Two weeks into the 2005-06 men's basketball season, the Tigers (1-2 overall) have shown flashes of brilliance in beating Lehigh on the road, but they have also struggled in home losses to Drexel and Lafayette. Many of the other seven Ivy League teams have performed similarly, as teams slowly figure out which players they can count on this season. The 'Prince' pauses to survey the early landscape of the Ancient Eight.
Columbia (4-0)
Their opponents may not have been the most impressive, but in winning their first four games to open the season, the Lions have discovered what it takes to win close games.
After defeating New Hampshire, 64-61, to open the season, Columbia moved on to the championship round of the Tyler Ugolyn Columbia Classic tournament, in which it defeated Troy, 73-71, for the title.
A blowout win over Long Island followed, but in the team's fourth game, it took a Justin Armstrong three-pointer with 5.8 seconds remaining to propel the Lions to a 55-54 win over Stony Brook and their best season-opening record since the 1969-70 season.
Harvard (4-0)
With all five starters averaging 9.3 points or more per game and an undefeated record after four games, the Crimson is doing all it can to justify the hype that earned it a second-place finish in the Ivy League preseason poll.
As expected, center Brian Cusworth and forward Matt Stehle have led the way for Harvard thus far, with Cusworth averaging more than three blocks per game and Stehle leading the team in rebounding with 8.3 per game.
The surprise for the Crimson has been shooting guard Jim Goffredo, who has connected on half of his shots from the field and boasts a team-high scoring average of 14 points per game.
Penn (2-0)
This past Saturday, the Quakers struck midnight for a Drexel team fresh off a Cinderella run to a fourth-place finish at the Preseason National Invitation Tournament, handing the Dragons a 68-60 loss.
During its hot streak, Drexel dismantled Princeton, 54-41, and nearly pulled off upsets against nationally-ranked Duke and UCLA. But Penn's balanced offensive attack was too much for the Dragons, as the Quakers jumped to a 47-28 lead early and held on for the win. Leading the way for Penn in its second straight win to open the season were guards Eric Osmundson and Ibrahim Jaaber, who notched 15 and 14 points, respectively.
Yale (3-2)
After leading the Bulldogs to two wins in three games at the John Thompson Classic in Lincoln, Neb., Yale forward Sam Kaplan became the 2005-06 season's first Ivy League Player of the Week.
In the team's season-opener against Louisiana Tech, a pair of free throws with six seconds left gave Kaplan a game-high 16 points and the Bulldogs a 69-68 win.
Yale's record fell to .500 on Saturday with an 80-67 loss to a powerful Bucknell squad, but the Bulldogs have to be happy with the play of Kaplan, who is averaging more than 23 points per game.
Dartmouth (1-1)
More reassuring to Big Green fans than their team splitting its first two games of the season is the fact that a second scoring option has emerged to complement guard Mike Lang, last year's leading scorer.
Leon Pattman, a guard who led Dartmouth in scoring during the 2003-04 campaign en route to being named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year, appears to have recovered from the groin injury that forced him to quit the team four games into last season.
Coming off the bench, Pattman averaged 13.5 over the first two games, making 10 of 16 field goals.
Cornell (2-3)
All eyes were on the Big Red when it faced Saint Francis in the inaugural game of the 2005-06 college basketball season. Sweet-shooting forward Ryan Rourke made sure his squad responded well to the attention.
Rourke netted 25 points to lead Cornell to a 75-54 victory over the Red Flash, an effort that earned the Big Red a date with No. 16 Syracuse in the second round of the Coaches v. Cancer Classic.
Against the Orange, Cornell and guard Adam Gore — who led the team with 22 points in just his second collegiate game — made things interesting. The Big Red held the lead as late as 15 minutes, 22 seconds into the second half before eventually succumbing, 67-62.
Brown (1-3)
At halftime of their game against Rhode Island on Saturday, the Bears held a 23-19 lead and appeared poised to even their record to 2-2. But playing four straight road games over eight days to open the season finally caught up with Brown — the Rams went on a 13-0 run to open the second half and cruised to a 57-40 win.
The cold shooting that doomed the Bears to their third defeat has plagued them all season. Both of their leading scorers, guard Damon Huffman and forward Luke Ruscoe, have field-goal percentages below 40 percent and have combined to shoot just seven-of-28 from three-point range.
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