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Know Your Opponent: Yale
December 30, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers
By Bobby Hundley
Yale (YaleBulldogs.com)
Location: New Haven, Conn.
Rankings: No. 71Â KenPom, NR AP
NET/SOS: No. 55 NET, No. 107 SOS
Record: 10-3
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): Carolina leads 6-1 (Carolina 85, Yale 74, Feb. 4, 1980, Chapel Hill)
As the second decade of the 21st century comes to a close, the Ivy League finds itself in the midst of a golden era of men's basketball. Led by long-time coaches like Harvard's Tommy Amaker, Penn's Steve Donohue and Yale's James Jones, the Ivy has gone from an occasional Cinderella to consistently rating as one of the better mid-major conferences in the country.
Jones' Bulldogs picked up their second Ivy title in four seasons last year, beating Princeton and Harvard in the four-team conference tournament before pushing LSU to the brink as a No. 14 seed in the NCAA tournament. And if the early returns are to be believed, the 2020 Elis could be the best Yale squad since the 2016 team earned a No. 12 seed and knocked off Baylor before putting a scare into Duke.
Despite losing four starters from last year's roster, the Bulldogs sport a veteran lineup with five upperclassmen playing the bulk of the minutes. Syracuse and DePaul are the only high-major teams that play their reserves less than Yale, which has started the same group in each of its first 13 contests.
Big man Paul Atkinson leads the team in scoring and has made the leap from role player to star in his junior season, averaging a team-high 17.2 points while making nearly 66 percent of his 2s despite a major uptick in usage from a year ago. His frontcourt mate Jordan Bruner is a senior who is slightly less efficient offensively but is the team's best defensive rebounder and shot blocker.
Guards Eric Monroe and Azar Swain handle the bulk of the ball handling (though Bruner is also a very capable passer), while wing Jalen Gabbidon rounds out the starting five. Sophomore Matthue Cotton is both the only underclassman to see significant minutes and the team's primary outside threat (40.4 percent on 52 3-point attempts), though Swain has shot by far the most from deep (32.8 percent on 116 attempts).
So while Yale presents a formidable challenge offensively due largely to the efficiency of Atkinson and a fairly deliberate pace, the Bulldogs are winning with defense. Despite forcing very few turnovers (326th nationally in TO rate), Jones' club ranks 42nd in KenPom's adjusted defense metric by disrupting opponents on the perimeter to the tune of 27 percent for the year. Only San Francisco and UMass have scored better than one point per possession against Yale, and Clemson managed just 45 points in a 63-possession game last Sunday at Littlejohn.
Yale is an OT defeat at San Francisco and single-digit road losses at Oklahoma State and Penn State from being undefeated going into Monday night's contest in Chapel Hill, so dismiss the Bulldogs at your own peril. And while a NET rating of 55 on the eve of conference play means an at-large bid is unlikely, Yale will be a team no one wants to face in March should the Bulldogs repeat as Ivy champs.Â
Yale (YaleBulldogs.com)
Location: New Haven, Conn.
Rankings: No. 71Â KenPom, NR AP
NET/SOS: No. 55 NET, No. 107 SOS
Record: 10-3
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): Carolina leads 6-1 (Carolina 85, Yale 74, Feb. 4, 1980, Chapel Hill)
As the second decade of the 21st century comes to a close, the Ivy League finds itself in the midst of a golden era of men's basketball. Led by long-time coaches like Harvard's Tommy Amaker, Penn's Steve Donohue and Yale's James Jones, the Ivy has gone from an occasional Cinderella to consistently rating as one of the better mid-major conferences in the country.
Jones' Bulldogs picked up their second Ivy title in four seasons last year, beating Princeton and Harvard in the four-team conference tournament before pushing LSU to the brink as a No. 14 seed in the NCAA tournament. And if the early returns are to be believed, the 2020 Elis could be the best Yale squad since the 2016 team earned a No. 12 seed and knocked off Baylor before putting a scare into Duke.
Despite losing four starters from last year's roster, the Bulldogs sport a veteran lineup with five upperclassmen playing the bulk of the minutes. Syracuse and DePaul are the only high-major teams that play their reserves less than Yale, which has started the same group in each of its first 13 contests.
Big man Paul Atkinson leads the team in scoring and has made the leap from role player to star in his junior season, averaging a team-high 17.2 points while making nearly 66 percent of his 2s despite a major uptick in usage from a year ago. His frontcourt mate Jordan Bruner is a senior who is slightly less efficient offensively but is the team's best defensive rebounder and shot blocker.
Guards Eric Monroe and Azar Swain handle the bulk of the ball handling (though Bruner is also a very capable passer), while wing Jalen Gabbidon rounds out the starting five. Sophomore Matthue Cotton is both the only underclassman to see significant minutes and the team's primary outside threat (40.4 percent on 52 3-point attempts), though Swain has shot by far the most from deep (32.8 percent on 116 attempts).
So while Yale presents a formidable challenge offensively due largely to the efficiency of Atkinson and a fairly deliberate pace, the Bulldogs are winning with defense. Despite forcing very few turnovers (326th nationally in TO rate), Jones' club ranks 42nd in KenPom's adjusted defense metric by disrupting opponents on the perimeter to the tune of 27 percent for the year. Only San Francisco and UMass have scored better than one point per possession against Yale, and Clemson managed just 45 points in a 63-possession game last Sunday at Littlejohn.
Yale is an OT defeat at San Francisco and single-digit road losses at Oklahoma State and Penn State from being undefeated going into Monday night's contest in Chapel Hill, so dismiss the Bulldogs at your own peril. And while a NET rating of 55 on the eve of conference play means an at-large bid is unlikely, Yale will be a team no one wants to face in March should the Bulldogs repeat as Ivy champs.Â
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