.
Just give credit to Kyle Smith for being a superb manager of talent. Columbia has several guys who can play center, several guys who can play guard. And someone always seems to be able to step up and score on this team. Our only true "indispensable" player seems to be the always reliable and true forward Alex Rosenberg.
And does anyone even know if CU would permit non-NCAA post-season play?
I may be wrong here, but since CU adheres slavishly to Ivy rules, if Ivy says OK to the NIT, CU will accept. If memory serves correctly, Ivy does allow NIT play. Seem to recall Princeton going a few years back. Or am I wrong?
Your memory is intact Chick, Princeton won the 1975 NIT.
Thanks, Wingman. And that's my fear too about Smith. Hope to heck the AD holds on to him tightly, which means not tight with the $$$.
According to this page the CU Basketball has quite a distinguished history the first half of the 20th century.
Consider: we've now beaten Yale, which is the only Ivy team that's beaten Harvard this year. Earlier this season, Harvard crushed BC, which took out Syracuse just last week. Syracuse, you may recall, handily defeated Cal, but Cal later went on to top Stanford. Stanford edged Connecticut in December, though, and Connecticut is one of only two teams this season that's beaten Florida--the #1 team in the nation!
Surely the Lions should at least be in the conversation for a high seed in the big Tournament next month?
Nice article on C.J. Davis and Columbia recruiting. Davis made first team all-league in very strong league, should make first team all-state N.Y. joining Petrasek who made it last year when Davis was third team (anybody know what's going on with Luke?).
http://nypost.com/2013/11/01/recruiting-payoff-as-columbia-builds-another-strong-class/
Dawg said FB...and everything, then dismissed titles in "minor" sports. MMM
The AD and dept. are responsible for every one, and there has been significant success in almost all.
Can't argue with the advancement of bball. Baseball seems competitive. I am a bit concerned at the lack of an explanation why a successful soccer coach in Kevin McCarthy was asked to resign (if that is what occurred, seems implied that is what happened). Fencing and Squash are a small cadre international students for the most part. Track, cross country, good for the athletes and not much else. FB is the highest profile sport next to men's bball. You have to give that sport the support it needs to get out of the gutter and as noted several times, this AD is not pushing the right buttons in that regard.
I just said on one of the threads here that ALL CU sports
should be supported and successful. They all have great Columbia student-athletes who are very good players.
I don't think of any as minor or unimportant. But not all have been successful. Some have come up quite a bit lately but softball, women's bb, m and w soccer and a few more are lagging.
But the most important thing about this comparison is that the success or failure of all other sports MUST NOT be used an excuse to shrug at the failure of football, which is what our Admin does.
Just a little more than six months till we learn what 2014 football will bring.
Columbia Athletics
MTEN: Men's Tennis jumped up to No. 20 in the latest @ITATennis poll
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