i will refrain from talking any smack in this post and try to give some credit where it is due to the lions’ conference opponents. don’t be misled by the civility. throw downs start next weekend.
though fordham’s win over harvard has taken some of the top 25 bloom off the crimson rose, tommy amaker’s crew remains the team to beat in the ancient 8. the entire league, however, will take heart from encouraging non-conference performances by a few squads, and harvard will hardly have a cake walk past its 7 conference foes. yale has ridden the broad, nba bound shoulders of greg mangano to a 10 and 4 start. though the elis fell to wake forest and florida late in december, there is hardly any shame in losing to such big time programs. the inside out combination of mangano and blank will challenge the similar strengths of an admittedly deeper harvard crew. princeton’s tigers have braved a seemingly endless road schedule beginning back on december 7 that included a thrilling 3 ot victory over a very well considered florida state team that had been upended by harvard back on november 25. after a quick stop at jadwin on january 8 to take on the college of nj, the stripers’ travels continue into the ivy sked and won’t end until february 4 after playing 11 of 12 games away. they should take heart though from their comfortable 7 of 9 game home stay to wrap the year. further comfort should come from the dependable ian hummer and the incredibly clutch doug davis who sank a last second j that torpedoed the crimson’s ncaa tourney hopes last year and similarly did in the seminoles this year with 3 treys in the third overtime of an epic duel in late december. penn enters the ivy schedule under .500 having lost mightily to duke and pitt. but close games versus villanova and ucla indicate there’s still fight in jerome allen’s squad and the backcourt duo of rosen and bernardini should confound a fair number of conference foes. and lest we forget, the big red fought a then number 25 illini squad to the last minute of a frustrating 64-60 loss amid the prairie’s brown december cornstalks. the ithaca boys also lost battles to big ten penn state and the acc terrapins by 7 and 8 points respectively. the ivies are not an easy out this year, i’m just saying.of course, our preeminent concern remains the light blue’s continuing success. offensively challenged, let’s be honest, columbia’s non-conference streak of 11 wins in their last 12 contests has depended first upon outstanding team defense. indeed, mid-december, the lions found themselves in the top 20 nationally in two categories – scoring defense (56.4 ppg) and field goal percentage defense (37.1%). the hard work of guarding the opponent, combined with a team effort on the backboards, is paying off in the win column. let’s also remember that the length coach smith added in his freshman class as well as the increasingly productive minutes from rangy meiko lyles have been important parts of this team defensive efficiency. lyles has also stepped up his offensive output averaging better than 17 ppg over the last 4 contests. if meiko can maintain anything like this pace during the ivy battles, the team is likely to fare very well indeed. brian barbour will be able to refocus on his floor leadership and involve even more efficiently the rapidly improving freshmen alex rosenberg and noah springwater. frosh big man cory osetkowski has stepped his game up as of late and against colgate played 25 minutes, scoring 8 while grabbing a couple of boards as well as blocking a shot and nabbing a steal. messr osetkowski is proving a capable young back up to mark cisco and john daniels who have labored relentlessly on the boards. coach smith seems to be doing a fine job incorporating his newbies into the flow of the game without unnecessarily accelerating their learning curve.long story short, we continue to maintain our high pre-season hopes for this squad. they have weathered the early blow of losing offensive star noruwa agho and have proven resilient while mounting a few second half comebacks to post a non-conference record of 11-5, heady stuff indeed for the blue crew’s followers. let’s get ready for the all important ivy schedule. for the first time since ’06 columbia does not open its conference games versus cornell. the quakers come to town on friday 1/13 followed by the battle with the tigers on saturday. i have highlighted this week on my calendar as one of the year’s most important. a sweep of the perennial league leaders should set the lions’ up for an excellent ivy finish. a week later big red is at levien. time to go to work.d ’em up, paulie b