Hoopville - Ivy League

New NJIT Coach Can Do No Worse Than His Predecessor: The New Jersey Institute of Technology basketball team went 0-29 last year, the worst record in NCAA history. That should make it easy for new coach Jim Engles to improve the team. Engles has spent the last 18 years as an assistant at Rider, Wagner and -- most recently -- Columbia and will try to break NJIT's 33-game losing streak. NJIT is 5-53 in Division I. [4/15/08]

Craig Robinson Heads West: Oregon State named Craig Robinson as its head coach after he stepped down at Brown. Robinson led Brown to a school-record 19 victories in 2007-08 and won more games in his first two years than any coach in the school's history. He was named the 2008 Rhode Island Division I Coach of the Year. Robinson takes over a struggling Beaver program that failed to win a single game in the Pac-10 this past season and has been the conference's doormat for several seasons. [4/9/08]

South Region - First Round: No. 3 Stanford destroyed No. 14 Cornell 77-53 as the Big Red didn't have an answer to the Cardinal's defense. Cornell shot 30.5 percent from the field, and nearly half of the Big Red's made baskets were from three-point range, away from the Lopez twins in the middle. Sophomore center Robin Lopez had 14 points, five blocks and four rebounds to help cover for his brother, Brook, who had an off night with only four points. Stanford hit 55.4 percent from the field to help cover up 19 turnovers. The Cardinal will play Marquette in the second round.

No. 4 Pittsburgh stormed past No. 13 Oral Roberts 82-63 to move on to the second round against Michigan State. The Panthers opened up a double-digit lead in the first half by going on an 18-0 run. Junior point guard Levance Fields paced the Panthers with 23 points and seven assists. Oral Roberts couldn't find much room to shoot against Pittsburgh, going 34.4 percent from the field.

No. 5 Michigan State got past No. 12 Temple 72-61 thanks to dominant defensive play and 15 points from sophomore swingman Raymar Morgan. The Spartans overcame a poor shooting performance by senior guard Drew Neitzel, who leads the Spartans with 14.2 points per game. However, Neitzel ran the offense, finding the Spartans' big men on screen and rolls to help blow open a game that the Owls stayed close in during the first 10 minutes.

No. 6 Marquette won a hard-fought battle against No. 11 Kentucky 74-66. Junior guard Jerel McNeal led the Golden Eagles with 20 points. The Wildcats stayed close throughout the entire game, fueled by senior guard Joe Crawford's 35 points. Crawford hit five three-pointers, including big shots in the final minutes to keep Kentucky within striking distance. The Golden Eagles made 21-of-27 free throws to hold off Kentucky. [3/20/08]

Harvard's Recruiting Methods Under Revision: The Ivy League and Harvard will investigate the Crimson's program after a New York Times story described how recruiting violations were commited by assistant coach Kenny Blakeney. Blakeney visited two Harvard recruits and played pickup games with them during times where recruting contacts were prohibited. One of the recruits said the incident occurred before Blakeney was officially hired on Harvard coach Tommy Amaker's staff, but that would still be prohibited because he would have been considered a university representative. Most Ivy League coaches and athletic directors declined to comment. [3/07/08]

Big Red Becomes First to Punch Ticket: Cornell will be going to the Big Dance for the first time since 1988. The Big Red crushed Harvard 83-56 to clinch the Ivy League title. The conference does not have a tournament to decide a champion and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. With two games remaining, Cornell is undefeated in the Ivy League and has won all but two games by at least nine points. Against Harvard, Cornell held the Crimson to 24.2 percent shooting. Junior guard Adam Gore led five Cornell players in double figures with 14 points. [3/03/08]

Robinson Balances Coaching and Campaigning: It's election season in addition to the final laps of the 2007-08 men's basketball season. That makes coaching Brown and campaigning for Sen. Barack Obama difficult for the Bears' Craig Robinson, who is a brother-in-law of the Democratic hopeful. For Tuesday's recent slate of primaries, Robinson led practice in Providence, then flew to Chicago to watch the results with his sister Michelle and Obama. Robinson actively campaigns for Obama throughout New England, but he must abide by university rules that prevent him from conducting business from his office or as a representative of the team. [2/07/08]

New Crimson Coach Hires Another Assistant: Harvard head coach Tommy Amaker has completed his coaching staff with the hire of Brian DeStefano as an assistant coach. DeStefano was most recently a graduate assistant and the head team manager at Duke, where he graduated in 2005 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science and completed his masters in that field in June. [8/01/07]

Amaker Adds to Staff: New Harvard head coach Tommy Amaker hired Kenny Blakeney and Will Wade as assistant coaches and Kirsten Green as the program's first director of basketball operations. Blakeney played at Duke from 1990-95, when Amaker was an assistant coach at the school, and has been an assistant at Delaware, Saint Bonaventure, La Salle, James Madison, and most recently Marshall. Wade was most recently the director of basketball operations at Clemson, where he earned his undergraduate degree and was then a graduate assistant. Green comes to the school after serving in the same capacity at Michigan, where Amaker had been the head coach for six seasons. She has followed Amaker at his head coaching stops since he first became a head coach at Seton Hall in 1997. [7/2/07]

Former Princeton Captain Sydney Johnson Named Head Coach: Former Princeton captain Sydney Johnson was named head coach at his alma mater. Johnson was an assistant at Georgetown last season, when the Hoyas went to the Final Four. Johnson replaces Joe Scott, who led the Tigers to a disappointing 11-17 record, including a 2-12 Ivy League record. It was the first last-place finish for the Tigers in Ivy League history. Johnson was a three-time captain while at Princeton and was Ivy League Player of the Year in 1997. [4/25/07]

Harvard Signs Amaker as New Coach: Former Michigan coach Tommy Amaker has been named Harvard's new coach. The 41-year-old was fired from Michigan last month after six seasons with the Wolverines. Despite 20-win seasons in three of its last four seasons and a 2004 NIT championship, Michigan never regained its status as a national power and didn't reach the NCAA tournament under Amaker. He went 22-13 this past season, including an 8-8 record in Big Ten Conference play. Harvard, coming off a 12-16 season, fired former coach Frank Sullivan March 5. The Crimson was only 178-245 in 16 seasons with Sullivan. [4/13/07]

South Region - First Round: Freshman Greg Oden looked impressive in his first NCAA Tournament game, leading No. 1 Ohio State with 19 points and 10 rebounds in a 78-57 victory against No. 16 Central Connecticut State. Ohio State's superior depth and talent overmatched the Blue Devils, who essentially played only five players. Senior Javier Mojica led Central Connecticut State with 19 points. Junior Jamar Butler torched the Blue Devils by hitting 5-of-6 three-pointers, scoring 17 points for the game.

When No. 9 Xavier needed someone to step up, the Musketeers' shortest player stood tall. At 5-7, junior Drew Lavender scored the final six points in the Musketeers' thrilling 79-77 victory vs. No. 8 BYU. Lavender hit two floating runners in the lane in the final two minutes, then clinched the game with two free throws. He finished with 17 points. Senior Justin Doellman led Xavier with 23 points. The Cougars' senior Keena Young had a game-high 24 points in the loss.

In a game of runs, No. 3 Texas A&M ended with a long one to put away No. 14 Penn 68-52. The Aggies built a 31-18 lead at halftime but watched the Quakers open the second half with a 21-6 run to take a two-point lead. Texas A&M responded by ending the game on a 31-13 outburst. Senior Acie Law delivered down the stretch, finishing with a game-high 20 points. Junior Dominique Kirk had a big game, scoring 16 points and hitting three three-pointers. Texas A&M will play No. 6 Louisville Saturday.

Playing in front of a partisan crowd of 23,000 in Lexington, Ky., the No. 6 Louisville Cardinals smacked around No. 11 Stanford, winning 78-58 to advance to the second round. Louisville led from start to finish, building a 20-point lead midway through the first half. Five players scored in double figures for Louisville, led by junior David Padgett and freshman Edgar Sosa with 16 points apiece. Freshman big man Brook Lopez was one of only two Stanford players to score in double figures, leading all scorers with 18 points. [3/15/07]

Crimson Will Have New Coach: Harvard announced on Monday that head coach Frank Sullivan will not return next season. Sullivan had been the head coach for the past 16 seasons, making him the longest tenured coach in the school's history. Well-respected by his peers, he posted a 178-245 record in his tenure and is the school's winningest coach. [3/05/07]

Penn Becomes First to Punch Ticket: The conference tournament-less Ivy League has a champion, and Penn can proudly claim that the Quakers are the first team to officially earn its ticket to the Big Dance. Penn routed Yale 86-58 tonight to wrap up its third consecutive Ivy League title. Senior Mark Zoller finished with 22 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Quakers, who won their first conference title under new coach Glen Miller, who replaced Fran Dunphy before this season when Dunphy bolted for fellow Big Five program Temple. [3/02/07]

Family Ties: Here's a little tidbit offered by the Philadelphia Daily News' Dick Jerardi that could come in handy the next time you're stuck in a conversation about which political candidates are stuck on the presidential bubble when you'd rather be discussing the NCAA Tournament bubble. Brown coach Craig Robinson is Barack Obama's brother-in-law. Robinson is in his first year at Brown after working as an assistant coach at Princeton. A player at Princeton, Robinson is the school's fourth-leading scorer in team history. [2/01/07]

Douglas Stewart Returns to His Alma Mater: Douglas Stewart has returned to Brown, where he has joined coach Craig Robinson’s basketball staff as an assistant coach. Stewart has made his rounds in college basketball – he was Casper Junior College’s head coach, an assistant coach at Columbia and a top assistant coach at Washington and Lee. While playing at Brown, Stewart was team captain in his senior year and recipient of the 1994 Thomas Hoagland Award, given to an outstanding varsity team player for actions on and off the court. [9/26/06]