I take it back: Elis are Division I

Last year, disgruntled by a string of men's hoops losses, I wrote an ELItorial ["A step down may be a step up", 12/3/99] suggesting the basketball team should drop to Division II. It was too small, slow, and disadvantaged by selective admissions to compete with top programs. And in the spirit of the Hartford Courant's coverage of James Van de Velde's personal life, I'd like to say I was wrong, and this year's Bulldogs have shown that in a big way. To prove how sorry I am, I'm going to give myself retroactive line-item veto power over the moronic text that I wrote as a sophomore.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH After a solid season, Coach James Jones and the Bulldogs have proven they deserve to compete in Division I.

First cut: "If Yale were a D-II program, the campus would finally get a chance to participate in March Madness instead of merely watching it unfold on CBS."

Everyone that was there on Fri., Mar. 2, when the Elis played Princeton with the league lead on the line knows that Madness is alive and kicking in John J. Lee Amphitheater, not just on WFSB. From the free t-shirts to the little kid with the painted chest who led raucous Yale students in cheers, the gym was as crazy as Cameron Indoor. The game was meaningful primarily because an NCAA tournament berth was up for grabs—it just wouldn't be the same if the Bulldogs were squaring off against Kutztown State with (gasp!) a berth in the ultra-exciting, practically orgasmic Division II tournament on the line. The University of Bridgeport made the Division II finals a few years ago, and soon after, the college went bankrupt, its law school bolted for Quinnipiac and its city's murder rate went up yet again. Coincidence? No way. Madness is derived from the chance to play in the Dance.

Second Cut: "Many Ivy players do have legitimate Division I skills—but not enough to make their teams competitive in their non conference schedules."

Chris Leanza, SY '03, deserves the biggest apology here. He's a big-time player and he knows it. But he's not the only one. Yale has about eight players who are talented enough to play for larger schools. Don't believe it? Ask the big-time schools that the Bulldogs faced. Yale played four NCAA tournament teams this year and gave a serious scare to three of them. Ohio State destroyed the Elis to open the season, but the team played California, Penn State, and Princeton to close games, trailing Penn State by just one point at the half. It's only a matter of time before the squad pulls a Gonzaga and upsets a Big 10 or Pac-10 School. One of my high school teammates, a guard for Penn State, told me that Leanza was just one move away from being a strong Big 10 guard. This is the understatement of the year. Leanza lit up Joe Crispin '01 and the Sweet 16-bound Lions for 21 points and four assists. Last weekend, Penn State's guards held North Carolina's first-team All-American Joe Forte '03 to just six points. The Elis unquestionably have the talent to play strong competition.

Third Cut: "The only way that an Ivy League team could ever compete on a national level is, well, to recruit another Bill Bradley."

While it would be nice to have Bradley in the lineup, James Jones has proven he can compete by recruiting large numbers of talented players who have the potential to improve. The Elis are a couple of years away from making noise on the national scene, and there is no Bradley in sight. Jones has, however, a number of strong, multi-dimensional players who work well together. Lack of a marquee player was actually a strength. Ime Archibong, TD '03, is an incredible defender and reliable scorer. Paul Vitelli, MC '04, provided a shooting touch off the bench. Matt Minoff, BR '04, gives the team a lift with his passing and hustle. As Michigan State has proven, teams can win a championship without a big star.

Fourth Cut: "Yale is, and has always been, an institution that can survive on its academic reputation alone."

Even those pesky academic restrictions that have held Yale back seem to falling by the wayside. Top recruit Edwin Draughan, a lanky swingman with little man's handles, was admitted to Yale with an un-Kaplanesque 1,120 SAT score. The positive athletic publicity that an NCAA tournament berth would provide would help Yale's institutional prestige, provided that admissions standards for players were not compromised to a great degree.

Final Cut: "I would be the first one in line to buy tickets to the NCAA tournament, even if the Elis were playing Indiana of Pennsylvania and not Indiana."

Yeah, right. (Yes, I actually said this. I just like to stick Pennsylvania in all of my articles.)

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