by Rey
View Part I of this article here.
The question then is what has happened since the 1980s when multiple Ivy League players would hear their names called on draft night?
For one, it seems that while other universities’ standards become a little more flexible, Ivy League universities continuously become more stringent. This, along with no athletic scholarships, makes it harder for top recruits that depend heavily on athletics in order to afford higher education.
Another reason that the Columbia Spectator points out is tuition. Since Penn’s Final Four trip in 1979, tuition rates in the Ivy League have become ten times greater.
On the whole, the Ivy League can still compete with the nation’s best teams, but probably not on a consistently high level. It’s been over a decade since one of the Ancient Eight have won a first round tournament game.
The overall talent level of the Ivy League is disputable; are they any worse than years past or have the other conferences just become that much more centralized and stronger in talent? Every so often, they’ll surprise the nation with an unexpected upset.
Tommy Amaker’s Harvard Crimson were the latest by upsetting Boston College 82-70 in January of 2009.
A pretty surprising upset considering that Harvard is historically the worst Ivy League basketball school, being the only team to have never won a conference title. Ironically, they beat a team from the conference that currently boasts the most players on NBA rosters, the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Does the near future hold an NBA talent from the Ivy League? Chances look faint, but Ryan Wittman may be the league’s best NBA prospect.
Wittman plays for Cornell, the back-to-back Ivy League champions from 2007-08 and 2008-09. The 6’6″ guard certainly has the basketball pedigree. His father, Randy Wittman, played and coached in the NBA after winning a national championship and Big Ten player of the year at Indiana University.
The younger Wittman averages 16.5 points. He led the league in scoring this past season with 18.5 a contest. He’s known as a sharpshooter hitting a career 43 percent of his shots from three. Wittman also doubled his assists from 41 the previous season to 82 this past season.
Perhaps his most important NBA resume builder are his performances against teams from major conferences. He averaged just over 27 points against Syracuse, Indiana, and Minnesota this past season, scoring 33 against Syracuse (albeit an ideal opponent for a deep threat like Wittman).
Wittman will play his senior season at Cornell in 2009-2010. It might be a stretch to say that Wittman will become the first Ivy League player drafted since Jerome Allen, but certainly most will say he can find a home in the NBA.
So does the Yale-bound point guard I saw have a chance of going pro? By modern standards, his chances are slim if he plans on staying in North America. It appears that the NBA has slowly replaced mid-major players with European players. But basketball is basketball and if he is good enough, NBA teams will come calling.
The Ancient Eight remains far removed from the players like Jerome Allen and Matt Maloney. Allen was a true NBA talent even though his career did not quite work out. Maloney is probably the last player from the Ivy League to have a significant impact on an NBA team.
The Ivy League vehemently states time and time again that it cares about sports and wants to compete and win. It just chooses not to provide kids a tuition break for doing it. The league remains steadfast in its roots, and all should applaud that.
After all, the point guard from the all-star game probably didn’t want to attend Yale in hopes of making a fortune in the athletic field. He’ll get something that a broken bone or ACL injury can never take away from him: a degree from an Ivy League school.
After watching that all-star game, there was no question that he was the best guard on the floor. Surely there were offers of an athletic scholarship, but he chose the road less traveled for the athletically gifted. And maybe he’s a sign of what has really changed.
More kids, and it seems college coaches as well, are willing to put all their chips in the NBA than a high quality education. To answer the gentleman’s question who sat behind me, yes—he is going pro. Just probably not in basketball.
While five-star recruits narrow their choices down based on the most money and best NBA ready program, Ancient Eight recruits are siding with the prestigious academia of its schools. As long as the Ivy League and its recruits remain the same, the NBA will become more and more of a distant dream for the nation’s best student-athletes.
We may never see the likes of a Bill Bradley (pictured) rise from the Ivy League again. As the years and now decades go by, it seems as though another Jerome Allen or Matt Maloney is becoming less and less of a reality as well.
Here’s a crazy stat – Harvard has 41 varsity programs. That makes the Crimson the most extensive athletic program in the country.
Amaker is trying to figure how to make it work in Cambridge: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/opinion/09sun4.html
This whole topic brings me back to the topic of athleticism versus gamesmanship. Does it make it better if the games we are watching are filled with athletes performing great acts?
Is there any coincidence that the USA could not win a Gold Medal in the Olympics as the number Ivy League players decreased?
What is more important? athleticism or game IQ?
Another article about Harvard: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/sports/ncaabasketball/11harvard.html
Good question. Why don’t we take in a little gamesmanship this year at The Palestra for a Penn Ivy League conference game?
Amaker will continue to face recruting allegations while he’s there. He was investigated in 2007 and cleared. Guilty or not, I think unfortunately for him as the Crimson approve his doubters will think he is doing it unfairly. Funny how that would be possible at an instution that is academics first and literally has no money for strudent-athletes.
Penn at the Palestra? Just tell me the date and time.
When the schedules come out, let’s see if we can find a date where we can catch two games. Two at the Palestra would be great, but I’m up for hiking around town if we need.
Does Philly have a subway?
Still waiting on the A-10 conference schedule. Temple plays in a tournament there over Thanksgiving weekend. I’d much rather see an Ivy League game there. But, we could catch a Big 5 game which would be better.
Penn nor the Big 5 have released their schedules yet. I’ll let you know when they come out.
Yes – Philly has a subway. We cannot ride it after 9 o’clock at night though. Well…unless you’re a betting man 🙂
Hey Casey – we may have someone making an NBA roster. Jeremy Lin, former Harvard guard, is “wowing” people for the Mavs summer league team. If you haven’t seen him play, I’ll try to post a vid later. I guess he went toe-to-toe with Wall recently and looked all the bit as good.
How about the kid from Cornell – the shooter (right now I need my inner Wally to show up 🙂 )? I caught a sound byte crossing NY State yesterday. Ithaca sports talk did a piece on him. He is playing summer league.
By the way, usually every NYCBL champion has an Ivy League (or more) on the team. It has something to do with the mental toughness required to sustain a solid effort throughout the summer.
Ryan Wittman is his name. He is playing with the Celtics and Knicks (two different summer leagues) this summer in hopes that one of those work out for him making the roster. I have no idea how he is doing.
Here is some clips from the Jeremy Lin (Harvard) kid against John Wall that has been brought to my attention.
Casey – a little visual history for you. Looks like Golden State has signed the Lin kid from Harvard (though not a gauranteed contract yet).
https://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/1007/nba.ivy.leaguers/content.1.html
Rey,
Great pictures. How did Corky Calhoun NOT get more run with the 76-77 Blazers. I would think he Calhoun would be the proto-typical Jack Ramsey player. What do I know? The Blazers won the title that year.
Great front cover of Bradley – text book release on the pass.