2011–12 Ivy League men's basketball season

2011–12 Ivy League men's basketball season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
DurationJanuary 7
– March 6, 2012
Number of teams8
Regular season
League ChampionsHarvard
Season MVPZack Rosen, Penn
Basketball seasons
2011–12 Ivy League men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Harvard 12 – 2   .857 26 – 5   .839
Penn 11 – 3   .786 20 – 13   .606
Princeton 10 – 4   .714 20 – 12   .625
Yale 9 – 5   .643 19 – 10   .655
Cornell 7 – 7   .500 12 – 16   .429
Columbia 4 – 10   .286 15 – 15   .500
Brown 2 – 12   .143 8 – 23   .258
Dartmouth 1 – 13   .071 5 – 25   .167
As of March 15, 2012
Rankings from AP Poll


The 2011–12 Ivy League men's basketball season marked the continuation of the annual tradition of competitive basketball among Ivy League members that began when the league was formed during the 1956–57 season, continuing from the predecessor Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League, which was formed in 1902. Harvard was the preseason favorite for the first time and spent most of the season receiving vote in the 2011–12 national rankings. The season marked the first time that four Ivy League teams (Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale) participated in the postseason. The season marked the second time that the Ivy League had three 20-win teams (Harvard, Penn and Princeton).

Zack Rosen earned Ivy League Men's Basketball Player of the Year and earned Associated Press All-American honorable mention recognition. Reggie Willhite was Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and Shonn Miller was the Conference Rookie of the Year. In addition to Rosen, Ian Hummer was a unanimous first team All-Ivy League selection. The conference had two Academic All-America honorees (Matthew Sullivan and Chris Wroblewski) and a Lowe's Senior CLASS Award finalist (Rosen).

Preseason

Entering the 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball season head coach Mitch Henderson began his tenure at Princeton.[1] Greg Mangano was one of 22 USA Basketball invitees to the USA Basketball Men's World University Games Team training camp to select the team for the 2011 Summer Universiade held at Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.[2] He competed in basketball at the 2011 Summer Universiade, becoming the first Men's Ivy League Basketball World University Games participant since Bill Bradley.[3] Jeremiah Kreisberg was named to the Israeli team for the FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship Division B held in Bosnia and Herzegovina.[4] He played in 6 of the team's 8 games, leading the team in scoring and finishing second in rebounds.[3] Preseason publications predicted Harvard would finish in first place. For the first time in school history, the Ivy League media panel selected Harvard as its first place choice. Princeton and Yale finished tied for second.[5]

Season

By returning all of their key players from the 2010–11 Ivy League co-champion 2010–11 Crimson and competing successfully, Harvard received votes in the 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings polls every week until the final week of the season and was ranked for many weeks.[6] Harvard represented the Ivy League by sweeping its three contests and emerging victorious in the 2011 Battle 4 Atlantis.[7] Among the highlights of the season were victories by both Harvard and Princeton over eventual 2012 ACC men's basketball tournament champion Florida State.[8][9] Zack Rosen finished the season as the Ivy League Men's Basketball Player of the Year.

Following the annual 14-game round robin home & home schedule, Harvard emerged as champion and earned the conference's automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. Harvard entered the tournament as a number 12 seed, making its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1946.[10] Princeton and Penn were invited to the 2012 College Basketball Invitational.[11] Yale was invited to the 2012 CollegeInsider.com Tournament.[12] The season marked the first time that four Ivy League teams (Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale) participated in the postseason.[13][14] The season marked the second time that the Ivy League had three 20-win teams (Harvard, Penn and Princeton).[15]

Honors and accolades

Five players (Eitan Chemerinski - Jr., Cornell; Austin Morgan - Jr., Yale; Matthew Sullivan - Jr., Brown; Reggie Willhite - Sr., Yale; Chris Wroblewski - Sr. Cornell) were named Academic All-District, meaning that they were among the 40 finalists to be named to the 15-man Academic All-America Team.[16] Sullivan and Wroblewski were both named third team Academic All-Americans.[17][18] It was Wrobleski's second consecutive Academic All-American recognition.[19]

Keith Wright was a preseason candidate for the John R. Wooden Award and the Lou Henson Award. Penn's Zack Rosen, Columbia's Brian Barbour, Cornell's Wroblewski and Harvard's Brandyn Curry were among 65 preseason Cousy Award preseason watchlist candidates. Rosen made the list of 20 finalists. Rosen and Wrobleski were among 30 preseason Lowe's Senior CLASS Award candidates. Rosen was among the ten finalists.[20]

In season

Each week the Ivy League selects a player of the week and a rookie of the week.[21]

Player of the Week Rookie of the Week
Name School Class Position Name School Position
November 14, 2011 Zack Rosen Penn Sr. G Shonn Miller Cornell F
Greg Mangano Yale Sr. C Jvonte Brooks Dartmouth F
November 21, 2011 Zack Rosen Penn Sr. G Shonn Miller Cornell F
Gabas Maldunas Dartmouth F
November 28, 2011 Keith Wright Harvard Sr. F Alex Rosenberg Columbia F
Shonn Miller Cornell F
December 5, 2011 Meiko Lyles Columbia So. F Jonah Travis Harvard F
December 12, 2011 Kyle Casey Harvard Jr. F Gabas Maldunas Dartmouth F
Tyler Bernardini Penn Sr. G
December 19, 2011 Ian Hummer Princeton Jr. F Galal Cancer Cornell F
John Golden Dartmouth G
December 26, 2011 Tyler Bernardini Penn Sr. G Jvonte Brooks Dartmouth F
Greg Mangano Yale Sr. C Denton Koon Princeton F
January 9, 2012 Greg Mangano Yale Sr. C Gabas Maldunas Dartmouth F
Keith Wright Harvard Sr. F Shonn Miller Cornell F
January 23, 2012 Mark Cisco Columbia Jr. C Corbin Miller Harvard G
January 30, 2012 Andrew McCarthy Brown Jr. F Steve Moundou-Missi Harvard F
February 6, 2012 Greg Mangano Yale Sr. C Shonn Miller Cornell F
February 13, 2012 Chris Wroblewski Cornell Sr. G Jvonte Brooks Dartmouth F
February 20, 2012 Zack Rosen Penn Sr. G Gabas Maldunas Dartmouth F
February 27, 2012 Zack Rosen Penn Sr. G John Golden Dartmouth G
March 5, 2012 Kyle Casey Harvard Jr. F Jvonte Brooks Dartmouth F
Zack Rosen Penn Sr. G

All-Ivy

The following players earned Ivy League postseason recognition:[22]

USBWA

On March 6, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association released its 2011–12 Men's All-District Teams, based upon voting from its national membership. There were nine regions from coast to coast, and a player and coach of the year were selected in each. The following lists all the Big Ten representatives selected within their respective regions.[23]

NABC

The National Association of Basketball Coaches announced their Division I All-District teams on March 14, recognizing the nation's best men's collegiate basketball student-athletes. Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, 240 student-athletes, from 24 districts were chosen. The selection on this list were then eligible for the State Farm Coaches' Division I All-America teams. The following list represented the District 13 players chosen to the list.[24]

Other

Rosen was named an honorable mention Associated Press All-American.[25] Wright was also selected to participate in the NABC 2012 Reese's Division I All-Star Game at the 2012 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament final four.[26]

Rankings

Main article: 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

On December 5, 2011, Harvard made its first ever appearance in either the AP (25) or Coaches Poll (24).[27] It leaves Brown as the only remaining Ivy League school to have never been ranked in the AP Poll and leaves only seven schools that have played Division I basketball since the AP Poll began that have never been ranked in it.[28] Harvard is the first Ivy League team ranked in the Coaches Poll since the 2009–10 Cornell Big Red and the first Ivy League team ranked in the AP Poll since the 1997–98 Princeton Tigers, who finished 8th in the poll.[29] By January 2, the team achieved rankings of 22 in the AP Poll and 21 in the Coaches Poll.[30] The team was also ranked 21st in the Coaches Poll On February 6.[31] Below are Harvard's rankings for the season:

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
RV = Received votes
Week
PollPre123456789101112131415161718Final
AP Poll[32]RVRVRVRV25RVRV2422RVRVRVRV25RVRVRVRVRV
Coaches Poll[32]RVRV24RV2523212524232321RVRVRVRVRV

Postseason

NCAA tournament

Main article: 2012 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
Team Bid Type Seed Results
Harvard Automatic #12 lost to #5 Vanderbilt 79–70[33]

National Invitation tournament

Main article: 2012 National Invitation Tournament

The Ivy League did not have any entrants in this tournament.

College Basketball Invitational

Main article: 2012 College Basketball Invitational
Team Results
Penn defeated Quinnipiac 74–63[34]
lost to Butler 63–53[35]
Princeton defeated Evansville 95–86[36]
lost to Pittsburgh 82–61[37]

CollegeInsider.com tournament

Main article: 2012 CollegeInsider.com Tournament
Team Results
Yale lost to Fairfield 68–56[38]

Notes

  1. ^ "Mitch Henderson Named Princeton Men's Basketball Coach". IvyLeagueSports.com. April 20, 2011. Archived from the original on January 29, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  2. ^ "Yale's Mangano Invited to the 2011 USA Basketball World University Games Team Training Camp". IvyLeagueSports.com. June 8, 2011. Archived from the original on January 29, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  3. ^ a b "2011-12 Ivy League MEN'S BASKETBALL" (PDF). IvyLeagueSports.com. March 5, 2012. p. 13. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 19, 2015. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  4. ^ "Yale's Kreisberg Named to Israel Under-20 Men's Basketball National Team". IvyLeagueSports.com. June 27, 2011. Archived from the original on January 29, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  5. ^ "2011-12 Ivy League MEN'S BASKETBALL" (PDF). IvyLeagueSports.com. March 5, 2012. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 19, 2015. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  6. ^ "2011-12 Ivy League MEN'S BASKETBALL" (PDF). IvyLeagueSports.com. March 12, 2012. p. 7. Retrieved March 13, 2012.[permanent dead link‍]
  7. ^ "2011-12 Ivy League MEN'S BASKETBALL" (PDF). IvyLeagueSports.com. March 12, 2012. p. 18. Retrieved March 13, 2012.[permanent dead link‍]
  8. ^ TheACC.com (March 11, 2012). "Florida State Wins the #ACCTRNY 85-82 over North Carolina: This is Florida State's first ACC Championship". CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on November 23, 2012. Retrieved March 14, 2012.
  9. ^ "Florida State Seminoles Schedule - 2011-12". ESPN. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  10. ^ "Harvard Handed No. 12 Seed, to Face Vanderbilt in the 2012 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship". IvyLeagueSports.com. March 11, 2012. Archived from the original on August 13, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  11. ^ "Penn, Princeton to Play in the 2012 College Basketball Invitational". IvyLeagueSports.com. March 11, 2012. Archived from the original on March 12, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  12. ^ "Yale Men's Basketball Open with Fairfield in the 2012 CollegeInsider.com Tournament". IvyLeagueSports.com. March 11, 2012. Archived from the original on August 25, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  13. ^ Ivy League (March 12, 2012). "@Ivy_Athletics status". Twitter. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  14. ^ "2011-12 Ivy League Men's Basketball: Postseason - Week 1 • March 12, 2012" (PDF). IvyLeagueSports.com. March 12, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 19, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
  15. ^ "2011-12 Ivy League Men's Basketball: Postseason - Week 2 • March 18, 2012" (PDF). IvyLeagueSports.com. March 18, 2012. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 13, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  16. ^ "Capital One Academic All-District Men's Basketball Teams Released" (PDF). College Sports Information Directors of America. February 2, 2012. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  17. ^ "Tyler Zeller of UNC, Elena Delle Donne headline Capital One Academic All-America Division I Basketball Teams". College Sports Information Directors of America. February 23, 2012. Archived from the original on July 13, 2012. Retrieved February 23, 2012.
  18. ^ "Tyler Zeller of UNC, Delaware's Elena Delle Donne Top Capital One Academic All-America Division I Basketball Team" (PDF). College Sports Information Directors of America. February 23, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  19. ^ "Brown's Leffelman, Cornell's Wroblewski Named Academic All-America in Men's Basketball". IvyLeagueSports.com. February 22, 2011. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
  20. ^ "2011-12 Ivy League MEN'S BASKETBALL" (PDF). IvyLeagueSports.com. March 5, 2012. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 19, 2015. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  21. ^ "2011-12 Ivy League MEN'S BASKETBALL" (PDF). IvyLeagueSports.com. March 5, 2012. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 19, 2015. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  22. ^ "Men's Basketball All-Ivy -- 2011-12". IvyLeagueSports.com. March 7, 2012. Archived from the original on August 29, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  23. ^ "USBWA Names 2011-12 Men's All-District Teams". U.S. Basketball Writers Association. March 6, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  24. ^ "National Association of Basketball Coaches Announces 2012 Division I All-District Teams" (PDF). National Association of Basketball Coaches. March 14, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 14, 2012.
  25. ^ "2011-12 AP All-America Teams". Washington Examiner. March 26, 2012. Retrieved March 26, 2012.[permanent dead link‍]
  26. ^ "Harvard's Wright Selected to Play in the 2012 NABC Division I All-Star Game". IvyLeagueSports.com. March 26, 2012. Archived from the original on September 18, 2015. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  27. ^ "Duke, UNC don't cede much in Top 25". ESPN. December 5, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
  28. ^ Brennan, Eamonn (December 5, 2011). "Harvard shakes one monkey off its back". ESPN. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
  29. ^ "Harvard Men's Basketball Appears In National Polls". IvyLeagueSports.com. December 5, 2011. Archived from the original on January 30, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
  30. ^ "2012 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 9 (Jan. 2)". ESPN. January 2, 2012. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
  31. ^ "2012 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings – Week 14 (Feb. 6)". ESPN. February 6, 2012. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
  32. ^ a b "2011–12 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings". ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures. Archived from the original on March 29, 2008. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
  33. ^ "Vanderbilt overcomes Harvard's late charge to advance". ESPN. March 15, 2012. Archived from the original on March 16, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  34. ^ "Quinnipiac 63 (18-14, 10-8 NEC); Pennsylvania 74 (20-12, 11-3 Ivy)". ESPN. March 14, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  35. ^ "Butler 63 (22-14, 11-7 Horizon); Pennsylvania 53 (20-13, 11-3 Ivy)". ESPN. March 19, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  36. ^ "Princeton 95 (20-11, 10-4 Ivy); Evansville 86 (16-16, 9-9 MVC)". ESPN. March 13, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  37. ^ "Princeton 61 (20-12, 10-4 Ivy); Pittsburgh 82 (19-16, 5-13 Big East)". ESPN. March 19, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  38. ^ "Yale 56 (19-10, 9-5 Ivy); Fairfield 68 (20-14, 12-6 MAAC)". ESPN. March 14, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2012.