Bulldogs Play Charlotte & Elon
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NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The second phase of the Dick's Sporting Goods
NIT Season Tip-Off takes the Bulldogs to Hofstra for a pair of
neutral site games. Yale plays Charlotte on Monday and Elon on
Tuesday. Both games begin at 4:30 p.m. The trip to Long Island is a
homecoming for three members of the Yale men's basketball family.
Junior Michael Sands of Franklin Square, N.Y., played at Carey High
School where he was named the conference and Nassau County Player
of the Year as a senior. Sophomore Brian Katz is from Woodbury,
N.Y., and was the Long Island Catholic League Player of the Year as
a senior at St. Dominic High School. In addition, James Jones, The
Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Men's Basketball at
Yale, is a Long Island native. He is a 1982 graduate of Half Hollow
Hills High West. The Bulldogs are coming off a 71-64 loss to
Quinnipiac in their home opener on Saturday night. Alex Zampier
scored 29 points to pace Yale. He is averaging 24.5 points on the
season and scored 35 points in the season opener against Sacred
Heart. Sands tops the Bulldogs in rebounding (8.3 rpg.).
HISTORY LESSONS
Yale and Charlotte are playing for only the
second time. The 49ers edged the Bulldogs 80-74 at the 2004 Cable
Car Classic. Yale is playing Elon for the first time.
SCOUTING CHARLOTTE
The 49ers won their first game in the NIT Season
Tip-off, topping Elon 75-61, but then fell to Duke 101-59. Shamari
Spears leads the team in scoring (21.5 ppg.), while Chris Braswell
averages a team-best 8.7 rebounds.
SCOUTING ELON
Like Yale, the Phoenix (2-2) played a game on
Saturday. Elon routed FDU-Florham 102-68. The Phoenix has three
players averaging double figures in scoring - Josh Bonney (16.0
ppg.), Drew Spradlin (16.0 ppg.) and Adam Constantine (10.3 ppg.).
BULLDOGS PICKED 5TH IN PRESEASON IVY POLL
The Bulldogs were picked to finish fifth in the Ivy League
preseason media poll, released on Oct. 28 during a media
teleconference. Yale has finished higher than projected in three of
the last four years. Two-time defending champion Cornell is the
overwhelming favorite. The Big Red received all 16 first-place
votes. Princeton is second followed by Penn and Harvard. Columbia
(sixth), Brown and Dartmouth round out the poll. The Bulldogs, who
finished in a tie for second place with Princeton last year, lose
four starters but return Alex Zampier, an honorable mention All-Ivy
selection. Zampier led the Ivy League in free throw percentage
(.848) and was eighth in scoring (13.2 ppg.) and second in steals
(1.6 per game). In addition, Yale welcomes back four other players
who averaged at least 10 minutes per game.
2009-10 Ivy League Men's Basketball Preseason Media
Poll
1. Cornell - 128 points (16 first-place votes)
2. Princeton - 96
3. Penn - 92
4. Harvard - 86
5. Yale - 59
6. Columbia - 55
7. Brown - 41
8. Dartmouth - 19
CONNECTICUT 6
The state of Connecticut has a rich basketball tradition. A new
chapter in that history starts this season with the formation of
the Connecticut 6, a partnership between six of Connecticut's
Division I schools - Yale, Central Connecticut, Fairfield,
Hartford, Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart. The inaugural Connecticut 6
Classic tripleheader was Nov. 13 at the Arena at Harbor Yard. The
Classic moves to the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville in 2011. In
addition to the tripleheader, a preseason All-Connecticut 6 team
was selected and there will be a Connecticut 6 Player of the Week
chosen each week during the season.
SNYDER-FAIR JOINS YALE STAFF
Jamie Snyder-Fair, who helped Washington & Lee make its
first appearance in the ODAC championship game in 20 years last
year, has joined James Jones' staff. In his one season at W&L,
the Generals won 16 games, their most since 1988-89. Prior to
Washington & Lee, Snyder-Fair was an assistant coach at Vassar
where he helped the Brewers to 18 wins, which tied the school
record. He also spent two years as an assistant at Amherst.
HEAD COACH JAMES JONES
James Jones has made quite an impact on the Yale
basketball program. In 10 seasons, Jones has guided Yale to success
not seen in New Haven in 40 years. In 2001-02, Jones led the
Bulldogs to their first Ivy League title since 1962-63 and the
first postseason tournament victory in the 107-year history of Yale
basketball. The team won 21 games, the second most in the modern
era of Yale basketball, and reached the second round of the
National Invitation Tournament. Jones, the longest tenured coach in
the Ivy League, earned his 100th victory at Yale when the Bulldogs
beat Columbia on Feb. 9, 2007. He is only the fourth coach in
school history with at least 100 wins. His overall record at Yale
is 130-149, including a 77-63 (.550) mark in Ivy games. The
Bulldogs have won at least 10 Ivy games twice during his tenure and
have had a .500 or better record in league play in each of the last
nine years. Three assistant coaches who worked under Jones have
gone on to become head coaches - Isaiah Cavaco (Oberlin), Mark
Sembrowich (Academy of Arts University) and Mark Gilbride
(Clarkson).Jones served as an assistant coach to Villanova's Jay
Wright for the 2007 USA Basketball Men's Pan American Games Team.
SIX FORMER YALIES IN PRO RANKS
Six Yale graduates, all coached by James Jones, are currently
playing professional basketball. Edwin Draughan '05 (FOS Ouest,
France), Dominick Martin '06 (Illescas CLM, Spain), Matt Kyle '08
(Tunisia), Eric Flato '08 (Plymouth Raiders, England) and Ross
Morin '09 (SAM Massagno, Switzerland) are playing overseas, while
Travis Pinick '09 was was selected in the eighth round of the 2009
NBA D-League Draft by the Los Angeles D-Fenders. Pinick is
currently in camp trying to earn one of 10 roster spots on the
D-Fenders.
2009-10 SCHEDULE NOTES
• The 2009-10 schedule features 31 regular season games,
including 12 in the friendly confines of the John J. Lee
Amphitheater. It will mark the most games Yale has played in a
season since 2001-02 when the Bulldogs finished 21-11.
• The Bulldogs will be making their second appearance in
the Preseason NIT. Yale fell to No. 1 ranked UConn in the
tournament to open the 2003-04 season. The Bulldogs are guaranteed
four games in this year's tournament.
• The game with Quinnipiac on Nov. 21 will cap a busy day
on the Yale campus. The 126th edition of the Yale-Harvard football
game will be played at noon at Yale Bowl. Yale and Quinnipiac have
met only once before, an 87-69 Bobcat win in 1999 in the Phoenix
Classic at the Hartford Civic Center.
• Senior Alex Zampier has a homecoming when the Bulldogs
visit Albany on Jan. 3. Zampier, an East Greenbush, N.Y., native,
graduated as the second all-time leading scorer at Columbia High
School with 1,381 points. Yale head coach James Jones is a 1996
Albany graduate. He played for and coached with the legendary Dr.
Richard Sauers, one of only seven coaches to win more than 700
games.
• The Bulldogs open the 14-game Ivy League schedule at home
against Brown on Jan. 15. Three of Yale's first four Ivy games will
be at Lee Amphitheater.
Report filed by Tim Bennett, Yale Sports Publicity
