nyc nye seism shakes the ivies and allgame

when the current edition of the columbia mens’ basketball team fell to rutgers by forty points in their first contest and by twenty eight to the umass-lowell river hawks in their levien opener, allgame was among the naysaying head hangers in the stands and on the internet. lion fans had best brace for a third consecutive season of perhaps a half dozen wins with only one of those coming in the all important ivy league campaign, we moaned. the professional prognosticators as well as we amateur cassandras foresaw naught but catastrophe, caught the foretaste of bitter humiliation. how pleasant, then, to eat crow as the planet begins another journey round its star. the lions are undefeated in ivy play, tied for first. praise the lord! how did we get to this moment?

that they stand at a mere, and modest, 1 – 0 does not mean we need temper our pride in the pride. this young crew stopped the two time defending league champion yale bulldogs on saturday afternoon at levien gymnasium. the 62 – 60 victory epitomized the path to success for these cubs. over the first five games of the season, the light blue yielded 82 points per game. over the last five contests they have given up just 65.5 ppg. in holding the elis to almost six fewer points than that, they outdid themselves. indeed, yale scored 20 points less than their average – a 25% under performance. that dismal result stemmed from the lions’ ferocious defense all over the court. two yalies, john poulakidas and august mahoney, were held to a combined 3 – 13 from the perimeter. those gentlemen are the two best new haven sharpshooters. in fact, their paltry 23% effort was better that the elis overall efficiency of 21% from downtown. it was delightful to watch the columbia defenders harry their opponents’ best bombers into ever deeper, less makeable, attempts. just as wonderful was the lions’ ferocity in the paint and under the glass. no shot by the connecticut residents went uncontested nor did any rebound fall gently into their hands. similarly, the morningsiders were johnny on the spot with most loose balls, laying out on the hardwood and accumulating the floor burns emblematic of hoops ardor.

however, we are remiss not to mention some of the particular pleasures of the lions’ offensive exploits. avery brown, the 6′ 4″ first year out of northfield mount hermon, led the stats sheet with 16 points, including 2 – 3 from three point range. he also supplied the game’s most dazzling play. at the 11:30 mark of the first half, lion center zinou bedri grabbed a rebound and tossed an outlet to kenny noland who found avery streaking open just past mid-court in front of the few students attending the holiday break game. the guard caught noland’s pass in full stride and raced up court towards the rim, slamming the ball home over the elis’ big forward ej jarvis for the bucket and the foul. messr brown’s conversion of the free throw pushed the lion lead to 15 – 11 and ignited their dominant performance for the rest of the period. we needs also consider geronimo rubio de la rosa. the 6′ 2″ sophomore guard, who is emerging as the team’s leader, threw in 15 points on the afternoon. his performance included an ungodly three pointer in the face of bez mbeng’s perfect, hands up an in the face defense. the ice in the veins dagger, that de la rosa swished with 1:12 to play, sealed the deal for our heroes. gero, as we refer to him going forward, additionally chipped in 5 rebounds and 6 assists for his day’s work. further firing our man crush for this particular lion was his gritty defensive work – both on the perimeter and occasionally down in the paint with the big boys. it was this combativeness that most epitomized the team’s commitment to defense and that we most enjoyed.

neither should we omit the increasingly fine work of 6’9″ sophomore center, jake tavroff, who pounds the boards and runs the pick and roll with increasing finesse. coming off the bench, tavroff has been spelling first year starting center, zinou bedri. the 6′ 9″ algerian native is leaner than tavroff but enjoys mixing it up with beefier opponents. he makes sure his opposite numbers are always aware of his presence with well timed hip checks and shoulder bumps. messr bedri is contibuting 8.5 ppg and 4.6 rebounds nightly. this duo in the middle of columbia’s attack thus provide thirteen and a half points and nine rebounds per contest between them. they are an invaluable complement to the lions’ outside shooters.

the victory over yale on new year’s eve day was enlivening for a number of reasons. first, it demonstrated the relatively small difference between the ostensibly best and worst teams in the ivy. though they still have much to learn, the light blue cubs are the athletic equals of the ancient eight’s best. the lions made hash of the 14.5 points edge given to the elis by the bookies. the program does not have that far to go to compete for a spot in the league tournament. secondly, the win provided an occasion for historical reflection upon the competition between these squads. we were happily transported to march 2, 2019 when the light blue visited newman arena in new haven and tripped up their hosts by 83 -75. that game, came in the middle of a very lively late season run by columbia which gave allgame and other lion afficionados the hope that the program was on the verge of taking a more prominent place in the ivies. the campaign beckoning in 2019 – 20 acquired a hopeful, golden cast. regretably, patrick tape pulled up stakes for duke. gabe steffanini suffered a second season ending foot injury and quinton adlesh moved on to usc for his fifth year of eligibility. the richly anticipated team cratered into the first of two 1 – 13 ivy seasons sandwiched around the cancelled 2020 – 21 schedule, a trifecta of misery that constitutes what must be the great abyss in lion hoops performance. in retrospect, the win at new haven had proven the last significant ivy league win for the lions – until saturday. the 62 – 60 victory has allgame dreaming again of relevance for the light blue five. it was, after all, columbia’s first win over yale at levien since february 23, 2014 when kyle smith’s team downed coach jones’s bulldogs 62 – 46. that lion crew went on to its first post-season berth since 1968. why not dream big again for columbia basketball? at the very least,for another afternoon, one could bellow the ever pertinent question, “who owns new york?”

princeton, tied for first with the lions comes to levien this friday. we await greater glory!

peace out, d up,

paulie b