2010–11 Ivy League men's basketball season

Preseason

Entering the 2010–11 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, four of the eight teams had coaches entering their first full season as head coach: Columbia's Kyle Smith, Cornell's Bill Courtney, Dartmouth's Paul Cormier and Penn's Jerome Allen (previously interim). Most preseason publications predicted Princeton would finish in first place and Harvard would finish in second place, although the Sporting News projected that would finish in first followed by Princeton and Harvard. Breaking a three-year streak by Cornell, the Ivy League media poll selected Princeton as the top team with twelve first place votes, Harvard second with four first place votes and Cornell third with one first place vote. It was the first Princeton team to be the preseason selection since the .

Season

Non-conference play began on November 12, 2010. The first conference game took place on January 8, 2011. Although no Ivy League teams appeared in the 2010–11 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings, for a few weeks during the season Harvard received a vote in the AP Poll. When Harvard earned its 20th win on February 19, against Columbia, it marked the eighth time that two Ivy League teams totalled 20 wins. On March 7, Harvard received a vote in both the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll. Then, in the final regular season poll on March 13, Princeton received 3 points in the Coaches' Poll.

The conference had two players recognized as Academic All-Americans: senior guard Garrett Leffelman and junior guard Chris Wroblewski.

Harvard's Oliver McNally concluded his season with a 100 for 108 (92.6%) Free throw percentage mark second to Chris Warren of the Ole Miss Rebels who led with a 168 for 181 (92.8%) mark.

On March 5, Harvard clinched a share of the league championship for the first time since the Ivy League was formed. On March 8, Princeton defeated Penn to force a one-game playoff at the Payne Whitney Gymnasium at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The matchup was widely anticipated in the press.

Postseason

Prior to the game both teams received championship trophies. The 2011 one-game playoff was the eighth in Ivy League history. Princeton appeared for the eighth time, and have won at least a share of twenty-six league titles.

Entering selection Sunday (March 13), Harvard ranked 35th in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) and Princeton ranked 40th. Princeton was a #13 Seed in the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, while Harvard was not selected, denying the Crimson its first tournament appearance since 1946. Harvard's wins against major-conference opponents Colorado and Boston College were not enough to secure it an at-large bid (both Colorado and Boston College were left out of the NCAA tournament and received one-seeds in the NIT tournament.) As a regular season champion not invited to the NCAA tournament, Harvard earned an at-large selection for the 2011 National Invitation Tournament, where it was seeded #6. On March 15, Harvard was defeated by by a 71–54 margin in the first round. It was the school's first appearance in the National Invitation Tournament. Princeton lost its opening game against the fourth-seeded and eventual national semifinalist Kentucky Wildcats by a 59–57 margin on a last second layup.

Honors

In season

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

Postseason honors

The league selected its postseason awards on March 9.

Player of the Year: Keith Wright, Harvard (Jr., F, Suffolk, VA)

Defensive Player of the Year: Kareem Maddox, Princeton (Sr., F, Oak Park, CA)

Rookie of the Year: Sean McGonagill, Brown (Fr., G, Brookfield, IL)

All-Ivy League (ALL CAPS: Unanimous)

:First Team All-Ivy: Noruwa Agho, Columbia (Jr., G, New City, NY); KEITH WRIGHT, Harvard (Jr., F, Suffolk, VA); Zack Rosen, Penn (Jr., G, Colonia, NJ); KAREEM MADDOX, Princeton (Sr., F, Oak Park, CA); GREG MANGANO, Yale (Jr., C, Orange, CT) :Second Team All-Ivy: Chris Wroblewski, Cornell (Jr., G, Highland Park, IL); Kyle Casey, Harvard (So., F, Medway, MA); Brandyn Curry, Harvard (So., G, Huntersville, NC); Ian Hummer, Princeton (So., F, Vienna, VA); Dan Mavraides, Princeton (Sr., G, San Mateo, CA) :Honorable Mention: Tucker Halpern, Brown (So., F, Brookline, MA); Brian Barbour, Columbia (So., G, Alamo, CA); Christian Webster, Harvard (So., G, Washington, DC); Jack Eggleston, Penn (Sr., F, Noblesville, IN)

Notes

References

1. (October 15, 2010). "Ivy League Men's Basketball Abound with Preseason Honors Entering the 2010-11 Season".
2. (November 8, 2010). "55th Season of Ivy League Men's Basketball".
3. (January 3, 2011). "Week 9 * January 3, 2011".
4. (January 24, 2011). "2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings - AP Top 25 Week 12 (Jan. 24)". [[ESPN]].
5. (January 31, 2011). "2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings - AP Top 25 Week 13 (Jan. 31)". [[ESPN]].
6. (February 21, 2011). "2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings - AP Top 25 Week 16 (Feb. 21)". [[ESPN]].
7. (February 19, 2011). "Harvard alone atop Ivy standings following win". [[ESPN]].
8. "2010-11 Highlights".
9. (March 7, 2011). "2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings - Week 18 (Mar. 7)". [[ESPN]].
10. (March 13, 2011). "Top 25: Ohio State finishes regular season at No. 1". [[USAToday]].
11. (February 22, 2011). "Brown's Leffelman, Cornell's Wroblewski Named Academic All-America in Men's Basketball".
12. (March 9, 2011). "NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Player Free-Throw Shooting Statistics - 2010-11". [[ESPN]].
13. (March 5, 2011). "Harvard tops Princeton 79-67 to share Ivy title". [[ESPN]].
14. (March 8, 2011). "Princeton tops Penn, sets up one-game playoff with Harvard". [[ESPN]].
15. (March 8, 2011). "Princeton Forces a Playoff for the Ivy's N.C.A.A. Bid". [[The New York Times]].
16. Friedman, Dick. (March 11, 2011). "Harvard, Princeton meet in a winner-take-all game for Ivy title". [[Sports Illustrated]].
17. Pennington, Bill. (March 11, 2011). "Ivy Champions to Settle Score at Yale". [[The New York Times]].
18. Rhoden, William C.. (March 9, 2011). "In the Shadow of the Big East, a Spotlight for the Ivy League". [[The New York Times]].
19. Pennington, Bill. (March 12, 2011). "Princeton Pauses but Still Beats Buzzer on Way to N.C.A.A. Bid". [[The New York Times]].
20. (March 12, 2011). "Princeton KO's Harvard on last-second jumper to earn NCAA bid". [[ESPN]].
21. (March 11, 2011). "2011 Men's Basketball Playoff Information".
22. (March 13, 2011). "Men's Basketball - Team RPIs (2010-2011)". RealTimeRPI.Com..
23. (March 13, 2011). "2011 NCAA tournament selections". [[ESPN]].
24. (March 13, 2011). "Playoff Defeat Sends Harvard to the N.I.T.". [[The New York Times]].
25. (March 13, 2011). "Colorado, Virginia Tech lead NIT field". [[ESPN]].
26. (March 15, 2011). "Oklahoma State routs Harvard in NIT opener". [[ESPN]].
27. (March 14, 2011). "2010-11 Ivy League Men's Basketball Weekly release: Postseason • March 14, 2011". [[Ivy League]].
28. (March 17, 2011). "Brandon Knight's only basket lifts Kentucky past Princeton in final seconds". [[ESPN]].
29. McMurphy, Brett. (March 18, 2011). "Pushed by Princeton, Kentucky Wins in Final Seconds". [[The New York Times]].
30. (March 7, 2011). "2010-11 Ivy League MEN'S BASKETBALL".
31. (March 9, 2011). "Men's Basketball All-Ivy -- 2010-11".