Zampier Named Connecticut 6 Player of the Week
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NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The start of Ivy League play is less than two
weeks away, but the Bulldogs still have three games to make their
final preparations. The first is Tuesday night at Lehigh. Tipoff at
Stabler Arena is slated for 7 p.m. The game completes a stretch of
five straight road games for Yale, which hosts Albertus Magnus on
Thursday and NJIT on Saturday afternoon. Alex Zampier was named the
Connecticut 6 Player of the Week on Monday. Zampier averaged 19
points in three games, including erupting for 31 against Colorado
State. He leads the Ivy League in scoring (18.9 ppg.). The Bulldogs
are coming off an 89-68 loss at Albany on Sunday. Yale led by 11 in
the first half before the Great Danes rallied. The Bulldogs have
allowed an average of 90.5 points in their last two games. Reggie
Willhite and Greg Mangano both had solid games against Albany.
Willhite scored a career-high 10 points, while Mangano had 10
points and a career-high six blocks. Yale blocked 10 shots in the
game. Paul Nelson grabbed a team-high six rebounds. The Bulldogs
lead the Ivy League in steals (119) and offensive rebounds (13.1
per game).
HISTORY LESSONS
Yale and Lehigh are playing for the first time since 1999, a
69-56 Mountain Hawk victory. Lehigh has won three straight over the
Bulldogs, but Yale leads the all-time series 7-6.
SCOUTING LEHIGH
The Mountain Hawks (8-6) have won four straight
games and are playing their final non-league contest of the season.
Lehigh is coming off an 86-79 victory over NJIT on Saturday.
Freshman Gabe Knutson scored a season-high 23 points in the victory
and was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week. Lehigh ranks
second in the Patriot League in field goal percentage defense,
holding opponents to 42.8% shooting from the floor. The Mountain
Hawks have held nine opponents below 43 percent this season and is
limiting teams to 39.6 percent shooting in six games at Stabler
Arena. CJ McCollum leads the team in scoring (13.1 ppg.).
BULLDOGS PICKED 5TH IN PRESEASON IVY
POLLThe 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 2010. 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.
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 made 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 played four games in this
year's tournament.
• The game with Quinnipiac on Nov. 21 capped a busy day on
the Yale campus. The 126th edition of the Yale-Harvard football
game was played at noon at Yale Bowl. Yale and Quinnipiac had met
only once before, an 87-69 Bobcat win in 1999 in the Phoenix
Classic at the Hartford Civic Center.
• Senior Alex Zampier had a homecoming when the Bulldogs
visited 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
