Solid road win against New Haven

Columbia Lions
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Good initial show of the Men’s team today against a recently ascended team from D2. New Haven started the season with a very solid game against UConn. They did play a really poor game today, however. Wasn’t a perfect game from our end, but there are a bunch of good takeaways from today.

  • Really, really impressed with Miles Franklin. Thompson needs to step up if he doesn’t want to be replaced by him in the starting lineup. Really good 3 in every aspect. I don’t recall anything he did wrong today. Definitely looks like a ROY candidate.
  • Solid 11 man rotation. Outside of Nweke, who seemed a bit lost on the court, everyone else looks solid and gives this team a lot of depth.
  • Impressed by how improved Brown’s 3-point shooting looks. Really happy for him. His decision making still not ideal. If he improves that, he will become an spectacular PG.
  • Very defined roles and big lineup, as Hovde already advanced. Brown, Noland, O’Keefe and Sanders as the guards, Thompson and Franklin as the 3s, Bedri and Igoe as 4s, Nweke as 4/5, and Ritter and Soulis as 5s. Looks like, for now, Brown, Noland, Thompson, Bedri and Ritter will be starting, and I really only see Franklin with an immediate potential of being there.
  • Definitely not am 8th Ivy League team
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Team is bigger, deeper and more athletic. Really did a good job on the boards and played tough defense, especially against the three, which we never did last year. Only real negative was a few too many turnovers. O’Keefe and Blair didn’t get a lot of good looks offensively and that won’t be the norm. Expect both of them to score more. Agree that Franklin was great. Scored from the perimeter, can get to the rim and had a nice dunk in traffic. As a side note, nice fan support for a Friday 1pm road game. Lots of parents, family and supporters. Seemed like 100 people behind the Columbia bench.

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Kenpom has already moved us up significantly in his rankings so that we are now ranked fifth in the Ivy League at 216 just ahead of Brown at 218, Dartmouth 227 and Penn 275. If we play well Monday against a Connecticut team that is ranked fourth nationally, we will probably move into fourth place in Kenpom. rankings ahead of Cornell. Aside from the rankings, I thought the Lions played extremely well in the first game of the Kevin Hovde Era at Columbia. Many positives and absolutely no negatives.

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Miles Franklin wins Rookie of the Week

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Probably more to come.
And Riley Weiss Player of the Week!

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