Game Thread: Yale III (ILT Semis)

Princeton Tigers
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Super early tipoff tomorrow: 11am EST on ESPNU/ESPN+.

Unlike last year (when the ESPN+ shootaround felt like a funeral with Lee out sick), they looked loose and happy today. Actual smiles and excitement. Will that translate to victory? Probably not. But still nice to see. Need some of that 2023 magic…

If forced to make a prediction, I think they’ll play surprisingly well… and come up a bit short due to their weakness in the paint. If they somehow win, it’ll be because of physical defense and just enough offense. In Yale’s lone loss to Harvard and close wins vs. Penn and Dartmouth, the scores were around 70.

I care a lot more about playing feisty defense than making 15+ threes.

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I’ll take both, please.

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Tell me about it! I’m on Mountain Time.

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Any one of the four teams can win this thing and all, except Yale, can drop a game by 20+ points. The Tigers need to play defense tomorrow like Sunday doesn’t matter. Scrap, dive, harass, double, etc. And they need to shoot the lights out. Then we’ll win. Go Tigers!

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Cornell bothered Yale with physicality so need to be aggressive and

If their bigs knock down threes and

Poulakodis goes cold

Drive to score and not just get fouled to get Yale in foul trouble

Definitely see a couple paths to Princeton having a shot tomorrow

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I just hope they play with fire and swagger, win or lose. And I take consolation in knowing that a loss - while never what you want - makes another year of Lee and Pierce that much more likely.

This season obviously fell short of preseason expectations and both players’ futures would be well-served by running it back for the 2025-26 season (barring a miracle March run).

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Try PDT, like us Angelenos. Especially as I am not a morning person. Not sure I’ll hit the alarm clock to watch it live, but I may cave in in the end.

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Maybe I’m overinterpreting, but I kind of liked the look in Lee’s eyes at the press conference when asked about playing against Mbeng and he finished with “I’m ready.”

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Lee’s 4 games as a starter against Yale:

  • 19p / 6r / 2a / 1to (29min)
  • 2p / 2r / 7a / 2to
  • 19p / 7r / 5a / 1to
  • 18p / 11r / 4a / 0to

Mbeng is a great defender but Lee has done just fine against him in 3/4 games. It’s the rest of the team I’m worried about. Pierce hasn’t been himself this season due to injuries and I don’t think we can win without him having a great game.

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Lee vs Mbeng is really a treat for Ivy fans. I might be getting ahead of myself as a non-old head, but I’ve never seen an highly anticipated matchup between the league’s offensive standout and defensive anchor such as this in the league.

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If there’s a matchup that determines the game, I think it’s Townsend vs. Pierce. Unfortunately for us, Townsend has the clear edge this season. He’s basically a stronger version of Pierce.

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Princeton +7 1/2 O/U 146

Beware the Ides of March, Eli.

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We’ll see which Princeton team shows up, the pre-season favorite or the puzzling team that had Tiger fans lamenting. Should be fun! Go Bulldogs.

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Make Shots! Go Tigers!

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What a terrible start. Still haven’t scored at the under-16 timeout.

Might be able to put this one in the books early.

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0-5 from three to start, 0-6 from the field and we go down 9. we’ll lose by 20 if we can’t hit open threes. uggh

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Can I sever myself for the rest of this game?

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Finally, some life. Both teams are rusty (early start can’t help) but the difference so far is Townsend.

As expected, we have no answer for him and he’s scored 3 layups at the rim.

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Foul after 29 sec of strong D. Ouch

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Refs have been screwing us all season. Why stop now?