Moment #4: The First Letdown
Even some of the more cynical Lion fans expecting some kind of a letdown after the impressive 31-20 week one win over Lafayette were not expecting that letdown to come in week two at Georgetown. After all, the Hoyas were looking weak after their loss at home to Brown the week before, and Columbia seemed more likely to have a problem with Princeton the following game.
Any thoughts of a bad step in week 2 seemed even more rare after the Lions jumped out to a 14-0 lead midway through the 2nd quarter.
But as good as a backup that QB Cole Freeman was at times playing in place of the injured starter Chase Goodwin, the Georgetown game would prove to be one where his minuses outweighed his plusses.
Freeman's three interceptions that day, paired with the defense's uncharacteristic performance where it gave up three TD drives of 70+ yards, proved to be Columbia's undoing in a 20-17 loss.
Perhaps the biggest moment in the game for the long run of the season came when Head Coach Jon Poppe and his staff elected to go for a field goal on a 4th and 2 at the Georgetown 5. At the moment of that decision, the Lions led 14-13. The field goal by Hugo Merry was good, but the Hoyas drove 73 yards for a TD after the ensuing kickoff to win the game. As a result, Poppe was much more aggressive for the rest of the season and went for TD's in most of the similar situations that arose later.
But the entire week two loss clearly served as a learning exercise for the Lions who rarely made any of the same mistakes again. While it remained the most disappointing loss of the year for CU, it proved its worth in learning experiences alone.
241 comments:
1 – 200 of 241 Newer› Newest»I think we were looking past Georgetown.And losing Godwin and Townsend didn’t help.
“Georgia Tech is adding an offensive weapon to its roster for the 2025 season.
Malachi Hosley intends to transfer to Tech, 247Sports reported Tuesday. Hosley is a 5-foot-10, 205-pound sophomore who spent the previous two seasons at Pennsylvania.”
As far as Hosley, I understand that he had over 1,000 yards, etc but we bottled him up pretty well. I would submit that our Joey Georgi was a better and more polished back who was more effective for us than Hosley was for Penn. And I thought that the Dartmouth back was the best RB that we faced all year. I would take either over Hosley.
Hey Engles defenders, I owe you a big apology. I said we’d lose by 20 to Rutgers, but I was completely wrong: we lost by 27. I remain very confident in my prediction that we finish 3-11 or 4-10 in conference play. I see four losses against Princeton and Yale, two more against Brown, and splits against Harvard, Penn, and Dartmouth. I’m torn as to whether we can win at home against Cornell. We will get shelled in Ithaca (again). And after we finish near the bottom of the league (again), I hope and pray the Engles fanboys see reason and Pilling fires Lucky Jim.
You hope Columbia loses. Like you did.
Harvard Football Wide Receiver Cooper Barkate to Transfer to Duke…..will have two years eligibility at Duke.
We will go 7-7 or 6-8, and it will be a logjam for the 4th playoff slot; and maybe even the 3rd slot. Should be a fun, competitive league season with multiple hard fought, close games. See you in Providence and “Go, Lions!”
Fire Engles.
The only thing I hope for is that we get a new coach pronto, and that he’s a proven winner. Meanwhile, your erroneous ad hominem attacks will continue, I’m sure.
You don't hope the guys play well and have success?
Right, this guy talking about how you “hope Columbia loses” is hilarious. Trying to make it sound like you’re the problem, and this just after the team loses by 27. Pretty sure you’re not the reason the team is
23-75 in conference under Engles. But these people are just desperate to deflect attention from the real issue, which is that this guy can’t coach. I personally think we’ll go 5-9 or 6-8 in conference, but like you, I don’t see us finishing top four.
I’ve given up on Engles.
I’d like nothing more than for the guys to win lots of games, finish first in the Ivies, and prove me wrong about the season. But with Engles at the helm, I know that i have a better chance of seeing the Giants win the Super Bowl this year. In other words, complete fantasy.
If we don’t make the ILT this year, we probably never will (under Engles). So I’d say give him another year if we make it and don’t if we don’t.
We looked so-so against Rutgers. Noland is a good player, and so is DLR. But against better teams DLR needs to do more to create shots.Rutgers has a very talented 6’6” first year swing man who we couldn’t defend. Our first year front court player (Ritter) has potential. The only way we are going to beat better teams is by slowing the game down and working for open three point shots. Our PG, Brown, forces the game instead of letting it come to him and is prone to far too many turnovers. As far as Engles, I think his problem is that he is unable to recruit real impact type players.
He’s also a terrible game coach. He doesn’t know when to call timeouts, he has trouble in close games, and we almost never end either half with a last-second bucket or other momentum-grabber.
This is Footbawl blog!!!!
While yes it is a blog for the football team, I see no big deal discussing other sports related topics to Columbia. It sure as hell beats any discussion on politics.
Oregon v Ohio State should be good.
Enjoy reading comments about other Columbia sports, although the BS re: Engles and MBB has gotten more than tiresome. Would like to hear thoughts about any new football commits. Don’t need partisan cheerleading. Also, any news about Townsend plans, rehab and Goodwin’s rehab would be of interest.
Oregon biffed it something fierce.
Horrific news regarding Tiger Bech. What has not been reported is that his ex Princeton teammate, running back, Ryan Quigley was there with him. He is hospitalized with multiple fractures, including both legs, but should recover. Sometimes there is more to sports than the scores.
Has anyone heard if the 2 recent transfers to Georgia Tech and Duke are getting NIL money?
Agree comments about Engles are tiring. Right now the team is 11 and 2 and has certainly shown improvement over the last couple of years. Even if the competition is not tough, any supporter of the program and the team should be happy we are winning and hoping we continue to win during the Ivy league season. If the team does poorly in the ivy league, then we can discuss the future of Engles but not at this point. It seems there are people on the platform who want the team to lose to prove a point. Engles was horrible the first five years but the trend has been moving in the right direction the last two years and i am hoping for seven or eight wins in the league if not more.
I think we likely finish in top 2 in IL regular season.
You do know that we went 4-10 in conference last year, right? Losing six in a row at the end of the season doesn’t strike me as “moving in the right direction,” but let’s not let facts get in the way of a good story.
You’re delusional. Bottom two much more likely.
If Engles doesn’t have a top four finish this year, he should be fired. Frankly, not sure how/why he’s still our coach.
There is no way this team wins 8 games in conference. But here’s the thing about even going 7-7 (if that happens): it’ll be our high water mark. Because next year we lose DLR. I can’t believe I’m hearing that we should retain a coach if he’s able to go 7-7 for the first time in year eight. This is a joke, right?
How can you say that? I think we can go undefeated in Ivy play.
These are fair points. And it’s great that we’ve racked up 11 wins against mostly high school level competition. But what you seem to be missing is that Engles drags this team down. We can hope for whatever we want, but the fact of the matter is that we won’t do well in the conference this year. I hope I’m wrong, but I doubt it. Anyway, let’s touch base once the season is over. If Engles has a winning record in conference, I’ll be quiet.
BTW, this is a Columbia sports (and politics) blog, not exclusively football.
Go Trump !! 😂
Um, read the title page
The Guardian Angels are back!
Curtis, are you here?
No it's not
It’s the old Red Angel Dragnet
Any updates on Townsend returning.
How anyone can defend Engles is beyond me. I have said, multiple times on this board, that NO OTHER school would tolerate a record that he has produced at CU, nor at NJIT. Great guy but clearly the worst coach in the Ivy. As president Porn Star would say, " Maybe the worst coach in the country, maybe the universe!" Even he can't fix it by lunch time! People are talking!
Hello, friends and Happy New Year! We are friends, right? :-) Since most of you missed this, I re-post here in this more recent exchange to elicit responses: I don’t have a real strong opinion regarding the Ivy League's participation in FCS football playoffs . I doubt that this new development will have any measurable impact on recruiting. We have also heard Coach Poppe and others emphasize the considerable work required for only 10 games in a season. So the potential for an additional game or two even after Thanksgiving would certainly have some appeal given all the work. Additional positive exposure for the champion as well as for the league. Note that this year’s post season included, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Lehigh, Villanova, Richmond, and your Blue Devils of Central Connecticut State University. Not everyone was from Transylvania AM&N. If the Ivy champion were fortunate enough to advance beyond the first couple rounds, so what if they face off against UC Davis, Incarnate Word or, more likely, one of the perennial powers from the Dakotas or Montana.
Note on basketball --- someone posted that Engles cannot recruit "impact" players. I'm not here to defend or dismiss our performance over the past 7+ years. Very disappointing and demoralizing. After all, we are in the Big Apple and it doesn't take 50 guys to establish a competitive team and program. I do feel we are making good progress, albeit slow. Each of the Ivy teams plays one or two Little Sisters of the Poor --- just this weekend Harvard hosting Bowdoin and Princeton hosting Kean. Yeah, Brown traveled to SMU and Kansas. Good for them --- waste of money, travel time and resources. I suppose good for national exposure, and I guess for the guys to get experience vs. big time competition - and have their heads handed to them. But......when we consider high impact players, those who come to mind include Poulakidas (Yale), several players from Princeton (Lee, Pierce), Kino Lilly (Brown), and yes, Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa. So we do have high impact players. The battle for 4th place, and possibly 3rd, will be a log jam. The Lions will finish 7-7. See you in Providence!
Amen!
Big win by the girls at Penn on Saturday!
Our three best players are DLR, Noland and IMHO Ritter. Brown is a terrific athlete but as a PG he has limitations —he seems out of control with the ball and is not a spot up shooter. Bedri and Thompson are serviceable but not in any way dominant front court players. I like Robledo and Cooper. Not sure about the first year swing men or PGs.
I think yours is an extremely fair assessment. Not negative, not ugly, just pretty much spot on. And Brown does have his great slashing, driving moments. I almost considered Noland as high impact, but maybe not. Just highly reliable. I'm not sure what happened to Cooper. I think he hasn't played for most of the season but seen him on the bench. So your assessment of our team, and this year's relatively balanced (weaker?) league, suggests to me that 7-7 is within reach. But maybe our stretch goal. It's achievable, especially if the "serviceable" guys perform.
4-10
We keep giving Jim bottom feeders from D III and this might be his best year AND only one NEAR .500. The poster who says 4-10 , Ivy, is ALWAYS right on about Uncle Jim.WORST Ivy coach , maybe in the country, maybe in the universe and even President Empty Head can't spin it!
4-10
If we lose to Cornell at home on Saturday, it’s going to be a long IL season.
Let's be fair to Coach Engles. His new Chief Program Strategist has had less than a month to devise a winning strategy for the Columbia progrsam. That is really unfair to Engles who has been Columbia''s Head Coach for nearly a decade and is still having trouble figuring things our. Another problem facing Engles is that he only has five assistant coaches whereas every other men's basketball team in the Ivy League has just three coaches. Engles is forced to spend a huge amount of time trying to relate to that many coaches. Even our women's basketball coach only has to relate to three assistant coaches. Under the circumstances I believe that Engles is doing a great job as Columbia's Head coach and will be given a five year contract extension in the near future.
All this talk about hoops and I see Canty to Kansas. Did I miss this here?
Good analysis
The unofficial fan blog of Columbia University football. (My previous CU Lions blog ran from 2005-2011 at http://roarlions.blogspot.com/)
Canty?
Canty committed to Kansas a few days ago. He's one of three wide receivers in the transfer portal headed to Kansas. I guess the expectation we had that Canty would be a high NFl draft pick was wrong. This could be a developing situation.
Too bad he doesn't sit out the spring, get an internship and return.
Canty already played four seasons for Columbia. He could still be eligible for a fifth year? I thought the transfer portal was only for those impacted by covid?
Annex Canada ... then maybe Columbia can have a hockey team!
I think he gets his jr season back because he only played 3 games.
The portal has nothing to do with the Covid year granted to athletes
Great Ivy receiver but can you be any softer when it comes to injuries? Scouts think that he is too frail to play in the NFL.
What's all this Jim Engles trashing? Just because he has been here close to a decade and has never had a winning season? OK but isn't his Ivy W/L is very very good? Ooops. It's better than Bagnoli's Ivy record in 7? Ooops again. Then why is he still here? Engles that is. Poor in game coach, poor recruiter, poor everything! AND why do so many who have played for him, hit the road after one year? AND on this board, the pro Engles crowd, really is out to lunch. Facts , Jerry! I suspect that these same people think that T Rump is a moral, intellectual leader, capable of reversing the Big Bang!
Why does the Columbia Men's Basketball Team have five assistant coaches when every other Ivy League Men's Basketball Team has only three assistant coaches?
The title of one of Engles assistant coaches is "Chief Program Strategist" whatever that means.
Upcoming IL season biff for Engles. I can hear it already: “We caught some bad breaks.”
Auburn is the #1 ranked college basketball team in the United States even without a "Chief Program Strategist."
Is that what the scouts are telling you, Chief? Do they have a direct line to your basement?
Not gonna lie, having to hire a chief program strategist is pretty hilarious.
No accountability at all between our Athletic Director, Peter Pilling and the Interim President of the University or the Board of Trustees. Our Interim President is a tremendous supporter of the Columbia Football Team, but apparently is not involved in any manner with any of the other athletic teams. As the Columbia Daily Spectator has notably reported, 100% of the contributions made by the Board of Trustees to political parties in the recent campaigns were made to Democratic candidates who couldn't care less about men or women sports. It will be interesting to see what happens with the Ivy League under the new administration in Washington. If funding is cutoff as expected, and private donors look elsewhere, where is the money going to come from to run the schools?
Greenland, Panama, or Denmark or maybe the 51st state, Canada! People are talking!
Piling is doing a good job. Zip it.
Except for the massive Engles biff, that is.
What about making the chief program strategist the next head coach? Could that be the plan? Or would it be one of the nine assistant coaches?
No chance
Why be negative. We turned around football mens bball is making progress. Piling is great. Coaches including Engles who is 11 and 2 all seem fine.
Why live in the real world? Pretend Engles is doing a great job and keep your head in the sand. And yes, football turned it around WITH A NEW COACH.
No they didn't. Bags changed the 100+ years of losing.
Ummm, pretty sure Bags was a new coach that turned it around. Duh.
But the other poster may have been referring to Poppe. Either way, hard to argue that coaching changes were central to the turnaround of football. And our new head football coach took a 3-7 team to first in the Ivies in his very first season. Meanwhile, we’re still waiting on Jimbo to win more than five games in the IL in MBB. Pro tip: don’t hold your breath.
Villanova just beat Connecticut, the preseason No. 1, and Columbia beat Villanova. If Engles can repeat the magic, we should be contending for top of the Ivies. But, we have never been able to replicate the occasional great win, or play consistently at a high level. I think part of the issue is that Engel’s offense is too repetitive and mechanical. It’s a good scheme, but opponents figure it out and counteract it. The other issue is player development. Which players have had a big junp in their effectiveness while in the program?
Good info and commentary/observation above. You have a perspective on this, and i expect others will weigh in with observations. I'll tell you that Geronimo was good when he arrived, but he has clearly "had a big jump." Similarly, Kenny Noland was good, but he has had a big jump. One poster previously mentioned "serviceable" players. One can't argue that Bedri has beefed up and is much improved. Not a force - but very competitive. Robledo a good role player coming in as 6th or 7th guy. If he can hit the threes, a huge boost. BlairThompson also considerably improved since freshman year. Avery is a real athlete (great driver), but I feel he hasn't yet achieved the level that we all expected when he arrived. So.....that leaves us where we are this season. We will battle for the tournament. See you in Providence. (Yes, we lose to Cornell at home on Saturday, and we will be in trouble.)
DLR but not many else
All good points. Here’s a related question: who would we identify as having gotten noticeably worse under Engles (for those players that didn’t transfer out or quit for one reason or another)? And in terms of heralded (or somewhat heralded) recruits, who have been our biggest disappointments?
Arop Arop. What happened to him?
Maka Ellis!
I agree that Engles is an awful college basketball coach, and certainly one of the worst coaches in Ivy League history, but the Columbia Men''s Basketball Team is sufficiently talented to defeat Cornell rather easily this Saturday. I predict that Columbia will defeat Cornell by at least fifteen points. Most of our players have much more experience than their opponents because the Columbia players have been playing for a losing team for nearly three years. One caveat is that Columbia must be ahead of Cornell by at least ten points with ten minutes remaining as everyone knows that Coach Engles has had trouble winning close games during his tenure at Columbia.
A sensible post, this. I thought about the purported talent disparity as well, but then again, Cornell did beat Cal on the road. Plus they always seem to play us tough, even when we have better players. I hope you’re right that we win handily, but I’m predicting a loss for us.
I wouldn’t be shocked if one of our best players inexplicably missed the game.
Injury? Personal time off? Academics?
To whom are you referring?
Who is that bald headed stocky back court Cornell player from New York who always out-toughs us? I hope he has graduated because he is a handful.
Isaiah Gray from Martin Luther King High School graduated last year. Now, in retrospect, how did we miss him? Right in our own backyard and I don’t know why he’d head up to Ithaca when he could have stayed here to play in front of friends and family. He was definitely a strong competitor!
Plays for Akron now
Poster who predicted 4-10 Ivy takes the first step in that direction today. WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO RID US OF ENGLES? Even Joe Jones did better and he was the pits! How about Armond Hill! Columbia hoops as well as football with some historically bad, super bad hires! Pete Mangurian was the all time worst! M Diane Murphy where are you?
Now take it easy on M Diane, at least she knew what day it was, AND she hired Kyle Smith.
What’s the excuse this time, Jim?
I think you’re right about 4-10. Maybe even 3-11.
Why do we always give opposing players in the paint an open lane to the basket once they’ve picked up their dribble and gave nowhere to go? We never stay between our man and the basket—really bad defensive fundamentals. Force guys in the paint to pass back out to the perimeter. We also seem not to be able to handle a single screen on the perimeter. I would support getting rid of Engles.
Saturday night update. Our men's basketball team was trounced today by Ivy League rival Cornell at Levien Gymnasium. by a 94-83 score. The Columbia women easily defeated Cornell in Ithaca.
Has anyone noticed that the Columbia basketball announcer speaks in non-stop boring cliches throughout every home basketball game. I wonder why he does that.
He could give the commentary in Greek for all I care. It still wouldn’t change the fact that Engles is not a winner.
Glad to see that not all folks who participate here are right wing magats. MAGA world thought they were getting a man who would fix inflation. Instead he distracts with Canada and Greenland. Good luck America
At least November brought us an Ivy Football title and optimism for the years to come on this front
The announcer was an embarrassment, full of histrionics when we were getting killed. The game itself was an absolute embarrassment--with Piling, Armstrong and Schiller right in front of me, never mind a good-sized crowd bereft of students, watching a complete beat down from the opening minutes. For Pete's sake, we made Cornell look like Duke, as it shot 70% from the field and seemed to drain three-balls at will, as our players flailed away, looking stunned and disorganized. What will it take for the administration to ditch this proven loser coach and make a commitment to fielding a competitive team, as has been done in football?
Amen!!!
Perhaps it’s small consolation, but at least this should shut up all the people saying Engles would win 8 or 9 games in conference, win the IL or finish top 2-3, etc., etc. Even 7-7 was an absolute pipe dream. I’d be shocked if this team did better than 5-9.
We may not win any games in January. Yale will smack us, as will Princeton. Even Penn on the road will be tough.
Engles looked lost today. DLR was ineffective. Brown plays hard but has no outside shot. Noland and Robledo are nice players. Bedri and Thompson have now reached their low ceiling. Tavroff is the only real front court bruiser we have. We will win 3 or4 games if we are lucky.
Let's focus on the female team
Let's get President Empty Head to spin it! " Jim is a really, really great guy! Lot's of in game surprises in his head! Might be the best Ivy coach, this year, maybe ever!"
Yeah, very disappointed yesterday with large home crowd (largest in all league games yesterday) and relatively high hopes. We were shell-shocked and totally dismantled in that first half. Only that second half burst gave a few minutes of hope. I will say that some of our esteemed posters clearly underestimated Cornell. I thought the Big Red looked quite impressive.....they'll definitely be in the Ivy Tournament along with Yale, Princeton and a team-to-be-named-later...probably Brown.
I made it to the game and we were embarrassing. You could tell from the start that Cornell came to play and win. At times I felt as though I was watching an exhibition game between a HS and college
team. That Villanova win seems so long ago…
What's wrong with AD Pilling? Engles is a horrible basketball coach who would have been terminated years ago by every other athletic director in the country. Just look at his record. It is terrible. Dr. Armstrong needs to act quickly before this becomes another public relations nightmare for Columbia University.
If there is a will provision enshrining Engles as Forever Coacn. lets find out and get it overturned!
Earth to Pilling, Come in Pilling! " "Dave, I still have the greatest confidence in the mission!"
That's 100% fake news.
Are you referring to the purported Sherwin codicil?
You really do have to wonder how long Engles will last. Pilling is basically compelled to make a move. He may even have to fire Jim mid-season.
No chance that happens. Be realistic.
Why no chance? Imagine we start off 0-9 or 0-10 in conference. I agree with the other poster—I think Pilling’s hand would be forced.
Engles has been given every chance and then some. He seems to be a very nice guy, but at the end of the day he is paid to win, or at least field a team that is competitive in the Ivy league. Not sure if there is another coach in the country that has lasted nine years with a record like his.
I could be wrong, but I actually think we have recruited better personnel than Cornell. But, Cornell players repeatedly have wide open threes and repeatedly beat their defenders on drives for easy shots. They also prevent Columbia from getting easy shots or easy drives to the rim. Plus, they have an occasional low post game and we do not. Why our 6 foot 10 guy cannot make a quick low post move to the basket, even after three years of practice, is beyond me.
Adding more assistant coaches does not seem to have helped.
Our players do not progress much as they go through the program. Some, I think, even regress. Very basic things, like defending against picks or staying between your man and the basket, seem to be lacking.
Let’s hope, for the umpteemth time, that we can turn it around this week.
Our "Chief Program Strategist" is working on it. Give him a break guys. In the meantime, I would look for Pilling to strengthen the resources available to Coach Engles by immediately hiring someone to serve in the new position of "Assistant to The Chief Program Strategist."
Men's Basketball's next two opponents are Yale and Princeton, the two highest ranked teams in the Ivy League. Pilling's extraordinary confidence in Engles' ability to become a winning coach in less than a decade will be sorely tested. Mitch Henderson and James Jones must be laughing and smiling about having the opportunity to see Engles again. .
What a hoot but so sad! I still think that Engles has video on someone!
Only Dartmouth coach is worse or at least as bad
Nice guys finish last
We will beat Y and P. Then you haters will shut up maybe.
Let's just stick to Sarah Lawrence and The Merchant Marine Academy for now
Put your pipe down. Engles sucks.
There is literally zero chance we beat both Yale and Princeton in the next two games. Has Jim ever beaten both in the same season, let alone in consecutive games? I don’t think he has.
Engles is definitely the worst men’s basketball coach we’ve ever had, and likely the worst in the history of the IL. And that’s saying something.
Right? To the rest of the league, he’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Annuity
By the way, the Dartmouth coach is not that bad. As your favorite Columbia sports announcer on ESPN+ exclaims multiple times in each broadcast, “he does something with nothing.” Hanover, New Hampshire is simply not the Mecca of college basketball. I know, neither is Ithaca. But what about New York City?
Poster who said we’ve never beaten Yale and Princeton in the same season is correct. In seven seasons, Engles is 3-25 against Y and P. Against Yale, he’s 2-12, and against P, he’s 1-13!!!! He has never won at Princeton and only once in New Haven!!! In four of his first seven seasons, the Lions have been swept by Y and P. So yeah, no chance he beats both teams this year.
The Columbia Men's Basketball Team appears to have a tremendous incentive to award their veteran head coach, Jim Engles, with a glorious victory against Yale on Saturday at Levien Gymnasium. If my numbers are correct, Saturday's contest against Yale will be Lucky Jim's 100th Ivy League game as Columbia's Head Coach, However, for whatever reason, Jim's won-loss record as Columbia' s Head Coach is not shown anywhere on the Columbia Athletics Website so in order to figure things out Columbia fans need to search thru the Columbia Basketball Archives which is a challoenging thing to do. In any evemy numbers show indicate that Coach Engles has compiled a record of 23 wins and 76 losses in his first 99 Ivy League games as Columbia''s Head Basketball Coach. An upset win against Yale will up his record to .240%. It will be interesting to see if Athletic Director Pilling will honor Coach Engles in some manner Saturday for that remarkable achievement--
Megan Griffith also struggled in her first few years. Now I know with Jim Engles it's taking longer but all the Men's IL teams had strong programs (with the exception of Dartmouth), whereas when Megan was hired it was Princeton and 7 of mediocrity on the girls side.
And Engles’ atrocious performance has gone well beyond “struggling.” Also, we’re way past his “first few years.” Peter, don’t wait another minute to pull the plug.
Can you please say "Women"
You can always find this info on Wikipedia by doing a Google search for Jim Engles. He’s 2-12 against Yale. After Saturday it’ll be 2-13, and 23-77 through his first (and hopefully final) 100 games at Columbia.
OK!!!! I'll say "women", and I'll agree that the LA fires were caused by "climate change", and that the covid vaccines worked.
The LA fires were caused by the people who voted into office a bunch of idiots.
I hate the cliche "making something out of nothing.' It's interesting that Lance Medow uses many more cliches in his basketbal broadcasts than football
This sounds like something an overconfident player or former player would say. Get back to me after we lose to both Yale and Princeton. I’ll say we lose by 10-15 to Yale and then by 30-40 to Princeton. Jones and Henderson run rings around Jimmy Jim.
Griffin has won the IL regular season twice. Engles can’t even get to .500. They started at the same time, and don’t tell me every other team in the IL on the men’s side has been some sort of UConn/Duke hybrid juggernaut every year.
I disagree with the poster who is seeking to justify Pilling's misadventure with Engles by drawing an analogy with Megan Griffith's first couple of years as coach of the Columbia Women's Basketball Team. As someone who has watched Columbia Women's Basketball for about 15 years, I can truly say that Ms. Griffith's coaching skills were on full display from game one of her career. It was immediately obvious to me and many other Columbia fans that
Megan Griffith was an extraordinarily talented all-around basketball coach. Like Kyle Smith, Ms. Griffith is a great game coach and motivator. Her remarkable achievements as Columbia's Head Coach only highlight the disappointment that Columbia Men's Basketball
fans have with the nightmare movie entitled "The Engles Nightmare," which has been going on seeming forever. Thank God we have had Ms. Griffith around to minimize the pain of that failed movie. Come on Peter, do already what AD's are supposed to do.
Well said. This week I’m going to write to our AD to see what he says.
Outstanding comments and observations. For you who plan to write to the athletic director, consider referencing and contrasting the marketing and communications. I’d think this would resonate with Mr. Pilling because my recollection is that he has a marketing background. Coach Griffith holds outstanding press conferences, and the social media effort for the women’s basketball team is outstanding. Furthermore, her newsletters are substantive/informative. No fluff like that from MBB. “Where’s the beef?”
We get know information about injured players? Where is Fliss? What's the status of the freshman big from Estonia. A little more color from Megan would be appreciated.
In my opinion, the prior poster is correct in criticizing the WBB coaching staff for not informing its fans what's happening with Kitty Henderson's sister, Fliss, and the freshman big from Estonia. Without those two players the team is struggling in the front court so Columbia fans would like to know their status. If neither of them will be seeing action this year, then Coach G will need to come up with plan to combat Harvard and Princeton's bigs. Regardless of what happens this year, Coach Griffith obviously needs to recruit much more height for next year and beyond.
I wonder if Coach Griffith has considered whether one of the tall, athletic players on our volleyball team can step into the void that seems to exist this year in WBB"s front court. Are there restrictions on the volleyball players competing in two sports? At least one of the volleyball players also competed in basketball in high school.
College basketball, both men's and women's, doesn't feature a traditional front court anymore. The days when there was a big power forward and a back to the basket center are long gone. It's a guards game now and teams often play with 3-4 interchangeable players, mostly guards. I'm pretty sure Meg is happy with the team she's put together and doesn't want to play with 2 bigs together.
One more note, the women defend and rebound well. We get 7 more rebounds per game.
2 points: (i) We rebound well but would be even better with Fliss. She is tough and we miss her. But kudos to Perri, Cece, Kitty, and even Riely who are very good rebounders. Susie has good offensive skills but plays a little soft for a big. She doesn't have the instincts to be a great rebounder. (ii) Our girl ballers are highly skilled and the competition is fierce at H and P. Taking a big body off the volleyball team won't cut it in this league. They would run circles around her.
Very fair questions and I’ve been wondering the same thing. However, there is still no comparison in how Coach Griffith reports compared to men’s basketball. I guess, a couple of these things, they simply do not feel like discussing. Only thing is that Fliss is right there in front of us And we wonder what’s going on so you are absolutely correct.
"Girl ballers".
Yes, we definitely miss Fliss. Having started all last year and a real force, driving and rebounding, I expected her to be a major contributor this year. Having apparently lost her, the coaching staff certainly had to modify some of its strategy. To the person who posted above, I agree mostly regarding traditional front courts. However, some of the powerhouse teams last year and we see it this year have some pretty big, tall women who dominate inside. They are not speedy guards. Note that Elena Rodriguez of Harvard looks vastly improved over last year. I’ve been very impressed with her play, including against Princeton. She would be considered a big in our league and she is moving quite well on the court. May be a handful for us.
She's a perimeter player and averages 3.5 rpg.
Yes, and she couldn’t handle the ball and was a stiff in her earlier years. She’s vastly improved. We will have our hands full with Harvard.
Big test on Monday evening against Princeton after a Saturday scrimmage in New Haven. I wonder how attendance will be on the student side. No doubt the adult side of the gym will be packed on Monday nite.
Yeah, she looks awkward and unathletic but she's a big contributor and one of their top weapons after Harmony.
Probably thin. That's the last day of winter break.
Just as well. I'd rather watch the game without keffiyehs in the background.
Today, in the Philadelphia Inquirer, college hoops pundit, Joe Lunardi, rated Villanova a “50-50 to make the NCAA tournament”. Ergo, the Lions must be “sure shots”, Do I hear, “a Sixth Seed in the East”?
Asshole
This might be a topic of discussion on the Villanova men's basketball blog.
OMG, the sole Hamas supporter on this blog this past year appears to be is still around and commenting with his usual one word obscenities. I do hope he's not a Columbia football player or a parent.
The commenter you ask about is our fb HC
Sarah Lawrence win looking more and more impressive!
Is a winless Ivy campaign out of the question for accountability-free Engles? As a poster on another MBB board mentioned, every other IL team looked better than Columbia this past weekend.
I am only wondering about this. I did feel that Cornell looked quite impressive. Now, some of you would say it was us - very fair. But do you think the Big Red are a sleeper and could challenge Yale and Princeton for the top spot? I really don’t care to dwell on the dismal record over these past years and the top heavy bureaucracy of our men’s coaching staff. I’m interested in this season. If we do not at least make the tournament in Providence, the athletic director must close the chapter!
Good observation. Cornell was very good, better than advertised. They shot 65% in first half, many from deep. They're experienced and deep, have 3 guards who can score and a few athletic guys up front. They can beat certainly beat Princeton and Yale.
But Princeton has Lee, plus last year’s Ivy POY in Pierce. They also have some good complementary players, and as usual, legitimate shooters. I think last year’s Cornell team was better than this year’s. In a word, I don’t see them beating Princeton, especially because the Big Red have uncharacteristically struggled a bit at home thus far. Couple that with the fact that they have a new HC (who admittedly has been at Cornell for almost 20 years), and I see the Tigers prevailing in Ithaca. Forget about Cornell beating them at the Jadwin. As for Yale, I think Cornell could beat them once but not twice.
It’s funny—people laughed at me earlier on this site when I said Cornell could be top four. After one game in conference, the response is quite different. ;)
For what it’s worth, I’m also very worried we’ll lose to Brown twice. And Harvard. I think we could split with Penn and Dartmouth. But absent home wins against Harvard or Brown, I think we’re staring down the barrel of a 2-12 IL campaign. Oof.
Wow, making even the 4-10 guy look optimistic. But with Engles, who knows? I’d say we can all be reasonably certain we won’t make the top four (barring some miraculous improvement in both coaching and execution), so the question becomes how far down will we finish? I see 5-9 as our ceiling at this point, which would mean going 5-6 if we lose to Y and P this weekend. And even that seems very optimistic. So maybe 4-10 or 3-11? We always play our worst in Hanover, but if ever there were a year when we needed two wins against Dartmouth…
There’s also the possibility that we win a few games at Levien but don’t win another game on the road. Go 0-7 on the road and 3-4 at home or some such. Of course, that would mean losing only one more game at home after this weekend, which also seems highly doubtful.
I who commented on Cornell’s performance in our home gym did not challenge or question your early season comment that Cornell could be in the top four. I did, however, say there could be a log jam in the fight for the third and fourth slots to qualify for the tournament. Yes, to the other poster, our initial preseason thoughts are that last year’s Cornell team was better. If they play as they did at LEVIEN Schiller Court, They can beat anybody in the league on a good night. By the way, did all of you happen to notice that Harvard apparently struggled to get by the Bowdoin Polar Bears? Speaking of bears, yes, we could definitely lose twice to Brown, But we could also beat them twice. Depends on if Kino L shows up. 2-12 would be horrific, but it is possible. 2-12 or 4-8, Mr. Pilling must turn the page. To you who are writing our approachable AD, let us know when you send that letter and when you get a reply.
“It’s our first game,” Engles said. “It’s never fun to lose. But there were definitely some positives from how we responded, and we just got to come out and prepare for the next game and just sort of play with some of that offensive energy and also create a little bit more defensive flow.” Oh, Jim.
Townsend was fine played against Georgetown. We lost Thomas prior to the Gtown game.
After the season Engles will spin it even better than President Porn Star! "We had a winning season (15-12) . I think that we have turned the corner! Now all we have to do is up the Ivy wins a bit!" All by lunch time! People will be talking! "Dave, I still have the greatest confidence in the Mission!" "Open the door, HAL!" HE CAN"T HEAR US, Can you AD Pilling?
We have a couple of nice backcourt players but DLR disappears sometimes and cannot often create a shot; he took a goose egg in the first half against Cornell. Noland and Robledo are nice players. Front court is a real issue.
Any information yet on how Columbia's plans to honor Coach Engles at the Yale game Saturday? Credit Engles for defeating all odds to make it to his 100th Ivy League game with a 23-76 record.
Will Columbia fans have an opportunity to congratulate Coach Engles in person on his ahievement.
23-76 record is a high bar for Engles to reach in his next ten years as Columbia's Men's Basketball Coach.
Is it the oft-mentioned Sherwin codicil that’s keeping him around? Even the Mangurian candidate didn’t last this long.
Some of you may be interested. I just took the time to listen to the Morningside Hoops podcast, which you will find on the Columbia website. I thought it was well done. I enjoyed the discussions which included Avery Brown and Mason Ritter; then the women came on with Mia Broom and Riley Weiss. Less than 30 minutes. By the way, someone was wondering about the situation with the “big“ from Serbia. Apparently that is public information. She is out for the season with a torn ACL.
Estonia.....but i suppose they're all sithole countries 😉
Any inside information on what keeping Fliss Henderson on the bench?
It seems like the Fliss situation no one is touching with a 10 foot pole. Sorry for my egregious error, yes, indeed, Estonia. But at least, “and now you know the rest of the story! “ and actually, Estonia is lovely and I have a friend who taught there and married a woman from Estonia. It is not a “SITHOLE “ as the above poster suggested. What a shame that one or two clowns have to add such silly commentary to this blog.
Nothing amiss if you take yesterday's Spec article at face value. (I do have to mention my distaste for the adjective "ballers", when used for any of the genders, period.) https://www.columbiaspectator.com/sports/2024/01/16/kitty-and-fliss-henderson-sisters-and-ballers/
Yes, I wasn't being serious. I've been to Estonia. It's a beautiful place.
I'm speechless after reading that article!!! They don't even mention that Fliss hasn't played a minute this season. Spec is garbage.
Article is from 2024, one year ago.
ugh!! '76 and I are the fools! Apologies to the good people at Spectator.
"Livin' in the past, you'll get lucky at last..."
"Harlem River, Hudson Water. Pull like hell for Alma Mater"
Surprised so many people are negative about Engles. I am a long time fan and i think we have seen some good progress the last few years. I think we have to give him a couple more years to be fair to see what he can do. In fairness, the program was also set back by Covid.
You’re absolutely right—ours was the only program in the country affected by COVID. “Good progress the last few years”??? Why, because we went from 1-13 to 4-10? You’ve gotta be a troll or a supporter of another program, right? Or please tell me you’re just being sarcastic. No one can be foolish enough to believe that Engles should be given more time.
Another big win for Villanova. That Lion win over the Wildcats gets more impressive every week.
Now if they can only win a game in the Ivies! Maybe in February?
I stand corrected re the covid comment from earlier. I thought Engles started during covid i looked it up and see now he started in 2016. I apologize for my comment. I agree it is time for a change. Now i understand the frustration. We need to finish in the top four this is his eighth season i thought it was his fourth. So sorry for the confusion.
No worries! Thanks for your follow-up post. Didn’t mean to express impolitely my incredulity when reading your earlier post. Yes, it would be a different story if it were only year four. For what it’s worth, I don’t think Engles should have been invited back after consecutive 1-13 campaigns, much less had his contract extended. At this point, the only people still in denial about how bad Engles is are Engles himself and Pilling.
Lucky Jim Engles just completed coaching his milestone 100th Ivy League game as Columbia's Head Basketball Coach, but unfortunately his team was unable to hold onto its lead over Yale in the final minutes of the game. The Lions lost 92-88 despite an excellent effort against a talented Yale team led by Coach James Jones. Hopefully, Columbia will have a better result in Engles 101st Ivy League Game this Monday against Princeton. Engles coached teams have not enjoyed much success in close games during his Columbia career possibly due to climate change.
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