I get that things have felt different this season…But it’s shaping up to be the exact same result as the Engles era. Good nonconference season against a very weak schedule. Then look totally overmatched in league play.
At least the women had another great win.
Excited to see what Kevin Hovde does with his own team next year, and two great frosh coming back. But for now, it’s the same old, same old. After all these years of losing, it’s just disheartening.
I disagree. The team plays harder, with more energy and is more competitive. That’s a critical improvement in culture. Also they haven’t given up after 5-6 league games as they did previously. They’re still competing. The reality is that not having Bedri has proven to be a devestating loss. He would have been our #2 scorer and provided an interior compliment to Noland. We don’t have enough depth to replace that.
That’s a fair comment. They are definitely improved. And losing Bedri was brutal. (What happened to him btw? I assume he’s gonna redshirt/transfer up, which is deserved). It’s just the losing that all feels so familiar, and it’s sad.
Understood. We had lost 19 of 20 league games prior to this year. I thought 6-7 league wins would be a big achievement this year and we can still get there or maybe closer. Bedri was supposed to be back after 2-3 league games and evidently has decided to sit. Even him playing 6-7 league games could have gotten us into the top half of the standings. We don’t have enough room for error to survive his loss. Igoe has been great, Soulis and Ritter have had some good moments but those efforts should have been secondary to Bedri getting 12-13 points and 7-8 rebounds. That said, I do think the team culture has shifted in a very positive way. It’s going to take some time.
That’s interesting about Bedri. I can’t really blame him. Gets a chance at some money, a full season, and a look at some high-major schools. I assume Avery Brown made the same decision? He wasn’t as missed, in my opinion. Never developed a reliable shot and always made questionable decisions.
While Bedri is missed, I think Ritter hasn’t really developed a ton this year, and seems to have run out of gas late, after a very good nonconference. And Soulis…man. Why does Hovde let him shoot from 3 still? He’s like 1 for his last 17, and they aren’t particularly pretty! He always seems like he’s trying to do too much.
Noland is an All-League play, but has been forced to be a point guard this year. Has led to Columbia being too turnover prone.
Last thing I’ll say is that I wish they were a little more resilient. They’re way too prone to giving up massive runs, and rarely hold onto leads. Happened with Penn today, Princeton at home, and even some late collapses in the BostonU/Hofstra wins. They have to get better and not letting things just totally fall apart for long stretches.
Overall though, yes, I believe far more in Columbia in the future than I did this time last year.
Anyone know the deal with Edwin Bai? Seems like a case similar to Jacob Tsai, comes from a rich family… he played with Bryce James at Sierra Canyon but I couldnt dig up any stats on him. Just seems to be warming the bench. I’ve heard rumors he was off the team for a bit as well
One more comment here. Good win at Princeton after a tough loss at Penn. The team continues to fight which is really important. A lot of teams wouldn’t respond well after that loss at Penn but that’s a thing of the past for us. 2 winnable games at home now.
There are two huge differences from last season. We are a much better team defensively and we never give up. Just because of that I’m happy with Hovde’s first season regardless of the result. And now is time to make a run and sneak into ILT
15 wins overall also guarantees us a winning record for the first time since Kyle Smith. Again, a positive result.
I’m a little less excited about the number of wins. Two D3 games, and the 320th hardest noncon schedule in the country (including D1 only). I’d really like to see Columbia schedule some tougher noncon games moving forward, and enter MTEs. One of the reasons I think they struggled in Ivy play so much under Engles was not having a non-con schedule that prepared them for what they’d see in the league.
But agreed, good bounce back yesterday. Also very fortunate that Dartmouth lost to Brown. If they can win the next two at home, have to hope Cornell loses one or two games and you’ll have a legit shot to make it to Ithaca for the tournament.
I believe that Cornell owns the tiebreaker as of right now, though that could change if Columbia is able to beat Yale at home, or Harvard on the road.
Let’s not forget that the patient was close to death before Columbia finally changed doctors. It’s still a mystery to me why the Columbia Administration took so long to terminate the last guy. Given all of the circumstances I believe Coach Hovde and his staff have done an extraordinary job this year.
Agree on your comments, but don’t forget that scheduling the first season after what the program was is not easy. Most deals are at least 2-year long, and as one of the worst programs in the country you usually have to pay a huge amount for good teams to play you. Now Hovde has enough time and a better portfolio to come up with a tougher non-con schedule