AO: Your points are well taken, as per usual. -- <h1>IVY LEAGUE SPORTS BOARD</h1>

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Subject: AO: Your points are well taken, as per usual.

Author:
Valmas (Stoic)

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Date Posted: 16:48:12 10/08/24 Tue
In reply to: An Observer 's message, "Re: Columbia should be in the mix for a seed in the IL Men's Tourney." on 16:02:01 10/08/24 Tue

Sorry - in the prior post, I meant H (Malik Mack), Y (Danny Wolf) and P (Vernon Collins and Zach Martini) to transfer situations. Now, Martini did graduate; but, with a year of eligibility remaining, he also transferred to Rutgers.

And, yes, Columbia was most recently 4-10 in IL league play; but I prefer to look at that team as ten points shy of 7-7; just 10 points was the entire differential in two losses to Harvard and one to Brown; and Harvard's Mack and Brown's Owusu-Anane - both instrumental in all three of those narrow Columbia losses - will be missing from the upcoming IL season. So, Columbia, with one all-league performer and a solid supporting cast, can complete this next IL season at 7-7 (at worst) and a place at the post-season table.

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[> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: AO: Your points are well taken, as per usual.

Author:
An Observer
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Date Posted: 17:02:26 10/08/24 Tue

Thank you, Michael, for your kind words.

I really like your point that the team lost a lot of close games and was only ten points shy of being 7-7. In basketball, the goal is to work for good shots and deny them to your opponent. Having taken an assortment of both good and bad shots, sometimes they go in and sometimes they don't. That's especially true now that we are so three-point oriented. One or two shots that luckily bank in off glass inevitably will play a role in how a game plays out.

I would love to see data about how teams which have an extreme +/- record in close games (say, within three points) in a given season do in similarly close games the following year.

Coaching and game management in the final minutes of a contest is a skill of the staff which carries over from season to season. There's a reason why some teams win the close ones. But some of it is simply serendipity.

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[> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: The tale of the tape.

Author:
Valmas (Stoic)
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Date Posted: 18:07:54 10/08/24 Tue

Under the present-day Columbia men's basketball coach, the team has gone 10-16, in Ivy League games decided by five or less points. That may not seem impressive (38% WPCT.), but it's better than the WPCT. for his overall IL record and for his complete record as Columbia head coach - each of which hovers at or below 30%. So, it can be said that he's shown an ability to win a portion of the close ones. Again, I believe a good number of the member schools have suffered significant personnel losses; and I have the personal knowledge allowing me to define the current Columbia seniors as, to a man, tough-minded and good character human beings. There's still a place in this world for people like that to succeed and I believe they'll use their final opportunity as student-athletes to demonstrate just that!

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